PTU awards PhD degree to Bathinda man posthumously

Kapurthala, May 29

It was an emotional moment for Mehkansh as he came to Inder Kumar Gujral Punjab Technical University here from Canada today to receive the PhD degree of his father, who had passed away at the fag end of the course in February 2021.

Research scholar Parveen Chander, who hailed from Bathinda, had been working on developing soil design charts and analysis of soil types in Punjab required by civil engineers. He had already conducted and collected soil tests and submitted his thesis in August 2020 when he was detected with a tumour in his liver.

His viva could not be conducted owing to obvious reasons. But his supervisor Prof Rajiv Chauhan, who is also Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at IKGPTU and was impressed with his efforts, wanted his research to come to the aid of civil engineering community. Showing a noble gesture, he initiated the process for award of degree on the request that he would defend the thesis.