KOCHI: As a part of making the campus green while also ensuring the safety of the students, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (SSUS) has decided to distribute bicycles on rent to the students to travel inside the campus. The project, titled LIFE (Living In Friendship with Environment), is perhaps the first-of-its-kind being launched by a university in the state. The aim is to instil a sense of responsibility towards the environment, said Dharm a r a j A d at t u , Vice-Chancellor, SSUS.
“We decided to launch the project as part of our New Year resolution and our endeavour to make the campus green and pollution-free,” he said. According to him, in the first phase of the project, the university is renting out 50 cycles to its students. “The students will not be allowed to bring vehicles inside the campus. If they need to travel within the campus, they can make use of the bicycles. The varsity’s decision is in tandem with Kerala High Court’s order in 2105 banning vehicles inside campuses,” said Dharmaraj .
The vice-chancellor said students need to prepare themselves for a new era which demands living without things like fossil fuel and plastic products. Not only will the initiative help keep the students healthy by motivating them to walk and cycle but will also purify the atmosphere inside the campus, said Dharmaraj. According to varsity officials, the students will be given the cycles on a firstc o m e - f i r s t - s e r ve basis. “Day scholars can make use of the facility from 8am to 8pm, while the hostelers can use the cycles for up to 48 hours. Those who don’t return the cycles after use will be penalised,” said officials. According to the administration, ` 5 lakh has been sanctioned for the first phase of the initiative. “We want to increase the number of bicycles to 100 and will be inviting sponsorship for the same,” he said.
The way forward
Through the initiative titled LIFE (Living In Friendship with Environment), the university will distribute bicycles on a rental basis to the students to travel inside the campus. Fifty cycles are being deployed in the first phase