V-C appointment row in Jadavpur University continues
The state higher education department recently prevented Jadavpur University from holding the meeting of its executive council on the grounds that the university did not have a “regular Vice-Chancellor”. The department said holding any meeting in the absence of a regular V-C would violate rules. The university had convened an online meeting of its highest decision-making body. An official of the higher education department said the government has reservations against Budhhadeb Sau, the JU professor of mathematics, who was handpicked by Governor C V Ananda Bose in August for the top post.
Trouble in IIT Kharagpur over admission process
The IIT Kharagpur teachers have written to the institute’s director, seeking an immediate meeting to discuss the present impasse over the suspension of admission to the Ph.D. and Master of Science programme owing to absence accommodation facilities and the resultant effect it will have on the research activities. The letter by the teachers’ association addressed to the director V K Tewari says the members are deeply aggrieved about the sudden stoppage of the admission process. It said they wanted an immediate meeting to find a constructive solution to the present impasse.
Vidyasagar Setu bridge to remain vehicle-free
Goods vehicles will be off Vidyasagar Setu—the second Hooghly bridge—for eight months to facilitate repair of the cable-stayed structure. Some of the cables and bearings of the bridge will be replaced as part of the repair job, the first such overhaul since it was inaugurated on October 10, 1992. There are three lanes on each of the two flanks of the bridge, one for Howrah-bound vehicles and the other for the ones travelling towards Kolkata. Spanning 823 m, Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable-stayed bridge in India. Engineers from two companies—Freeman Fox and Partners and Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited—supervised the construction of the bridge.
Pranab Mondal
Our correspondent in West Bengal
pranabm@newindianexpress.com