SAMBALPUR: Students and authorities of Gangadhar Meher University (GMU) are a disgruntled lot as the newly constructed auditorium requires repair work even though it was inaugurated just a few weeks back.
The 1,200-seat auditorium was developed over an area of 20,611 sq ft at a cost of Rs 10.50 crore with funds from the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC). Though the foundation stone was laid in 2017, work on the project began much later in May 2019.
The initial target for project completion was set to 18 months but work on the building got over in June this year after an inordinate delay of four years. It was inaugurated on July 14. However, a few days after its inauguration, several quality issues began cropping up. While the roof panels started falling off, the plaster of the building also began peeling off both in the interior as well as exterior walls of the building. Moreover, seepage was also found all around the building and the paver block path around turned uneven.
Student leader Chuman Pradhan attributed the reason to hurried completion and substandard quality of work. “We noticed the faults in construction just a day before the auditorium’s inauguration and apprised the Public Works Department (PWD) officials of the same. While they promised to repair it, the situation worsened and many things started falling apart. Now water is seeping through the walls during rains,” he rued.
UC Pati, deputy registrar of GMU said a technical committee has been formed to inquire into the issue. “After the committee pointed out a few issues, we sent a letter to the PWD asking to carry out repair works at the earliest. While repair works are underway, the auditorium is currently not being used for any purpose,” he added. Executive engineer, PWD-II, Ashok Lenka said repair works are almost complete. “It is in the testing stage now. We will most likely hand over the auditorium by next week,” he informed.