SAMBALPUR: Amid the search for a separate campus for Gangadhar Meher Higher Secondary School (GMHSS), a fresh proposal has now been initiated to allot a plot of land located behind the staff quarters of Gangadhar Meher University (GMU).
For over 11 years, efforts have been underway at various levels to secure independent land to establish a permanent campus for GMHSS, also called the GM Junior College, which currently functions from a corner of the GMU campus. Although the district administration had earlier agreed to allot around 2.5 acre of land at Professor Colony in Shanti Nagar area, the proposal reportedly fell through. Subsequently, the process to approve an alternative plot behind the GMU staff quarters has been set in motion, said official sources
The GMHSS has a sanctioned intake of 1,120 seats across Arts, Science and Commerce streams, while the total student strength is around 2,500 including the vocational courses. However, the junior college remains completely dependent on GMU infrastructure for classrooms and other facilities. After GMHSS was separated from the erstwhile GM College in 1998, offices including that of the principal were set up. But classrooms continued to operate from GM College building.
In the meantime, GMU expanded significantly, now running 28 undergraduate programmes, 26 postgraduate departments, 23 PhD courses along with IT skill centres and e-resource hubs, catering to nearly 6,500 students. This has resulted in acute infrastructure pressure, affecting both the university and GMHSS.
The problem becomes most pronounced during examinations. Last year, GMHSS had to use CSB Zilla School in the city as a second examination centre, disrupting regular academic activities there as well. With the Plus Two examinations scheduled to begin in about 45 days, similar challenges are feared.
At present, a maximum of 11 classrooms in the GMU building are earmarked for GMHSS, but the junior college still lacks advanced science laboratories, a dedicated library, and separate common rooms for boys and girls.
Former vice-principal of GM Autonomous College Kamadev Sahu said the absence of a separate building was adversely impacting both GMHSS and GMU. In 2014, a high-level meeting in the presence of the then Higher Education minister had proposed allotment of Professor Colony land to the junior college, but the decision never materialised.
Former student union convener Sanjeeb Mishra said after the intervention of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently, a fresh process to allot alternative GMU land has begun. Pradhan has assured that funds for building construction would not be a constraint once land is finalised, he added.
GMHSS principal Nirmal Chandra Kuldeep said a formal request has been made for the land behind the GMU staff quarters. Deputy registrar of GMU Uma Charan Pati said the university is ready to provide land and the final decision and procedural clearances rest with the administration.