Degree College Poonch requires farsighted planning being an institution of academic excellence; Long stayed Asst Professors not shifted, College ground in extremely bad condition
SALIL RAINA
(POONCH TODAY NEWS)
POONCH: Degree College Poonch has remained a premier institution of the district for several decades, is now in news over the recent issue of a space, which some people claimed it as a botanical garden cum park, where college authorities earlier decided to construct a car parking and the work on it was even started in a slapdash manner.
In this connection, college authorities earlier announced that they will construct a car parking for over fifty vehicles, but after facing some criticism on social media, the authorities cancelled their plan and started a plantation drive in the said area during the night hours to give it a look of a botanical garden, which has become a topic of the debate inside and outside of the college premises. When contacted, few staff members said that there was no botanical garden in the area, and the civil administration many times built temporary shelters for various works. Even, the said area was used for car parking many times. On the other hand, few renowned people of Poonch, when contacted, said that the said area was having a beautiful park earlier, but after the devastating earthquake of 2005, the administration built temporary shelters and many times college examinations were conducted in those shelters. Even, when a planned building was about to be constructed near historic Bagh Deodi, the Tourism department intervened and directed the college authorities not to construct any building near the heritage site. In reality, the college has become an epicenter of personal tussles, a reason best known to those who are part of this. If the college has a majority of positive points, then negative points also exist there. It is pertinent to mention here that this college was once extremely beautiful naturally and over the years, many projects were taken in hand by college authorities to further beautify the campus. Now, whether the taxpayer’s money has been used in a proper way or an unplanned way, it’s the responsibility of the government to find the true picture, because, over the years, reportedly many unplanned projects were also taken into hands which failed to reach their final destination. The indoor hall constructed by Army under Operation Sadhbhawana which was handed over to college authorities years ago, is lying in bad condition, but college authorities never made an effort to renovate the hall. In addition to this, no attention was paid to degree college ground which is having a rich sports history. Just in the name of development, a land leveling work was started a few days ago, but from the technical point of view, the historic college ground is in very bad shape and it shows that college authorities have no knowledge and vision about building better sports infrastructure and facilities for students and youngsters of Poonch city who have been using college ground for various games for decades. This ground requires total and proper land leveling as per the latest technicalities for allowing youngsters to play different games. Highly placed sources in the higher education department told “POONCH TODAY” that colleges used to get sufficient grants per year, but when it comes to using those grants in a positive and visionary way, the majority of colleges of Jammu division have shown underprivileged performance and nobody was taken to task by the government ever for using those grants in a questionable manner with the involvement of few staff members. Few colleges have some financial frauds and one of the frauds committed in degree college Poonch a few years ago is still on the inquiry list of a prominent anti-graft agency of J&K UT. Sources also said that a high-level inquiry must be initiated by the government against various colleges of the Jammu division which got sufficient funds over the years for various activities and strong efforts must be made to identify whether those funds were used on the ground properly or not. UGC also needs to intervene in the matter of financial issues. One more issue which always remained in limelight and that is few teaching staff members of various colleges have many years of stay at one place and nobody in higher education department dares to shift those Assistant Professors who have completed their stay. It’s a big question mark on Commissioner/Secretary Higher Education. The most premier institution of the district has also been facing a reliability crisis for the last few years because as per the secret reports of few agencies, many tribulations also exist in the college premises, and it is not fit as per our ethical journalism to bring reports of those tribulations in the public domain, else, nobody will trust the premier institution of the district and its authorities. Such reports also exist in few other colleges of Poonch and Rajouri districts and even in few colleges of Kashmir province. Top authorities in the higher education department need to investigate, why no efforts were made from college authorities over the years to renovate the degree college ground as per the technical requirements. The college needs discipline, proper planning, and a vision for a better future and not slapdash decisions which are having the capability to invite eyebrows of a common man. Tax payers’ money should be used in the interest of the college and for future generations of students and not on fulfilling the personal agenda of a few. All-out efforts are needed from every stakeholder to bring back the lost glory of degree college Poonch. “The college has performed well over the years in different capacities and needs more practically farsighted decisions and not contentious decisions because students and the public should not be underestimated by the college authorities in negative terms,” said, a prominent educationist of the district. Few staff members of the college are doing a great job in various capacities, while those teaching staff members who have matured stay must be shifted for a change and college deserved to be an institution of excellence in studies and related activities and should not be an institution of Shero-Shayri only and issues other than academic and overall development of students. The top brass of college has performed well over the years, but on the other hand, few reportedly negative issues also need to be handled properly for raising the overall standard of the college in the eyes of a common man. College is the property of all and not anybody’s personal property.