: Just five months away from celebrating its centenary year in April next, Osmania University (OU) is bereft of funds for its ambitious event.
Plans look grandiose, but so far the OU authorities have failed to raise a single rupee for the celebrations and even the government support it was expecting has not come so far. The OU is expecting Rs. 400 crore from the Telangana government as financial support for its various activities and developmental works and also plans to raise funds from its alumni and the corporates.
“We have submitted reports to the government seeking Rs. 412 crore after consultations with Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari and senior officials. The final call will be taken by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao soon,” said H. Venkateshwarlu, Special Officer, Centenary Celebrations. “The HRD Ministry has also been requested to contribute Rs. 100 crore but we are yet to hear from them.”
Apart from creating new infrastructure, the varsity has drawn up a variety of programmes with seminars, souvenirs, alumni meets and so on. “We expect President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be part of the three-day celebrations from April 26 to 28,” Prof. Venkateshwarlu explained.
No funds yet
Senior teachers, reluctant to be quoted, however say that nothing has moved so far except constituting committees, which are more of academic in nature than working on the ground. “So far, the alumni has not been contacted for raising funds, which the varsity was expecting to be substantial given lakhs of its alumni spread across the world. It will take at least a year for the process of extracting money from them but it is yet to take off though the celebrations will begin in just five months,” a senior professor said.
Prof. Venkateshwarlu explained that a payment gateway is being readied to be linked to the OU website through which alumni can contribute.
“We are also planning to visit US soon to meet the alumni personally.” But senior teachers say the job is not so easy and earlier experiences by OU College of Engineering to raise money from its alumni have not yielded the desired results. “Mere sentiment will not work and some hard PR work has to be done,” is their argument.
Celebrations of such magnitude need preparation and by this time things should have been halfway through, argues another senior professor. Another fear is the non-cooperation from a section of students opposing the government, they say and recall how the 75-year celebrations in 1993 were almost a farce with the then ruling Congress leaders dominating the show.
