The inordinate delay in completing the buildings to house the various departments in the main campus of the Central University of Karnataka (CUK) at Kadaganchi in Aland taluk, Kalaburagi district, has hampered the functioning of the university and put on hold its plans to start new departments.
All the buildings sanctioned in phases I, II and III of the project to RITES, the contractor, should have been completed way back in 2012. But so far, only seven of the 23 buildings have been completed. And all the 19 departments are sharing the space available in those seven buildings now. During the current academic year, two new departments — History and Linguistics — were started.
The university does not have a full-fledged building to house a library and the new library is just nearing its completion now. The campus also doesn’t have a full-fledged auditorium (a multi-utility building consisting of an auditorium, indoor stadium and other facilities has been sanctioned now). The contractor has had to pay a whopping Rs. 43 crore as penalty and interest for the delay.
Three of 16 ready
The good news is that the construction of all the remaining buildings has picked up in the past one year. Three of the remaining 16 buildings are ready for occupation, with the other 13 at various stages of completion.
Vice-Chancellor H.M. Maheshwaraiah, who took charge a year ago, told The Hindu that the contractor has promised to ready all the buildings by March next year. “If all the buildings are available as assured, I will be in a position to start all the new courses as planned and get permission from the UGC (University Grants Commission) for starting a few more courses,” he said.
Renting hostels
Prof. Maheshwaraiah said that owing to the shortage of hostel buildings, the university was being forced to take on rent private spaces outside the campus for housing both male and female students.
“We hope to solve this problem shortly with the completion of the pre-fabricated hostel buildings for both male and female students, the two Other Backward Class hostels with a sanctioned strength of 100 each (at a cost of Rs. 5.4 crore), and another hostel sanctioned by HKRDB (Hyderabad Karnataka Region Development Board) at a cost of Rs. 6 crore,” the V-C said.
