GNDU has cleanest campus among govt universities

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 4

Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) has bagged the top position among the multispecialty government universities across the country having big campuses based on a national-level competition conducted by the MHRD under Swachh Campus Ranking-2019.

Among the 400 and more public universities in the country, the GNDU campus was declared the most ‘swachh campus’ out of the multispecialty public universities having big campuses. The GNDU Registrar said overall it had been ranked 2nd in the country among all government universities with their big and small campuses put together. Last year, the university had been ranked 2nd among the cleanest higher educational institutions in the country in the category of government universities. This year, 6,900 institutions of higher education participated in the competition.

GNDU Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh Sandhu received the award from Union Minister of MHRD Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishak during an award function in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Ministry of Human Resources and Development had invited educational institutions to participate in the “Swachhata Rankings of Higher Education Institutions” where they were judged on the basis of how hygienic and ecologically responsible the campus is.

This year the parameters of hygiene had been modified to encompass certain additional features, which were essential in a dynamic environment witnessing new benchmarks covering on-campus and off-campus hygiene parameters. Assessment was based on toilets adequacy and maintenance, garbage clearance system, hostel kitchen hygiene and sophistication of equipment, water purity, storage, distribution facility, campus greenery and rainwater harvesting, use of solar systems and villages or neighbourhood adoption for hygiene.

The Swachhata Rankings of Higher Education Institutions is a significant annual exercise as part of the swachhata drive of the government. The rankings are intended to lead towards more hygienic and ecologically responsible campuses through generating healthy competition among institutions and awarding the best of them.

“GNDU has more than 12,000 students on campus and is spread over 500 acres of land as compared to the universities, which have less than 1,000 students on their campus. To create a clean and safe environment, the university has taken significant steps towards reducing carbon emissions by making a vehicle-free campus, rainwater harvesting, groundwater charging, waste water treatment, solid waste management, use of solar systems, biodiversity conservation in conservatories, glass house, screen house, net house, etc, in the botanical garden and massive tree plantation drives. I am thankful to the staff and students and administrative members of the university to have contributed towards making it clean and eco-friendly,” said VC Prof Jaspal Sandhu while accepting the award.