Three PU depts get Rs4.67-crore grant

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 17

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has sanctioned Rs 4.67 crore grant to Panjab University under the Improvement of Science & Technology (FIST) Infrastructure programme.

Prof Savita Gupta, chairperson, UIET, said an amount of Rs 3 crore had been sanctioned to the Mechanical Engineering Department of the UIET for a period of five years for the first time for setting up of the state-of-the-art Centre for Biomechanical Engineering and Medical Devices.

The Mechanical Engineering Department is among the 16 engineering institutes that have been selected under the scheme. The proposal went through a rigorous screening and selection process over a period of six months. The core team from the department, which conceived and presented the proposal, comprised Dr Prashant Jindal, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Dr Amit Thakur, Prof Manu Sharma, Prof AP Singh and Dr Amit Chauhan.

This project will benefit the institute and the university immensely with the upgrade of infrastructure and facilities related to high-end manufacturing, software modelling and material designing. Undergraduate, postgraduate students and research scholars across various engineering disciplines will use these facilities to upgrade their employability skills.

Similarly, the Department of Botany has been granted Rs 80 lakh for five years under the said scheme to strengthen the research facilities in the department and post-graduate teachings, said Prof Daizy Rani Batish, chairperson of the department. She said the funds would be used for improvement of infrastructure and purchase of new and advanced equipment for research labs.

The Department of Mathematics also received a grant of Rs 87 lakh for five years to strengthen the research facilities in the department. An amount of Rs 50 lakh will be spent on equipment and networking for the labs and Rs 30 lakh on library books/journals and Rs 7 lakh on maintenance.