When Punjab Engineering College shifted from Roorkee to Chandigarh

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 16

In 1953, when Punjab Engineering College (PEC) shifted from Roorkee to Chandigarh, GR Kalra, former chief engineer of the Punjab Irrigation Department, was pursuing his third year at the institute.

Also read: 

PEC should mentor varsities: President Ram Nath Kovind

For PEC, it’s been a wonderful 100-yr journey

A witness to the historic transition, 89-year-old Kalra’s overwhelming tribute to his alma mater is the one that starts with the Partition. “We had moved from Pakistan to India and were battling financial blows. While I wanted to work and support my family, my parents wanted me to study. Such was the reputation of PEC that my mother sold her jewellery to fund my education there,” he says. “I had topped in BA with mathemetics (Hons.) at the Doaba College, Jalandhar, and was awarded a scholarship of Rs 30 or Rs 50 too. I wanted to fund my own education, but the scholarship money wasn’t sufficient to study at PEC,” he remembers. Those days, he says, the tuition fee at the college was Rs 25 and the mess fee Rs 100. “In 1951, I had enrolled at DAV College in Jalandhar for a masters course in maths but I shifted to PEC a couple months later, after my mother coaxed me to study there,” he shares.

“In Roorkee, PEC shared its campus with Thomson College of Civil Engineering (now IIT-Roorkee). Then PEC had only about 120 students, most of them were studying civil engineering. In our batch, there were 40 students, 20 in civil engineering and 10 each in mechanical and electrical engineering. There were only three courses of engineering back then,” he says.

Among the first PEC batch to shift to Chandigarh, Kalra says it was a delight to move about in the city. “We had only one hostel then. It was called the Shivalik Hostel. There was a cubicle for each student. In Roorkee, two students had to share one room. There, we would not go for outing, but in Chandigarh we did. I remember going to Mountview Hotel,” He recalls.

Among many of his batchmates, Kalra fondly remembers SS Virdi, former chief engineer-cum-secretary; IK Sanan, former chief engineer, Public Health; and KM Sharan, former member of the railway board. “The discipline at the college and its selection process was such that only the brightest minds got through. Everyone in our batch was well-placed. In fact, most of us didn’t go for training in the fourth year and instead landed jobs at Central Water and Power Commission in Delhi. That was our training. I only hope PEC is made an IIT too. It only deserves that status,” he signs off.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.