The alumni of Lucknow University will now help their alma mater in regaining it lost glory.
The vice -chancellor of Lucknow University, Prof. S.B. Nimse, has sought the assistance of former students for the development of the campus, particularly in financial terms.
According to university proctor Manoj Dixit, a meeting between the university officials and the alumni is expected to be held on August 31.
The magnificent campus of the university, earlier known as Canning College, has been ripped apart by lack of maintenance and misuse. Ugly modern structure have come up, spoiling the skyline of the campus and ugly iron grills and walls have been erected to save the offices form recurrent student trouble during agitations.
The university administration has invited expression of interests (EOI) for empanelment of architects for infrastructure development and preparation of master plan for future development of the campus.
Spread over 70 acres each, the university has two campuses where the development is proposed. In view of the expansion and development with time, the university has proposes to augment its infrastructure — creation of state-of-the art laboratories, auditorium, seminar hall complex, computer centre, campus roads, electrical substation and other essential utility services.
The new campus on Sitapur road has a modern architecture and houses the Institute of Management Sciences (IMS) and other MBA programs. The departments of law, tourism and renewable energy are on the new campus.
The old campus offers traditional graduation and post graduation courses.
According to Dr Dixit, the beautification process of the old campus will include surveying the entire campus including existing infrastructure- water supply, sewage line, power supply — and preparation of a master plan for university’s development along with detailed project report.
There will also be geotechnical investigations at strategic locations for future construction activities. The university will also seek detailed design, engineering, preparation or architectural and structural drawings of the buildings, sewage and drainage system and other structures. After this, the preparation of preliminary and detailed estimates based on technical specifications, approved design and drawing for specified works will be done.
Interestingly, some of the better known alumni of the Lucknow University include the late President Shankar Dayal Sharma, eminent surgeon Naresh Trehan, Justice A.S. Anand (retd), journalist Vinod Mehta, ghazal singer Rajendra Mehta and politicians like Surjit Singh Barnala, Arif Mohammad Khan, Zafar Ali Naqvi and Naresh Agarwal.