Gov inaugurates 3 Centres at Pantvarsity
By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Pantnagar, 4 Apr: Today, three important centers in the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, namely Madhuvatika, Gaura Devi Training Centre and Devki Nandan Agrawal Student Recreation Centre, were inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Governor Lt General Gurmit Singh in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Dr Manmohan Singh Chauhan, District Magistrate, Udham Singh Nagar, Nitin Bhadoria, and other dignitaries. Thereafter, at a programme organised in the Ratan Singh Auditorium, the Chief Guest addressed the officials, faculty members and students of the University.
On this occasion, Dr Sham Sundar Goyal, a student of the 1960 batch of the Agricultural College of the University, was present as a special guest.
During his address, the Governor said that Pantnagar University is making progress in every field and, with the establishment of these new centres, students will get practical experience along with academic knowledge. He congratulated the Vice Chancellor and all the faculty members, students and staff of the University on the University getting 209th rank in the QS World Rankings this year and said that a quantum jump of more than 100 places from last year’s rank of 311 is a very significant achievement. He said that Gaura Devi Training Centre, Madhuvatika and Devki Nandan Agrawal Student Recreation Centre would prove to be a milestone in the overall development journey of the University. He particularly emphasised that the Devki Nandan Agrawal Student Recreation Centre would provide students an opportunity for cordial interaction along with academic and research work.
The Chief Guest expressed his gratitude to Dr Sham Sundar Goyal who established the Devki Nandan Agrawal Student Recreation Centre in the name of his father with a fund of Rs 1 crore and travelled from California along with his family to handover the premises to the University. He expected that this exemplary tradition should be adopted by other alumni of the University.
Throwing light on the usefulness of Madhuvatika, the Chief Guest said that this centre would give a new direction in the field of beekeeping and honey production, which would benefit the farmers. At present, the production of honey in Uttarakhand is three thousand metric tons, which would also help in achieving the target of increasing it to sixty thousand metric tons. Throwing light on the usefulness of the establishment of Gaura Devi Training Centre, he said that this would make women self-reliant by training them in various skills. He said that the University has always given priority to women empowerment, and this centre would open new opportunities of self-employment and entrepreneurship for women. Along with this, in the last Kisan Mela organised by the University, Preeti Bhandari earned about Rs 10,000 by value addition in mushroom and ShriAnna. He praised her for earning Rs 10 lakhs and also suggested other women to increase their income by adopting entrepreneurship.
While welcoming the Governor, Vice-Chancellor Dr Manmohan Singh Chauhan said that the university has made unprecedented achievements in the field of products, technical development, patents and publications and this will continue to be achieved with the cooperation of all.
Special guest Dr Sham Sunder Goyal expressed his happiness at the inauguration of the Student Recreation Centre by the Governor and said that his dream of thirty years had come true today. He said, “Whatever I am today is because of Pantnagar University. I hope that the students will consider this centre as their own and come here and increase mutual coordination and exchange of ideas.” Dr Goyal thanked the Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr SN Maurya of the 1960 batch, Dr Deepa Vinay, Registrar, and others for their cooperation in the inauguration of this centre.
On this occasion, the Vice-Chancellor and Dr Sham Sunder Goyal jointly signed the gift deed and various publications were released by the Chief Guest and Jai Gopal Singh Earthworm was presented to two farmer women. At the end of the programme, Registrar Dr Deepa Vinay thanked everyone.
Later during an interaction, the Governor suggested to all the Deans and Directors of the University to achieve the objectives of the University with team spirit.
