Odisha: Staff shortage ails 75-year-old college

BHUBANESWAR: The Rajendra Autonomous College , which was recently upgraded into a university, is grappling with the shortage of teachers, encroachment issues , lack of infrastructure and basic amenities .

Official sources said the college has about 33 teachers against the sanctioned strength of 76. It cannot introduce new courses owing to the lack of teachers.

The 75-year-old college is struggling to carry out even its administrative works because 50% of the posts (of the total 102) of non-teaching staff are lying vacant, they added.

The sources further said rampant encroachment of land was another major issue facing the college. "We had heard that the founder of the college, former chief minister and the ruler of erstwhile Patna Rajendra Narayan Singhdeo, had provided a large area for the college. But we found only 69 acres of land for the college in 2002. Now it has come down to about 40 acres of land. A huge chunk of college land has been encroached upon," BK Jena, principal of the college, said.

He added that the record of the rights of the land is not in the name of the college. "Tackling the encroachment issue is a major challenge for us and the government. The road leading to the college is also encroached upon by locals, especially vendors and shopkeepers."

The college needs a large parcel of land as it has been upgraded into an affiliated university. The university will need a big administrative block with academic buildings, research laboratories, staff quarters and hostels and playground for inter-college or inter-university sports tournaments.

"The college has around 3,500 students along with 6,500 students from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Odisha State Open University (OSOU). But it doesn't have enough toilets for the students. Common rooms for boys and girls are needed for the college. The staff quarters are in a dilapidated condition," a reader of the college said.

However, principal Jena said he has informed the higher education department about some of the issues plaguing the college. "I will request the department to resolve the other issues as well. I hope most of the problems will be solved after it becomes a university," he added.

The college was established on July 3, 1944 and was affiliated to Utkal University with intermediate Arts and Commerce. It came under Sambalpur University in 1967. Now the state government has upgraded it to Rajendra University that will have affiliating jurisdiction over 65 colleges of Balangir and Subarnapur districts. The Academic activities of the new university will commence from June 1, 2020.

The college, which has produced many reputed personalities including present chief secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, will celebrate its platinum jubilee on December 27. An alumni association has been formed to organize the celebrations. Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu is scheduled to inauguarate the function.

(With inputs from Avinash Mohanty of Balangir)