Nine months on, NU campus yet to get Internet connection

Updated on: Tuesday, March 15, 2011

When vice chancellor Vilas Sapkal took over on December 22, he announced that his focus would be on using information technology and communication engineering (ICTE) to improve the situation. Two-and-a-half months down the line, conditions have failed to improve.

Nine months ago, thousand of students pursuing various courses in Nagpur University campus were shut off from the world when the Internet facility conked off. Deans, HoDs, lecturers and non-teaching staff in the 30 departments of the campus have been without Internet connectivity since then. Students and lecturers said that even the Internet facility in the library was disconnected when NU failed to pay the dues.

Ironically, NU had spent crores to set up VSAT and other facilities for net connectivity. However, the Internet facility conked out in May last year due to a technical snag. TOI had highlighted the issue on July 9 and again on December 7 last year but NU bosses just gave fake assurances to students.

Interestingly, NU has continued charging Rs 50 each from over four lakh students in the fees every year for offering Internet facilities.

Sapkal was not contacted for his comments on this issue in view of his own gag orders for university staff, which direct all questions to the PRO office. However, PRO Sanjay Bahekar as usual refused to comment, saying that he would have to first get information from his superiors. In fact, some answers to earlier queries delivered through written statements and e-mails to the PRO office have not been received till date.

After TOI exposed NU apathy in its first article, tenders were issued for installing routers and everything was finalised. But the project was delayed as the expenditure for it was not mentioned in the budgetary allocation.

In this chaos, students, especially those associated with research activities, have been severely affected. Those studying in departments of physics, chemistry, computer science, and pharmacy are the worst sufferers, as they have to move to nearby Internet cafes and pay from their pocket to use the facility.

"The university should immediately refund all the money collected from students in the name of Internet facility," a student said.

HoDs and lecturers are also facing severe problems in official communication like checking mails or circulars uploaded by NU on the website. They have to either take help of nearby Internet cafes or check them at home, leading to delay in implementation of many directions.

Students also said that even the antivirus protection in the university computers had expired long back and no efforts were made to renew them. "The NU is still living in the 18th century whereas the world is in the 21st," a senior lecturer remarked, adding that it was surprising NU was awarded even grade 'B' by the NAAC.

Nine months on, NU campus yet to get Internet connection

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