(By: Yogesh K Upadhyaya)
Introduction
The IT-BHU alumni association is only few years old. Thanks to the advent of internet in mid-nineties, our alumni across the world started communicating with each other. Within this short span, the alumni association or individuals/groups of alumni have successfully completed some of the projects to improve the infrastructure at our campus.
Some of the efforts were by individuals, such as for construction of IT Guest House and IT Girls’ Hostel. Rest were planned by the alumni organization and lead/financed by individuals. The projects listed below show only some of the high-profile projects. There are other projects such as Lecture Hall, LCD Projector, Model Development Center, etc. which have helped the students’ community, but are not discussed here.
Wi-Fi internet project
(Photo by: Praharsh Sharma)
The project was undertaken to create wireless internet facility for nine boys’ hostels and a girls’ hostel. The project was completed towards the end of 2006. This project had the most cost-benefit impact (permanent facility created for students/amount spent) among all the projects.
The total project cost was about Rs. 27 lakhs ($60K) approx. The funds were collected by appointing volunteers across the globe as fund collectors. The project was initiated by the alumni association and was planned and executed by Ujj Nath (Metallurgy 1979). About 80% of the funding came from just four mega-donors (donating $10K or more): Ujj Nath; Soumyo Sarkar (Mechanical 1979) Nikesh Arora (Electrical 1989) and Rahul Shukla (Electrical 1989).
With the completion of the project, the students are able to surf internet, work on their homework assignment, etc. by staying within their dorms. Earlier they had to queue up for the departmental facility or had to go to cybercafé outside university.
Gandhi Technology Alumni Centre (IT Guest House)
The project was funded by our alumnus Mr. Ramesh C. Mody (Mechanical 1955), who is based in California. The total cost of Rs. Two crores was funded by his trust, “Gandhi Remembered” Foundation, Florida. The guest house was inaugurated in April 2006.
The guest house has 22 double-seated rooms. It is open to all the alumni, including BHU alumni, visiting professors, guests for IT festivals, etc. The rooms are equipped with modern bathrooms, air-conditioner/heating for the room, geysers, microwave, etc. The guest house has a dining hall, available taxi (on call) service and round-the-clock security.
Construction is going on for adding another floor with 20 additional rooms and a meeting room. With this guest house, the alumni can stay closer to their alma-mater and pay very reasonable charges compared to outside hotels.
Digital Library and Library Automation Project
The project was undertaken to provide online access to various books and periodicals in the IT library. The project was divided into two parts: Digital Library project and Library Automation project. After completion of Digital Library project by end of 2004, the Library Automation project was inaugurated in May 2005. The project was undertaken jointly by alumni association, students and the IT library; with Jagadish Bandhole (CSE 1995) as the main sponsor. Out of total cost of approximate $20K, over 90% was funded by the main sponsor.
A Digital Library is simply an online library section that gets added to the paper and books library that we have. The Digital Library section consists of a group of "client" computers and a "information server" that stores a lot of data locally on-site. All the systems are connected to both the Internet and to any internal department wired LANs, department Wireless LANs and student Hostel LANs (i.e., is easily accessible everywhere in ITBHU). This section also has an access to local printers and a copier for students to print out publications and make copies. The Digital Library consists of online subscription-based access to leading digital libraries, scientific publications and journals available on the web.
The Automated Library process provides access to the faculty, staff and students to access the digital library. Towards that end the organisation has donated the ten computers, one wireless access point, and two barcode scanners.
With the completion of the project, the students are able to access books and journal online remotely. They can also search difficult to get information from online journal. It also eliminates the wait for a book to be returned by someone who borrowed it.
IT Girl’s Hostel internet project
The project was initiated by the Class of 1979, led by Ujj Nath (Metallurgy 1979) and Pramod Joshi (Electronics 1979). It provided wired internet for each room of the IT Girls’ hostel. The project was completed in February 2004.
The project was immensely beneficial to girls as they could use the computers in their rooms, without the need to go out in late evenings.
(Photo by: Poorva Agarwal)
Gandhi Smriti Girls’ Hostel project (IT Girls’ Hostel)
The project was funded by Mr. Suresh C. Mody (Brother of Ramesh C. Mody, Mechanical 1955), who is based in California. The total cost of Rs. One crore was funded by his trust, “Gandhi Remembered” Foundation, Florida.
The initial construction phase was completed by June 2002. Subsequently, more rooms were added. There are 84 rooms in all, each room being a double-seater. Thus the hostel can accommodate about 170 girls right now. The hostel also has a well equipped gym room, common room, mess and a computer room.