By Muhammad Mudassir Alam,
After a long wait of around five years, the construction work of Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) Kishanganj Centre has started a couple of weeks ago. The construction work of boundary wall of AMU’s Special Centre at Chakla village is currently in progress but alleged hurdles waged by local suppliers of construction materials such as sand, bricks, concrete etc. somehow have affected the pace of the work.
On the other hand, the constructing firm HSCL has been alleged for irregularities and poor quality work. Being an AMU alumni hailing from Kishanganj, I thought better to pay a visit to AMU site to enquire about the irregularities reportedly happening in the construction work. Since I am associated with the movement to facilitate the process of establishment of the AMU special centre in Kishanganj from beginning, so with the curiosity to know the facts I made a visit to the construction site at Chakla village this past week.
Although I noticed the work of boundary wall has finished for length of about 1 km, but that particular day labourers were not present at the site. I met with the representative of constructing company and enquired about the progress of work. Navin Chaudhary, the supervisor of construction firm said that since the beginning of construction, local suppliers are forcing us to purchase the materials from them and even threatened for disturbing the work if their demand is not fulfilled. Despite all such threats we are carrying out the construction work and expecting to complete in next three months, mentioned Chaudhary. As the company is being alleged for carrying the poor quality work, when asked the site engineer Subhash Shaw denied such allegations and claimed they are taking proper care for maintaining good quality work.
After having discussions with constructing company representatives, I came outside the area and found a small tea stall run by a local villager just at the proposed main gate of the upcoming University campus. I enquired about the construction work with the tea-stall owner and then he described other side of the story. He said the pace of work is very slow as the construction firm has hired very few hardly 10-12 people including 7-8 labourers.
Further the tea-stall owner said the company make less payment to the labours in comparison to the actual calculation as per their agreement. Hence the labours stay hardly for one week and abandon the work in short-duration which is affecting the pace of boundary wall construction. In fact, that particular day the construction work was put on hold due to absence of labourers and there was no information available with constructing firm regarding start of work again.
Fact is that the boundary wall construction work was originally awarded to Kolkata based company HSCL (Hindustan Steelworks Construction Limited), but the company had outsourced the work to Gujarat-based infrastructure development company Dharti Industries (DI), which somehow is affecting work. However, the constructing firm must not be given enough liberty for negligence done in boundary wall construction unless the work may not complete within stipulated time as per the agreement. The AMU administration, especially AMU Kishanganj Director Dr Raashid Nehal must issue strict guidelines to constructing firm for following the terms and conditions of agreement properly.
Bottom line is that Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) main campus in Aligarh is not only known for quality education, culture, etc. but also for its exquisite architectural buildings, hence such identity shall be maintained in AMU Centre at Kishanganj as well.
Last but not the least with an appealing note, the Aligs belonging to Kishanganj, Seemanchal, Bihar and neighbouring states of West Bengal and Jharkhand, and other parts of country shall also show same affection and pay due attention for AMU Kishanganj. A visit to the AMU site at Kishanganj and giving some sort of feedback to AMU Director or concerned persons from AMU administration may make a big impact in establishing the replica of the prestigious university at north-eastern district of Bihar.
Unless the mission and vision of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan may not spread outside Aligarh and serve to its purpose of educating the people from deprived areas of the country like Kishanganj which is unfortunately known for least female literacy in India.
Disclaimer: TCN has not independently verified the claims mentioned in the article.
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(Mohammad Mudassir Alam is PRO of Central University of South Bihar and an AMU alumni hailing from Kishanganj)