Madurai Kamaraj University seeks Rs 100 crore funding for green campus

MADURAI: Authorities at the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) recently submitted a proposal to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the state government seeking Rs 100 crore for green campus works and other developmental works. The proposal was submitted during the university's finance committee meeting held in Chennai in October where it suggested works on turning its 700-acre campus into a green campus with various energy-saving methods. The university has proposed to set up solar panels for all the buildings to generate power and to carry out an energy audit on conserving energy in the campus.


MKU's vice-chancellor, Kalyani Mathivanan said that they have submitted the proposals to both UGC and state government in this regard. "UGC has asked us to send the proposals and we have requested Rs 100 crore for various works, including a green campus. We will come to know how much the UGC will be sanctioning for the proposal," she said. The university has also asked the state government to provide Rs 3 crore for the green campus works


"The state government is keen to undertake developmental works in the university," she said. Along with energy conservation and production through alternative energy sources, the university has also proposed water recycling plant, drainage system and landscaping works in the campus. Recently, an expert team from Auroville in Puducherry visited the MKU campus on landscaping works, she said. "We are also planning to carry out many more developmental works inside the campus that have been not carried out for some time," she stated.

About other activities in the university, Kalyani said, "We have requested Rs 25 crore grant for the film centre courses, as the equipment required are very expensive and UGC encourages innovative courses," she mentioned. "We expect good response from the students for these courses," she added.

The university has also undertaken the review of autonomy of various schools in the campus last week. The review on the autonomy status of these schools was not carried out from 1994 onwards and the recently held review found that the schools have to work on certain areas on the autonomy status and it has been initiated, university sources said.

Source:The Times Of India