Engineering college inaugurated at Arani

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy inaugurated Anna University Engineering College – Arani on its temporary campus in Sathya Vijaya Nagaram (S.V. Nagaram) Palace on Saturday.

In his inaugural address Mr. Ponmudy said that southern districts have educationally developed long time ago, since Christian missionaries had started a lot of educational institutions in southern part of the State much early. . “ Now, northern districts have also started developing. To alleviate this underdevelopment, Chief Minister has cleared setting up of three engineering colleges at Tindivanam, Villupuram and Panruti. “A Central government polytechnic will come up in Vellore next year and a Central government arts college will start functioning in Tiruvannamalai district from next year. A sum of Rs. 8 crore has been allotted for this arts college. The two institutions are meant for the underdeveloped regions” Mr. Ponmudy said.

He urged teachers to stay abreast of latest developments in their own branch of study. He exhorted the teachers to develop the habit of reading and contributing to internationally acclaimed journals in their subjects. “The standard of the students will grow only when the teachers’ standards grow,” he said.

Food Minister E.V. Velu, in his presidential address, recalled the efforts taken by him to bring the engineering college to Tiruvannamalai district.

Higher Education Secretary K. Ganesan said, “There were only two or three engineering colleges in the State before Independence. Between 1947 and 2006, only six engineering colleges were added to this count. Ever since the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came to power in 2006, as many as 11 new engineering colleges were started”.

M. Krishnaswamy, Arani MP, in his keynote address, urged the government to take over erring self-financing engineering colleges. He also demanded the government to start a medical college in Tiruvannamalai district.

Anna University-Chennai Vice-Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar delivered welcome address.

M. Rajendran, Collector, and R. Sivanandham, Arani MLA, spoke. Principal (in-charge) of the new college G. Senthilkumar thanked the gathering.

Mr. Jawahar told The Hindu that a permanentcampus for the new engineering college would be constructed at a cost of Rs. 20 crore on a 25-acre available in Thatchur near Arani.

“The construction is likely to be completed in nine months and the college will start functioning on the new campus from next academic year,” he said.

Mr. Senthikumar said that 240 students have joined the new college, which has four branches of engineering such as EEE, ECE, Mechanical and Computer Science.