Sh. Vijay Kumar Dev, Adviser to the Administrator, UT Chandigarh laid the foundation stone of the Shivalik Hostel Extension Block in the presence of Sh. Som Mittal, Chairman, Board of Governors, PEC here today and Dr. Manoj K Arora, Director, PEC. Dr. Arun Grover, Vice Chancellor, Punjab University and Sh. A. K. Taneja, Member, BOG, PEC and Managing Director, Shriram Pistons and Rings were also present on the occasion.
The 2888.46 sq. m. state-of-the-art complex, will house 80 rooms each measuring 2.40m by 3.65 m and will be completed in 6 months at a cost of Rs. 4.50 crores. Each of these rooms will be occupied by one student. The new hostel block is being constructed to cater to PEC’s increased intake of students. PEC increased its student intake by 25% for each stream last year.
The modern complex will boast of large open spaces, common sitting areas and will be linked to the old block. The new complex will be eco-friendly, and solar water heating and rainwater harvesting systems are being incorporated in the design. As per the advice of Sh. Dev, the Director ensured that the opportunity to generate rooftop solar power to be sent to the grid will also be examined.
Shivalik hostel, consisting of 2 blocks with 196 rooms already has a Wi-Fi room, a common mess area, a snooker room, a club room and 2 reading rooms, one in each existing block. A new common room will also be added along with the new block.
Senior faculty members including Sh. Manish Jindal, Registrar, PEC, Dr. Sanjeev Sofat, Deputy Director, PEC, Dr. Perminderjit Singh, Dean Student Affairs, Dr. Divya Bansal, Additional DSA, Dr. Tarlochan Kaur, Head, Electrical Engineering Department, and Dr. Siby John, Head, Civil Engineering Department were also present on the occasion.
The Adviser had an informal interaction with various BOG (Board of Governors) members and senior faculty over lunch to discuss further scope for improvements. The Adviser expressed his satisfaction over the progress of various initiatives and offered further suggestions in this regard. The Director then honoured the Adviser with a Gautum Buddha and other dignitaries with shawls.
The Adviser also awarded Kirti Khade, Neha Gupta, Tanu Singla, Jeevesh Sharma and Agam Kansal, the 2015 Asia-Pacific winners of Google+ Social Media Marketing Awards. They worked with Holidify, a web based destination discovery portal under the guidance of Prof. Anju Singla, Applied Sciences Department