JOIN USThe work on Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences’ (RGUHS) new campus at Ramanagaram will begin in phases this year starting with the administrative and office buildings, said vice-chancellor K S Ravindranath.
“All litigations have been resolved with the Supreme Court rejecting the SLP (special leave petition) in 82 cases. Although the government wanted the entire university to be shifted to the new campus at once, a phased approach would be favourable,” he said after a press conference on Saturday.
After construction of office and administrative buildings in the first phase, work will be taken up on a 750-bed hospital, then a 250-bed super speciality hospital followed by a medical college as well as dental and pharmacy institutions and staff quarters, said Ravindranath.
On October 7, 2015, RGUHS officials held a meeting with the Chief Minister to discuss the issue. “As of now, we do not have a constituent college but only affiliated colleges. In order to get a number of benefits like UGC grants, we need our own college,” Ravindranath added.
The dispute with regard to the land for the new campus has been going on since 2007. As much as 216 acres was allotted at Acharanahalli in Ramanagaram for the new campus of which 82 acres was still under litigation. According to 2007 PWD estimates, the cost of only infrastructural works was Rs 379 crore. This increased to Rs 580 crore by 2014-15.
1% grace marks
With regard to the controversy of the low pass percentage of MSc nursing students, Dr S Sachidananda, registrar (Evaluation), said 1% grace marks would be given to students who failed by a margin of 1 or 2 marks. A committee comprising deans of colleges made this decision around 2 weeks back. “There were many who failed by 1 or 2 marks. So we decided to take this decision. As a result of this, the pass percentage increased from 15 to 24,” said Sachidananda. As many as 3,000 MSc students had complained of faculty evaluation that resulted in them failing the exams.