All Assam Engineers’ Association demands demarcation of Assam Engineering College campus

GUWAHATI: The All Assam Engineers’ Association (AAEA) strongly urged that the Assam Engineering College campus should be demarcated and protected in the Jalukbari area by a strong boundary wall. The graduate engineers’ forum, while condoling the recent deaths of seven AECians in a late-night road accident, insisted that the region’s first government engineering college should have a sealed residential campus so that the hostel boarders cannot come out after the specified evening hour. “A lot of questions were raised when the fateful accident took place (killing seven and injuring six individuals, including three students along with three others) on the security aspect of the college. The question of why the entrance gates to the college were not closed during the night hours was also raised by the guardians and common citizens. But in reality, the AEC campus is not as isolated as it was a few decades ago, and it now supports a huge volume of residents who use the AEC gates round the clock,” said a statement issued by the AAEA.

Recently, a team from AAEA, including its president Kailash Sarma, working president NJ Thakuria, and secretary Inamul Hye, visited the campus and interacted with a group of boarders in Hostel-7 (which housed the seven victims). The team also discussed with the authority the unfortunate incident and other relevant issues. No doubt, the delegation witnessed a deteriorated campus with an increasing presence of public-private vehicles running on the AEC road. It was shocking to witness that large areas of AEC have been encroached upon. The entire college campus was earlier covered by the Gauhati University hills on the north and Deepor Beel on the south.NOW virtually the entire southern part of AEC supports a large number of private houses (including multi-storeyed apartments). It’s surprising how the low-lying areas (specified as the green belt adjacent to the wetland) were allowed for construction purposes by the concerned authorities, which created hazards to the college ambience, said the AAEA statement, adding that state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma should look into the matter and evict the encroachers from the AEC land.

Years ago, the AEC authority had urged the state government to build a boundary wall that would separate private residents from the college campus. The construction was proposed to start at the point near the ASEB power office (adjacent to the National Highway) and the AEC guest house touching the LP school. It would touch Tetelia Road and the backside of the principal’s office. The college authority had already approached various offices of the GMDA, GMC, DTE, and Kamrup (M) administration, among others, for possible administrative, legal, and technical measures to protect the AEC by constructing the boundary wall.

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