Minister for Education, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today informed that all offsite campuses of University of Jammu would be established and infrastructure facilities will be provided for the smooth functioning of these campuses.Replying to a question of Legislator Yash Pal Sharma, the Minister said that Poonch Campus of University of Jammu was approved by the University Council in 2008 and accordingly, 61 kanals and 7 marlas of land situated at Dingla Poonch was acquired by the government for establishment of the campus.Giving details, the Minister informed that the University Grants Commission (UGC) sanctioned one-time grant for infrastructure development of the campus in 2011. The total amount sanctioned for Poonch campus was Rs. 1,469.71 lakh where as Rs. 734.85 lakh was released as first time installment in January, 2012 and the work was started, he added.
The Minister informed that the status of construction work of Academic block of the campus has been completed upto slab of ground floor, whereas all slabs of girls hostel have been laid, work on portion of boundary wall of the campus have also been completed and construction work of boys hostel is suspended due to some reasons. He said the state government has sanctioned Rs. 1.37 crore for further development of the campus, which was hampered due to floods in 2014 for which first installment has been released. Legislators Pardeep Sharma, Naresh Kumar Gupta and Ashok Khajuria raised supplementaries to the main question.