Presidency Mentor Group should be dissolved: Sugata Bose

Kolkata: Eminent poet and alumnus of Presidency University Sankha Ghosh on Saturday lashed out against the university authorities particularly in the wake of a good number of vacant seats in the varsity while Presidency Mentor Group chairman Sugata Bose recommended to the state government to dissolve it by this year.

"It is unbelievable that some students are lacking the urge to seek admission in Presidency. The lamentations that have been doing the rounds about it surely has some meaning," the Jnanpith award winning poet in his address commemorating the end of bicentenary celebration of Presidency University. The programme was organised jointly by Presidency Alumni Association and Presidency University.

"Taking responsibility of something and carrying it out properly are not the same things. Having power and showing off that power are not the same thing," Ghosh said in an apparent criticism of the role of the varsity authorities.

Presidency Mentor Group chairman Sugata Bose said he has requested Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to dissolve the group as it has served its purpose. "The Governing Board of the Presidency has already started working along with other statutory bodies. The Governing Body is the highest decision making body in the varsity and the Mentor Group can only advise and recommend. We have handed over a detailed report to the Chief Minister where we have provided a long-term vision for the path of progress for Presidency. We have played our role in the transformation of Presidency from College to University so we feel that we have served the purpose with which the Mentor Group was constituted," Bose said.

However, he reiterated that the Mentor Group has recommended that the Governing Body should have eminent educationists as the university still requires good advice in its way forward. The Mentor Group has further stated in its report that the university should have a sensible security and it should not be a "fortress". It should encourage free thinking.

It may be mentioned that the Mentor Group was formed by Mamata Banerjee in 2011 and was chartered to provide recommendations and a roadmap to establishing Presidency University as a pre-eminent institution of learning.

"We have also suggested while there are 2-3 heritage aspects involving sentiments of all stakeholders of Presidency, it is also very important that we should choose what to retain and what to discard," he said adding that the main building — Baker building of the 200-year-old institution — has been beautifully renovated keeping the heritage angle in mind. About the students' agitation surrounding the closure of Eden Hindu Hostel for renovation, Bose added: "After inspecting the building, we had submitted in our report that it was in squalid condition without minimum hygiene facilities and I hope that once renovated, it will have the best facilities and heritage will be preserved in its entirety."