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NRI gifts college to Panjab university
Chandigarh | February 02, 2006 8:15:06 PM IST


A former constable of the Punjab Police, who went on to become a millionaire in the United States, has gifted a technical college, complete with building and full infrastructure, to the Panjab University.
Lajpat Rai Munger, who hails from Bajwara village in Hoshiarpur district, gave away Rs.200 million ($4.5 million) campus spread over 11 acres to the university Wednesday.

The college in the village, in which the university will start various engineering courses, was built about five years ago as a goodwill gesture towards his home state.

The millionaire farmer from California has a turnover of $300 million a year. He migrated to the US in the 1960s after having served the Punjab Police as a constable.

For five years, Munger struggled with government bureaucracy. He alleged that technical education department officials demanded bribes to sanction the engineering courses. Pleas that he was opening the college for the benefit of Punjabi youth fell on deaf years.

Finally, Munger approached university vice chancellor K.N. Pathak and decided last month to gift the college to Panjab University, under whose academic jurisdiction the area falls.

The new engineering courses, including computer sciences, will start from the next academic session in July, university officials said.


(IANS)


NRI donates IT institute to Punjab Univ

Mansi Tiwari
CNN-IBN
Updated 2035 hrs IST (+GMT 5:30), 07.01.06 Email Print


Punjab: Cynics say NRIs don't contribute much to the country's growth but Lajpat Rai Munger from Punjab certainly doesn't fall into that category.


He is donating a computer institute and land worth Rs 20 crore to the Punjab University.


Lajpat Rai Munger, a former constable with the Punjab Police left for the US looking for a better future. He made most of the opportunities he got there and today his family owns pistachio and blueberry farms in California that give him more than $30 million annually.


In the year 2000, he came to India and set up an Information and Technology institute at Bajwara Hoshiarpur in collaboration with the California State University.

Five years later, Lajpat Rai feels he is a misfit in India. The level of corruption here has disappointed him. Rai is donating the institute to Punjab University.


Lajpat Rai Munger says, "I wanted to develop the area around my village for the benefit of the people but here only scheming and crooked people succeed. There is corruption everywhere and that’s why I failed."


Syndicate Member Punjab University, Dr Gurdeep Kumar Sharma says, "The Society Swami Sarvanand Giri Indian Institute of Bajwara Hoshiarpur has donated a great build-up IT institute to the Punjab University."


Lajpat Rai is also donating 22 acres of land worth Rs 20 crore to the Punjab University for setting up law and nursing institutes.


Though disappointed with the way the administration has treated him, this NRI wants do his bit for his motherland.


(With Parminder Singh Bariana in Hoshiarpur)


Rags to riches: story of a man from Shaheedan
The 86-year-old returns from US to set up an IT institute
by Reeta Sharma

HE is a frail 86 years old man. But he stands erect and holds his head high. He is refusing to give in to the corrupt system in India because he had got used to the American system. He has lived in the US for the past 37 years. From a mere farm labourer he rose to own 7,000 acres in California. He and his two sons are the largest pistachios growers, individually, in the world. Besides, they are the biggest blueberry growers in California. His yearly income is above US $20 million.

Meet Lajpat Rai Munger, who was born and brought up in Nangal Shaheedan village in Hoshiarpur. He did his schooling from Bajwara and joined the police in 1938 as a constable. He was then a follower of Swami Sarvanand Gir, who imparted him moral teachings. “One day, as a Head Constable, I compromised in a murder case with the guilty. But the incident kept haunting me and I could not be at peace with myself. Finally, I went to my ‘guruji’ and confessed. He was dismayed and scolded me. He then baptised me with a ‘mantra’. Later, my being upright caused discomfort to my senior colleagues. In frustration, I resigned in 1954. And 12 years later, I left for the USA”.

Back in Hoshiarpur, he began building Swami Sarvanand Gir Institute of Information Technology (SSGI of IT) spread over 11 acres at Bajwara, 5 km from Hoshiarpur, in 1999. In less than two years, he completed a huge administration block, 24 classrooms, nine separate rooms for the faculty members, a double-storeyed library, an auditorium, 10 fully equipped laboratories, got 32 computers installed, besides having a hardware lab and a physics lab. Two hostels for 240 boys and girls. He also built quarters for gardeners, electricians, carpenters, plumbers and security guards. He also ensured that the play grounds for football, hockey, volleyball, basketball, tennis and badminton were provided. The institute cost him Rs 16 crore.

Then Lajpat Rai Munger built a hospital and a temple in the name of his ‘guru’. At this hospital, patients are provided quality medicare at a cost of Re 1 only. Everyday, the hospital receives on an average 200 patients. The monthly expenditure of the hospital runs into nearly Rs 1 lakh.

SSGI of IT got affiliation with Punjab Technical University (PTU) for the course of BCA-Bachelor of Computer Application. However, the AICTE refused approval for two courses of MCA and MBA, insisting on a fixed deposit of Rs 25 lakh for each course though its representative had inspected the ‘A’ category infrastructure. “ I had only Rs 25 lakh. My sons transferred Rs 50 lakh. I picked up the bank statement and appeared before the AICTE for the second hearing. To my horror they said ‘this money has come after the date of the application, hence it cannot be accepted’. So they gave the approval to only MCA”, he says.

PTU was not far behind. Despite SSGI of IT having the approval for the MCA course, no student was sent to this institution by the university, which holds counselling for all such institutions in the state. While 62 students are doing their BCA from SSGI of IT, the institute has a capacity for imparting IT education to 800 students.

Lajpat Rai Munger went to the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging discrimination. The court ordered PTU to make an equitable and judicious distribution of students to various institutions at the time of counselling.

Meanwhile, Lajpat Rai Munger applied for collaboration to the California State University, Fresno, USA with his SSGI of IT. He had to pay US $ 31.5 lakh. This collaboration enables the students of this institute to study for two years in Hoshiarpur and complete the rest of the education in Fresno. The first batch left for the USA in July 2003 and the second batch is scheduled to leave in December, 2003. California State University conferred on him the honorary degree of “Doctor of Humane Letters” on May 17, 2003.

Lajpat Rai Munger is all set to build a law college and a homoeopathy college on the campus. “I am also applying to the AICTE for a approving a computer engineering course at this institute”. He has bought 22 more acres for the institute. “And now, the AICTE has reduced the condition for an institute to have at least 25 acres to 10 acres. Although, I will not benefit, other institutions will have relief”, he says without any malice.


Namita Foundation (India)



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