FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

01 October 2010

Dear Fellow Stephanians,

Greetings, yet again, from your alma mater (and mine).

I wish to thank all of you, first of all, for your boundless love for the College and your unwavering commitment to its robustness and unique heritage. It is a treasure worth cherishing and guarding!

I have good news for you!

Thanks to the Commonwealth Games and the generous support of the alumni, we have been able to improve some crucially important aspects of, and facilities on, the campus. Briefly:

1.         The library of the College has been fully air-conditioned. The College owes a huge debt of gratitude to Mr. Sunil Dev and Mr. Vijay Chibber, who raised the funds for this.

2.         Work is now underway to air condition all lecture rooms. This too is being done with the funds raised by Sunil and Vijay.

3.         All the water supply lines, corroded and choked in many places, measuring about 3 K.Ms in length, have been replaced. This has improved water supply and distribution on campus, which has been a source of much vexation to all on-campus residents –both Senior and Junior Members.

4.         Five toilet complexes have been completely renovated and tiled. Now only four more, out of the 36 when I assumed responsibility for the College, remain to be renovated.

5.         Five water purifiers cum coolers –Aquaguard brand- have been installed.

6.         Fire-fighting units -48 in all- have been set up in all blocks.

7.         All 293 rooms in residence –in 6 blocks- now have completely new furniture and furnishings! You should come and see it for yourself. May be, live on campus for a few days, for old times’ sake!

8.         Campus security has received a boost with the erection of a boundary wall –measuring 800 ft in length- between the College and the University which has remained, for years, mostly open and very vulnerable.

9.         A 40-inch LCD TV has been installed in the JCR.

10.      Mr. Rajiv Talwar has promised to supply 15 Whiteboards which will replace the antiquarian blackboards and chalks.

11.      Mrs. Hriitu Rana, the sister of an alumnus, has supplied 5,500 sq. Ft of Kota stones to help improve the campus pavements.

12.      A master plan is under preparation to renovate the total academic infrastructure in a futuristic fashion. The first part of it –the Renovation and Up-gradation of the Science Block- prepared by an Architect identified for the purpose by Mr. Sajeev Bikhchandani, will be posted on the Website soon. The rest will follow thereafter.

13.      Shri. Veerabhadra Singh, Minister for Steel, has promised help to renovate the Science Block and I shall be approaching him soon.

14.      Shri. Salman Khurshid, Minister for Minority Affairs and Corporate affairs, has initiated the process to mobilize resources for the College.

15.      A digital reader for the Blind –which reads printed text to the visually challenged, converting the printed page to the digital format- has been donated by an alumnus, Mr. Gun Dalmia. He has also instituted a scholarship worth Rs. 55000,  with need as the main criterion for award.

16.      Many more wonderful developments are in the offing! I must spare some for tomorrow.

17.      The greatest encouragement I have is the assured goodwill and spontaneous support of all Stephanians to the institution they love from the depth of their being.

I wish all of you the very best in life and invite you to come and spend a few days in College. If you choose to come and live on campus during the holidays –Autumn Break and Winder Break- we shall have no problem in accommodating you and taking care of you.  St. Stephen’s wants to share its everything with you. Come!

Ad Dei Gloriam!

Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu

Principal