The President of the Students’ Union – Satyansh Rai, sat down to talk to the English Press Club about the work done by him this semester and the progress that has been made on his manifesto points.

He mentioned that his tenure as President was initially quite difficult. Due to the fee protests in May, the Institute was unwilling to back any new student initiatives. The SU worked on improving their relationship with the Institute, and eventually managed to convince them to bring back the ID card facility. This frayed dynamic also presented difficulties in getting new ideas for Oasis approved.

Satyansh explained that any manifesto point takes at least 6-8 months to go from the discussion to implementation phase, and has to be agreed upon by the Director, SWD, SU and the third party before it can go forward.

He also stated that the Jawed Habib salon will be inaugurated beside the SAC Amphitheatre in the first week of January.

Moving on to his manifesto:

Smart Campus Initiative

The initiative aims to integrate all academic facilities, cab bookings, transaction details etc into one app. Presently, DVM is working on incorporating pre-ordering facilities (for Looters and FoodKing) into the app, and this feature will be launched in January. The other features will take more time and will probably be introduced by the end of next semester. He also mentioned that DVM was preferred as a developer because their team will remain the same for the coming four years, whereas the SU technical team changes every year.

Apollo Healthcare Facility

The addition of a 24*7 supervised emergency facility with modern healthcare equipment and teleconsultation specialists was his next manifesto point. He explained that the Institute, instead of commercializing the medical facilities with a private company, has agreed to have an always-operational facility for off-hour emergencies. He stated that instead of having this separately, the Medical Centre will have a medical practitioner present at all times for off-hour needs and the MedC equipment will be upgraded by the end of this year.

Jio Digital Campus Program

This includes setting up of Wi-Fi infrastructure throughout campus and an improved cellular network for Jio users. Satyansh stated that instead of going ahead with the Jio plan, the Institute Wi-Fi will be extended to the Library and SAC by January. It will be expanded to other locations by the end of next semester.

Improving the Academic Environment on campus

This includes making the library operational 24*7. Satyansh said that this issue has been discussed with the Librarian, who was in favour of the idea. Five extra employees will be appointed so that the library staff can work in two shifts. The final approval from the Director is still pending, but Satyansh expects the timings to be extended by the end of next semester. Another issue under this manifesto point stated that coaching for GRE, CAT, and other examinations will be started on-campus. Satyansh mentioned that they’re working with TIME (a coaching Institute), to organize weekly coaching sessions. This concept will be pitched to the Institute soon, and Satyansh is positive that it’ll be approved, as coaching classes have been held on campus in the past.

Ola E-Rickshaw initiative

This point mentioned that Ola E-rickshaws will be introduced to the campus, with standard rates and real time-tracking. Satyansh said he has not worked on this, and no deadlines can be given at this point in time.

Installation of vending machines in hostels

Satyansh explained that this initiative has already been sanctioned by the Institute. The SU is working with Vendiman, the company which installed vending machines in the Hyderabad campus. Vendiman has procured a warehouse near the campus for holding reserves for the vending machines. The same company is also installing sanitary pad dispensers in the Library and LTC, another point listed in the manifesto.

Upgrading various hostel facilities

This point included installation of motion sensors in the washrooms and insulation of water tanks. These facilities will be brought in as the hostels get renovated, and they have already been installed in Mal-A, VK and Krishna. The water tanks in Ram and Budh will be insulated first and based on the feedback, it’ll be expanded to other hostels. Insulation isn’t required in the new hostels, which have pre-insulated tanks.

Students’ Union Store

Satyansh mentioned that there will be an exclusive store with SU calendars, notebooks and other products, as well as mess signings for these items. The store will be set up when there are more products to be sold than just clothing. An inventory room has already been allocated for the same.

Amul booth near Gym-G

Another major point in the manifesto was the setting up of an Amul booth near Gym-G. Satyansh explained that this initiative has taken longer than he expected. Although most of the work was done, the final contract couldn’t be signed due to the changing of the administration in August. The final contract has to be signed by the Registrar after being forwarded by SWD, Dean Administration and getting the Director’s approval. He mentioned that he is in direct contact with the Director for this issue, and is hopeful that it can be implemented in January.

ID Card facility in S9

Satyansh stated that he originally wanted to implement this simultaneously with the resumption of the ID card payment facility. He said that he will take this issue up at the end of his tenure because he doesn’t want to oppose the Director.

Miscellaneous

Among his miscellaneous points was the Visitors’ washroom near ANC, Satyansh stated that a new washroom will be constructed near VFAST and that 2 lakh rupees have been allotted for this by the EMU. The EMU has promised that construction will begin by the middle of next semester. The next point was a passport camp, which will be held at the end of January. Another miscellaneous point was the installation of sanitary pad dispensers and incinerators in the Library and LTC, which will be installed by the same company that’s handling the vending machine installation.

Satyansh declared that he’s positive that apart from the Ola E-rickshaw initiative, most of his manifesto will be completed within his tenure. He explained that this semester was mostly filled with discussion and planning for each point with the administration, and doing this has given him a clear picture of the scope of implementation for each initiative.