Team Herald
PANJIM: With the State-run Goa Engineering College (GEC) completing 50 years of existence, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar insisted that the institution approach the Centre with a proposal to tie up with defence organisations to work out innovations and production for the sector.
“We have a pool of scientists whose expertise can be used to improve the quality of the institute. Defence ministry is already signing contracts with various institutes for knowledge exchange. GEC should put forth a proposal to the Defence Ministry to tie up with institutes like DRDO,” he said addressing a gathering of engineering students, faculty members, academicians and guests on Saturday.
He added that this would help tap the potential for innovation and use it for academic research and defence production. “Defence ministry can be very useful once academic institutions tie up with it,” he added.
Parrikar inaugurated the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of GEC that will continue for a year. The celebrations will include campus talks by experts in various fields, a trade fair to acknowledge the technical knowhow of students and staff, interaction with industry, technical seminars, workshops, batch-wise interactions, competitions, setting up of an incubation centre in the college.
Director of Technical Education and college alumnus Vivek Kamat said the institution has produced around 10,000 engineers who have excelled.
The Golden Jubilee Organizing Committee has proposed to donate a clock tower in front of the main building, open auditorium at happenings ground and library reading hall to the institution. In his Budget speech, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had earmarked a Golden Jubilee Fund of Rs 200 lakh for the college to achieve excellence.
