IIT Gandhinagar felicitated its ambulance driver and other essential services staff for their relentless services

Gandhinagar: In a gesture to express a sense of gratitude and respect, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) celebrated the Republic Day 2022 by felicitating many of its essential services staff who have shown exemplary dedication to the Institute community over the years and especially during the pandemic. The Institute presented Campus Development Awards and Excellence Awards to various non-teaching staff, including ambulance driver, security supervisor, hostel caretaker, housekeeping staff, office attendant, student volunteer, counsellor, and bank staff for providing relentless services.

Mr Takhatsinh Solanki, an Ambulance Driver at the Institute was honoured with Campus Development Award for his altruistic service to the IITGN community during the pandemic. Expressing his feelings in a few words, Mr Takhatsinh said, “I did all that I could do only with the spirit of service for the Covid patients and help them reach the right medical facility at the earliest. I feel fortunate to have got this opportunity to serve the community in the time of need. Today I feel humbled and honoured to receive this award from IITGN.”

The Institute also conferred Faculty Excellence Awards to four faculty members for excellence in teaching, research, institution building, and outreach activities. Prof Umashankar Singh, Associate Professor (Biological Engineering), received the Faculty Excellence Award for Outreach Activities. Along with a group of student volunteers, Prof Singh had put-in selfless efforts and voluntary contributions in developing and managing the COVID-19 RT-PCR testing facility on campus to help the Government of Gujarat in providing timely COVID-19 testing results for general public during the second wave of the pandemic last year. Sharing his thoughts on receiving the award, Prof Singh said, “The pandemic necessitated the application of Real-time RT-PCR, a staple for us basic science molecular biologists, in public health. I am grateful that my institute trusted me with this responsibility. Our student volunteers’ efforts were pivotal to our success. It was an honour to serve the public cause and lead a team of exemplarily dedicated volunteers in the process.”

Earlier, at the flag hoisting ceremony with minimal physical gathering, Prof Amit Prashant, Officiating Director, IITGN, addressed the IITGN community and said, “Although the recent surge in pandemic has disrupted our plans to start offline classes, it has again proven that we can stand up to any challenge with our collective resilience. Our shared vision and mission to make our students not only excellent professionals but also good citizens is reflected in the success and accomplishments of our students and alumni. Let us take forward the legacy of IITGN achieved under the leadership of Prof Sudhir Jain and be the change we want to see in the world. We need to continue to evolve to attain even greater milestones.”

Most of the IITGN community members joined remotely in the live webcast of the programme on the Institute’s YouTube channel. Also, to honour and recognise students’ excellent academic performance in Semester I of 2021-22, qualified students for the Dean’s List were felicitated through an online ceremony.

Keeping the spirits high, IITGN students also unleashed their creative side, albeit on a virtual cultural platform provided by the Cultural Council of the Institute. They presented patriotic songs, dance, poetry, and shared paintings as a tribute to the nation, through video recordings and photographs. Some of these videos and paintings were posted on IITGN Cultural Council’s social media pages.

The sports council of IITGN conducted an exciting 5K Run through online mode with the theme of ‘Beat the Warden Challenge’ to encourage regular fitness routine and inculcate the habit of running among the community members. Any participant who can beat the timing of Hostel Warden in this 5K run will be rewarded with a prize.