After PM's call, PSUs flood MSU with waste bins

VADODARA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign seems to be flooding MS University (MSU) with waste bins with major public sector units (PSUs) diverting their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to support cleanliness at the campus.
Last week, two public sector players - Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited and the Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited - handed over 40 waste bins of 1,100 litre capacity to Gujarat's only English medium university.
On Tuesday, another PSU - Power Grid Corporation of India Limited - handed over 200 waste bins of 100 litres capacity which will be installed at the campus while MSU is expecting another 200 waste bins to arrive from Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited.
Before Modi's call, MSU could hardly practice the cleanliness lessons that it preached to its students for decades. Now, the more the merrier for the university, which has approached 15 other PSUs to donate in kind through their CSR funds.
"It is a fact that the present sanitary and waste collection infrastructure at our campus which is spread across 275 acres is not adequate. It is for the first time that we have received such huge donation in kind from PSUs because of PM's campaign," MSU's officer on special duty (registrar) professor Amit Dholakia said.
With the support from industries, especially PSUs pouring in, the university is now planning to take help of NGOs to help the education campus in proper disposal of waste.
"Once we create the proper infrastructure for waste collection and disposal, our next step will be to segregate plastic waste, liquid waste from chemical laboratories and biodegradable waste for which many NGOs have shown interest in helping us," said Dholakia.
Also, the university will be requesting PSUs and private sector players to use their CSR funds for renovation and construction of new toilets at the campus. At a later stage, the university wants to set up special washroom facilities for women which are equipped with a disposal system to destroy wastes like sanitary napkins.
It is worth mentioning here that the Companies Bill 2012 makes it mandatory for all companies having a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more or with a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore during any financial year, to spend two per cent of average net profit on CSR.