Desperate to renew its five-star rating, the University of Pune (UoP) is leaving no stone unturned to keep the nine-member team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) happy during its four-day stay, even spending lakhs of rupees on five-star suites for it

Univ spares no expense to impress rating panel

In quest to renew 5-star rating, Varsity spends lakhs on 5-star hotel suites for Accreditation body team, arranges luxury cars, sumptuous meals

Desperate to renew its five-star rating, the University of Pune (UoP) is leaving no stone unturned to keep the nine-member team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) happy during its four-day stay, even spending lakhs of rupees on five-star suites for it. The same level of hospitality could have been managed at a much lower cost ufffd a few thousand rupees ufffd had the UoP utilised its own resources.

Nine suites have been booked for the NAAC officials at Best Western The Pride Hotel, a five-star in Shivaji Nagar. The luxury hotel stay includes welcome drinks and breakfast.

All this has definitely not come cheap. A quick call to the booking desk of the hotel revealed that the minimum charge for a single suite per day is Rs 5,500, whereas a double suite costs around Rs 6,500.

Rs 50,000 per day
This means the UoP is likely to be spending at least Rs 50,000 per day just for NAAC officials' accommodation. At this rate, just the accommodation has cost the UoP about Rs 2 lakh.

This despite the fact the UoP has two guesthouses on its campus, one of them meant exclusively for visiting dignitaries. The main guesthouse has more than 34 rooms with dining facilities. Besides that, the SET Bhavan Guest House has 16 single rooms and 16 double rooms with an attached kitchenette. These rooms include VIP suites too.

VVIP treatment
By their own admission, UoP officials decided to accommodate the NAAC team in a five-star hotel since they wanted to make available VVIP facilities for their guests.

"The guests have been put up at The Pride Hotel. As far as University guesthouses are concerned, there are very few VIP suites as against the number of guests," said G G Jangamwad, Public Relations Officer, UoP.

The UoP has also booked six luxury cars for the nine-member team. Again, this is despite the fact that each of these cars has a seating capacity of six. The rate for a car is about Rs 1,800 for eight hours for 80 km. But since the UoP has booked these cars from 9 am to 9 pm, it should have cost it no less than Rs 2,200 per car per day. This comes to a total of about Rs 50,000 for four days, if some discount is considered.

Without even considering the food costs, merely stay and local travel amount to more than Rs 2.5 lakh for four days.

Sources said a well-known caterer had been hired for sumptuous meals. Additionally, a dinner party was also hosted at the College of Military Engineering for the NAAC team on Tuesday night.

The UoP has also spent a good deal of money to brighten up the campus for the NAAC visit, including painting the classrooms, installing decorative plants, new taps in toilets, among other things.

Staffers at the UoP expressed their dissatisfaction over the enormous spending.

"When taps in toilets had to be replaced, the UoP did not spend even a few thousand rupees for it," said a professor, requesting anonymity. "But now to please the dignitaries, so much money has been spent. I think this is a sheer waste."