Dear Friends,
Jai Hind. The Puja/ Prayer meeting for Late Lt Gen K Balaram, PVSM, will be held on 25 Feb 2010, between 1530h to 1630h, at Som Vihar Central Lawn, Som Vihar Apartments, RK Puram, New Delhi- 110066.
In service of Indian Military Veterans
Chander Kamboj
Former Kurukshetra varsity VC Lt Gen K Balaram expires
C.S.KANWAR Tuesday, 16 February 2010
KURUKSHETRA: Lt General (retired) K. Balaram former vice chancellor of Kurukshetra University expired last night at his residence in New Delhi. The incumbent VC Lt General (retired) Dr DDS Sandhu broke this sad news in a crucial meeting of the Deans and Chairpersons in the senate Hall today.
All those present in the meeting observed two minutes silence to pay homages to the departed soul and prayed to the Almighty to give consolation to the family members of the deceased and give peace to the departed souls in heaven.
Lt General Balaram was only vice chancellor of the oldest university of Haryana who practised austerity and bridled the unbridled in the university whether in the teaching fraternity or in the categories of employees. He was the administrator who suspended an IAS Registrar Rajiv Arora and got his almirahs broke open in his absence where some important files were locked, just a few days before the expiry of his three year tenure. The Fauji Balaram was the VC who denied access to university auditorium to the then Prime Minister late Chander Shekhar who was to address a workers rally in the presence of the then Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala. Although the District Magistrate used his special powers and acquisited the auditorium. The hand-over and take-over was done by the junior officers of the university and the district administration. Unlike today's vice chancellors in the country, Lt. General Balaram made his way to Delhi to attend a meeting and did not bother even to receive the PM at the helipad in the university sports grounds itself.
Balaram used to walk to his office and back on Thursdays during the Iran-Iraq war to save petrol, a call given by the union ministry those days. He could venture sliding beneath his official car to repair it during the lunch break and then board it after stretching his safari suit which could be seen with torn stitches under the cockpits. He never availed any free medicines from the University Health centre , rather he was the VC who paid a cheque of five thousand rupees to the university in lieu of the reimbursement of medical bills despite the repeated requests to the contrary from the then SMO Dr Mrs S Maleyvar.
He was so popular amongst teaching fraternity and also amongst employees that on his retirement, a ceremonial departure was performed by pulling the ropes tied to his car and a send-off was given at the Oasis at Karnal after which his convoy was escorted upto Delhi by the representatives of teachers and employees. His last words of advice to the university people were : 'Save this prestigious university from unscrupulous people if you can, let it flourish to blossom fully'.
Former Kurukshetra varsity VC Lt.Gen K. Balaram expires
Tributes paid to KU former VC
Tribune News Service Kurukshetra, February 22
Kurukshetra University staff paid tributes to former Vice-Chancellor, Lt- Gen K. Balram, who passed away on February 14, at a condolence meeting.
Gen Balram, who adorned the office of Vice-Chancellor from August 8, 1989, to August 7, 1992, was a visionary and a man of action who took the bold decision to revise the syllabi of all postgraduate courses in tune with modern curriculum of UGC.
Following up his plans to revise the syllabus, he took another major academic decision, asking all chairpersons to prepare lesson plans of the revised syllabi of a semester and put it in the library so that students could know in advance about the schedule of classes.
Paying homage to the former vice-chancellor, the current incumbent, Lt-Gen (Dr.) DDS Sandhu, recalled his contributions in developing the varsity.
"The university was in deficit when Gen Balram joined as its VC but he took bold fiscal decisions and covered the deficit. There was a serious problem of power failure in the hostels. The then VC solved it by getting the worn-out wirings changed, besides ensuring the installation of separate transformers", recalled Prof Raghvendra Tanwar, Registrar.
Tributes paid to KU former VC
Lt Gen K Balaram PVSM, is MTech in Telecommunication Engineering and MSc in Defence Science from UK and Madras respectively. Commandant of Defence Services Staff College from 1981 to 1983. He was the Vice Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Haryana from August 1989 to August 1992. Great loss of a Soldier and Leader especially to the Corps of Signals fraternity. He will be remembered forever by his invention "Balaram Aerial/ Antenna" for extended Radio Communication.
