PTC Saharanpur – About and History.
PTC Saharanpur
SAHARANPUR CITY – AN INTRODUCTION
Saharanpur District is located at North West border of Uttar Pradesh. It is
surrounded by Shivalik hills in the north – east and the river Yamuna in the west.
It borders Yamuna Nagar District of Haryana in the West, Dehradun District of
Uttarakhand in the North, Haridwar District of Uttarakhand in the East and
Muzaffarnagar District of UP in the South – PTC Saharanpur
On the basis of several archaeological surveys, the antiquity of the District is estimated to be about 2000 years B.C. It is said that in the year 1340, Sultan Mohd. Bin Tuglak came to visit on Sufi Saint” Shah Haroon Chisti” who was residing on the bank of Panwdhoi river. As per the order of the Sultan, the Place came to be known as Shahharoonpur in the name of the Sufi Saint from that day onwards. Later on, during the reign of Akbar (1556-1605), Raja Ranbir Singh, Chief of the Cantonment, developed this village in the form of a town. It was a cantonment area during those days and probably from that period; its name was changed from Shahharoonpur to Saharanpur. The area around the bank of Panwdhoi River is presently covered by Rani Bazar, Nakhasa Bazar and Lakhi Gate Streets/ Mohallas.
The famous garden of Saharanpur, presently known as “Rajkiya Udyan” is the gift of Rohilla Nawab Gulam Kadir (1785-89), who donated seven villages for this garden. During the reign of East India Company, the garden began to be known as Company Garden or Company Bag.
Saharanpur City is famous for the industry of wood carving. This small-scale industry was established in the year 1857. Other industries in this city are sugar mill, paper mill, cardboard mill and lTC’s cigarette factory. Government institutions like Horticulture Experiment and Training Centre, Remount Training School Depot, Central Pulp and Paper Institute and a campus of IIT Roorkee accommodating its Deptt. of Paper Technology are located in the city. Air force station, Sarsawan is situated at a distance of 12 Kms. from the city.
Postal History of PTC Saharanpur
After achievement of Independence in 1947, the Top Management of the P&T Department keenly felt the necessity of a regular Posts and Telegraphs Training Centre to train the postal personnel who were earlier given on the job training only. Through the untiring efforts and dynamic leadership of Shri Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, the then Hon’ble Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation and Department of Communication, Government of India, the abandoned campus of Civil Aviation training centre at Saharanpur, measuring 56.71 acres of land was purchased by the Department of Communication for Rs. Four Lacs, for the establishment of this training centre.
Thus, PTC Saharanpur was established on 2nd April 1951 with the main objective of imparting training to postal clerks, RMS sorters and telegraphists.
LOCATION:
PTC Saharanpur is located near the west bank of Jamuna canal, on Saharanpur-Ambala Road (G.T. Road) at a distance of about 5 kms from Saharanpur city. The area of the main campus is 56.71 Acres.
Another plot of land measuring 2.469 acres belonging to Postal Training Centre is situated at about 1 km away from the main campus towards Saharanpur city on the same high way. A new residential colony known as Kendra Vihar consisting of four blocks- total 60 type -1 and 18 type-II quarters and a dormitory for canteen/mess boys constructed in 1987 and 1994 respectively.
BRIEF HISTORY:
The founder Director I/C of this Training Centre was Shri S.C.Sen Gupta. He was assisted by an Assistant Director Shri K.C.Roy and an Administrative Officer Shri Dhanpat Rai (Retired P.M.G.)
Thereafter, the post of the Director was downgraded and designated as Principal. The first Principal (Class I S.T.S) was Shri A.N.Biswas. The post of Assistant Director was subsequently upgraded to class I (J.T.S) Post of Vice-Principal.
After about 30 years, the post of Principal was upgraded once again to the Rank of Director (J.A.G.) w.e.f. 19.03.1981 and the post of Vice Principal was also upgraded from J.T.S to S.T.S Class I w.e.f. 16.08.1985. A glorious chapter of PTC Saharanpur noteworthy of mention is that Postal Staff College functioned in this campus till 1978. It was thereafter shifted to Delhi & to present location during end 80s.
ORGANIZATION SETUP:
The Principal (now Director) is assisted in the Administrative matters by the Administrative Officer (now Assistant Director Administration) and in academic matters by the Vice-Principal (now Deputy Director)
Besides above, there are four post of A.D Training, three Sr Instructors, six instructors and one Physical Training Instructor in the faculty .Office is run in the supervision of Office Supervisor (IP).
JURISDICTION:
Trainees of the following Circles are imparted training in PTC Saharanpur-
- Jammu & Kashmir
- Delhi
- Rajasthan
- Himachal Pradesh
- U.P.
- Haryana
- Punjab including Chandigarh
- Uttarakhand
COURSES:
Induction training for PA/SA, Inspector (Posts) and PM (Gr-I) are the flagship programmes conducted by the centre. With renewed focus on “training for all” via the Postal Training Policy 2012, in-service refresher programmes are being conducted in greater numbers. In addition to the general courses, a number of special courses are also conducted in this Centre. In the recent past some special courses were conducted— DTS, DOT, EOT, TOT, Philsim, Network Management etc.
Officer trainees belonging to Mail Motor Service Group ‘A’ and P.S Group ‘B’ Service from all Circles of the country were earlier trained here. Officers from Foreign Countries under SAARC, UPU and Colombo plans were also imparted training in this Centre. Nowadays these trainings are being conducted at RAKNPA Ghaziabad.
Originally this was the only Postal Training Centre in India but subsequently P.T.C. Vadodara (Gujrat) on 01.07.1962, P.T.C Mysore (Karnataka) on 20-04-1965, P.T.C Darbhanga (Bihar) on 12.07.1966, PTC Madurai (Tamil Nadu) on 25-08-1981 and PTC Guwahati(Assam) on 29.10.2003 were opened. English Morse Telegraph Training was imparted to Postal Signalers in this training centre alone. It is because of this, training centre is called as P.T.T.C. whereas other training centers are known as PTC. The telegraph training was discontinued during 1995 and training centre was renamed “POSTAL TRAINING CENTRE” during 1996.
The first batch on I.P.S. Probationers trained in this Centre comprised of the following officers: S/Shri K. Ramchandra Murthy, V.J.S. Perianayagam, Shiv Kumar and K.K. Bakshi.
TRAINING AIDS:
Besides the white board with marker, the following aids/ equipments are used to make the training effective and purposeful: All the induction trainings are conducted in computer labs only
- Ultra Short Throw Projectors
- Video Films
- Training Films etc
- CD Projector
- Class net Automatic Screen
TRAINING SESSION:
The training begins early at 05:45 AM with ‘YOGA’ and PHYSICAL training under the direction of a trained and experienced physical training Instructor. Before start of classes, all the trainees, Faculty and officers assemble for prayer & National Anthem.
Thereafter the regular classes are held in two batches, first from 0800 to 1400 hrs and second from 1400 to 2000 hrs which includes two short breaks of 15 minutes for tea in each session.
Sports are also conducted in two sessions 0900 to1100 hrs in morning for the trainees of second shift, and 1700 hrs to 1900 hrs in evening for the trainees of first shift.
COMPULSORY STUDY HOURS:
All the trainees observe compulsory study hours from 09.00 PM to 10.30 PM in their rooms. The Instructors and officers pay visits to the hostels and barracks during the compulsory study hours to know their difficulties and problems and also to ensure that they maintain proper discipline in the hostels/barracks.
LIBRARY:
There is a well equipped library in the PTC Saharanpur with appx. 15,000 books in different languages. Many news papers and periodicals are also made available. Its working hours are:
Morning: 08:30 to 10:00 hrs
Evening 17:00 to 19:30 hrs.
CULTURAL PROGRAMMES:
The trainees are encouraged to take part in cultural programmes. The sessions are divided in two groups and each group is required to put up variety entertainment programmers on the stage of the Auditorium. These are witnessed by the trainees, officers, staff members and their family members.
GAMES AND SPORTS:
Due attention is paid and facilities provided for many indoor and outdoor games by the Recreation Club of the training centre. Facility of Table tennis, Badminton, Chess, Carrom, Volley- ball, Football, Basket- ball, Lawn Tennis Cricket and GYM is available.
The centre regularly hosts All India Postal Sports Tournaments: All India Postal Wrestling Tournament was held from12-01-2015 to 16-01-2015.
AUDITORIUM:
There is a well equipped 425 seater Auditorium for conducting meetings, film shows, cultural programmes, quiz classes, debates, etc. Cultural Programmes, dramas, Kavi Sammelans, Mushairas are also arranged in the Auditorium. The auditorium has recently been equipped with State of the Art Sound (JBL) and projection System (Hitachi) fully Air-conditioned.
OPEN AIR THEATRE:
An open air theatre ‘ Indra Dhanush’ also exists with a seating capacity of more than 300. Facilities are available for conducting programmes in the illuminated stage. Recently, it has been renovated for the first time after 1986.
DISPENSARY:
There is a dispensary in the campus under the charge of a full time Medical Officer. He is assisted by a pharmacist, one nursing orderly and an MTS official. Supply of medicines is made by the central stores depot Karnal on which indents are placed. Local purchase of drugs is made when essentially needed. Two beds for indoor patients are provided. Oxygen cylinder is also available for emergency use. On an average 32 patients are treated in the dispensary daily.
CANTEEN:
There is a departmental ‘C’ type canteen which caters to the needs of trainees and staff members. It provides Breakfast, tea, coffee, snacks, and sweets at reasonable rates. The working hours of the canteen are 06:30 to 21:00 hours.
TRAINEES MESS:
Each hostel has a mess which is run on a co-operative basis. The Mess is managed by a management body comprising of Mess Officer (Group A/B), Secretary (Sr. Instructor/Instructor/office assistants). An advisory committee has also been constituted, which is headed by the Dy. Director and the other members, members of the management committee and monitor of each class. They look into the complaints and grievances of the trainees and also suggest ways and means to effect improvement in the working of the mess. Thus the mess is run with full participation of the trainees. To ensure consistency in taste & quality only approved branded items are used àAtta: Aashirvaad; Masale: MDH + Catch; Milk, Butter, Desi Ghee, Dahi – Amul; Vegetable Oil: Fortune. Fresh veggies are purchased twice a week. Savings accrued from mess are reinvested for upgrading the mess facilities. Kitchen modernization of Sandesh Mess has been completed and that of Sampark Mess is underway. Mechanization of Sandesh Mess has already been done through the use of heavy duty machines such as Dough Kneader (Kneads 25 kg Dough in 5 minutes); Potato Peeler (peels 10-12 Kg Potato in 2-3 minutes) and pulverizer with an Automatic Dish washer (Winter Halter, Germany).
HOSTELS:
Two hostels known as ‘Sandesh Bhawan’ and ‘Sampark Bhawan’ were constructed in the year 1981. Each hostel has 60 rooms provided with essential furniture items. A total of 460 male trainees can be accommodated in these hostels. Since April 2014, Twelve Quarters in Babu Lane have been converted into ladies Hostel. 48 female trainees can be accommodated in this new Ladies Hostel In addition, there is officers Guest House where 12 rooms are available on twin sharing basis for visiting faculty and officers.
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INSPECTION QUARTERS:
There are well furnished Inspection quarters with three suites for visiting officers. A Lounge and well equipped kitchen and dining hall are also available.
COMMITTEE ROOM:
There is an air conditioned committee room with P.A. system Interactive Board, Ultra Short Throw Projector for about 25 participants.
MUSEUM:
The museum in the PTC Saharanpur was commenced in 1979 with a view to preserving the historical heritage of the Indian Post Office. It was thrown open to visitors on 30.05.81, after formal inauguration by Shri M.L. Gaind, then Member (PO), P & T Board, New Delhi. As pride possessions, mention may be made of the Savings Bank Specimen signature of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru,Smt Kamala Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri collected from different Post offices. The other interesting pieces are a pair of ivory tusks of an elephant employee of the P&T Department who served for 18 years and died in the year 1990; a letter of king Edwards period which was found in a letter box a number of old order books; letter boxes; forms; scales, spears; bells and copies of service records of Sir Bahadur Saligram the first Indian P.M.G.
Shri V.N. Gadgil, the then Minister for Communications remarked during his visit to the Museum on 25.3.83:
“I was surprised to find such a unique collection ‘we must preserve such things which are of great historical importance; I hope more items will be added and people from all over will be attracted to this museum.”
Philatelic museum was set up during March 1991 to provide philatelic knowledge b to the trainees. Some rare collections of stamps are displayed there.
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES:
The PTC Saharanpur actively promotes Indian Culture through Lecture demonstrations by eminent Artistes in the field of Music, Dance & Theatre. These Lec-Dems are organized through SPIC-MACAY. Since December 2012, following performances have taken place: Kathak (Shovana Narayan); Kuchipudi (Arunima Kumar); Odissi (Kavita Dwivedi); Bharatnatyam (Ragini Chandrashekhar); Santoor (Tarun Bhattacharya). Heritage walks are also organized for school children to familiarize them with the heritage of Postal Department and the PTC.