Lodha Building: We were fortunate to get the possession of Lodha Building in May 1958 for the development of necessary physical facilities for the opening of the first academic session of Ajmer Polytechnic in July 1958. The building had not been in use for some time and was in need of thorough maintenance and replacement of most of the fittings and fixtures. Since, our occupation of the building was expected to be very short, no structural changes were intended to be made in the building. In the good old days, educational and professional institutions were very few. They had magnificent buildings and liberal open space and playgrounds and all built up accommodation was furnished tastefully with the best available furniture, fittings and equipment. Lodha building was a far cry from all that. The challenge was to improvise, with whatever facilities were available. The rooms were not big enough to accommodate classrooms for 60 students. That made us restrict the size of our classes to thirty. Laboratory tables were big and bulky and the doors of the rooms were not wide enough to let them go in. As such, the components of the tables were pulled apart, pushed into the rooms and then reassembled there. Subsequently, the available space in rooms and verandahs was utilized for staff rooms, stores and offices. Workshops posed another problem involving heat, dust and noise. Therefore, a temporary shed was erected under a cluster of trees for the make shift workshops of carpentry, fitting and smithy.
Furniture, fittings and equipment: MBM Engineering College had good workable designs for laboratory tables, classroom desks, drawing tables, and office furniture and fittings. All items were fabricated locally at Jodhpur in seasoned teakwood. The furniture was sturdy and comfortable and looked good. That made our task very simple. We got the drawings and list of suppliers from MBM Engineering College, and thereafter, floated tenders, adding the names of some of the leading furniture makers of Ajmer in the list. The suppliers agreed to supply the furniture and fittings in a raw state at the polytechnic and undertook to do the polishing and finishing subsequently, after approval of the items in raw state.
Steel almirahs and other items of steel furniture were ordered against rate contracts of the stores purchase department of the Government of India.
Equipment for laboratories and workshops: An open advertisement was issued for the supply of laboratory and workshop equipment through publications department of the government of Rajasthan. Tenders were subsequently issued to the suppliers with detailed specifications, in response to their queries. Tenders were also issued to established suppliers of Jodhpur and Ajmer. Quality brands were specified in the tenders. Offers of other brands of comparable quality were also acceptable.
Staff: All staff upto the rank of lecturers was gazetted staff. Director of Technical Education had the powers to appoint such staff temporarily for a period of six months. Extensions in service could be made by the state government with the concurrence of Public Service Commission. Subsequently, regular appointments were made by the state government after open selections by Public Service Commission. Principals had the powers to fill all subordinate posts of instructors, demonstrators and technicians temporarily. Regular appointments were made subsequently by the principals after open selections by the Public Service Commission. Since, there was a substantial shortage of suitable technical persons in the state at that time, temporary appointments were made through open advertisements, supplemented by direct contacts with suitable persons. We were able to assemble a team of two young lecturers, one from Banaras and another from Kharagpur and young demonstrators and instructors from 1958 Diploma Batch of MBM Engineering college Jodhpur and University of Roorkee. This was supplemented by demonstrators for Physics and Chemistry, who happened to be bright science graduates from Ajmer. That formed the nucleus of our team. This was supplemented by the appointment of technicians, laboratory and workshop attendents and other staff, known as class IV. We inducted people with educational and professional qualifications in the recruitment of laboratory and workshop attendants and class IV staff. The intention was to provide them opportunities for advancement and in the process to build up a culture of continuous learning and upgradation in the institution.
Admissions: Director of Technical Education Rajasthan had issued advertisements about admissions to polytechnics of Rajasthan in prominent daily newspapers of the country and leading dailies of Rajasthan. We supplemented it by issue of advertisements in local language papers of Ajmer. However, people seemed to be quite inquisitive to know about the new institution and the courses that were expected to be run by the institution. People started making a beeline to the White House, which happened to be our residence in May 1958. We utilized the opportunity for free and uninhibited interaction with the people and gradually, the word of mouth of the people started reverberating. People started calculating the marks of their wards in English, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in Secondary School Examination or an equivalent or higher examination for working out the probable chances of admission of their wards. The last date for submission of applications was in late June 1958 and the selected students were expected to be called to the institution in the first week of July 1958 for verification of certificates and payment of fees. Almost 400 applications had been received by the last date for the submission of application. All applications were scrutinized and a merit list was prepared for all the eligible applicants. Thereafter, a final list of first 100 students was prepared in order of the merit of the aggregate marks obtained by them in English, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Those were the days, when there were no computers or photocopiers. As such, stencils were cut and duplicated copies of the merit list giving details of subjectwise marks obtained by the first hundred students were sent by post to every student included in the merit list. The first sixty applicants were told that they had been selected and should come prepared with their original certificates and fees and to attend the classes from the following day. The remaining forty students were placed on the waiting list and were told that they may take a chance against probable vacancies that may occur due to drop outs and should come prepared for verification of certificates, payment of fees and joining the course at short notice.
Opening day: The opening day of Ajmer Polytechnic was more like a carnival. A big Shamiana had come up in the sprawling open space of Masuda House with sufficient seating accommodation for the candidates and the accompanying parents and guardians. The candidates were seated in the shamiana in order of merit marked in the admission letters and were called for verification of certificates and payment of fees in that order. All members of the staff formed a sort of assembly line for handling the process of verification of original documents and payment of fees. Everything went on smoothly and finally after a short address, the candidates were provided with the time table for the first term and roll list of the selected students prepared in order of their merit. They were told to report at the Lodha Building from the next day. The candidates who finally got in were happy, whereas, those who were unable to get a chance did not have any regrets, because they had seen that the whole process of selection was transparent and was based absolutely on merit.