Kalam caught in Punjab university’s e-blackout

Then it was the turn of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to welcome Kalam from the classroom at Patiala. While his speech praising the university’s ‘‘Forward PTU’’ project went off well, the screen blacked out as soon as Kalam began his address. For long after that, students at Jalandhar could only hear his voice.

It was the same story at the Sahibzada Ajit Singh Institute of Information Technology (SASHT) at Mohali where the connection snapped after 20 minutes of the President’s speech.

Kalam dwelt on the importance of IT for indigenous research and development. He said on-line education was vital. But the very next moment the screen went blank, blotting out more than five minutes of his address.

After his lecture, Kalam invited students to ask questions but only those in Patiala could raise their queries, as the other centres could not be connected through V-SAT.

Deputy CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who was present in the Red Cross Bhawan at Jalandhar, interacted with the President. At Ludhiana, Finance Minister Surinder Singla attended the class along with DC Anurag Verma.

Mind Logicx Informatics, the company which was tasked with bringing Kalam live on video screens, attributed the problem to ‘‘heavy rains between the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the ISP at Delhi, which resulted in snapping of ties’’.

After continued disruptions, institute director Lt Col Karamjeet Singh (retd) called off the programme. At Jalandhar too, the students left much before the class concluded.

Later, Lt Col Karamjeet said the President had asked the students to e-mail their questions. Most students griped about the poor connectivity, and said they were being forced to pay for a non-existent facility. PTU claims to be the first electronically-governed and IT-savvy university in the country.