The perfect cover

Jointly sponsored by the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation of India, the NIA was established in 1980-81, in Mumbai, primarily as a training institution for senior executives of the insurance industry, the only one of its kind in Asia. However, over the years, its activities proliferated to include research, trainers’ training, consultancy and publications.

“With the growth of the academy’s activities, there was an acute need for more space. In Mumbai, it functioned from a small office and for every seminar, space had to be booked in hotels. When the discussions were going on, someone zeroed in on Pune. We got these 32 acres almost for a song, since this area was in total wilderness then,” elaborates Dr P S Palande, director, NIA, and former municipal commissioner of Pune.

Awarding the task of construction to renowned architects Kanvinde and Rai from Delhi, it took about two years for the structures to come up and begin functioning. With a built-up area of 1,61,000 sq ft, the academy today is an example of architectural excellence.

All the blocks are connected to each other either through passages or little bridges. “You cross the bridge from the administration building and go to the faculty, from where a corridor leads to the teaching area, which in turn is connected to the computer centre. All this put together ensures that you get lots of exercise everyday,” smiles Palande. Another noteworthy feature is that every block has a distinctly different staircase. The administration building has a spiral staircase while there is a folded one in the library and a `dog ledge’ variety in the residential area.

The most awesome area is probably the library, with its two-storey spacious interiors and four skylights with fibreglass domes, that have sunlight streaming through them. The concept is carried forward to the computer room, which is part of the library and is likewise bathed in natural light. “This is a conscious attempt to reduce one’s dependence on artificial light,” explains S N Rane, civil engineer.

With residential facilities for 35 families, their own dish antenna connection, multi-purpose hall, cafeteria and self-contained units for executives who come for training and are required to stay on the premises, the NIA is a little world by itself. There is even a post office, a bank, a dispensary and a police chowkey just outside the gates. “We also have a bus service to town and three auto-rickshaws to ferry children of employees living in the premises to different schools in the city, which is provided free of charge,” adds Palande.

With 2,200 participants availing of the academy’s various training programmes that emphasise research and qualitative teaching every year, there are now plans for expansion, with a full-fledged computer centre on top priority. But that is not likely to change things much. Certainly not the first impression of quietness and solitude that one experiences here, despite the fact that at any given time, there are at least 200 to 250 people on the premises engaged in work or participating in its programmes. One place that is quite definitely insured against crowds and noise pollution.

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