GURU GHASIDAS UNIVERSITY, BILASPUR, CHHATTISGARH

Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, is a Central University of India, located in Bilaspur Chhattisgarh State, established under Central Universities Act 2009, No. 25 of 2009. Formerly called Guru Ghasidas University (GGU), established by an Act of the State Legislative Assembly, was formally inaugurated on June 16, 1983.

GGU is an active member of the Association of Indian Universities and Association of Commonwealth Universities. Situated in a socially and economically challenged area, the university is appropriately named to honor the great Satnami Saint Guru Ghasidas (born in 17th century), who championed the cause of the downtrodden and waged a relentless struggle against all forms of social evils and injustice prevailing in the society.

The University is a residential Institution.

Dept. of Forestry, Wildlife and Environmental Science

The Department of Forestry, Wildlife & Environmental Sciences was established in the year 1989 with an aim to provide professional workforce for state forest departments of the country. The Bachelor of Forestry, Masters of Forestry and Environmental Sciences and Ph.D. in Forestry and Environmental Sciences are the main academic programs of the department. The model syllabi framed by ICFRE and ICAR is followed for UG and PG programs. The mission of the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Environmental Sciences, is to train the students for developing scientific temperament regarding critical understanding of natural resource management and inculcating in them the habit of green good deeds. The department is equipped with smart classrooms, state-of-art laboratories, green house, nursery, field plantations (more than 15 acres), museum, wood workshop, departmental library, hostel, mini gym, sports goods and camping equipments.

The Department strives to deal with the solution based forestry education and research through a number of research/ developmental projects and grant-in aids sanctioned by various government agencies e.g. Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and University Grants Commission. The department deals with the emerging issues in the forest sciences, including global concerns such as global warming and climate change, forest genetic resource conservation, tree improvement, watershed management through remote sensing and GIS, bioprospecting of natural dyes, wood improvement, tree microbe interaction, wildlife biology, microbial technology, soil fertility management, bioremediation and sustainable development. The Department has a good liaison with state forest department, ICFRE, forest based industries, research institutions and NGOs to provide better exposure to practical /field operations of forestry and also to create awareness and open up new vistas for training and placement of students. A large number of alumni are placed in several reputed organizations, forest based industries and NGOs both in India and abroad.

Accredited 'A++' Grade (2023) by ICFRE, Dehradun

Vision: To promote excellence in education, research and extension in forestry and allied subjects to cater the need of trained man power for practicing sustainable forestry and its protection and conservation in the region and country.

Mission:

• To provide a bigger catchment and platform for wide spectrum of students to choose forestry as a professional degree.
• To promote excellence in education and research in Forestry and allied subjects.
• To provide the students with innovative knowledge and skills and cater the need for trained forestry man power in the country.

ABOUT BILASPUR

Bilaspur, also known as "The City of Festivals", is a city located in Bilaspur District in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Bilaspur is the Administrative headquarters of the Bilaspur District and Bilaspur Division. The Chhattisgarh High Court, located at Bodri, District Bilaspur has privileged it with the title Nyayadhani (Law Capital) of the State. This city is the commercial center and business hub of North East Chhattisgarh region. It is also an important city for the Indian Railways, as it is the headquarters for South East Central Railway Zone (SECR) and the Bilaspur Railway Division. Bilaspur is also the headquarters of South Eastern Coalfields Limited. Chhattisgarh's biggest power plant operated by NTPC is in Sipat. Power Grid in Sipat pools electricity from other power plants in region and transmits electricity to Delhi via one of longest HVDC line.

Bilaspur is one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a Smart city under the Smart Cities Mission.

Air: The nearest airport is Bilaspur Airport, also known as Bilasa Devi Kevat Airport, located 13 km (8.1 mi) south of the city. Currently, there are direct flights from the airport to Jabalpur, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Prayagraj, operated by Alliance Air.

Road: The Grand Trunk Road runs across the city; NH 19 (old numbering NH 2) bypasses the city. South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) and private operators operate buses from Arambag, Asansol, Baharampur, Bankura, Bolpur, Esplanade, Kirnahar, Purulia, Saltlake and Tarakeswar. It takes around 2–2.5 hours. Bardhaman is well connected by bus with numerous places all around. Most of the buses arrive and leave from Alisha Bus Stand and Nababhat Bus Stand. Burdwan also has a facility of bus service known as Town Service which connects different areas within the city. Sadarghat Road also connects Bardhaman with Bankura (indirectly) and Hooghly (directly) district.

Rail: The nearest railway station is Bilaspur Junction railway station, which is the Zonal and divisional headquarter of the South East Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways.

Bilaspur is junction of 4x4x3 railway lines with quadruple railway lines going to Mumbai-Howrah and triple lines going towards Katni-New Delhi. It is the busiest junction of Chhattisgarh, and the second busiest of central India after Itarsi station for passenger trains. It is the third cleanest railway station in India after Surat and Rajkot stations. It is well connected with the rest of the country, as it lies on the Tatanagar–Bilaspur section of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line and a junction, as another line goes towards Delhi via Katni. The station has the fifth longest railway platform in India after Hubballi, Gorakhpur, Kollam and Kharagpur stations. The Bilaspur Rajdhani Express is the train that connects Bilaspur with the national capital every two days in a week. Vande Bharat Express from Bilaspur to Nagpur provide high speed connectivity.

Because of the station's location, daily connections are available for Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Amritsar, Agra, Roorkee, Haridwar, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Jamshedpur, Patna, Jabalpur, Raipur, Varanasi, Jaipur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Chennai, Ernakulam, Tirupati, Tirunelveli, Bangalore, Bhuj, Gandhidham, Okha, Porbandar, Dhanbad, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Gorakhpur, Shirdi, Udaipur, Bikaner, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ranchi, Guwahati among many other cities throughout India. For services within the state, daily local trains run to all cities of the state.

Other railway stations present near Bilaspur city are: Uslapur, Chakarbhata, Dadhapara, Gatorarvices.