The wife and daughters of late professor RS Ayyar, one of IIT Bombay’s founding faculty members, have donated two flats in Powai and Ghatkopar. As per a leading news daily, this move has been taken by RS Ayyar’s family solely for the benefit of the institute’s development. His daughters, who are alumni of the institute, live in the United States with their mother.

The institute has already received the documentation for both flats. The proceeds from the sale of these apartments would be utilised to establish a chair in the civil engineering department and to improve the conference rooms. Interestingly, they will both be named after Ayyar.

According to the report, the institute and the family signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday evening. The MOU was signed during an online meeting in which the director of IIT Bombay, Subhasis Chaudhuri was also present.

Jayashree Subrahmonia, the younger daughter of late professor RS Ayyar, stated that IIT-Bombay was her father’s life and also provided them with a family environment when they were growing up. “After he passed away in 2019, we wanted to create a legacy in his name,” she said.

Jayashree, who is currently a senior official in a leading IT firm added, “When we got to know about professor Subir Kar’s will, we thought it would be a unique way to continue our father’s legacy too.” Subir Kar was another faculty member whose wife left a flat in Powai for the institute last year in order to establish a chair professor in the mechanical engineering department.

Prof Ayyar was well-known for his outstanding contributions to structural engineering. He retired in 1993 as dean (Academics) and head of the civil engineering department. Ayyar’s elder daughter, Ranjani Saigal mentioned that his significant contribution was in shell structure, polymer concrete, and low-cost housing. Ranjani presently supervises the US arm of an NGO that operates the biggest number of schools in rural India.

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