Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani told the Lok Sabha on Monday that Indian Institute of Science (IIT) at Dharwad would start functioning from the academic year 2016–17, but work is yet to get off the ground here to ready the transit campus for academic activities.
Although the district administration had prepared a Rs 3.51-crore estimate in consultation with the expert panel of IIT Bombay, which is the guardian for the IIT Dharwad, money is yet to be released for work at WALMI transit campus. With a team from IIT Bombay set to visit “shortly”, the district administration plans to appeal for speedy release of money.
WALMI building has classrooms and other learning infrastructure, but some alternations need to be made, which could take about two months. “If the money was released on time, the transit campus would have been ready by now,” said Ganesh Kamate, Public Works Department (PWD) executive engineer. The transit campus may get ready by July, when academic work is to begin, only if the money is released immediately.
The district administration had taken many steps, including exempting the officials involved in this process from other assignments, including election duty, to speed up the process of readying the campus. “The IIT Bombay authorities have not yet released the money for reasons not known. We have informed the Deputy Commissioner’s office and told them to take up the matter with the appropriate authorities. But nothing has happened so far,” said Mr. Kamate.
Deputy Commissioner P. Rajendra Cholan, who is the nodal officer for this project, conceded delay in releasing the money.
“All other processes, including finalising the tender, have been completed,” he said, and added that the district administration was confident of convincing IIT Bombay to release money immediately.
Permanent campus
The Karnataka government has identified 507 acres of land at Kelageri and Mummigatti in Dharwad to build a permanent campus for IIT.
If money was released on time, the transit campus would have been ready by now
Ganesh Kamate,Executive engineer, Public Works Department
