Excessive rain in the wettest place on earth is expected to peg one of India’s youngest technological institutes back by ₹1-crore.
But the “extra expenditure” on dehumidifiers is the least of the worries for the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya coming up on 306.6 acres at Sohra – Cherrapunji to the world beyond – at an estimated cost of ₹429.70-crore.
The heads of the institute, functioning from its temporary campus in Meghalaya capital Shillong since 2012, are not sure if the dehumidifiers can save its laboratory equipment in the long run.
The permanent complex, under construction for almost a decade, is about 55 km south of Shillong and 20 km north of India’s border with Bangladesh.
“Our nine departments and 10 centres including the one for robotics and mechatronics will require 50 laboratories in the new complex. But our primary concern would be to maintain the humidity-sensitive equipment in 20 of these laboratories, where dehumidifiers will be installed,” Bibhuti Bhusan Biswal, NIT Meghalaya’s director, told The Hindu.
The institute did factor the humidity in but did not expect the rain to be “too much to handle”. Insiders said the rain-induced dampness would be a challenge in maintaining the non-laboratory assets of the institute too.
Sohra was the world’s rainiest place before losing its place to Mawsynram nearby. It regained its spot in 2020 by receiving 13,994.3 millimetres or 550.96 inches of annual rainfall but it was nowhere near the 1860-1861 record of 26,471 mm or 1,042.2 inches.
Lack of skilled labour
Work on the NIT Meghalaya complex has not progressed much in the past couple of years due to lack of skilled labour. The problem began with the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 but took a different turn with some local groups opposing the entry of skilled workers from outside the region or the State.
“We tried engaging local contractors for providing skilled workers. But there are too many groups to please,” an administrative official of NIT Meghalaya said, hoping things would be sorted out soon.
Constraints aside, NIT Meghalaya has outranked all the new NITs and several older, established NITs in the latest national rating. From the 100th spot in the engineering category in 2017, it has climbed to the 59th spot.
The nascent institute has also managed to consistently draw the attention of a large number of companies scouting for the brightest of brains.
“Our students received 153 offers from 103 companies in the placement drive this year. More than 70% of the eligible interested final year students have been placed with 36% of them securing multiple offers. The average compensation is ₹10 lakh per annum,” Mr. Biswal said.
