Ministry seeks fresh timeline for IIT-B

BHUBANESWAR: Stuck on its tracks, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar has been asked to submit a fresh timeline about  establishment of its campus.The Ministry of Human Resource Development held a meeting with the representatives of IITs, including the eight new ones, in Delhi on Thursday. With most of the IITs facing delay, the Ministry has sought fresh timelines from each of the institutes and promised all support from the Centre, sources said.Like its counterparts, the Bhubaneswar institute too is behind the schedule and  unlikely to meet its 2013 deadline given the existing pace of work. With problems of land acquisition and transfer, the IIT Bhubaneswar has been able to construct only boundary walls measuring about six km. As was reported earlier in these columns, stone quarry mafia had mined away the site before the IIT authorities brought the matter to the notice of the local police.Sources said that IIT Bhubaneswar would submit a report to the Ministry detailing its bottlenecks about land transfer, forest land conversion, acquisition of private land and infrastructure like road, power and water.With the slow progress raising hackles, the IIT has decided to hasten establishment of its campus at Arugul, about 25 km from here. Works estimated at ` 30 crore will soon be taken up with two-phase tenders.The first tender will be scheduled in July and include works such as roads inside the 935-acre campus, sewerage and site development.  The second tender will be floated around December for construction of buildings.Besides, the IITs have been asked by the Ministry to expedite expenditure of funds since this is the last year of the 11th Five-Year Plan.  Most of the new IITs, sources said, sought that new project proposals be chalked out since the 12th Plan is only three quarters away and the project costs will stand revised at the current prices. The IIT Bhubaneswar was earmarked ` 760 crore,  half of which is towards infrastructure.The sources further said that each of the new institutions is likely to cost close to ` 1,400 crore for which funding proposals will have to be placed in the 12th Plan. The Sub-Group of the Planning Commission for the 12th Plan on Technical Education is scheduled to meet on June 21 and discuss the issue of the IITs, whose slow progress has been a concern.