With reference to Rajya Starred Question Number 38, an official document is published at Parliament Questions & Answers Publishing system i.e. pqars.nic.in. In answer to the question raised by Member of Parliament Y.S. Chowdary, Minister of Education Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has revealed the current campus status of five new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). As per the education minister, operations of these IITs from respective temporary campuses have been already approved in 2015-16. In addition, the Government also approved the set up of permanent campuses of these IITs in 2017-18.
In the official statement of the Education Minister at the PQARS portal, it has been mentioned that in budget 2014-15, the Government approved the establishment of five new IITs at Tirupati, Palakkad, Bhilai, Jammu and Goa. Subsequently, in the budget of the year 2015-16, the Government also approved the establishment of IIT Dharwad in Karnataka. Operations of all of these IITs have been approved by the Government in 2015-16 while in 2017-18, approval for the establishment of permanent campuses was also given with a sanctioned budget of 7002.42 Crore Indian Rupees.
The Education Minister also included in the statement that the construction process of the permanent campuses of the aforementioned IITs has already commenced, except for IIT Goa. Academic session of all the aforementioned IITs has also commenced. In addition, the statement also indicated that IITs in Tirupati, Jammu and Palakkad are already operating from their transit campus, which is regarded as a part of the permanent campus of these IITs.
In Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 38, MP Y.S. Chowdary also asked for clarifications in regards to whether the construction of the permanent campus of IIT Tirupati is completed. Education Minister R.P. Nishank also provided insights into such developments in the official statement. The Minister stated that the Andhra Pradesh Government has transferred the land for the establishment of permanent campus of IIT Tirupati in multiple instalments. The statement read “the land has been transferred by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in various phases from the year 2015 to 2019”.
In regards to such circumstances, it took a while before the authorities could obtain all clearances for commencing the construction of the permanent campus of IIT Tirupati. Only after obtaining the clearances, could the authorities award tenders for the construction of the permanent campus. Education Minister Nishank also added in the statement that the construction process is currently underway. The statement read “The construction (of permanent campus of IIT Tirupati) is in full swing”.
