Govt gives its nod for eight new IITs

The Government on Thursday approved the setting up of eight new IITs in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh...

The Government on Thursday approved the setting up of eight new IITs in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh at a total cost of Rs 6,080 crore (Rs 760 crore per IIT).

The academic session is going to commence from July 23 in six of these IITs. The IITs of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat will begin their classes for about 120 students each for BTech programmes through temporary campuses located near the place where permanent campuses are likely to be built. These IITs of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat will be mentored by the IITs of Madras, Guwahati and Bombay, respectively. The three IITs of Rajasthan, Punjab and Orissa will commence their classes on the campuses of their mentor IITs at IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur, respectively.

Approving the creation of 30 faculty posts per year in the first three years, the Cabinet also gave its nod to the posts of a director and a registrar in each of the new IITs.

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The two remaining IITs at Indore in Madhya Pradesh and the IIT in Himachal Pradesh are likely to commence their session from the next academic year of 2009-10. All the state governments have identified about 600 acres of land for the location of the new IITs. In case of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, the Central Government has accepted the site recommended by the state Government.

In the remaining cases, the Site Selection Committee will inspect the offered sites in due course and will give its recommendations to the Ministry.

With a view to ensuring coordination and maintaining excellence in the new IITs, pending selection of regular directors for the IITs, it was decided that the directors of the mentor IITs would work as directors of the mentored IITs and the chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the mentor IIT will also be chairman of the BoG of the mentored IIT.

The Cabinet also gave an “in-principle” approval for taking over the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University.

Cabinet yes to…

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• Upgradation / strengthening of 4,000 km of single/intermediate/two-lane National Highways (NHs) on BOT (toll) mode and that of 1,000 km of NHs on BOT (Annuity) mode under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IVA at a cost of Rs 6,950.

The tentative list of road stretches to be covered under it show that over 1,000 km of the project package will fall in Minister T R Baalu’s home state, Tamil Nadu.

NHDP IV envisages two-laning of some 20,000 kms of NHs on BOT toll and annuity basis. The project will now be implemented in a phased manner with each phase covering some 5,000 km

• Ex post facto approval for the signing of extradition treaty between India and Brazil (on April 15, 2008)

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• Funding of six GSLV operational flights (F11 to F16) at a cost of Rs 1,280.96 crore with a Foreign Exchange component of Rs 272.90 crore. With the realisation of six GSLV operational flights (9F11 to F16 ) end-to-end capability to launch communication satellites will be available during the 11th Five-Year Plan.

The six flights (GSLV F11-16) are expected to be realised in 2010-2012