Funds ‘fear’ haunts NIT

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Jamshedpur, March 28,2007: They have the students, but not adequate infrastructure to support them.
Faculty members of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur, are apprehensive of a messy situation ahead, as the institute’s existing laboratory may prove inadequate to cope with the pressure of a fresh batch, scheduled to be inducted in August.
The new batch of students would mean the numbers would rise from 280 to 380 students in classrooms. Unfortunately, the capacity of the laboratory has not been increased.
“Ministry of human resource development, New Delhi, under which the NITs run, has pumped in enough money. But Jamshedpur’s NIT authorities have not been able to spend even a tenth of the fund,” complained an assistant professor in the electronics department on condition of anonymity.
“It seems the lack of practical classes is also getting to the students and is taking a toll,” he added.
Faculty members also claimed that they had given a list of apparatus and equipment for upgrading the laboratories. But so far no steps have been taken to procure them despite the available funds.
The Central ministry of human resource department, New Delhi, had granted Rs 20 crore in two phases ever since Regional Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, was upgraded to NIT in 2002 for laboratory upgradation.
But the NIT-Jamshedpur, which has a number of fund scams to its credit, seems to be scared to spend even for any legitimate cause.
In October 2006, the Central ministry took back Rs 10 crore that had remained unspent since 2002, with a threat to withdraw the rest (Rs 10 crore) if the institute failed to make good use of it by the end of 2007. Sources at NIT-Jamshedpur told The Telegraph that of the remaining Rs 10 crore, only Rs 1 crore has been spent so far (till March 15).
Acting principal, professor A.K. Mishra, when contacted, refused to comment on the matter.
“The issue will be sorted out in due course,” he said.