IIT Kharagpur: Rare bonanza

New Delhi, Oct. 13: The Centre is set to grant a rare financial bonanza to IIT Kharagpur to build infrastructure coinciding with the diamond jubilee of the engineering schools.

The human resource development ministry has decided on a special, one-time grant of Rs 97 crore to IIT Kharagpur, government officials said.

IIT Kharagpur was the first among the institutes to be set up in 1951 under then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It completes 60 years in 2011 but the special grant is expected to be given this year. In 1956, Nehru had famously described IIT Kharagpur as a symbol of “India’s future in the making”.

The special grant is over twice the annual budget allocation for this year to any single IIT.

The HRD ministry has received Rs 301 crore in all for the recurring expenditure on the seven older IITs for 2008-09 — the special grant is not included in this amount.

The ministry has decided to allocate the largest chunk of these funds — Rs 46.5 crore — to IIT Guwahati, sources said. IIT Kharagpur has been allocated Rs 45.3 crore this financial year for its recurring costs, the sources said.

In recent years the IITs have complained of inadequate funds from the Centre. HRD ministry sources conceded the bounty dedicated for IIT Kharagpur was rare.

The sources said IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya had requested the ministry, in a letter dated June 27, for the special funds for the diamond jubilee celebrations.

“The diamond jubilee of the IIT system is a cause for celebration for all of India. As the pioneer IIT, Kharagpur played a path-breaking role. But it also needs more renovation than any other IIT. This one-time fund is aimed at making IIT Kharagpur regain its position as a leader among the IITs,” an HRD ministry official said.

The special grant is to be spent on building a library building, convention centre and lecture theatres, among other projects, ministry sources said.

IIT Kharagpur has the largest campus — 2,100 acres — among the IITs and the highest student intake at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.