Patna, April 19: Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal today urged chief minister Nitish Kumar to allocate 300 acres for a new campus of National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Bihar.

Sibal was speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of a new campus for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Patna, at Amhara village under Bihta, about 40km from the state capital.

Sibal was replying to statements made by Nitish at the function that the state government is unable to allocate more than 100 acres for setting up new NIT campus.

Nitish said: “Bihar is an agrarian economy with rich fertile land. It is very difficult to allocate fertile land for industrial, commercial and educational purposes. Institutions and companies should think about a vertical growth instead of horizontal growth, due to land constraints.”

Nitish said: “Being the alumni of NIT, which was earlier known as Bihar College of Engineering (BCE), I had soft corner for NIT, but it is not possible for the state government to allocate so much space. It was because of my effort after the bifurcation of the state in 2000, that BCE, which was one of the oldest engineering colleges then, was upgraded to NIT in 2004.”

Meanwhile, the Union HRD minister said: “I feel sorry to see the poor condition of NIT as it is functioning from just four rooms in a building. NITs in other states have very good infrastructure.”

Sibal told the chief minister that if other states could show interest in allocating 300 acres for the NIT, there is no reason why Bihar cannot do so.

In a lighter vein, Sibal said: “I can understand why the papers for the IIT have been cleared quickly. Afterall the chief minister has several IITians in his department. But that should not become a handicap in allocating land for NIT.”

Meanwhile, U.C. Ray, director of NIT told The Telegraph: “NIT Patna does not have the infrastructure as is required for an institution of its kind. The present area of NIT Patna is 25 acres and we have no scope for expansion.”

Ray said: “Lack of infrastructure affects in building reputations of the institute, as a result of which we do not get either quality teachers or good students. Even after clearing the entrance test, many students do not get admission here because of the space constraints.”

The classes and labs are being conducted in shifts with classrooms and space appearing very crowded.

Ray added that even newer NITs in other states have a better infrastructure than the one in Patna.