Patna: The newly appointed director of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna, Pradip Kumar Jain, has decided to upgrade the institute infrastructure.

The hostel will be upgraded first. Out of the nearly 3,500 students at NIT-Patna, less than 1,500 students have been provided accommodation.

Jain, who took charge as the director of the institute on Wednesday, convened a meeting with the other officials.

NIT civil engineering teacher Sanjay Kumar, who was at the meeting, said: "The director asked the wardens and hostel superintendents to upgrade the existing hostel and provide accommodation to more students."

Now, a single-room hostel will be turned into double. The newly constructed G+10 hostel block of the institute has 621 single-room occupancy. These rooms will be made into double occupancy. With the change, around 600 students will get hostel rooms.

The old dilapidated staff quarters will be transformed into new hostels for students. There are around five such buildings at the institute. These will be developed into hostel blocks to provide accommodation to around 200 students.

The decision to upgrade the hostel would be of great help to the students, who because of space crunch are left with no other alternative but to stay at private lodges, which is not only unhygienic but also costly. Ankur Chandra, a mechanical engineering student who stays at a lodge on Ashok Rajpath, said: "Staying at a private lodge is not only unhygienic but also a security concern. If we get hostel rooms on the campus it will be of great help." The new director also had a meeting with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) officials to assess the construction work of new campus coming up at Bihta.

The director has asked the CPWD to prepare a detailed project report of the upcoming campus. The report would be prepared taking feedbacks from the newly constructed IITs. The campus will come up on 125 acres of land at Bihta, around 35km from Patna.