The National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Patna is gearing up to start construction work at its new campus and aims to finish it within two years.

The state government had sanctioned Rs 234 crore to acquire the 125-acre land for its new campus at Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority at Sikandarpur village near Bihta, around 35km southwest of Patna.

"We are happy that after a long gap, the state cabinet has given its nod for the new campus at Bihta," said NIT-Patna director Asok De. "Once the institute gets the letter of possession from the state government, the institute will carry out the construction work."

The institute will issue tenders to construct boundary walls of the campus, which is much bigger than its present campus at Ashok Rajpath spread over an area of 25 acres.

After it gets the nod, the institute will approach the Union HRD ministry to sanction funds for the new campus. Asok said the new campus would have large stretches of open land as well.

The biggest problem for the NIT administration is to provide hostel accommodation to its students.

Nearly 40 per cent students out of the 5,500 enrolled at the institute live in private accommodations near Ashok Rajpath. The administration also has to conduct practical classes in shifts.

Students are excited about the new campus. Mayank Sharma, a mechanical engineering student, said: "We are forced to live on our own as the institute doesn't have sufficient number of rooms. Private accommodation is both costlier and unsafe."

A second-year student of the civil electrical department said on condition of anonymity: "As the laboratory room is not big enough to accommodate all the students at one go, practical classes are held in shifts."

However, the new campus will be smaller in terms of other technical institutes across the country such as IIT-Patna (500 acres), NIT-Jamshedpur (340 acres) and Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, (200 acres).