The science and technology department will set up engineering colleges in Madhepura, Sitamarhi, Sasaram, Katihar, Begusarai and Bakhtiyarpur (Patna).

With these, the number of engineering colleges in the state will go up to 13, with all administrative divisions having engineering colleges. Chief minister Nitish Kumar in his election campaign had vowed to set up engineering colleges in every district of the state.

State science and technology minister Jai Kumar Singh said: "The state government is committed to set up engineering colleges in all districts to curb brain drain of students to other states. Letters have been sent to the respective district magistrates to acquire land for the same."

The department will start construction after acquiring land for the colleges and then approach the All India Council for Technical Education for recognition of the institutes. The Sasaram district administration has already identified 5 acres of land near police lines.

The state government's drive for more tech cradles comes at a time when the existing engineering colleges face teacher crunch, lack infrastructure and have a poor track record of providing placements to students. There are 85 teachers working in engineering colleges at present, against the sanctioned strength of 450.

Gaya Engineering College has eight permanent teachers, including the principal. The conditions of the newly established Nalanda Engineering College (Chandi), Motihari Engineering College and Loknayak Jai Prakash Institute of Technology, Chhapra is even more pathetic: each have less than five permanent teachers.

A senior official at science and technology department, on condition of anonymity, said: "The lack of infrastructure at the engineering colleges can be gauged from the fact that students of Nalanda Engineering College - which had come up in 2008 - had to perform their practical and other lab-related works at Gaya Engineering College for five years."

Students corroborated the existing colleges' woes.

"Companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra had visited our institute and offered an annual package of Rs 3 lakh," said a final year mechanical engineering student at Gaya College of Engineering. "The sum is very less in comparison to what students from premier institutions such as IITs and NITs get."

Sources said last month the science and technology department had organised a combined placement interview for Wipro on the NIT-Patna campus where students from different state engineering colleges had applied.

Santosh Kumar, a retired teacher at BCE-NIT Patna, felt the state government's move to boos the number of engineering colleges is not a wise decision.

"Every year, around 3.5 lakh engineering graduates enters job markets and half of them remain unemployed for years," he pointed out. "Neither at state nor at the national level is there a proper plan to sort out such issues. Finding quality teachers will also be a challenge."