Chief minister Hemant Soren inaugurates Government Engineering College in Dumka on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, May 25: Chief minister Hemant Soren today inaugurated an engineering college in Dumka and promised to remove all hurdles in the way of setting up a medical cradle there within a month.

“All obstacles have been removed. I am sure this college will soon carve a niche in the field of technical education,” the chief minister said after inaugurating Government Engineering College-Dumka.

The state science and technology department spent over Rs 41 crore on construction of the college building and other basic facilities. Now, Techno India Group has been given the responsibility to run the institute on a public-private-partnership basis.

Starting from this year, the college initially will offer courses in computer science and engineering, mechanical, electronics and communication, electrical engineering and civil engineering. The first batch will have 60 students in each stream.

According to sources, the college was ready about a year ago but regular teaching could not start owing to some technical problems in getting affiliation to Sido Kanhu Murmu University and a clearance from AICTE — the statutory body and national-level council for technical education.

The chief minister, speaking on the proposed medical college, said problems in acquiring land for the project would be resolved fast. “Once the land is found, ground work for setting up the medical college will begin,” he said, adding that Santhal Pargana would set new milestones in the area of education.

Hemant handed over Rs 5 lakh cheque each to mukhiyas of 206 panchayats from across the district for construction of rural roads under the Mukhyamantri Gram Path Yojna.

Earlier, activists of Sthaniyata Bachao Sangharsh Samiti showed black flags to Hemant, protesting against reported moves to amend the tenancy laws. But Hemant said the issue had not been discussed at the government level so far.