Topaz Hostel of ISM in Dhanbad. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, Oct. 20: A feel of hostel life years after passing out. A dream for many but a bunch of Indian School of Mines (ISM) alumnus has built on it, literally.

The ISM Alumni Association of Mumbai has got together to build a housing society for pass-outs which has buildings named after the hostels of the premier engineering institute of Dhanbad.

Sunil K. Jha, a petroleum engineering graduate of 1964 and the current vice-president of the association, initiated the idea way back in 1980 to give ISM alumnus working in Mumbai homes in a city with prohibitive property costs.

“Housing in Mumbai is very expensive and my plan was to get a plot from the government of Maharashtra allotted for the alumni, most of whom were employees of public sector units, on which they could construct houses on our own,” he said.

Some 20 former students were roped in for the project but many dropped out when the government refused a plot. However, Jha got land from a private party and the first apartment complex — “ISM House”, came up in Thakur Village in Kandivali East. “Funding was an initial bottleneck but as the complex came up, many candidates joined up for membership,” Jha said.

By 2006, three more complexes had come up in the area, called “Mineral House”, ‘Techno Parks I and II”, and “Hill View Park”, turning the area into an ISM township. “The venture has been successful in creating a support system, developing camaraderie by connecting alumnus. We also work as an advisory body to our alma mater,” says Saurav Kumar, the present secretary and a petroleum graduate of 1991.

The association has constructed five apartments which have been named after ISM hostels to keep alive the memory of college days.

“ISM House”, the first building with 70 flats, was built by the Mineral Engineers’ Cooperative Housing Society. It has two blocks or wings named after two minerals, diamond and ruby, similar to the hostels in ISM. Ruby is for girls.

Mineral House was constructed by the Geo-scientists’ Cooperative Society. It has 42 flats and two wings, Pearl A and Pearl B, an aberration since ISM does not have any hostel by that name.

Techno Parks I and II were built by the Oil Field Cooperative Housing Society. They have 56 and 96 flats respectively. Techno Park II has two blocks, Topaz and Opal, named after ISM hostels.

Over the years, however, the cooperative societies have opened doors to members from other professions.