Guwahati, Feb. 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent call to technical institutes to join the Make in India campaign has boosted IIT Guwahati's plan to set up a manufacturing and technology park on its campus.
IIT director Gautam Biswas told The Telegraph that the proposed park, named ISHAN Prodyugik Vikas Park, Guwahati, would have research and development centres for industries, training and skill development services for students and manufacturing facilities for small and medium-scale industries.
He said the proposal was submitted to the department of science and technology a few months ago but it was not considered favourably since a committee of the department preferred institutes situated closer to the metros having the necessary infrastructure. He said they would soon submit their proposal to the Assam government and some other central agencies.
"The park will accelerate realisation of the Make in India programme as well as the Look East policy," he said.
"Initially it will start functioning from the existing technology incubation centre and if it starts attracting industries, it will gradually move to the neighbouring area," he said, adding that the park would require nearly 150 acres of land. He said once the park is set up, industrial organisations would be requested to set up their R&D centres there and IIT Guwahati and industries can work together to manufacture goods and technologies, in accordance with the Prime Minister's wishes.
Modi, while addressing the students of IIT Guwahati and other higher educational institutes of the Northeast on January 19, had called upon the technical institutes to take the lead in making the NDA government's Make in India and Skill India campaigns successful. Students from NITs and central universities in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim had joined in through videoconferencing.
"Make not only for India but for the world. Today we don't (even) make a thermometer or tear gas. Today we can't live without mobile phones (but) we buy them from other countries. Our technical institutes, like IITs and IIITs, need to create Make in India atmosphere to make our government's Make in India and Skill India campaigns successful," Modi had said during his first visit to an IIT as the Prime Minister.
Biswas said they could start the project with an initial grant of Rs 25 crore but a full-fledged facility would require nearly Rs 150 crore. "We need initial funding from the government and gradually it will be self-sustaining," he said.
"We are deeply committed to executing our plan," he added. IIT Madras has a similar research park, which was started outside its campus about two years ago.
