Bhubaneswar, May 17: Delay in getting requisite clearances is holding up construction of buildings for the new IIT Bhubaneswar campus at Arugul, 25km from here.

The construction of buildings is yet to begin for the new IIT campus as clearance from the Union ministry of forests and environment (MoEF) is still awaited. The only work being undertaken on the campus is the construction of boundary wall, roads and drains, for which no such clearance is needed.

Three contractors have been engaged for constructing boundary walls, roads and drains on the campus. They are also engaged in the work of filling up some huge craters at the laterite stone quarries that were operating in the area till last year. More than 30 such illegal quarries had been identified by the IIT authorities and the Khurda district administration and more than 10 persons were subsequently arrested in this connection.

Surprisingly, though the IIT authorities had last year promised to deploy round-the-clock securitymen on the campus, not a single guard has been posted there till now.

Central public works department (CPWD) authorities alleged that though it was a project promoted with the active support of the state government, clearances from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) came only in last December.

“As the environment impact assessment body of the Odisha government is now lying defunct, the authorities had to apply to the MoEF for the assessment. The approval is expected any time now,’’ said CPWD superintending engineer R.C. Mishra. Another official of the CPWD admitted that though 936 acres were earmarked for the project, only 530 acres in Khurda district has so far been handed over to the authorities. The remaining land, which falls in Puri district, is yet to be handed over. “Without possession of the remaining land, no work can start even on the land that has already been allotted,” he added.

Last year, IIT-BBS authorities had claimed that the phase-I of the campus would be ready by 2013. The Telegraph had also published a report on the status of the construction on June 16, 2011.

IIT-BBS director Madhusudan Chakraborty said: “Even now, we are trying to stick to our deadline. But, if it is not possible to finish the basic minimum work by December 2013, we want to have some hostels and staff quarters ready on the Arugul campus at least by March 2014. This year, we have started a massive plantation drive to add more green cover to the campus.’’

The IIT -BBS authorities are planning to have two boys’ hostel and one girls’ hostel at Arugul by March 2014 so that that the institute could at least be partly shifted to its new campus. However, looking at the current progress of the work, an official of the premier institute raised his doubts that the campus might not have any habitation even by 2015.

The only visible progress there, however, is the construction of an electric sub-station towards the foothill of the Barunei Hills. The power distribution line was supposed to enter the campus via the main gate after coming through the main approach road. But as some legal complications involved with the main road was yet not over, the power supply will now be given by the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited through a line from the Barunei hillside.

“We cannot start building construction on the campus till the environment assessment formalities are not over. So, we are now concerned with only laying of roads, drains and the boundary wall. We will take up the work in mission mode only when the permission from Delhi reaches us,” said an officer of IIT-BBS.