The Department of Employment, Technical Education and Training (DoET&T) has formulated an ambitious Rs 500-crore plan for 2014-15.
The massive programme includes infrastructure development of polytechnics, the technological university and engineering colleges, Industrial Training Institutes, employment exchanges and other institutions, said a senior official in the DoET&T.
DoET&T Secretary Chandra Sekhar Kumar on Tuesday held discussions with senior officials of the department to finalise the details of infrastructure development of these Government technical institutions.
An advanced action plan has been formulated for the purposeAs part of the infrastructure development of the technological university and engineering colleges, an amount of Rs 200 crore would be spent during 2014-15.
For the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), a sum of Rs 50 crore, for Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore for all the five Government engineering colleges have been earmarked out of the sanctioned funds, said sources.
To develop the infrastructure of polytechnics, Rs 138 crore would be spent as the demand for such institutions is on the rise. In addition to the existing 13 polytechnics, the Government has added eight more and another nine institutions would be added this year and addition of five more next year is on the cards, said the sources. Funds worth Rs 9 crore would be provided for capital expenditure of these institutions.
Similarly, the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) would be provided with more infrastructure and, accordingly, Rs 148 crore would be spent for strengthening the infrastructure and procurement of tools and equipments.
With the existing 29 ITIs, the Government has decided to add another 24 to cater to the growing needs of the young boys and girls, who are interested to work in industries with some technical expertise. While there are 12,352 seats in the 29 ITIs, it would go up to 23,400 with inclusion of the new institutions, said the sources.
There are 604 private ITIs in the State having 88,054 seats, out of which almost half are vacant, said the sources. The Government is harping on improvement of infrastructure and introduction of new and innovative subjects in these ITIs so that more students are attracted to the institutions.