After a gap of nearly ten years which saw many twists and turns, the foundation stone for the permanent campus of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, Garhwal, was laid at Sumadi village near Srinagar on Saturday. The Governor of Uttarakhand Baby Rani Maurya, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ were present in the ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, the Governor expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving the gift of NIT to the State and appreciated the efforts of CM, HRD Minister and State Minister for Higher Education Dhan Singh Rawat in this direction.
She said that the teachers and students of NIT had faced problems due to absence of a permanent campus and hoped that the construction work would get completed in the year 2022 when 75 years of independence of the country also get completed. She opined that regular monitoring of the construction work is required so that it gets completed on time. Maurya said that the basic objective of an institute like NIT is to fulfil the technological requirement of the country in the field of engineering and technology but this technology should be cheap and readily available. She expressed satisfaction that the NIT has decided to undertake special research on the problem of landslide and other natural disasters affecting the State.
The Governor said that the NIT would become a centre of excellence in the field of science and technology.
The CM said that many people had doubts that the NIT would be shifted outside the State but these doubts got cleared when Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank took over as Union HRD Minster.
He said that a sum of Rs 5 crore has been earmarked for providing drinking water for the NIT and Rs 5 crore have been released from the contingency fund for it. He said that the State Government would bear the cost of constructing internal roads for the NIT.
The CM directed that the work executing agency
should complete the work on time and assured that the State Government would not delay in releasing funds from its side.
Terming Srinagar as focal point of Uttarakhand, the CM said that here many educational institutes and medical colleges already exist and soon it would get connected by rail network. Rawat said that the State Government is planning to ensure that the rail route to Karnprayag is competed in the year 2024-25.
He said that by getting connected with rail, the development of Srinagar would get a major boost.
The CM said that by improving the education system, the social and economic condition of an area gets automatically improved.
The Union HRD Minister Nishank said that NIT is producing many talented students. He said that the Government is also planning to set up a Kendriya Vidhyalayas (KV) along with the NIT. The Union Minister said that the CM Rawat made many efforts for setting up the NIT at Sumadi village and assured that work on the project would get completed within two years.
The Cabinet Ministers, Harak Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, State Minister Dhan Singh Rawat, Nainital MP Ajay Bhatt, Garhwal MP Teerath Singh Rawat and local MLAs were present on the occasion.