Centre of academic excellence, BIT Mesra Extention Centre at Deoghar is reeling under acute shortage of funds and government apathy. The Institute is facing operational paralysis in the face of negligence and release of funds in dribs and drabs from its parent institute and the State Government.
Being entirely residential, the tardy pace of expansion both of infrastructure and provisioning at its Ratanpur campus, Jasidih is compounding the woes of students making their academic sessions rife with hardships. An account of their predicament, to start at the very beginning is the absence of a protective boundary around the campus. Even secure fencing of barbed wire is missing at great lengths sending an open invitation to trespassers and stray animals. Increasing the vulnerability is the complete absence of street lights on the approach road to the institute.
Absence of a bank or an ATM vendor on the premises forces the students to make a trip to the town 2 km away. Further enhancing the threat perception, especially for girls, is the unavailability of conveyance on demand from the institute. A group of first year girls huddled together, waiting to be ferried to the town, laments, "We commute to the town for essentials by private conveyance causing great inconvenience. An institute bus service plying at regular intervals should be started urgently". Indeed a bumpy ride towards realization of dreams!
Within the campus, the water supply is in dire straits as only three out of five bore wells are functional causing scarcity of water for the 958 odd students and staff. Occasionally, water tankers from Deoghar Municipality come to their rescue. Indifferent stance of PHED has left the campus devoid of water supply for want of final connection even though water pipes have been laid after payment of Rs 10 lakh to the department.
Students of first and second year are forced to a cheek-by-jowl existence. With occupancy strength of five students in every room, a mandatory set up for these students, the sizable room is stuffed with beds, sans any place for study tables and chairs.
Mrs and Mr Sharan, parents of an aspiring engineer Surabhi, visited the BIT Deoghar campus in June last year. They recount, "We were aghast at the bare minimum facilities which were highly unsafe for girls. It's a travesty that this institute set up to be a technical institute of eminence lags in development in comparison to BIT Patna Extension Centre, established only a year before the commencement of BIT Deoghar. The tale of the above two centre amply demonstrate the dedication and reticence of the two State Govts. Meritorious students are ready to take the plunge against all odds for the prized degree and placements are offered by BIT Mesra, an institute of international repute. We back tracked, exasperated by the info that destination for lab practical from 3rd and 4th year would be BIT Mesra, Ranchi, accommodation and conveyance for which is to be at one's own expense. Disenchanted on safety and comfort factors, a good number of parents choose engineering college of neighbouring state."
Seeking anonymity, a BIT teaching faculty dealt the reasons for delay informing that as per the provisions of the MOU signed with the Government of Jharkhand, the major responsibility of development of fixed assets of the institute rests with the state government. The state was supposed to provide Rs 40 crore as non-recurring expenditure. For the last two years, besides blank assurance, no grants have been released. Even the AICTE approval process has been hit by incomprehensible bureaucratic jargon. A fire clearance certificate from the respective office in Ranchi is posing a hurdle.
Out of the 25 acres sprawling land, only 10 acres have been transferred to the institute. The payments as rent to Panchayat Training Institute in Deoghar, which functioned as temporary transit campus since the institute's inauguration in October, 2007 for a year has not been cleared. The administration has lodged a certificate case landing the BIT management in a soup.
On being asked about government's role in facilitating the BIT centre a senior official of the Science and Technology department put the onus on BIT authorities. "Why are you asking me all this ask BIT officials, they will be in a better position to answer to your queries," he said.