long pending demand of the Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) status got impetus on Sunday. Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani directed her officials to expedite the process after meeting Chief Minister Raghubar Das. The CM had requested in this regard and assured her to allot the required land to the premier mining institute. Notably, considering the demand, a team constituted by MHRD had visited the ISM campus early in 2014 to check whether the institute fulfills the parameters essential for an IIT status.
“An IIT is expected to have student strength of 7,500 by the end of a particular plan year. We have already reached upto 6,500 students. IIT tag will help us financially since the allotted budget is comparatively high for IITs than other educational institutes,” ISM Dean Academics Professor S Mohanty said reacting to the development. Besides ISM, the CM has requested MHRD to start the building construction of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ranchi at the allotted land in Cheri Manatu. Central Government Officers informed that there is a need of more land for the campus on which Das assured them the same.