State Higher Education department is not in a condition to take decision over Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad’s requirement for 175 acres land as its campus land expansion. State Higher Education Director Dhirendra Nath Ojha told The Pioneer that the Government has already allotted adequate land to the premier institute.
“We have received a proposal from the ISM officials recently. The matter is related to policy making so taking a decision has not been possible for us,” said Ojha. According to ISM Registrar Col (Retd) MK Singh the present campus is 218 acres wherein as many as 5,000 students are studying in the 19 departments offering 39 courses.
“The institute was started in 1926 with initial student strength of 162 and till 1980, the institute had only four disciplines involving 500 plus students. With the present development taking place in the institute, land still remains the same. So, we need to expand our campus,” said Singh in a worried voice.
Singh further added, “This matter was discussed as per the Detail Project Report (DPR) with central government in 2005 and state government consented to give required land with complete money for infrastructure on the instructions given by the central government. The money is coming every year but the land has not been available. The communication has gone to the HRD. Accordingly 175 acres have been indentified and Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner (DC) had informed the state government to issue the free transfer of this government land and money for acquisition of this earmarked land.”
However, Dhanbad DC could not be contacted for his opinion despite several attempts. Recent media report reveals that the ISM officials including the chairman PK lahiri, Director DC Panigrahi and Registrar Singh met the then Advisor to Governor Madhukar Gupta and urged him to provide the mentioned land but as always received mere assurance.
Expressing the need of the hour for the institute Singh said, “State government as early as possible should provide the fund for acquisition of the land and give directions to DC Dhanbad for transfer of the free government land.”