GUWAHATI, Dec 19 � The land acquisition for the permanent site of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) near the LGBI Airport has been almost completed. More than 341 bighas has been identified for the permanent campus near the proposed IT Park, which is about 5 km away from the airport.
This was informed by the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup, Dr J Balaji at a meeting of the 5th State Steering Committee (SSC) chaired by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at his official residence recently.
Balaji apprised the Chief Minister that the land acquisition process would be completed by January 15 next year. The land acquisition costs will be Rs 23.20 crore which will be borne by the State Government. Rs 30 crore has been already earmarked for the same.
Chief Minister Gogoi, who is the chairman of the SSC, said the government intends to set up the permanent campus of IIIT near the airport, by inviting the Prime Minister to lay the foundation stone in February next year. Gogoi directed the district administration to preserve the water bodies in and around the campus and not to go for earth filling that might hinder the natural flow of water. An amount of Rs 120 crore has been earmarked for construction of the state-of-the-art building by Government of India.
It was also decided in the meeting that as the proposed IIIT Guwahati campus and the IT Park locations are adjacent to each other, the approach road and some of the infrastructure facilities like power, water and sewerage treatment may be shared by both the institutions to cut the cost.
Mentor Director, IIIT, Guwahati, Prof Gautam Barua in course of his power- point presentation on the present status of the institute said the State government is awaiting the consent from the industry partners on the panel of five names suggested for the appointment of Chairman of the Board of Governors. The appointment of the Chairman will be finalised by the Government of India. The State government has already nominated the Board members. The rest of the members will be nominated and co-opted once the Chairman is selected.
Barua said the Ministry of Human Resource Development would provide up to Rs 10 crore as seed money and non-recurring expenses up to four years and after that revenue has to be generated by the institute on its own.
The meeting also discussed, among others, appointment of support staff and faculty members, additional hostel facility for students and faculty members.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Minister for Education, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Secretary, Jitesh Khosla, Commissioner & Secretary, Higher Education, HK Sarmah and members of industry partners representing Oil India Ltd., AMTRON, TCS, Mumbai and SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd., Kolkata.
It may be mentioned that the IIIT, Guwahati is presently functioning from the temporary campus of Assam Textile Institute in Guwahati from August this year. 60 students are on roll for B Tech degree in Computer Science and Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering, said an official release.