Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Indian Institute of Technology Indore, which has a loan of around Rs 350 crore to repay due to which its ambitious project of starting a satellite campus in Ujjain is in the doldrums, admitted that it is difficult to start its campus in the ancient town from the forthcoming session.
“The institute is continuously in touch with the Union ministry of education to obtain the requisite approval and funding to start the educational programme on the Ujjain campus. Since approval is required for the commencement of the course, it may be difficult in this forthcoming semester (to start a satellite campus in Ujjain),” IIT Indore public relations officer Sunil Kumar said.
Free Press had recently published that the debt-ridden IIT Indore’s ambitious campus was unlikely to start the 2022-’23 session due to debt and lack of funds even as minister for higher education Mohan Yadav was pressing for it.
Around six months ago, Yadav—who is an MLA from an Assembly constituency in Ujjain—revealed that IIT Indore had planned a satellite campus in the ancient town, which is located around 50 kilometres from Indore. The then IIT Indore officiating director, Neelesh Kumar Jain, had confirmed the development, stating that the satellite campus would start with some PG courses.
Vikram Vishwavidyalaya had announced that it would provide space for a transit campus of IIT Indore until the institute’s own premises, proposed on 100 acres at an outlay of Rs 500 crore, was set up.
Then, Suhas Joshi took over as the new director. Sources at IIT Indore claimed that the newly appointed director, Suhas Joshi, was taken aback by the decision taken by his predecessor on setting up a satellite campus at a distance of a mere 50 kilometres from Indore. Sources also claimed that Joshi’s inquiry had left him stunned that the satellite campus was announced just to please Yadav.
In an e-mail to Free Press, IIT Indore denied the claims. The e-mail says, “IIT Indore has always wanted to open its campus in Ujjain and is certainly willing to go ahead with its plan. It is clarified that IIT Indore director professor Suhas S Joshi has welcomed such a decision and is continuously in touch with the Union ministry of education for taking this project ahead. A detailed, revised plan is being worked out to have additional facilities of skill development, outreach activities, industrial set-up, incubation and innovation and so forth, which complement the activities of the main campus at Simrol.”
The e-mail further reads, “The funding for setting up of the campus is huge and, hence, requires deliberation, funding from appropriate agencies and detailed planning. The process for this is already on by placing the matter before the institute’s finance committee and the Board of Governors.”
