Updated on: Thursday, September 10, 2015
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Dharwad, Karnataka is likely to start functioning from a temporary campus next academic year. To start with the IIT , it will admit a total of 120 students -in mechanical, civil, electrical and computer engineering streams.
This IIT Dharwad in Karnataka state will function from the Water & Land Management Institute (WALMI) campus adjacent to the Karnataka High Court Bench on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway till the construction of a permanent campus, Tripti Gurha, director of IIT, said in a letter to the Karnataka government.
Gruha, however, has set two riders: one, the state should renovate the buildings and quarters at WALMI for which the HRD ministry will bear the cost. Secondly , it should build a wall around the 507-acre land at Mummigatti and Kelageri villages and hand over the land to the union HRD ministry .
BJP MLA Aravind Bellad, quoting R Subrahmanyam, additional secretary (technical education), union department of higher education, said the Centre is very interested on making the IIT functional from 2016-17.
Senior IAS officer P Manivannan, who oversees development works in Dharwad district, Karnataka said the IIT Dharwad, Karnataka can start functioning from WALMI premises. The 135-acre campus has administrative, faculty and residential buildings besides a demonstration farm, most of which are lying unused.
Bellad said WALMI is using only 2 % of its campus. The classrooms in the 50,000 sqft building and hostel facilities for 200 students are available. "It requires some renovation, which can be completed within three months,'' he added.