09 August 2008

Country's eighth IIT opens in Patna

It was like a dream come true for Bihar as the country’s eighth Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) got off to a flying start at Patna on Wednesday. Classes commenced on Thursday.

Till the institute is registered as a society and subsequently IIT-Patna gets its formal name by a parliamentary ratification, the Patna institute will function as an extension centre of IIT-Guwahati.

The institute’s three-floor building on the Patliputra Government Polytechnic campus, was humming with activities as admission seekers accompanied by their guardians queued up to fill registration forms soon after an orientation workshop at which IIT-Guwahati’s dean (Admn) Prof A Srinivasan delivered the welcome address.

The workshop was also addressed by IIT-Patna’s dean Prof Samarendra Dandpat and IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua. The vote of thanks was proposed by Prof MGP Prasad.

While Prof Srinivasan spoke about the new institute, Prof Dandpat discussed the curriculum which would be the same as the one being followed in other IITs.

Altogether 108 students, including six girls, belonging to different parts of the country have taken admission to the Patna IIT which has started with three formal trades __ electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer sciences.

Said Palak Agrawal, a student of computer sciences, “I hadn’t imagined, not even in the wildest of my dreams, that my hometown will get an IIT and I will be a proud student of this institute.” Palak is an alumna of city’s Notre Dame Academy, and her parents Ajay Gupta and Nikita Gupta were happy that their daughter would realise her dream of studying at IIT without going away from home.

IIT-Guwahati’s faculty member Prof R Sharma, who is here to teach the students during the first semester, told TOI the infrastructure, though sufficient for first year students, is temporary. “The fully-fledged campus is coming up at Amhara near Bihta, 25 km away,” he said.

That Anushmita Kaushik of Hisar and Vandana of Hyderabad would have to live in Bihar to pursue their studies has not marred their pleasure of getting into IIT. “All our apprehensions about the state vanished the moment we landed here,” said Kaushik. Vandana nodded.

Kirti Chaudhary of Lucknow was all praise for the new institute. “There’s a separate hostel for girls, which is quite cosy and comfortable,” she said and added she is happy with other arrangements as well. “And there’s no fear of ragging here,” Kirti cooed, pointing out the institute being new, there are no seniors to rag them.

The State Bank of India and the Canara Bank put up stalls on the premises, offering educational loans. Said SBI AGM Satish Kumar Singh, “Though few students approached us for loans, many opened accounts.”




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