Ten years after it came into existence, the National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand finally got a permanent campus at Sumari in Pauri Garhwal district.
Governor Baby Rani Maurya, chief minister Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat and union Human Resource Development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank laid the foundation stone of the campus on Saturday.
Speaking after the breaking ceremony, Governor Maurya said, “Today the foundation of an institute was laid which was awaited since long. Devbhoomi Uttarakhand has famous national institutes like IITs, IIMs and NITs. Students and teachers have faced many challenges in the past 10 years because of NIT not having a permanent campus. We hope that by 2022, when India will complete 75 years of independence, construction of the campus will be completed.”
The governor said it was a matter of happiness that NIT will conduct special research and study regarding landslide and other natural disasters in the mountain regions.
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “People doubted whether NIT would stay in Srinagar or go out. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the responsibility of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, this doubt was removed from everyone’s mind. As a result of this, today the foundation stone of the permanent campus of NIT in Sumari has been laid.”
The chief minister said ₹20 crore has been sanctioned for the availability of drinking water in NIT and ₹5 crore has been released from the contingency fund.
The state government will bear the cost for internal roads for the campus. A separate facility will be provided for electricity, which will cost about ₹30 crore.
Rawat further said: “Where the education system is right, the social and economic systems also get fixed automatically.”
Union minister Pokhriyal said: “We are trying to build a Kendriya Vidyalaya in NIT so that the children of officials here can study here. The chief minister made several efforts to establish NIT in Sumari. The construction of this building will be completed within 2 years. After the campus is built, students from all over the world will come here to study.”
