New IITs hit by poor infrastructure: Sibal

The eight new IITs that were permitted to be set up in 2008 do not have the necessary infrastructure and are not up to the mark making it difficult for these institutes to retain their faculty, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

"These new IITs are functioning in temporary campuses and unable to attract new faculties. Due to the same reason we are finding it difficult to retain faculties. We need commitment from state governments for at least 500 acres of land without any liabilities attached to it," Sibal said on the sidelines of Geospatial World Forum.

The minister blamed the state governments for not allotting the required land for setting up permanent campuses for these institutions.

The Ministry started these new IITs (Indian Institute of Technologies) three years ago. Each institution should have at least 90 teachers from all disciplines. According to reports, most of these IITs do not have the required number of teaching staff.

Sibal said the ministry is holding talks with the state governments on the issue of land allocation.

"It is not only the IITs which are suffering. Even the new Central universities announced by the Centre are finding it difficult to get land in states," Sibal told reporters.

In 2008, the Union HRD ministry had announced setting up eight new IITs and seven IIMs along with 30 Central and 'world class universities' in the country.

The new IITs have come up in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Replying to a question, Sibal said the telecom ministry will hold the first session of the round table on New Telecom Policy-2011 in a day or two.

The minister also said that the National Geospatial Data Accountability bill which is currently at inter- ministerial discussion, will be tabled in the coming Budget session.