Cabinet clears Rs 4,371 cr for NITs in NE, Puducherry

Briefing media after the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, said the availability of fresh funds would help in updating the campus and make it modern.

The UPA government had set up these NITs at Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry and Delhi at a cost of Rs 250 crore each. “This is a classic case how not to start project. Buildings, budget and other things were lacking resulting in the institutions suffering from delivering good education. Now we have given Rs. 4,371 crore. Just for political gains if announcements are then students will suffer and education will suffer,” said Javadekar.

The minister said in one or two years all these NITs will be in good shape.

The NITs, established in 2009, started functioning from the academic year 2010-2011 in their respective temporary campus with limited space and infrastructure. Now, these NITs will be fully functional from their respective permanent campuses by 31 March, 2022, an official said.

The Cabinet has approved the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) for establishment of permanent campuses of the new National Institutes of Technology (NITs), at a total cost of Rs 4371.90 crore for the period till 2021 - 2022, the official said.

NITs are Institutions of National Importance known to be among the best teaching Institutions in the field of engineering and technology and have made a remarkable presence with their high-quality technical education. These Institutes are capable of producing high quality technical manpower which will fuel entrepreneurship and generation of job opportunities throughout the country, an official release said.

The Cabinet also decided to name Daman as the Headquarters of the Union Territory of the newly merged Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

The meeting also approved the consequential amendments, extension, repeal in Acts dealing with Goods and Services Tax, Value Added Tax and Excise Duty in view of the merger of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Diu.

Another decision taken by the Cabinet was to formally close Hindustan Fluro Carbons, a public sector enterprise set up in Sangareddy district, Telangana, in 1983. The company had 88 employees and a VRS scheme was put in place, Javadekar said.

The Cabinet also cleared four MoUs that were to be signed with Brazil when President Jair Bolsonaro visits India later this week. He will be the chief guest at this year’s Republic Day celebrations in the capital.