NIT Tiruchy, first campus to bag top Swachh award

The NIT is ranked third among centrally funded technical institutions/universities and the only NIT among the 31 such institutes to find a place among the awardees. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar gave away the Swacch award to NIT Director Mini Shaji Thomas in New Delhi.

Mini Shaji Thomas said that as a part of ‘Swachhta Pakhwada’, NIT-T set three key objectives — To clean the campus including weeding out old files, damaged equipment etc., to instill a sense of cleanliness and hygiene among the faculty, staff and students and to clean the surrounding villages and spread the message of cleanliness and hygiene.

NIT-T is located on a 777-acre campus, of which 70 acres is built-up land, making it one of the largest campuses in the country. 

The green belt covers more than 240 acres — 30% of the total campus area. As much as 24,500 sqmt of lawn is maintained in the institute area. 

Recycled water plant is used for maintaining the green area using sprinklers and the drip system as the average annual rainfall of Tiruchy is less than 850mm. 

The Nature Club of NIT-T recently documented 120 species of birds in the campus.

Mini Shaji Thomas said the NIT has a student strength of 6,406, including 1,454 girls, and a faculty strength of 332. She further said the campus has 21 boys hostels and seven girls hostels accommodating 5,336 students, the highest in Tiruchy.

Samson Mathew, dean (students’ welfare) and Shivam Sharma, president of the Student Union, accompanied Mini Shaji Thomas to the awards function.