Dedicating a new campus of Indian Institute of Technology to the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, 24 December, said that IIT-Bhubaneswar would spur the industrial development of Odisha and work towards technology to improve the lives of the people.
The new campus of IIT is an addition to the list of pre-existing 23 IITs across India.
In his inaugural address, PM Modi said, “I got the opportunity to dedicate IIT Bhubaneswar to the youth. This grand campus will not only be a center of dreams for the youth of Odisha but will also provide employment opportunities.”
Along with PM, Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was also present at the inauguration ceremony.
The institute running since 2008, now has five established centres in Augmented and Virtual reality, Energy Materials, Design Innovation, Bay of Bengal Coastal Observatory and Probiotics, reported The New Indian Express.
IIT-BBS, which initially functioned from IIT Kharagpur, moved to a transit campus in 2009. A total of Rs 1,260 crores have been spent on its construction.
It started functioning from the current campus in 2015 and became fully functional with shifting its central administration in 2018. Currently, it has seven academic school with around 1,765 students.
The institute received 81 sponsored and 101 consultancy projects worth Rs 55.61 crore in the last three years.
According to The New Indian Express, the first phase infrastructure which is 1,10,082 sqm was completed, whereas, the second phase infrastructure (1,99,139 sqm) is underway and will end by year 2019.
PM Modi is also expected to announce projects worth over Rs 14,500 crore for Odisha, Dharmendra Pradhan, Petroleum Minister confirmed. He will also be laying the foundation stone of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER ) during his visit.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express)
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