BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sought the support of IIT Bhubaneswar in fine tuning traffic management, waste management, sanitation, security and surveillance in Capital City.
Addressing the eight Foundation Day of IIT Bhubaneswar here on Friday, Naveen said since Bhubaneswar has topped the Smart City race, the State Government would expect contribution from the institute in developing smart management technologies.
The National Institute of New Energy (NINE), under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is in the process of establishment in close vicinity of IIT Bhubaneswar. With the collaboration of IIT and NINE, the former would transform into a zero-energy campus using self-sustainable non-conventional sources of energy, Naveen added.
Addressing the gathering, IIT Bhubaneswar Director Prof RV Raja Kumar said the institution has decided to increase its intake capacity from 180 to 260 from next academic session beginning July.
The enhanced intake would include 40 seats in Electronics and Telecommunication engineering branch. Similarly, the institute will start a dual degree, five-year BTech and MTech programme which would have 20 seats each for Civil and Mechanical engineering streams, Kumar said.
The IIT has set up incubation and start-up centres and expects enrolment of a sizeable number of students, the Director said. “We are expecting a sizeable number of students to enrol in the incubation and start-up centres and seek participation of the State Government in taking up projects,” Kumar said.
He informed that efforts are on to shift the operations of IIT Bhubaneswar to its Arugul campus at the earliest. He also pledged support to the State Government in taking up various projects which would help people at large.
Former Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh delivered the eighth Foundation Day Lecture to students, faculty and staff. Naveen distributed awards of excellence in teaching to the faculty and commendation to students who excelled in different fields.
Among others, Minister of State for Science and Technology Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy, Minister of Skill Development and Technical Education Sanjay Dasburma and Lok Sabha member Prasanna Patasani were present.