Classes begin at IIT, Patna

PATNA: Classes at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna commenced today even as the formal inauguration will take place on a later date.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh, who was earlier scheduled to inaugurate the institute being run from a three-storeyed make-shift building on the Patliputra Government Polytechnic campus, could not turn up, official sources said.

Classes for the first batch of 108 students, including six girls, however, began today, official sources said, adding the institute is not registered as a society.

The Patna institute will function as an extension centre of IIT, Guwahati, they said. No formal invitation had been sent to the state government for the occasion, Science and Technology Minister Sahid Ali Khan claimed.
State science and technology department sources yesterday said the formal launch of the institute was put off due to 'some unavoidable reasons'.

"The Centre will fix a fresh date for the formal launch of the institute," sources said. Meanwhile, admission seekers accompanied by guardians queued up to fill registration forms soon after an orientation programme.
Initially the Patna IIT would be fully dependent on its 'mentor' institute IIT, Guwahati.

The Centre has approved the proposed permanent site for IIT at Bihta on the outskirts of Patna, state Principal Secretary (science and technology), A V Chaturvedi said.