The UPA government’s ambitious plan of setting up eight new campuses of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is turning out to be an expensive affair because of the delay in setting up these prestigious bodies.

The IITs are among the country’s premier institutes for higher education in engineering and management, with 15 campuses across India. The government had announced the establishment of eight new IITs — in Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Ropar (Haryana), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Bhuwaneshwar (Odisha) and Patna (Bihar) — with much fanfare in 2008. It contended that the new IITs were needed because of increasing demand for quality higher education. The proposal, however, attracted severe criticism, especially by academics because the government made the announcement without any ground work.

The shortage of funds seems to be just another aspect that the government did not think through. With an initial budget of Rs6,080 crore now proving to be insufficient, the finance ministry will have to dig deeper into its pockets as the human resources development ministry is set to ask for a more than 100 per cent increase in allocation.

“The (Union) cabinet had approved about Rs760 crore for each IIT, but after factoring in the delay in acquiring land, inflation and change in initial plans we now need about Rs1,600 crore,” said an HRD ministry official, who did not wish to be identified. “The new IITs, for instance, plan to function from green buildings. That itself had led to a 19% increase in costs.”

This massive escalation in costs can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the delay in acquiring land, escalated construction cost, peculiarities related to land, etc, said HRD officials.

“Some of the IITs, such as the one in Patna, have been allotted land 20 km away from the city. They will have to lay electricity lines for the permanent campus, which would obviously require more money. One could not have foreseen such problems five years ago,” the official added.

It’s not clear whether the finance ministry will agree to such a substantial hike in the initial budget considering the government is reeling under a financial crunch; the University Grants Commission has written to the HRD ministry complaining about the decrease in its allocation under the 12th five-year plan.The elite addressesIIT Hyderabad: Temporary campus at Ordnance Factory, Medak Yeddumailaram

IIT Patna: Temporary campus at Government Polytechnic, Pataliputra

IIT Rajasthan: Temporary campus at MBM Engg College, Jodhpur

IIT Bhubaneswar: Operating from eight locations in Bhubaneswar

IIT Gandhinagar: Temporary campus at Vishwakarma Government Engg College, Ahmedabad

IIT Ropar: Temporary campus at Governmentt Polytechnic, Rupnagar

IIT Mandi: Temporary campus at Government Vallabh College, Mandi

IIT Indore: Temporary campus at IET, DAV University, Indore