BANGALORE: In keeping up with Presidents address and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wish to establish an IIT/IIM in every state, HRD minister Smriti Irani is working on the possibilities to open eight new IITs across the country soon. But that is being met with opposition as an IITian who has asked to fix existing IITs first, as reported by ET.

According to the online petition initiated by Digvijay Singh Patil, the possible change and idea to set up new institution is not agreeable and has further asked the HRD Ministry to focus on the existing problems faced in the recently built institutions. Patil, a third-year student of agricultural and food engineering from IIT Kharagpur, exclaimed this statement on the website Change.org.

"Instead of setting up eight new IITs, I (an IITian) want you to focus on facilities and faculties of existing IITs. Condition of many new IITs, set up in 2009, is pathetic. Many departments don't even have faculties," said the petitioner. So far, the petition has received about 8,931 signatures.

Patil, who is interning with Nippon KOEI's research and development centre in Japan at the moment, started the petition two weeks ago after the official word was out from the minister's plans online.

Patil said that, "I spoke to my friends from the newer IITs and they told me about the problems they were facing. The biggest complaint is the condition of the hostels and campuses. New IITs offer fewer courses and in fact, IIT Gandhinagar doesn't even have a sought-after course like computer science and engineering. Campus placement in new IITs is not too good either, except in Hyderabad and Ropar."

He further added, "Many of these IITs do not even have their own campus and infrastructure right now. They are operating from other institutes."

The ongoing petition from the IITian was done in such a way that every time a supporter signs the petition, a notification email is sent to the official id of the HRD ministry. But it is still yet to receive any calls and emails from the HRD minister on this matter.
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