Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday paved the way for closer cooperation between his government and the state’s premier

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday paved the way for closer cooperation between his government and the state’s premier IIT Ropar and IIM Amritsar institutions, particularly in the area of Skill Development, among others.

The Chief Minister held two separate video conferences with the heads of the two institutions.

Capt Amarinder SinghDuring the VC with IIT Ropar, the state government signed three MoUs with the institute in the areas of skill development.

The MoUs provide for IIT’s Technical Education Department to become Academic Mentor for the state’s Engineering Colleges at Gurdaspur & Ferozepur, as well as for Sri Guru Gobind Singh Skill Institute at Shri Chamkaur Sahib, five Government Polytechnics and 10 Government ITIs.

Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said IIT will also help the state in developing one model ITI and one model polytechnic and the others would be modelled on similar lines subsequently.

Charanjit Singh ChanniIIT Director Prof SK Das’s suggested that the state should take the initiative for setting up a Defence manufacturing corridor, with IIT’s support in AI and strategic designing of defence equipment. The Chief Minister said he will take up the issue with the Centre.

The Chief Minister urged IIT to help the state in the manufacture of small devices for controlling water wastage in irrigation, in response to which Prof Das extended the institution’s full support.

Captain Amarinder directed Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to resolve the IIT’s land acquisition related issues, while urging the IIT to develop its campus as a green campus, with extensive landscaping and afforestation.

He also directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee to look into the IIT Director’s submission that Private Universities/Colleges in the state are increasing seats for Engineering courses without any checks and balances.

In  a brief presentation earlier, Prof Das pointed out that in a span of 12 years, IIT, at 47, has come almost at par with IIS Bangalore in rankings (36, as per Times Higher Education ranking of Asian universities).

Punjab government

IIM Amritsar also extended support to the state government in promoting skill development and its director, Prof. Ramamoorthy Nagarajan, said the institution would be organising various short-term courses for officers, including Excise, Business Management, Taxation etc.

The IIM has adopted five villages in Amritsar area as part of its CSR outreach, the Chief Minister was informed.

Responding to concerns expressed by IIM Director Prof. Ramamoorthy Nagarajan over some unresolved land issues of the institution, Captain Amarinder directed DC Amritsar to look into the matter and resolve the same at the earliest.