CHENNAI: In little over three decades land required to start a new engineering college has come down from 100 acres to just the built-up area in major cities like Chennai.
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) which reduced the land requirement from 1.5 acres last year to just built up area this year in nine mega and metro cities including Chennai, has allowed the existing and new institutions to grow vertical instead of horizontal due to non-availability of land in these cities.
“The first batch of private engineering colleges started in Tamil Nadu in 1984 needed 100 acres of land and it was subsequently reduced to 40, 20 and 10 acres by AICTE. Due to non-availability of land, the rule has been relaxed to the just built-up area in megacities this year,”a source said.
In its approval process handbook 2018-19, the technical education council also has relaxed the 2.5-acre land area required in the urban area by permitting the institutions to have it in two different plots.
“The academic, instructional, administrative and amenities area shall be in one plot not less than 1.5 acres and the distance between the plots shall not exceed 2 km. The remaining land shall only be utilized for sporting infrastructure, hostel and staff accommodation and related educational activities,” the rule has stated.
The technical education council has also permitted the institutions to start other educational courses or institutions in the surplus land arising out of the prevailing and reduced norms of land requirement.
Even colleges with more than 10 acres are struggling to increase their strength due to the various facilities that are needed for the additional intake of students.
“This new rule may help new colleges to be set up at the heart of the city. But, the intake has to be a minimum as they might need the more built up area to have more students. It could be run like training centres with two or three branches,” said B.Chidambara Rajan, principal of Valliammai Engineering College, Chennai.
Anna University former Vice-Chancellor E.Balagurusamy alleged that AICTE has buckled under pressure from college managements.
“What is the need to reduce the required land now? It is true we cannot get bulk land like 100 acres due to the real estate boom, But, for an engineering college reducing the minimum land from 2.5 acres is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.
“An engineering college should have a lot of workshops and labs. If we reduce the required land then where is the place for workshops, labs, playground and green area?” he asked.
But others like career consultant Jayaprakash A.Gandhi supported the move saying it will help students to spare more time for studies.
“Engineering graduates are spending several hours travelling outside the city every day. If the colleges established inside the metro cities they will get a lot of spare time to acquire some extra skills,” he said. While defending the move, AICTE chairman Anil D.Sahasrabudhe said, “There is no land available in metros and megacities.”
“They cannot get additional land in their neighbourhood for expansion. So, we have permitted engineering colleges to have multi-storey buildings in these cities with the approval from local bodies,” Sahasrabudhe told Deccan Chronicle.
