Guwahati, Aug 10: Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IIT-G) is partnering with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to develop solutions to problems of accessing water, electricity and internet for AICTE-affiliated technical institutions in Northeast India.
As part of the project, initiated under the “Grant for augmenting infrastructure in the Northeastern Region”, both IIT-G and AICTE have been working towards capacity-building in these institutions to promote research and development and enhance the quality of education in the remote regions of the Northeast.
Owing to hilly terrain, most institutions in the Northeast region are located in remote areas where the supply of adequate power and safe drinking water are a challenge.
“This project is the first-of-its-kind in the Northeast in which AICTE and IIT-G will facilitate financial and technical expertise to the institutions to provide infrastructure. This includes solar energy installation depending on the requirements of the institutes and installation or upgrade of facilities for safe drinking water with RO (reverse osmosis),” an official statement said on Wednesday.
The steering committee for the project comprises Sharad B. Gokhale, head, department of civil engineering, IIT-G; Gopal Das, head, department of chemistry, IIT-G; Santosh Kumar Dwivedy from the department of mechanical engineering, IIT-G and Chandan Mahanta, department of civil engineering, IIT-G.
The project team, led by Gokhale, also comprises Dudul Das, project engineer, IIT-G; Hrishikesh Bhattacharjya, associate project engineer, IIT-G; Rajneesh Kumar, associate project engineer, IIT-G; Arindom Borah, project secretary, IIT-G; Neeraj Saxena, advisor, Institutional Development Cell (IDC), AICTE and Amit K. Singh, assistant director, Institutional Development Cell (IDC), AICTE among others.
Through phase-1 of the project, a total of 416 kW of power has been generated, which will help laboratories, offices and street lights to function uninterrupted.
Further, at many institutions drinking water sources were either not adequate or untreated containing significant levels of iron and arsenic. The project so far has facilitated these institutions to improve their water supply and treatment facilities.
Phase-1 of the project is scheduled to be completed this month while phase-2 has been initiated and will cover 33 new institutions where internet connectivity would be provided in addition to solar and water facilities.
“Solar power plants installed at these institutions will reduce a significant financial burden compared to conventional electricity supply over 25 years of its service period,” the statement said.
“Since the plants have also installed batteries for storing energy, they will provide uninterrupted power supply to operate computational laboratories and other essential academic requirements,” it said.
During the first phase of the project, 27 institutions received funding of Rs 5.4 crore for installation of solar power plants and 16 institutions received funding of Rs 1.92 crore for water treatment facilities.
Another major concern in the region is digital connectivity which is being taken up in phase-2 during which high-speed internet will be facilitated in various technical institutions of Northeast India.