Union Minister for Education Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal virtually inaugurated newly constructed Mechanical Engineering Block, Bio-Technology and Chemical Engineering Block and facilities such as Central Instrumentation and Reaction Engineering Laboratory of NIT Arunachal Pradesh. Pema Khandu, Chief Minister, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports and Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Taba Tedir, Minister of Education, Government of Arunachal Pradesh graced the occasion. Professor Pinakeswar Mahanta, Director NIT Arunachal Pradesh also participated in the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion the Pokhriyal said that NIT Arunachal Pradesh can be a torchbearer in the entire northeastern region, one of the missions of this institute is “To identify regional, Indian and global need to serve the society better” which is a mission of any institute of national importance. Pokhriyal emphasised that our educational institutions should inculcate in the minds of their students a scientific temperament and should serve as a box of knowledge and train young minds to think beyond the book and encourage them to accept any challenge as an opportunity and overall make them a good human being, he added.
The minister mentioned that academics and research of NIT Arunachal Pradesh have improved during last few years and accomplished achievements like 200th Ranking in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020 in Engineering Category and Band A (Rank Between 11th - 25th) in ARIIA Rankings 2020 among the category of Institute of National Importance, Central Universities & CFTIs. A good number of publications and patent by faculty members reflects the improvement in academic and research of the Institute in different fields of engineering, basic sciences and humanities, he added.
The minister informed that this premier institute is running with 53 faculty members and around 800 students in undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD level and recently 80% increase in enrollment in PhD level has been observed which will definitely enhance the research and development activities. With the starting of the newly inaugurated buildings, the minister hoped that functioning of NIT Arunachal Pradesh from its permanent campus will commence. Every good institute needs a permanent campus for functioning and implementing its real goal.
While addressing the participants Rijiju congratulated NIT Arunachal Pradesh and particularly the students from across the country studying in this prestigious institute. Rijiju thanked Union Education Minister for taking effective actions to ensure safety and academic welfare of the aspiring students and his support to NIT Arunachal Pradesh. He appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Education to bring out New Education Policy (NEP) for the betterment of the education system from primary to a higher level. He congratulated the Institute for their endeavour so far and wished them good luck for the future.
The construction of Mechanical Engineering Block and of Bio-Technology and Chemical Engineering Block was completed at cost of Rs 17.405 Crore each having buildup area of 7143 square metres in each block. Each of the newly constructed Block is having 7 (seven) classrooms with capacity to accommodate total 360 persons, 9 (nine) Laboratories including virtual classrooms, 1(one) meeting room and 27 (twenty-seven) Faculty Cabins.
Central Instrumentation Facility and Reaction Engineering Laboratory are recently developed at a cost of 0.35 Crore and 0.05 Crore respectively from TEQIP-III funding of World Bank. Both the laboratories are equipped with state of the art facilities for research and consultancy.