Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is partnering with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to develop solutions to problems of accessing water, electricity and internet for the AICTE-affiliated technical institutions in North-East India.

IIT Guwahati and AICTE will work towards capacity-building in these institutions to promote Research and Development and enhance the quality of education in remote regions of North-East India.

Due to hilly terrain, most institutions in the North-East region are located in remote places where the supply of adequate power and safe drinking water are a challenge.

This project is the first-of-its-kind in the North-East in which AICTE and IIT Guwahati facilitates financial and technical expertise to the institutions to provide infrastructure. This includes solar energy installation depending upon the requirements of the institutes and installation or upgrading of facilities for safe drinking water with RO or iron remover.

Praising the team for their efforts, Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati said, “the institute is continuously thriving to forge closer network with institutes in this region for providing knowledge based support, skill development and technical expertise to improve the overall quality of education and supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner.”

The steering committee for this project consists of Prof. Sharad B. Gokhale, Head, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Guwahati, Prof. Gopal Das, Head, Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati, Prof. Santosh Kumar Dwivedy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati and Prof. Chandan Mahanta, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Guwahati.

The project team led by Prof. Sharad B. Gokhale consists of Dr. Dudul Das, Project Engineer, IIT Guwahati, Mr. Hrishikesh Bhattacharjya, Associate Project Engineer, IIT Guwahati, Dr. Rajneesh Kumar, Associate Project Engineer, IIT Guwahati, Mr. Arindom Borah, Project Secretary, IIT Guwahati, Dr. Neeraj Saxena, Advisor, Institutional Development Cell (IDC), AICTE and Shri 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 that would 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. Phase-1 project has facilitated these institutions to improve their water supply and treatment facilities.

Highlighting the impact of this project, Prof. Sharad B. Gokhale, Head, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Guwahati said, “This project provides an opportunity for us to enhance the learning environment of northeastern technical institutions of India by facilitating basic infrastructures such as clean water, renewable electricity, and communication. The institutes as well as the people will benefit greatly through these enhancements and will empower further growth and development of the region.”

The phase-1 project is scheduled to be completed this month (August 2022). Phase 2 of the project has just 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 would reduce a significant financial burden compared to conventional electricity supply over 25 years of its service period. Since the plants have also installed batteries for storing energy, it will provide an uninterrupted power supply to operate computational laboratories and other essential academic requirements.

During the first phase of this project, 27 institutions received funding of Rs. 5.4 cr for installation of solar power plants and 16 institutions received funding of Rs. 1.92 cr for water treatment facilities. With the implementation of the Phase-I project several concerns of these institutions related to power and water infrastructure were addressed.

Another major concern in the NER is the digital connectivity which is being taken up in Phase-2 project in which high-speed internet will be facilitated in various technical institutions of NE India. Through Phase-1 and Phase-2 projects, IIT Guwahati also provides skill development in preparation of DPR, and development of research proposals. Therefore, the project has a unique benefit of creating a trained pool of faculties from these remotely placed institutions.

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