Govt seeks Nabard loan for construction of polytechnics

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 12

The construction of 21 government polytechnics in various parts of the state has begun to weigh heavily on the cash-strapped government.

It has approached National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) for extending loans to help give shape to its political announcements.

Most of these commitments have been made in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly elections. The priority being given to the polytechnics can be gauged from the fact that these figure in the Chief Minister’s announcements. These are also being backed by top Congress leaders, including Legislative Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal.

It is for the first time that a lending agency has been approached for the construction of polytechnics that only exist on paper. Nabard has agreed to provide Rs 10,593.40 lakh for the construction of the polytechnics, which means it will be providing nearly 90 per cent of the funds.

The total cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 11,770.47 lakh.

Polytechnics have been planned for Pithoragarh, Tehri, Almora, Pauri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Champawat.

Minister for Technical Education Yashpal Arya has said that most of these polytechnics will come up in the remote areas of the state. “Our government has been focusing on providing training to youngsters once they finish their school so that they do not remain unemployed for long and do not leave their homes for seeking jobs elsewhere” said Arya.

However, as most of these polytechnics are planned in places such as Bans Bagad in Pithoragarh, Berinag etc, arranging a trained faculty would be a challenge.

“The location of the polytechnics is such that these are mostly confined to Congress leaders’ pocket boroughs and will take a while before they begin functioning,” said Dilip Singh Rawat, BJP MLA.

However, Arya is of a different opinion. He says these polytechnics will boost the home-grown industry. The Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Agency has been roped in to construct the buildings using pre-engineering techniques.