Built at Rs 6.47-crore, ITI building in Renukaji still non-functional

The Industrial Training Institute (ITI) building at Myna Bagh in Shri Renukaji Assembly constituency of Sirmaur district constructed at a cost of Rs 6.47 crore is non-functional even about two years after completion. Though the state-of-the-art facility is ready, students still attend classes in a rented private house at Kheguwa.

Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had laid the foundation stone of the institute in 2020. By December 2022, nearly 90 per cent of the construction work had been completed. The building was fully ready by 2023 but it was yet to be inaugurated.

Established in 2016, the ITI, Myna Bagh, was initially sanctioned four trades — Electrician, Pump operator, Fitter and Draftsman — but due to space constraints in the rented building, only two trades (Electrician and Pump operator) have been functional for the past nine years with 40 trainees enrolled in each. The other two trades, though approved, have not been started, depriving students of expanded training opportunities.

BJP leaders, including Sangrah Mandal president Balbir Singh Thakur, district spokesperson Pratap Singh Rawat and former party candidate from Shri Renukaji constituency Narayan Singh, have alleged that the Congress government is deliberately not inaugurating the institute for the past two years. They claim that lakhs of rupees is being paid as rent for the private building while students continue to suffer.

Executive Engineer, PWD, Sangrah division, Ram Singh; and Superintending Engineer, PWD, Sirmaur, Arvind Sharma, said that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu would inaugurate the ITI building at Myna Bagh during the upcoming International Shri Renukaji Fair.

Shri Renukaji MLA and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Vinay Kumar said that the ITI building was completed this year and would be inaugurated during the fair. “A building is inaugurated only when it is fully ready. The Chief Minister will inaugurate it during the Renukaji Fair,” he added.