IITs, NITs, reputed technical institutes to adopt stretches of national highway

Vibha Sharma

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 3

In an initiative expected to result in a win-win outcome, according to the government, reputed technical institutes across the country, including IITs, NITs and other AICTE-approved engineering colleges, have associated with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to adopt nearby stretches of the National Highway on a voluntary basis.

“The adopted stretches will be used as a field of study for the faculty, researchers and familiarise students of the Institute with the latest trends in the industry,” a statement issued by the Education Ministry said.

“These initiatives are expected to create a bridge between the institutes and the industry as has been envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will also lead to mutual cooperation between the institutes and the NHAI for the dissemination of respective expertise on the field of civil/highway engineering on National Highway Projects,” officials said.

Under this initiative, the partner institutes will study improvement prospects in safety, maintenance, riding comfort, removal of congestion points and usages of new technologies on the adopted stretches and give suitable suggestions to the NHAI for consideration.

The institutes will also associate with the NHAI during conceptualisation, design and project preparation of new projects and suggest the relevant parameters and innovations based on experience specific to the site climate, topography and resource potential for better socio-economic outcome.

“This initiative will also instil a sense of contribution to building local infrastructure among the students’ fraternity. The NHAI will offer an internship to 20 UG and 20 PG students of the institutes per year. Duration of internship shall be 2 months per student in a year. The internship will be Rs 8,000 for undergraduate students and Rs 15,000 per month for postgraduate students. The NHAI will support the creation of lab infrastructure in the institute and may sponsor a relevant research project that helps in using alternative resource material and improving quality of roads,” the Ministry added.

“The NHAI has received an overwhelming response for the initiative from many reputed institutes in a short period of time. So far, 18 IITs, 26 NITs and 190 other reputed engineering colleges have opted for the scheme. Appropriate MOUs are being signed between technical institutes and the NHAI for the adopted stretches, and so far, about 200 institutes have already signed the MOU for implementation of the scheme. It is expected that more than 300 institutes offering civil engineering UG and PG courses will adopt the national highway stretches all over the country,” the Ministry said.