Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony (27 February 2009)


Program

12:15 Hours

 

 

Welcome

:Smt. D. Purandeswari, Hon'ble Union Minister of State for HRD, Govt. of India

 
12:19

 

 Presidential Address

:Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh

 
12:20

 

 Laying of Foundation Stone and Address

:Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Hon'ble Chairperson, United Progressive Alliance

 
12:28

 

 Vote of Thanks

:Professor M. S. Ananth, Mentor-Director, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

 

The Secretary (Department of Higher Education), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and The Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, organized the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad on 27 February 2009 (Friday) at Kandi village on National Highway 9 (near Sangareddy Town). Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Hon'ble Chairperson, United Progressive Alliance, has graciously laid the Foundation Stone at 12:20 Hours on 27 February 2009. The Guests of Honour on this occasion were:


 

Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

 Hon'ble Chief Minister, Govt of Andhra Pradesh

 

 Smt. D. Purandeswari Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Govt. of India

 

 Sri R. Chengareddy Hon'ble Minister for Law & Courts, Technical Education, ITIs, Higher Education & Intermediate Education, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh

 

 Sri N. Yellaiah Hon'ble Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Medak

Professor M. S. Ananth, Mentor Director, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, and Sri Ashok Thakur, Additional Secretary, MHRD, Department of Higher Education, Govt. of India, oversaw the ceremony. All departments of the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh have worked tirelessly to make the necessary arrangement for the ceremony.


This ceremony marks a formal beginning of the development of the permanent campus of Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad on the 212-hectare (523 acres) land handed over by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to IIT Hyderabad. Currently, the master planning of the permanent campus is underway, and is expected to be ready by end of April 2009. The design of the buildings and facilities will start soon after the Master Plan is finalised, and will be completed by July 2009. The construction activity will begin thereafter. The Institute will be developed in phases over the next 10 years. It is expected to take about 2 years for the first set of buildings to be completed.


The setting up of IIT Hyderabad (IITH) is a Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, initiative. IIT Hyderabad is being mentored by IIT Madras. The academic program of IITH was launched on 19 August 2008. This historic occasion saw the Institute open its doors to its first batch of students - a total of 111 students (102 boys and 9 girls) in three streams - in the B.Tech programs in Electrical Engineering (EE), Mechanical Engineering (ME), and Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). 80 students of this batch hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, while the remaining 31 students are from other states, giving a diversity to the student body. IITH is currently located in the campus of the Ordnance Factory (OFMK) in Yeddumailaram. The academic zone, hostels and residential area (53 quarters) are all within the OFMK campus. The IITH campus is located approx. 60 km from Rajeev Gandhi International Airport, 45 km from Secunderabad Railway Station and 42 km from Jubilee Bus Stand in Secunderabad. The second batch of students joining in the 2009-2010 academic session, and will be housed in the temporary campus on Ordnance Factory Estate itself in Yeddumailaram.


The preparation of the Institute's facilities was done during June-August 2008. During this period of intense activities, the renovation of the buildings and the creation of the academic infrastructure were carried out under the supervision of a Special Task Force set up by Professor M. S. Ananth, Mentor-Director of IITH. The Task Force comprises of faculty members of IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur. For the first and second semesters at IITH, all the teachers are the members of the faculty of IITM and are following the curriculum of IITM which includes theory courses, laboratories and workshops. An Academic Council has been set up to provide direction for all the academic aspects of IITH. The Institute's strong research focus is emphasized by the admission of first set of PhD students in January 2009 semester. IITH will leverage the local presence of a wide range of R&D laboratories and companies (government and private sector) in the Greater Hyderabad Area. The Government of Japan has come forward to participate in the formation of IITH via academic, technical and financial partnership. This Indo-Japan collaboration will be one of the unique features of IITH. The potential of substantial technical collaboration and support from Japan is currently being finalised.


The excellent support received from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh is gratefully acknowledged by IITH. The members of the faculty of IITM are contributing to the initial thrust needed to successfully launch IITH. The logo of IITH is "Pushing Frontiers". It is the vision of the Institute that, as it endeavours to push the frontiers of research and teaching in engineering and science, it will set new standards in engineering practice in India and that it will contribute actively to growth of India in the decades to come.