Punjab: Parkash Singh Badal, the Chief Minister of Punjab, has made the announcement that 13 new degree colleges would come up in the state by next year, at a cost of Rs 104 Crore. He made the statement, while presiding over a function to mark the silver jubilee of the Government College, located 10 km from state capital Chandigarh.
The upcoming colleges would be located in the educationally backward districts of Amritsar, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Nawanshahar, Patiala and Sangrur, on the recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Badal mentioned that to boost higher and technical education, a central university at Bathinda had already started its academic session. Another world-class central university would be set up in Amritsar in over 700 acres of land. He also added that the state government had transferred 501 acres of land for setting up the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Ropar, which is 45 km from Chandigarh. Presently, the classes for the IIT have started this year from the building of a government polytechnic.
