Union HRD minister Smriti Irani on Thursday assured that the Union Government would extend all possible help to the Andhra Pradesh, in developing higher educational institutions in the State, which was in the throes of partition.
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The union minister was addressing a meeting in Tadepalligudem, West Godavari district, this morning after laying the foundation stone for the National Institute of Technology (NIT). Unions Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and union minister of state for science and technology YS Chowdary also participated in the program. She said it was a matter of pride and good fortune to lay the foundation for an institute of higher leaning in AP.
Irani said the Union Government would allocate Rs 700 crore for the establishment of an IIT at Tirupati, Rs 300 crore for NIT at Tadepalligudem and Rs 680 crore for an IIM at Visakhapatnam. AP NIT will have 480 seats and it will start functioning from a local engineering college.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said all assurances given to AP would be fulfilled. He said Congress attitude was hostile and non-cooperative. He said Congress divided the State in a hurry, without foreseeing complex consequences and the ways to address them. “The NDA Government is now trying to sort out one after the other all these issues. The exercise to grant special category status is also underway.”
Chandrababu Naidu, while thanking the union HRD minister for sanctioning NIT, hoped that that the Union Government would fulfill all the promises it made to the state.
