Jammu: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the expansion of IIT Jammu, an initiative hailed as a “matter of pride” by Union Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh.
Speaking to reporters, Singh said, “It is a matter of pride that a premier institute like IIT is being developed in Jammu at a rapid pace. The demand for a high-standard institute in Jammu dates back even before 2014. Though Srinagar had an engineering college that later became an NIT, people here continued to seek a top-level institute.”
He recalled that IIT Jammu was first announced in 2014 in the interim budget by late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and added that it has emerged as one of the fastest-growing IITs. “Among the newer IITs, Jammu has developed the most. In the NIF index, it now ranks among the top 60 engineering institutes in the country,” Singh said.
The minister also announced plans for a research park at IIT Jammu on the lines of IIT Madras. “This will be the first such facility in North India,” he noted.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi virtually laid foundation stones for the expansion of eight IITs—Tirupati, Palakkad, Bhilai, Jammu, Dharwad, Jodhpur, Patna, and Indore—at a total investment of about ₹11,000 crore. The expansion is expected to add capacity for 10,000 students over the next four years and set up eight state-of-the-art research parks, giving a major boost to India’s innovation and R&D ecosystem.
Meanwhile, in Odisha’s Jharsuguda, PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for development projects worth over ₹50,000 crore. These projects cover sectors including telecommunications, railways, higher education, healthcare, skill development, and rural housing.
In telecom, the Prime Minister commissioned over 97,500 4G mobile towers built with indigenous technology at a cost of about ₹37,000 crore, including more than 92,600 BSNL sites.
