Twists & turns that deprived city of IIT

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 8

Not many would be aware that the Central Government in 1965 had decided to build an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chandigarh to replace Punjab Engineering College (PEC).

However, unlucky twists and turns deprived the city of an IIT.

As PEC marks its 99th Foundation Day on November 9, its Director, Prof Dheeraj Sanghi, shared some unforgettable and yet untold stories about the institution. “A large number of people have told me parts of the story and it is possible that some parts are not authentic. It’s fascinating anyway,” he said.

“Since IITs were to be at a level higher than any other engineering college, foreign help was sought and received. The three new IITs would be set up with the help of the US, Germany and Russia,” said Professor Sanghi. “The United Kingdom later offered its help for any other engineering institute. While the Indian Government welcomed the offer, it was thinking of two options: Starting a new college which will not be an IIT or converting an old college into an IIT,” he added.

Ex-principal’s connection with Nehru family

“A small college in Chandigarh had a great visionary in its principal, Prof RN Dogra. The family was rather close to the Nehru family. This college (PEC) which was the oldest college, East of Thomson College, in undivided India, and had a great reputation, sent a letter to the government asking that it be made the 5th IIT of India. However, the government had other pressures. There was to be one IIT and two RECs in Northern India. The Central Government was keen to convert the Delhi College of Engineering into REC, Delhi, but people in Delhi protested. So the second REC of the North was planned for Srinagar. Eventually, it was decided to establish an engineering college in Hauz Khas with the help of the United Kingdom. And for the Chandigarh College, there was a slip between the cup and the lip.”

Another chance in 1963

At IIT-Delhi, the initial architecture, planning and hostel names borrowed a lot from PEC. “The government finally agreed. The date was decided. The IIT-Chandigarh was to take admissions from 1963. But in 1962, the China war happened. The finances which were already stressed became worse and the date for conversion was postponed to 1964,” said Professor Sanghi.

Punjab’s role

“A new condition was added for the conversion that Punjab must continue to fund this IIT to the same extent as the funds it provided to PEC at that time. Pratap Singh Kairon helped in getting 146 acres of prime land in the upcoming city of Chandigarh for relocating PEC. Later in 1964, Gopi Chand Bhargava, who was state Chief Minister just for two weeks, approved that the government would pay the same amount that they granted to PEC that year for eternity. While it was too late for July 1964 admissions, the Central Government decided that IIT-Chandigarh would come into being in 1965. At the 3rd Inter-IIT Sports Meet at IIT-Madras in 1964, Brig Sisir Kumar Bose had announced that from the next year, there would be six teams participating and the sixth one would be from Chandigarh. However, no one realised that with the death of Nehru, Chandigarh had lost its biggest supporter in Delhi. No notification of IIT-Chandigarh came.”

The government decided to wait till the picture of division of Punjab was clear. The Punjab Reorganization Act was implemented on November 1, 1966. The PEC was no longer in the state of Punjab, and therefore, there was no question of government promising any financial support to PEC (or IIT Chandigarh), he said.