Earlier, the JAB (Joint Admission Board) urged IITs to add 1,000 seats and increase supernumerary seats to 14% for women students. However, the premier technical institutes are not keen to increase the intake of students for the upcoming academic session. Many IITs fear that enrolling more students will strain the existing infrastructure.
Director of IIT Gandhinagar , Mr. Sudhir Jain pointed that the government must consider the existing accommodation facilities in IITs before urging them to increase the intake of students. The premier institutes are not ready to overburden the hostel rooms and classrooms, he added.
It seems like IIT Bombay has plans to increase the intake of students for the upcoming academic session. Last year, the premier institute launched a new undergraduate course and increased their intake by 30 seats. IIT Bombay has the capacity to accommodate 8,000 students and is currently accommodating 10,400 students. Therefore, the premier institute is not expecting any further increase in the intake of students.
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Director of IIT Bombay, Mr. Devang Khakhar revealed that the construction of two new hostels is underway. Among them, one hostel is expected to be ready by mid-2019. The new hostel will have 1,110 rooms. Another hostel building will be ready in the next two years. There is a plan to launch a new course, but the final decision is still pending, he added.
IIT Bombay has confirmed that there would be no increase in the intake of students at IIT Goa and IIT Dharwad.
On the other hand, IIT Madras is also not ready to increase the intake without creating enough space to accommodate additional students. The premier institute is planning to start the construction work of new hostel building in March 2018. Already, the institute is facing the problem of double occupancy in hostel rooms.
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An official of an IIT said that newer IITs would be burdened with an increase in the intake of students. These IITs have already been struggling to provide enough accommodation, laboratories and classrooms to students.