TIFR plans second campus with Rs 2.5k cr investment

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Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is planning to have a second campus in Hyderabad. The TIFR, Mumbai is planning to commemorate the birth centenary of TIFR founder, Homi J.Bhabha commencing from October 31, 2008 and is expected to lay the foundation stone for its Hyderabad Campus at the earliest which would entail an investment of Rs 2,500 crore. Towards this, the land for the proposed campus have also been identified.

According to a release, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being approached to lay the foundation stone for the Hyderabad campus. Professor Mustansir Barma, director of TIFR, Mumbai, had recently wrote a letter to the Chief Minister YS.Rajasekhara Reddy about their proposal for the creation of second campus of TIFR in Hyderabad, with a projected investment of over Rs 2,500 crore over a period of 12-15 years.

In his letter, he said that Hyderabad, a fast developing metropolis with excellent infrastructure and good national and international connectivity meets the required benchmarks and is their preferred choice for setting up the second campus.

For this purpose, they have requested to earmark required land within the campus of Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Hyderabad which they have already identified.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Hyderabad Central University vice-chancellor Professor Syed E.Hasnain have welcomed the proposal of TIFR as it is a nation’s prestigious research institute and its location within the Central University campus will go a long way in making the Central University “World-class research hub” -a la - ‘Little Boston’ and it will not only help students and faculty of the University but also contribute to the economic development of the State.

Elaborating the need for a second campus of TIFR, Barma said that the Institute is poised for a greater growth, but the current campus lacks the space to meet the demands of the future.

The second campus would take care of its expansion programs and hoped that it would be set up in two phases, namely Phase I (2008 to 2014) and Phase II (from 2014 to2020). It is aimed to have permanent faculty strength of 200 along with approximately 1000 students and 300 postdoctoral researchers in addition to 400 technical and 500 non-technical staff by 2020, he said.