Ranchi, Oct. 10: If private partners do not evince interest in coming to Jharkhand, then the state will take the initiative to invite and bring them here.
As part of that initiative, the state science and technology department today organised a bidders' meet at the upmarket Hotel Claridges on Aurangzeb Road in Delhi to ensure maximum participation of private players in the education sector.
The state is on the lookout for a partner to run two upcoming engineering colleges in under-developed Chaibasa and Dumka, headquarters of Singhbhum-Kolhan and Santhal Pargana commissionaries, both in dire need of such cradles.
The meet was organised by the state's transaction adviser JINFRA, a joint venture of consultants ILandFS and the state government, which has reportedly been paid Rs 20 lakh per college to help the state find a private partner to run each institution. The only well-known state-run engineering cradle in Jharkhand is BIT-Sindri.
JINFRA is learnt to have contacted prospective private partners in the education sector. Today, about 25 such partners took part in the meet including likes of Amity Group, Roorkee Institute of Technology and Thapar Group (Patiala), among others.
Another such show is scheduled in Mumbai on October 22, the venue for which is yet to be decided.
"Our earlier effort to rope in a private agency for the concerned engineering colleges, set up by the state after spending crores of rupees, proved futile. We have invited another expression of interest to rope in a private partner to run the institutions on PPP mode. The last date to respond is October 30, so this was kind of a prospective bidder's meet," director (technical education) Arun Kumar told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi.
Besides Kumar, today's meet was attended by additional chief secretary Vinod Kumar Agrawal, who also heads the science and technology department.
Notably, the state has been successful in roping in Bengal's Techno India education group to run two technical institutes on PPP basis. They include an upcoming engineering college at Ramgarh and a polytechnic at Silli. The state is in process of handing over a Letter of Intent to the group soon. Classes, however, will start in the next academic session.
Admission to the concerned institutions will be primarily through Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, while in future the institutes may be brought under the proposed Jharkhand State Technical University.