ISRO opens tech institute

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) high-profile education initiative, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), started off from a temporary campus on Friday, leaving behind the political bickering.

The campus at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), close to the capital city, was inaugurated by ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair.

Work on the permanent campus at Ponmudi, about 2 hours from Thiruvananthapuram, would start at a later date and is expected to be complete in two years. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would lay the foundation stone for the campus.

The proposed IIST campus at Ponmudi had run into rough weather as a controversy had sparked off after ISRO reportedly bought ecologically fragile land assigned to the Kerala Department Forests from a businessman. The issue took a new twist when the Opposition UDF sought the resignation of the forest minister for his involvement in the 'deal'.  

It got even more complex with chief secretary Lizzie Jacob being censured by chief minister VS Achuthanandan, who said he was kept in the dark and not informed about the Rs 1 crore being sanctioned for building a helipad ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to lay the foundation stone.

The ISRO chairman too sought not to answer questions from the media on the land deal row as the issue is before the Kerala High Court.

Nair said IIST was expected to provide the required manpower for India's future space programmes.

Pointing out that India would have to develop new generation space technology, he added ISRO had urged the Planning Commission for a substantial increase in funding for space programmes to avoid any resource crunch.