Advani opens NIFT campus at Gandhinagar

Deputy prime minister L K Advani on Monday inaugurated the new campus of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Gandhinagar.

NIFT commenced functioning from the GIDC Electronic Estate premises allotted by the state government, but has now shifted to the new campus.

The new NIFT centre has been constructed at a cost of Rs 11 crore. The funds have been provided by the ministry of textiles of the government of India.

The land at Gandhinagar has been provided by the state government free of cost, said Siddharth Swaminarayan, registrar of NIFT. Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, was the chief guest and the function was presided over by Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Union minister for textiles. Kashiram Rana, Union minister for rural development, and Anil Patel, state minister for industries, were also present.

NIFT's own campus plot is about 20,000 square metres in area, with a built-up area of about 11,300 square metres spread over three floors.

The infrastructure facilities include ten class rooms, nine workshops, seven design studios, four IT labs, three foundation programme studios, two visual rooms, and a cyber cafe.

The facilities also include a spacious auditorium as well as a resource centre-cum-library, including a material wing covering 340 square metres.

"NIFT, Gandhinagar, is the only such centre across the country to receive financial support from the state government. The government reimbursed the actual revenue deficit incurred in the first five years and subsequent two years," said R M Chiplunkar, director, NIFT.