The union cabinet on Wednesday approved the revised cost estimates to the tune of Rs.4,799 crore as against the original cost of Rs.2,500 crore for setting up five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs).
The institutes will be set up in Kolkata, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram.
The cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"While construction of these five Institutes is in progress, approval of the revised cost estimates will enable the ministry and the boards of governors of the institutes to enhance the pace of work and expeditious completion of fully operational permanent campuses with 9,275 students, 928 faculty and 1,020 non-teaching staff by 2018-19," an official statement said.
Stating that these institutes will integrate under-graduate education, post-graduate education and research under the same umbrella, the statement said: "They will interact with national laboratories, and other research institutes to develop a synchronous environment for research that would transcend rigid administrative structure and also encourage interdisciplinary research."
