Over 7,000 students of IIT(ISM) pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate engineering and management studies will have more freedom to enjoy the sprawling 210-acre campus following the inauguration of a road which will prevent outsiders from using the institute area as a shortcut.

On Tuesday, Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh inaugurated a 2km road built at a cost of Rs 7 crore which will help residents of Dhaiya, Ranibandh and adjoining areas to go to Saraidhela without having to enter the campus.

Mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal, Dhanbad MLA Raj Sinha and IIT(ISM) director Rajeev Shekhar were also present on the occasion. The move will help fulfil the long-pending demand of the institute to have its campus out of bounds for local residents.

Earlier, residents of different adjoining localities, including Lahbani Basti, used to pass through IIT(ISM) to reach Saraidhela. Now, with the construction of the road funded by the institute, vehicles and pedestrians can move from Dhaiya to Saraidhela without using the campus.

Dean of student welfare M.K. Singh said, “With the restriction of outsiders inside the campus, the institute will be more secured. We can also keep the central library and the central research facility open even during the late hours.”

Associate professor of mining engineering department Dhiraj Kumar said, “With the campus now isolated, students will be free to move inside the campus and multiple layers of security inside the institute will not be needed. Now, only the main gate of the institute will remain closed.”

During the day, Singh also inaugurated a compost plant on the campus behind Rosaline hostel.

Amit Rai Dixit, associate professor of mechanical engineering department who executed the plan on the instruction of Shekhar said, “We have started the project with 10 hostels and around 150 faculty quarters on a pilot basis. If the project succeeds, we can implement the same across the campus for all the hostels and faculty and staff quarters.”

“The idea is to collect wet waste in drums of around 200kg capacity and later add bacteria to initiate the composting process. Within 15 to 20 days, liquid waste will be prepared while solid matter will be left inside the drum which can be used as solid compost,” said Dixit.

Meanwhile, over 1000 students and teachers took out a padyatra from the campus around 8am and marched to different parts of town including Police lines, Hirapur, Zillaparishad, Randhir Verma Chowk, Luby Circular Road before returning to the campus as part of Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.