The outgoing director of IIT Kharagpur said on Monday that he had failed to execute some projects during his tenure.

“I would like to speak about my failures. We wanted to open a campus in Malaysia but we failed for some technical reasons. So I take the responsibility. We tried our level best,” said director V.K. Tewari in his conviction address.

The institute observed its 70th convocation on Monday. For Tewari, this was his final convocation address.

“We also failed to start a multispeciality hospital on the campus,” he said.

Tewari was appointed as the institute’s director on December 31, 2019.

The “failures” Tewari referred to are among the issues the IIT Kharagpur Teachers’ Association mentioned in its letter to the Union education ministry on September 20.

The letter pointed at Tewari’s failure to start a multispeciality hospital and a campus in Malaysia despite being asked to do so by the education ministry.

Tewari in his convocation address in 2022 had announced that IIT Kharagpur would open its overseas campus in Malaysia.

The institute had also announced that it would launch the MBBS course at the B.C. Roy Multi Speciality Medical Research Centre at Balarampur, on the outskirts of the IIT Kharagpur campus.

The foundation stone for the facility was laid at Balarampur in 2007. It was named after Bidhan Chandra Roy, the first chief minister of West Bengal.

Ajay Roy, the head of the School of Medical Science and Technology in 2007, told Metro they had decided to start the medical college and research centre, named after B.C. Roy, in 2012.

Towards the end of 2021, IIT authorities divided the B.C. Roy Centre at Balarampur into two — a super-speciality hospital named after Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jana Sangh, the BJP’s precursor, and a medical college named after Roy.

The MBBS program was supposed to focus on medicine, with an emphasis on engineering and technology.

Students were supposed to be admitted to the course through the NationalEligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) UG. But nothing happened.

“Engineering education and medical science have come very close to one another. You must have noticed that high-end technology has entered into medical science. Therefore, starting a medical college in an engineering institution like IIT is a requirement. I am sure somebodywill succeed in setting up the medical college,” the director said.

Tewari also admitted that he could not start the in-patient department at the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Superspecialty Hospital.

“We tried to start the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Superspeciality Hospital here. We have been able to start the OPD. We are in the process of starting the in-patient department as well. I think we will soon be able to do that,” Tewari said in his address.

The Telegraph reported on December 15 that IIT Kharagpur was trying to shift staff and infrastructure from the on-campus Bidhan Chandra Roy Technology Hospital to the new Syama Prasad Mookerjee Superspeciality Hospital at Balarampur so that the in-patient department could be started.

The B.C. Roy Technology Hospital was developed on the campus a few years after IIT Kharagpur was established in 1951.

The institute had to keep the shift in abeyance on December 17, after the teachers, the officers’ association and students opposed the move arguing that it would hit their healthcare.

Tewari said in his address: “Yes, we failed in answering some of the questions of our friends because I think the requirement was something different. Friends, I think we have tried our level best”.

Tewari’s tenure will end on Tuesday.

Amit Patra, the director of IIT BHU (Varanasi), in addition to his existing responsibility, will act as the interim director of IIT Kharagpur, said an official.