Students and teachers of Mirik College, an institution set up in 2001 in the hill town of Mirik some 50km from here, are still waiting for a permanent affiliation to the North Bengal University (NBU) and more undergraduate courses.

The reason: it is only in March this year that the ownership of the land on which the college building has come up, has been handed over to the college authorities.

Poonam Biswa, chairperson of the governing body of the college, said a major criterion for getting permanent affiliation from the varsity was land ownership. “In March this year, the state land and land reforms department handed over land to us. Once the general elections are over, we will submit our application at NBU, seeking permanent affiliation,” Biswa said.

Once the college gets the affiliation, it will help the authorities upgrade infrastructure and introduce new courses.

Sources said the college, at Kawlay in ward 6 of Mirik town, is on a three-acre plot that belonged to the state tourism and the state forest departments.

The authorities took up the matter with both the departments and obtained a no-objection certificate from the tourism department to run the college on the land.

Later, a joint survey was conducted by the forest and land and land reforms departments after which, in March this year, the state handed over the land to the state education department in the presence of the inspector of colleges of NBU and representatives of the college.

Biswa said that soon they would convene a meeting of the governing body of the college to adopt a resolution for permanent affiliation from the NBU. “A copy of the resolution will be handed over to the NBU authorities and the inspector of college IC to speed up the process,” the chairperson said.

In Mirik subdivision, there are 14 higher secondary schools. After passing Class XII, students of these institutions hardly have any option but to enroll in the college that offers UG courses in English, Nepali, history, geography and political science.

“Most of the students are from humble economic backgrounds and cannot afford to go out and study in colleges at Darjeeling or Siliguri,” said a teacher.

As of now, there are around 600 students, but only 10 permanent faculty members.

“Once we get the necessary go-ahead from the NBU, we will expand the existing infrastructure and apply for UGC grants. The affiliation will help us to introduce new streams and appoint more teachers,” Nima Lama, the teacher-in-charge of the institution, said.