We worked on status for 16 yrs ...

Far away from the ruckus in Parliament , on the campus of West Bengal’s Marine Engineering and Research Institute (MERI) in Kolkata, there was quiet disappointment — and surprise.

While the news that Chennai would get the Indian Maritime University was known as early as last year, faculty said that the Bill marked the end of an upgrade process they had been working on for 16 years.

The idea was floated first in 1991 and MERI, then known as the Directorate of Marine Engineering Training (DMET), was the first choice.

So much had been the enthusiasm that the West Bengal Government has offered 31 acres for expansion to the institute which now sits on 33 acres leased from the Kolkata Port Trust.

“We were all eagerly waiting for the final verdict. Chennai was nowhere in the contention,” said MERI director S Mukhopadhyay. “Two years ago, the UGC team visited us. After this, another Central team came. In June, last year, the parliamentary standing committee that was looking into the setting up of a university also consulted us...We gave all relevant documents, we have ensured adequate infrastructure, we never missed any deadlines.”

In fact, a top faculty member at Chennai’s National Marine Academy, who did not wish to be named, said today that “going by technical excellence and eligibility for being upgraded to the Indian Maritime University, MERI is clearly the winner.”

Reason: While MERI, established in 1949, offers a bachelor’s degree in Marine Engineering, the only institute in the country to do so, Chennai’s NMA provides only training courses for port and Merchant Navy personnel and a BSc course began just two years back.

MERI is the only institute for marine engineers approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and the only institute in the country to have a full-size marine propulsion engine for training. It’s called the “Ship on Campus.”

As an intermediate step towards the upgrade, the Indian Institute of Maritime Studies was established in Mumbai in 2002 to integrate the four government-owned institutes — the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical College at Mumbai, T S Chanakya, MERI and MERI’s branch in Mumbai. All these institutes will now be subsumed within the university.

“It is certainly a disheartening moment for us and our students, we have the best faculty, adequate apparatus and standards required. No inspection team ever said we lack any amenities. At present, we are in a process of introducing newer courses. Our institute has also applied for National Board of Accreditation certification,” said member of faculty and Engineer Officer R K Paul.