Rajya Sabha | Parliament Monsoon Sessions 2021: A court case has become an impediment to the construction of the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) campus at Visakhapatnam, Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Employment and The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli stated in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question raised by YSR Congress Party member V Vijayasai Reddy in the Rajya Sabha about the construction of the IIPE campus, the Energy Minister said that the Government of Andhra Pradesh had allotted 201 acres in February 2019 and acquired 175 acres for the construction of a permanent campus for IIPE. The state government has not yet taken possession of IIPE as there was a court case regarding the remaining 26 acres. The Minister said that the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) is currently constructing a boundary wall on the land handed over to IIPE. IIPE is currently operating on a leased building at Andhra University, he said.

The Petroleum Ministry has approved an allocation of Rs 655 crore under capital expenditure for the construction of the IIPE campus, out of this Rs 184 crore has been released so far, he said. He further stated that Rs 51 crore has been spent on the construction of a temporary campus on the Andhra University campus and a boundary wall on the permanent campus. He also stated that the construction of the new building would be based on whether the state government would be handing over the disputed land to IIPE.

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