Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chancellor of BITS Pilani, announced a ₹400 crore modernisation plan when he visited the campus in November 2011, called Project Parivartan. The key motivation behind the project was to ensure that BITS would be among the top three colleges in the country by 2020. With less than three years left for the deadline, we interviewed Lt. Col.(Retd.) A.K Bhataiya, Estate Manager, about the status of the project. The renovation of FD-1, which began in late 2016, was completed last semester, along with Krishna Bhawan.

The newly-constructed structures near SR Bhawan are a step-down electricity distribution centre and a water chilling plant for the faculty divisions. Power houses of smaller capacity have been built near Ram-Budh mess, Krishna-Gandhi mess, and VFAST.

The ongoing projects include renovation of Shankar Bhawan and Blocks 5 and 6 of Meera Bhawan. New wings will be added to these bhawans to keep up with the increase in student acceptance. When asked whether all renovated bhawans will have showers, Lt. Col. Bhataiya answered in the negative, citing water shortage as the reason for not implementing it in all bhawans. However, he assured that once the water shortage problems were resolved, all bhawans would be equipped with showers. The remaining bhawans -Vyas, Rana Pratap, Ashok, Bhagirath, and some blocks of Meera Bhawan are all scheduled for renovation in the next couple of years. Once all existing bhawans are renovated, SR Bhawan will be dismantled and a new bhawan will be constructed in its place. Another ongoing project is the renovation of Krishna-Gandhi mess. The remaining messes are expected to be renovated sequentially after this is completed.

‘The renovation of FD-3 is expected to begin soon. It will be followed by FD-2 and the central block’, said Lt. Col. Bhataiya. The new workshop building is open and ready for use, classes will be shifted there at the discretion of the instructors. Although no plans for the old workshop have been announced, there is a possibility that the old building will be demolished and converted into a parking lot.

When asked whether the project will be completed by the envisioned deadline of 2020, Lt. Col. Bhataiya admitted that there is a possibility that the project might get extended by a year or two.