Background: There was a time, when sixty five percent of the major industries of the country were owned by people, who rose from four districts of Rajasthan, viz Churu, Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Nagaur. They were resourceful and gritty people, who settled down at the port towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras and provided the initial push to the industrial activities of the country. However, they were deeply attached to the soil and built and maintained palatial havelis in the villages of their birth. They also contributed liberally for the development of schools, colleges, hospitals and temples in Rajasthan and were always eager to promote these causes. Satya Narain Khaitan, Chairman of Anil Steels of Kanakpura belonged to Sujangarh and had an ancestral haveli there. He wanted to establish a polytechnic at Sujangarh in the memory of his father Ram Chander Khaitan and had set apart about hundred bighas of land for the development of the institution. Mohan Lal Sukhadia Chief Minister of Rajasthan had laid the foundation stone for the construction of the polytechnic building at Sujangarh, sometimes in 1965 and Satya Narain Khaitan had set apart funds for the construction, in a dedicated bank account at Calcutta. Those were the days, when there was a lot of unemployment in the country. Intake of most of the technical institutions had been cut down and there was a blanket ban on the establishment of new institutions. Moreover, due to financial stringency and economy measures, the state government was not in a position to meet its part of the obligations for the development and running of the polytechnic. The proposal for the establishment of the polytechnic kept moving between the state government and central government for some years and ultimately the file was closed in 1971.
Picking up lost threads: I had taken over as director of technical education in July 1975. I was in the habit of turning over all the pages of the files that were placed on my table. Sometimes, in 1976, I was casually going through a file, when I read about Satya Narain Khaitan and his offer of funds for the establishment of a Polytechnic at Sujangarh, in the memory of his father Ram Chander Khaitan. At that time six state government polytechnics were running in the state at Ajmer, Alwar, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur. In spite of wide spread unemployment, curtailment of normal intakes of institutions and blanket ban on the establishment of new institutions, it was always on my mind that Jaipur, the capital of the state should have a polytechnic. With that at the back of my mind, I wrote a letter to Satya Narain Khaitan to tell us, whether he was still interested in the establishment of the polytechnic in the memory of his father. Incidentally, Satya Narain Khetan happened to be at Jaipur at that time and consequently, I got a call from an officer of Anil Steels, who told me that Khaitan Sahib wanted to meet me at Jodhpur and wanted my confirmation about time and date. My response was that there was no need for Khaitan Sahib to come to Jodhpur and that a meeting may be fixed at Jaipur on any date and time convenient to him.
Meeting at Jaipur: The meeting was held at Jaipur in the guest house of Anil Steels. Khaitan Sahib had lined up some of the senior officers of Anil Steels including the general manager and the finance officer. They briefly familiarized me with the whole background and the funds, which were immediately available. My response was short and simple. I asked Khaitan Sahib, whether he was interested in the establishment of a polytechnic at Sujangarh or he was interested in perpetuating the memory of his father. I further added that if the polytechnic is established at Jaipur, it was likely to grow at a fast pace and was likely to be one of the leading polytechnics of Rajasthan, as also of the country. Khaitan Sahib thought over it and shot back to know, how long I was going to continue as Director. When I told him that I still had about three years to go, his response was instantaneous. He confirmed that he will go by, whatever we do in the best interests of the institution. He also confirmed that he will give a cheque for Rs sixteen lacs to the state government as and when the proposal is cleared finally.
Preliminaries for the establishment of Khaitan Polytechnic: When the proposal about the establishment of Khaitan Polytechnic at Jaipur and the expected contribution from SN Khaitan reached the state government, the immediate response was to call SN Khaitan for discussions. When I reminded them that SN Khaitan was a donor and he was contributing funds and therefore, before talking to him, we have to decide, whether, we want to take those funds from him. Jagannath Singh Mehta, who happened to be the education commissioner at that time, looked into the proposal and directed that the file may be got cleared by the departments of finance and law, before any further action is taken.
Subsequently, we started Khaitan Polytechnic at Jaipur from July 1976 with an intake of fifteen students for a three year sandwich type diploma course in Production Engineering. None of the conventional courses like civil, electrical and mechanical engineering were considered. The intention was that the students shall have three months term in the institution, alternated by three months shop floor work experience in the industry. There was no such course on production engineering, running in any of the polytechnics in the country at that time and therefore, the ministry of the central government had no problem in giving their nod to the proposal.
Khaitan Polytechnic starts ticking: Technical wing of Poddar Higher Secondary School was established sometimes in fifties and was functioning under the guidance of Director of Technical Education. Malaviya Regional College Jaipur had its beginnings in the technical wing of Poddar School in 1962 and continued there for a year, before it was shifted to its newly developed campus on Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg Since, procurement of land, construction of buildings and development of other facilities of Khaitan Polytechnic were likely to take time, we thought of utilizing the building and other facilities of technical wing of Poddar School for starting Khaitan Polytechnic from there, in July 1976. Shankar Lal Tak the first principal of Khaitan Polytechnic was soon in position. He was a mechanical engineering graduate of 1954 batch of Banaras Hindu University and subsequently he had field experience in Chamhal Project as executive engineer, before he joined as head of the department of mechanical engineering at Kota Poytechnic. SL Tak was supported by a dedicated bunch of young teachers at Khaitan Polytechnic. The students of the first batch were highly motivated and that made the task of the Principal and teachers of Khaitan Polytechnic comparatively smooth and challenging.
Scouting for land: Jodhpur Polytechnic had 140 acres of land. Ajmer Polytechnic had 125 acres of land. These were like benchmarks. Jaipur was the capital city, which had a fast expansion in almost all directions. As such, to find a patch of about 100 acres of government land in the city appeared to be a long shot. Rajput Sabha had grounds spread over 100 acres of land in the city. Brigadier Bhawani Singh, the Maharaja of Jaipur was the chairman of the Rajput Sabha at that time. During my meeting with Brigadier Bhawni Singh at Rajmahal Palace, I briefed him about the establishment of Khaitan Polytechnic and to explore the possibility of utilizing the grounds of Rajput Sabha for the establishment of the institution. Brigadier Bhawani Singh seemed to be interested in the proposal, as the establishment of the polytechnic on the lands of Rajput Sabha was likely to be helpful for the community. Incidentally, Maharani Gayatri Devi was also interested in the establishment of a girls polytechnic on some lands of Ram Bagh Palace, which could be spared for the institution. In the meantime, we stumbled on forest land at Jhalana. Establishment of a polytechnic in forest land needed the clearance of the forest department. Khet Singh Rathor was the education minister at that time. During a meeting with him, he took the initiative to talk to the forest minister for releasing about 100 bighas of land for the development of Khaitan Polytechnic at Jaipur. After clearance from the forest department, the construction of buildings was taken up and Khaitan Polytechnic was shifted to Jhalana sometimes in 1978.
Presentation of cheque by SN Khaitan: The emergency had been lifted. The country had gone through general elections. There were new governments at the centre as also in the states. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat happened to be the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in 1977. All hurdles for the establishment of Khaitan Polytechnic had been cleared. Public Relations Officer of Anil Steels indicated that Khaitan Sahib will like to present the cheque personally to the chief minister. The meeting was arranged and the cheque was presented by Khaitan Sahib to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The chief minister passed on the cheque to me which was credited to revenue of the state government.
I had opportunities to visit Khaitan Polytechnic at Jhalana, off and on and was happy to find that the memory of the father of Khaitan Sahib had been preserved for a good cause and the name of Ram Chander Khaitan was linked with Khaitan Polytechnic and appeared prominently on the main building of the institution.