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Students at loggerheads over the location of IIT

BERHAMPUR: Since the announcement for establishing an IIT in Orissa has come, there has been a great demand from two different groups of students on the State Government to locate it at Berhampur in south Orissa or Burla in Western Orissa.

These demands will surely put the State Government in a fix while choosing the site for the proposed IIT.

The South Orissa Students Association (SOSA) wants the proposed IIT to be established in Berhampur for the benefit of underdeveloped south Orissa. They have already sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Union Human Resource Development Minister regarding there demand.

According to them southern Orissa needs a national institute to come out of the pitiable state of affairs regarding higher education. It may be noted that there is no government engineering college in the ten districts of south Orissa.

The SOSA activists feel that the climate, connectivity and infrastructure of Berhampur would make it the right choice for the new IIT for Orissa.

According to them western Orissa has an NIT in Rourkela and a Government Engineering College in Burla. The coastal Orissa is going to have Central University, AIIMS and NISER in Bhubaneswar. So, it is high time for the planners to think of south Orissa and establish the IIT in Berhampur, which would prove to be a catalyst of development for higher education in underdeveloped south Orissa.

But a strong demand for having the IIT established in the existing campus of the Burla engineering college near Sambalpur in western Orissa is also on. The students, teachers and the alumni of the institution have also approached the Chief Minister and the Central Government in this connection. They say the existing infrastructure and human resource would help in the establishment of the new IIT.

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