Kerala - Kochi   

Kerala steps up pressure for IIT

KOCHI: The government has stepped up pressure on the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development to sanction an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) for the State.

It is learnt that the government is keen on setting up the IIT on land identified in Palakkad. Senior Higher Education Department officials said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will again write to the Centre explaining the demand of the State.

The Palakkad district administration has identified a 550-acre plot under Kinfra in the Kanjikode industrial area along the National Highway between Palakkad and Coimbatore. The industrial area, near Palakkad town, is within an hour’s drive from the Coimbatore airport and two hours’ drive from the Cochin airport.

Sources in the Higher Education Department said the government would inform the Ministry that the State was being denied an opportunity for setting up an IIT at a time when eight new IITs in the country had been announced for the 11th Plan Period.

The government will point out that there was no criterion for selecting the locations for new IITs in the country. The Higher Education Department would also highlight its view that there is no fair distribution of these institutions in the country.

It will refer to the case of States like Tamil Nadu that had been shortlisted for setting up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM). This was done at a time when the State already has an IIT in Chennai.

The government will also recall that Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resources Development, had assured Mr. Achuthanandan during a meeting in August 2007 in New Delhi that the State will get an IIT in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period.

The government will write to the ministry stating that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also promised an IIT for the State way back in November 2006.

Sources said the government might push for a new IIT rather than converting institutions like the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) into the level of an IIT.

It has received expert opinion that a new IIT would attract Central investment to the tune of at least Rs. 1,000 crore in the State. The conversion of Cusat into an IIT would also result in the State losing its ambitious claim for a new IIT.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Micro-chips keep track of pachyderms
Contractors to stage dharna
Druggists’ demand
Kerala steps up pressure for IIT
Industries extension officers’ plea
Kamukara award for P.B. Sreenivas
College gets national award for green drive
Roadside help for vehicles
Congress to continue protest
Jos Junction to be opened up for four-way traffic
Complete projects on schedule: MP
Education Minister ignoring stakeholders: Thankachan
Minister flays foreign investment pattern
Kochi today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu