IIM in Odisha: Temporary campus likely to be located in Bhubaneswar
Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 28:
The temporary campus of the proposed Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Odisha is likely to be located in Bhubaneswar.
Reliable sources said the state government is likely to propose to set up the temporary campus of the premier institute in the capital city at today’s meeting of secretaries of Technical Education and Training of the six states where new IIMs have been proposed, in Delhi.
The meeting has been convened by the Union Human Resources Development ministry.
The meeting will take up issues of location of temporary campuses of the proposed IIMs, allotment of 200 acres of encumbrance-free land free of cost, registration of the society for constitution of IIM, board of governors etc.
As per the criteria laid down by the Union Human Resources Development ministry the proposed site of the IIM should have a functional airport in close proximity.
Since the IIT-Bhubaneswar will be shifting from its temporary campus here to its new campus at Argul from 2015-2016 academic year, the state government will propose to house the proposed IIM in the state at the present temporary campus of the IIT till the Union HRD ministry zeroes in on any one of the sites suggested by the state government, sources said.
The Industrial and Infrastructural Development Corporation of Odisha (IIDCO) has recently forwarded the reports of the collectors of seven districts on the choice of possible sites for the proposed Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the state to the Employment and Training and Technical Education (ET&T) department.
After studying these reports, the ET&T department would submit a final report to the state government on the best possible sites for the proposed IIM.
It may be mentioned that following the approval of the Centre for the setting up of IIM in Odisha, several organizations, local representatives and think-tanks of 10 districts—Khordha, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Koraput, Puri, Ganjam, Bolangir, Baleswar and Angul—had urged the state government to set up the institute in their respective districts.
I feel, Odisha Government should divert its focus from Bhubaneswar to other cities to avoid congestion in the capital city.
All the focus seems to be in Bhubaneswar. The Government can think of developing cities like Berhampur, Sambalpur, Bolagir, Rourkela etc. Everything is being done in Bhubaneswar.
We need to develop infrastructure in other cities and attract investments in those cities. Except Bhubaneswar, and to some extent Cuttack, the other so called cities in the state are in the same state where they were a decade ago.
Lets not forget that we have other cities which are also in the need of growth,
For placements to be perfect, Companies need connectivity with air port. Bhubaneswar is the only location possible looking into the future of students who wish to get good placements from IIM-Bhubaneswar. For the sake of infrastructure in other towns, govt should not risk , young generation’s career.
air port is also going on jharsuguda,so sambalpur is the best location for iim odisha,for inclusive growth of odisha govt should leave the bhubaneswar centri apporach.only bhubaneswar is not taking us any where.
Do you think that faculty from all over the world would opt to settle down in Sambalpur? Do you think that Sambalpur can host international conferences, which require many 5 star hotels, international tourist attractions in its vicinity, and daily flights to large metropolises? A location in Sambalpur would be suicide for the IIM.
All IIMs are located in large cities with urban infrastructure. The only exceptions are IIM Kashipur and IIM Shillong. But Kashipur and Shillong have many more things to offer – picturesque surroundings that are emerging international tourism hotspots.
Regardless of what the politicians are claiming, the locations are within 100 kms of large airports, not proposed regional ones which would only get very infrequent flights. Kashipur to Pantnagar and Shillong to Gauhati.