Tough choice for Odisha govt as collectors recommend 12 locations for IIM

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Sep 15:

With collectors of six districts coming up with a list of 12 possible locations for the proposed Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the state, the Odisha government now has a tough choice to  make in deciding on the final venue.

“We have received reports from the disttrict collectors and it has been forwarded to the chief secretary, who will zero in on three locations to recommend to the Union HRD Ministry,” said PK Sahu, additional secretary in the Employment and Technical Education and Training (ET&T) department.

Notably, IDCO CMD Vishal Dev had asked district collectors of Khordha, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Ganjam, Sundargarh and Koraput to identify 200 acres of land each for setting up the B-School. The collectors have identified two locations each in their respective districts.

Meanwhile, the Anchalika Bikash Manch of Zinc Nagar from Sundargarh district today urged chief minister Naveen Patnaik to set up the institute at the Zinc mines in this locality, which has already been closed since 2004.

They argued that there were 1500 quarters allotted to them in the Zinc Nagar Colony, which still exist, though in dilapidated and abandoned conditions. A little repair with minimal expenditure can provide a healthy base for a new project like IIM, they said after meeting the chief minister here.

The Hindustan Zinc Ltd. Mines had acquired 500 hectors of land. However, the mines has been closed since 2004.