Indications are aplenty that the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati (IIT-T) will, in all probability, come up at Surappakasam village, abutting the Tirupati-Chennai highway.
While the district authorities had initially identified 1,000 acres of land between Renigunta and Srikalahasti for the central institutions, viz., the IIT, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and a Central University, the shift seems to be in adherence with the general directive not to concentrate all facilities in a single place. While information on sanction of a Central University to Tirupati is still hazy, the other two prestigious institutes are to be established in Renigunta-Srikalahasti belt and at Surappakasam abutting the Renigunta-Puttur stretch of the Chennai highway.
“Land availability in Surappakasam will certainly be an advantage and hence we are contemplating establishing one institute here,” Minister Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy told reporters.
The nondescript Surappakasam shot into limelight in 2006, when TUDA entered into an agreement with EMAAR-MGF for developing an international satellite township in 145.6 acres. Technical nitty-gritty, protracted arbitrations that led to nowhere and other factors relegated the ambitious project to cold storage. When contacted, TUDA Vice-Chairman I. Venkateswara Reddy said that the project had been scrapped. “The firm failed to ground the project and has even forfeited the Rs.4 crore and the bank guarantee worth Rs.16 crore,” he added.
ConnectivityThe land procured and partially developed by TUDA with Rs.4 crore seems to have caught the attention of the government, which has been searching for a suitable chunk having highway connectivity.
