A technical team, headed by R. Subramanian, Additional Secretary (Technical Education), MHRD, New Delhi, visited Dharwad and Raichur on Friday inspected the land and infrastructure available for the proposed IIT in Karnataka.
Accompanied by Director of IIT Bombay, Devang V. Khakhar, Director of IIT Gandhinagar, Sudhir L. Jain, and Chief Engineer of Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Ravi Kant Soni, Mr. Subramanian first checked the land being offered for the establishment of the institute, in Dharwad.
They visited Mummigatti village on the outskirts of Dharwad, off the Pune–Bengaluru National Highway (no. 4), where State government has acquired 937 acres and which is available for immediate handing over.
The next stop of the team was the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI), adjacent to the Dharwad Bench of the High Court.
The team checked the facilities and amenities available on the premises.
The building of the Department of Organic Farming of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, was the next stop.
The team then visited the Police Training Centre on Kalghatagi road.
‘Impressed’
Speaking to presspersons at the Police Training Centre, Mr. Subramanian said the team was impressed as the Dharwad district administration had provided various viable alternatives. Referring to the demand for setting up an IIT in Karnataka, he said it was a long-pending demand and now they had been apprised about the facilities and infrastructure available.
“After visiting Raichur we will return to New Delhi and the report will be submitted soon to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. You will soon hear good news,” he said.
The team was accompanied by Prahlad Joshi, MP, Arvind Bellad, N.H. Konaraddi, and Prasad Abbayya, MLAs, S.V. Sankanur, MLC, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Bharatlal Meena, Dharwad Deputy Commissioner, Rajendra P. Cholan, and Vice-Chancellor of UAS, Dharwad, D.P. Biradar during the visit to various locations. For the record, the State government has recommended three cities — Mysuru, Dharwad and Raichur — for the proposed IIT.
Sites visited
In Raichur, the team visited the newly built administrative complex, the international hostel and another building at the University of Agricultural Sciences to check the feasibility of temporarily running IIT classes and arranging accommodations for students, teaching and non-teaching staff till the new campus would come up. D.M. Chandargi, varsity’s Registrar, briefed the team about the space and facilities available in all the three buildings.
The team then visited the actual site at Yermarus recommended for the establishment of IIT. Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil and Assistant Commissioner M.P. Maruthi said that the district administration had 401 acres of land ready.
They also informed about another 311 acres of adjacent land that could be easily acquired if required and pointed out the abundant water resources available for the proposed IIT.
Mr. Senthil made a PowerPoint presentation to the team at VIP Guest House in Yermarus. Sanganna Karadi, MP, Shivaraj Patil, Hampanagowda Badarli, MLAs, N.S. Boseraju, MLC, Tungabhadra Command Area Development Authority chairman A. Vasanth Kumar, IIT Horata Samiti president Basavaraj Kalasa, the former MLA Syed Yasin and others were present.
