Educationists, technocrats, principals of engineering colleges in the State, and chairman of the Centre of Institution of Engineers, Palakkad, in a joint letter to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, have urged him to set up the promised Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the Kanjikode industrial area of the district.
The letter, released here on Tuesday, says that Palakkad is the only district in the entire Malabar region which does not have a central institution or a university. All other districts including Wayanad and Kasaragod have one or two such institutions.
“Palakkad has sufficient land and other infrastructure facilities to accommodate a premier national institution amidst big industrial establishments like Indian Telephone Industries, Instrumentation Limited, Fluid Control Research Institute, BEML, Malabar Cements Limited, and the railway coach factory being started soon. It is also well connected by air, road, and railways,” the letter says.
It says that consultancy is a major technical activity of an IIT. Palakkad being an industrial hub of Kerala, a research institution in its vicinity will provide great opportunities to its industrial development. An IIT, when developed into a full-fledged institution, will directly employ 500 highly qualified faculty members from different academic disciplines in technology and science and an equal number of supporting and administrative staff. Over 5,000 students from India and abroad will be studying on the campus.
The letter was signed by the Principals Chandrasekhara Pillai of NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad; Vijayakumar of Government Engineering College, Thrissur; C.K. Krishnan of SNG College of Engineering, Kollenchery; K.K. Babu of Engineering College, Thrissur; and M.K. Vikaraman of Al Ameen College of Engineering; former principals of NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad, such as Mohanachandra Panicker, V. Balakrishna Panicker, and C. Somasekharan; and Vincent Alappat, former chief engineer and chairman of The Institution of Engineers (India), Palakkad local centre.
