The State government has given 160 acres of land in Thaiyur, one of the fast developing suburbs of the city, to the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, for establishing a Technical and Research Institute.
IIT-M, which has been rated as the best engineering institute in the country this year, plans to set up multiple research centres on the campus by mobilising funds from the government, industry and other sources.
The land was given free of cost but subject to conditions that it should be utilised only for the purpose for which it was given and that the trees should be maintained. IIT-M shall not disturb the public pathway which was the approach road to some house sites and a burial ground in the locality.
Sources in IIT-M said that a compound wall was constructed to prevent encroachments and efforts were on to procure about five acres from a private party to open up one side of the campus to the Old Mahabalipuram Road. Research facilities worth a few hundred crores were likely to be set up in the next few years.
