A day after Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar assured a BJP delegation of setting up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), the IIT Horata Samithi, a civil society conglomerate which led a prolonged agitation demanding Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) for Raichur last year, has opposed the move.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, samithi’s president Basavaraj Kalasa said that the IIIT would in no way help Raichur or Hyderabad Karnataka.
He demanded that the Union government sanction an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to the city instead.
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“Establishing IIIT, in PPP mode with considerable share of private investment, would practically mean that education in the institute would be unaffordable to common people. Private parties invest in the institute for profit,” he said.
Recalling the denial of an IIT to Raichur despite a prolonged people’s agitation, Mr. Kalasa questioned why the Union government heeded to the demand of a few people and sanctioned the institute in a hurry.
He obliquely criticised BJP leaders who met Union HRD minister on Wednesday seeking IIIT for their “vested interests”.
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“When the agitation for IIT was at the peak, the Union government had asked us to give up the demand by offering an IIIT. Those who rejected the offer then have now met Union HRD minister and got it sanctioned to serve their own interests,” he said.
Keeping in mind next election, the Union government is trying to pacify the people of Hyderabad Karnataka and win them over by offering an institute that nobody wants, he alleged.
Mr. Kalasa urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar to keep their word to establish an AIIMS in Raichur.
He also urged M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, to break his silence over the issue and come out with a clear demand for AIIMS in Raichur.
“Mr. Kharge is a tall leader of Hyderabad Karnataka. If he continues to remain silent over the issue, people would suspect his integrity on the development of the backward region he hails from. His silence would mean betrayal to backward HK region,” he said.
Mr. Kalasa declared that he would call a meeting of all organisations functioning in the region and formulate future course of action. “Political leaders in this region lack of political will and integrity for the development. We, the civil society members, have therefore to take the lead,” he said.