Gujarat offers land, faculty for new IIT

Ahmedabad, July 1 (UNI) Endowed with a dozen national institutes of repute, the city may soon get a new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), courtesy the Union HRD Ministry's exigency to increase seats for OBC students.

Gujarat Government is keen on playing a facilitator's role by providing suitable land, faculty and industry-academy symbiosis to the new IIT, Principal Education Secretary P Paneervel told UNI here today.

''It could be a standalone new campus or an extension of the IIT-Bombay (Powai),'' he said.

The offer was first made by IIT-Bombay (Powai) director Ashok Misra two months back when Mr Paneervel met him in Mumbai, even before the recent MoHRD directive.

''The choice was perhaps between Gujarat and Goa, but the former has a lot many advantages in terms of comfort levels, accessibility and communication, besides being a bigger state,'' Mr Paneervel said.

''Moreover, Gujarat has a strong industry base in a wide range of products, necessary for industry-academy interaction.'' Mr Paneervel informed that Dr Misra was coming here on July 21 and is scheduled to meet Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Education Minister Anandiben Patel and Chief Secretary Sudhir Mankad to ''seal the deal''.

He said IIT-Bombay would like to have it in Ahmedabad as extension of its existing campus at Powai is not possible as there is no space for expansion.

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