Government identifies land for IIT

Bhubaneswar, Jun 7: The Orissa government today decided to request the Union government to set up the proposed Indian Institute of Technology near Banki in Cuttack district.

Till then the IIT would run from the government run College of Engineering and Technology (CET) here.

Industry Minister B B Harichandan said the government had selected a 1200 acres patch of land near Banki about 60 km from here for the setting up of the proposed IIT.

Mr Harichandan said out of the eight sites inspected by a site selection team, the land lying between Damapada and Talabasta was found to be the most suitable and best place for the setting up of the institute.

He said it was only one hour drive from the Bhubaneswar Airport and fulfills all the criteria fixed by the Centre for setting up of the institute.

There was no forest land, no encroachment and no problem of water, the Minister said.

Mr Harichandan said the government was ready to offer the infrastacture facilities to run the institute from the current year.

He said the 120 students to be admitted into three disciplines- Civil, Mechancial and Electrical could be accommodated in the CET.

located on the outskirts of the city.

The faculty members of the Institues of Physics, Institute of Mathematics, NISER and CET would be roped in to impart lesson to the students. There was no problem of class rooms, he said.

The Minister said the government would make these offers to the Union government The decisions were taken at a meeting here. Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy, Industry Secretary Chinmay Basu, Biju Patnaik University of Technology Vice Chancellor Omnkar Mohanty and CET Principal were among others present at the meeting.

UNI