The Union government today passed the buck for starting the new campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the state to the Odisha government saying it can be operational from this year provided the state government agrees with the proposal of Union MInistry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD).
"It depends upon the state government ( to start the IIM classes). If it agrees to our recommendations, then we will try to start the classes from this year," said Sailendra Kumar, director in the human resource development (HRD).
Though initially it was decided to admit 120 students for the courses, it has been scaled down to 78 students per year for Odisha IIM, he added.
Earlier, the ministry had clarified that unless the site for IIM is finalised, admission cannot commence for 2015-16 session.
The site selection for IIM has become a contentious issue for the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as people from several parts of the state, especially those in western Odisha, have been vocal about establishment of the premier business school in their respective region after the Central team zeroed in on Bhubaneswar to start the campus of IIM as it was found to be most suitable according to the guidelines for site selection.
Anticipating severe protest ahead of municipal polls in key western Odisha cities, the state government later requested the MHRD to also consider Sambalpur as another option for establishing Odisha campus of IIM following HRD minister Smriti Irani's letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seeking opinion for establishment of the IIM in western Odisha. In his reply, Patnaik had said that his government would strongly recommend Sambalpur as the site for IIM if the Centre was ready to relax its guidelines.
One of the criteria in the guideline includes proximity to airports. Sambalpur does not figure as a choice of location under this norm as the state has only one operating airport in Bhubaneswar.
In May last week, the HRD ministry had sent queries to the state government regarding proposed location, presence of major business centres, mega industries operating in the vicinity of the site, economic activities in and around Sambalpur and potential employment opportunities for the spouses of IIM employees before despatching a team for Sambalpur site.
The site selection team today identified several spots such as Rengali, Dhankauda and Neeldungri for establishment of permanent IIM campus. It has also selected Government Polytechnic, Rengali, Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology (SUIIT), Burla, and Silicon Institute of Technology, Sason, for running of the temporary campus. The final report about Sambalpur would be submitted by June 25, Kumar said after completing second day of site inspection.
