MHRD will not change location of IIT Karnataka

In a recent report published by The Hindu, he Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) is not likely to change the location of the IIT Dharwad to Raichur.

As per the report, MHRD state it is practically impossible for the ministry to change the site location as there is no precedence of such an action being carried out.

"There was no divisive opinion on setting up the IIT in Dharwad. The selection committee, having visited all the three locations, had zeroed-in on the site location. There is no precedence by the MHRD ever changing location of an IIT from one location to another within a State," said a high-ranking MHRD official.

It is said that till date, whenever a selection committee had recommended the site for setting up an IIT, there was no change in the location of the site.

Sources state the MHRD is already preparing a note to even secure the sanction of the Union cabinet to have a transit campus at Dharwad, which suggests that any reversal of its decision due to political pressure may push back the dates of setting up an IIT in Karnataka.

The transit campus proposal is being suggested by the MHRD, to be set up at the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI) which is located just opposite the proposed site for the IIT to be set up in Dharwad.

The State Government, nonetheless, is still hopeful of the Centre reversing its decision and awarding Raichur the IIT. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, earlier last week had dispatched a letter to the MHRD minister Smriti Irani to change the location of the IIT site to Raichur, considering it was always the State's first preference.