Says Raichur will be ideal venue for the premier institute
Bengaluru, Sep 21(DHNS): Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written to Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani to reconsider setting up the proposed Indian Institute of technology (IIT) in Dharwad and instead pick Raichur as the venue.
The Centre decided to set up the first IIT in the southern state earlier this month. While the decision made the people of Dharwad district happy and politicians belonging to Hubballi-Dharwad were busy taking credit for bringing the IIT to their place, people and elected representatives of Raichur district were disappointed and even staged protests demanding that the institute be set up in their place.
Siddaramaiah also came under attack by various organisations in Raichur (located in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region) for depriving the district of the IIT.
BJP leaders Pralhad Joshi, Jagadish Shettar and H N Ananth Kumar (all basically from Hubballi-Dharwad) took credit for getting the IIT sanctioned to the district.
In his letter, the chief minister said that the State government had shortlisted Raichur, Mysuru and Dharwad for setting up the IIT. Since it was also decided recently to set up an International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Dharwad, he felt that the proposed IIT should be set up in Raichur.
“Keeping in view this and the fact that Raichur is the district headquarters located in the Hyderabad-Karnataka backward region and enjoys special status under Article 371-J of the Indian Constitution, it would be appropriate to establish the proposed IIT at Raichur. This will help in balanced regional development to which our state is committed,” the chief minister said.
Further, the chief minister said that Karnataka would extend all necessary assistance and cooperation in establishing the IIT in Raichur. Also on Sunday, Raichur district in-charge minister Sharanprakash Patil held a meeting with elected representatives from the district here in support of their demand that the IIT should be given to the H-K region.