Officials of the State information technology (IT) department visited Jamshedpur on Thursday to search for land for the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT). The Ranchi district administration has failed to find a plot for this institution.
They team visited Maliyanta and Khairbani. According to officials, this was their first such foray and as of now nothing has been finalised.
Jamshedpur Deputy Commissioner Himani Pandey told The Pioneer, “IT deputy director SV Sahu has seen a 30-acre plot at Maliyanta and 25 acres at Khairbani. Once they inform us about land preference among these two, we will make the proposal.”
The Jamshedpur DC is yet to ascertain whether part of land in Maliyanta comes under forest area. “We will try to verify status as mentioned in records,” added Pandey.
Sahu was at pains to point out that nothing was fixed as of yet.
“We have just brought the map of the land. It is up to the Principal Secretary and State Government as to what to decide on the land,” he said. Sahu has requested Pandey to locate this land and identify details.
Principal Secretary to Governor NN Sinha, who also holds charge of Principal Secretary of IT department, said, “land for IIIT is yet to be identified. The earlier identified land was of jungle jhaari (forest land) nature. Forest clearance is a troublesome process so we are avoiding it. Our officers have seen two pieces of land at Jamshedpur.”
“Around 50 acres is being looked for. We are hoping to get proper land by the end of this year,” added Sinha.
The proposed tech cradle is part of the Centre’s plan to open 20 such institutes across the country to be developed under public-private partnership model and function as autonomous institutions. Currently, there are six IIITs functioning in Gwalior, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Kancheepuram, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The Centre had sanctioned an IIIT for Jharkhand in early 2011 following land for this institution at Nagri allotted by the State Government. However, agitation in Nagri posed a problem.