Central team assesses facilities for new IIM in Tiruchirapalli

Tiruchirapalli: A three-member Central team has visited the campuses of the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi (NIT-T), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Bharathidasan University, and Anna University-Tiruchi (AU-T) to assess facilities for the proposed new Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to be commenced here from the ensuing academic year 2010-11.

According to official sources here, the team, comprising Additional Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Ashok Thakur, Director of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) Pankaj Chandra and Additional Director General of Central Public Works Department N Ravi, met NIT-T Director M Chidambaram.

The team was accompanied by Principal Secretary of Higher Education, Government of Tamil Nadu, K Ganesan and District Collector T Soundiah. Later, they visited BHEL campus, Bharathidasan and Anna Universities and expressed satisfaction with the facilities at the MBA block of the Anna University here. The district administration has identified 192.35 acres of land for a permanent campus for the proposed IIM.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Pankaj Chandra said the intake in the proposed institution would be between 70 and 140.

It may be recalled that last year the MHRD had asked the CAT Committee to include 560 additional seats for aspiring management candidates from 2010-11.

For each of the four newly proposed IIMs at Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Raipur in Chattisgarh, and Rohtak in Haryana, 140 seats were envisaged.

With these four institutions, the number of IIMs in the country would go up to 11. Three more IIMs would come up in the second phase in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. Establishment of seven new IIMs in the country under the 11th Five Year Plan was endorsed by the National Development Council in December 2007, the sources added.