Date:27/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/27/stories/2008112755240100.htm

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Centre says ‘no’ to IIT for State

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The State Government on Wednesday received a letter from Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh saying Karnataka will not get an Indian Institute of Technology.

The letter, Minister for Higher Education Arvind Limbavali said, had come as a blow to the State Government.

The Government has been asking the Union HRD Ministry for an IIT for long, and Mr. Limbavali had also met Mr. Singh in this regard. “The reason cited is unscientific. The letter states that as Karnataka already has national institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, (the Ministry) did not see any reason for the establishment of an IIT. It is prudent that the Centre take note that the IISc. was established by the Tatas not the Union Government. Karnataka has received a raw deal from the Centre. We will form an all-party delegation and go to Delhi to urge the Union Minister to sanction an IIT for the State. We will also try to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he is in Bangalore on December 3 and apprise him of the situation,” Mr. Limbavali added.