Site for new IIT selected in Mhow, near Indore

The government has approved a site at Mhow near Indore for setting up an IIT in Madhya Pradesh.

The ministry of HRD has given its nod for the site comprising over 500 acres of land. The site is about 25 km from Indore and has all the necessary facilities.

"A government committee had earlier visited the site and found it proper from the point of view of future and growth prospects of the institute," a senior ministry official told PTI.

The government had earlier given its approval for setting up of an IIT at Medak in Andhra Pradesh and Jatni in Orissa.

Mhow was the military headquarters during World War and is one of the beautiful towns in central India. The military cantonment was founded in 1818 by Sir John Malcolm and is located in Malwa Plateau.

"The site has about 60 acres of private land. The state government will have acquire the land and hand over the entire site to the IIT-Indore Society," the official said.

The government is in the process of forming the IIT-Indore society and it will be in place in a month time.

IT-Indore will start functioning from 2009-10 academic session. IIT-Bombay will mentor the institute, the official said. IIT-Bombay is also mentoring IIT-Gujarat.

The proposed sites for other new IITs are under consideration. The government has started six new IITs in the current session, while it will start two others in 2009-10 session.

The government had approved an area of 935 acres near Jatni in Khurda district of Orissa as the site for the proposed IIT in the state.

HRD minister Arjun Singh will visit Orissa soon to lay the foundation stone for the elite technical institute.

IIT-Bhubaneswar has already started functioning at IIT-Kharagpur. The first batch of students have taken admission and their classes were held at IIT Kharagpur.

The government had earlier approved the site at Medak in Andhra Pradesh for setting up of the proposed IIT in the southern state.

Mandi in Himachal Pradesh could be considered as the location for setting up of IIT Himachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the government had selected the directors for the new eight IITs. But the names are yet to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments.