A forest ministry objection over construction has led to a change of location of
the proposed building for Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
The Haryana government had earlier earmarked 200 acres of
land in Garnawathi village for IIM-Rohtak. But after waiting for nearly one year,
the government has given another piece of land of similar measurement in the adjoining
Sunarian village.
The land exchange has cleared the decks for construction of IIM building which remained
stuck due to this technical hitch for 14 months after the foundation stone was laid
by the Union human resources development minister Kapil Sibal. According to sources,
the earlier earmarked land owned by the gram panchayat of Garnawathi village had
been covered under the Forest Act and clearance from forest ministry was mandatory
for construction work.
Confirming this, an official of Haryana technical education department said that
land in Sunarian village had been acquired by the government for setting up police
lines some years back, on which there were no restriction on construction. "As the
IIM project was getting delayed due to objection from the forest ministry, the government
decided to exchange the 200 acres land acquired for IIM in Garnawathi with land
owned by police department in Sunarian village. Now, a 200-acre piece of land in
Sunarian village, which is closer to the proposed Rohtak bypass, has been transferred
to IIM-Rohtak", the official said.
IIM director P. Rameshan was also relieved as the institute finally got land after
a wait of over a year. "We have been waiting for the transfer of land. Now that
we have got land, construction is expected to begin soon", he stated. Classes at
IIM were already being held in a rented building at Maharishi Dayanand University
campus since June 2010, for its first and second year batches of nearly 170 students.
Courtesy: Times of India
