Palakkad Collector identifies land for IIT - THE HINDU - July 1

PALAKKAD, JULY 1. The District Administration has identified four locations for setting up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). It had proposed the setting up of an IIT in the district after the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Arjun Singh, had assured the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, recently that Kerala would be sanctioned an IIT.

According to the District Collector, Sanjeev Kaushik, the first priority is to the 550-acre plot under KINFRA in the Kanjikode industrial along the National Highway between Palakkad and Coimbatore. The other areas identified are in nearby Parali, Kodumbu and Pirayiri.

According to the project proposal, the area required for such an institute will be about 400 acres. It is best located in a rural area within an hour's drive from an airport. The Kanjikode industrial area, the second biggest industrial centre of Kerala, near Palakkad town, is within an hour's drive from the Coimbatore airport and two hours' drive from the Cochin International Airport.

Since the nearest IIT is in Chennai, the Palakkad IIT could get a powerful kick-start by associating itself as an autonomous second campus of an existing IIT. The new IIT can start classes from the very beginning with borrowed space. This permits low gestation time, says the project proposal.

The proposed IIT "is not merely a copy of the existing IITs. It will be unique, sub-serving local needs and requirements. It will act as a benchmark to scores of other institutions in the State in the field of higher education and thereby act as a catalyst to revive the sinking standards of higher education in the State."

The proposed IIT will have a Technology Incubator and an associated Technology Park for complementary growth of both technical education and hi-tech industry. The new IIT and the hi-tech sector will have tremendous mutual advantage from the beginning. It will also be a part of the region's development, particularly for nearby rural areas. It will create wealth indirectly through promotion of technology incubation, entrepreneurship development and act as a bridge between the academia, government and the industry, the project proposal adds.