Resentment in Odisha over new IIM's location

The Odisha government’s recent decision to set up the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) allotted to the state at a location close to here has given rise to public resentment in several districts that were in the race to get the campus.

To put pressure on the state government to change its decision, locals in Sambalpur have threatened to observe a bandh on Tuesday and stage demonstrations in front of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s house as well as the Assembly building.

The People Forum for IIM in Sambalpur, which the locals have formed to carry forward their agitation, has appealed to the elected representatives of all political parties from the district to extend their support.

Similarly, locals in Berhampur, an important town in Patnaik’s home district of Ganjam, have also threatened to intensify their agitation if the government does not change its decision. Ganjam district, too, was in the race for the new IIM campus and last week, the locals of Berhampur staged a dharna demanding that the IIM campus be established there.

Reports of people raising their voice against the government’s decision have also come from places like the steel township of Rourkela and Balasore.

Officials in the secretariat said the state government had no option but to chose a place near the state capital as stated in the Centre’s latest advisory. “As per the latest directive from the Centre, the new IIM campus should be located at a place which can be reached within an hour from a functioning airport. Therefore, we have no other option but to select a site near the Bhubaneswar,” said a senior official.