IISc second campus in Chitradurga, affirms Sibal

Sibal conveyed this to Chitradurga MP Janardhana Swamy, when the latter met him here. “The Union Minister has cleared the doubts about the Institute and I am fully confident that the campus will come up in Chitradurga,” Swamy told Deccan Herald here after meeting Sibal.

Swamy met Sibal in the backdrop of media reports quoting Sibal saying that the Centre was planning to set up the second IISc campus in Andhra Pradesh.  

The IISc had bought 1,500 acre land in Kudapura near Challakere in Chitradurga district for the campus. The institute, for which the Centre had already paid the money towards the land to the Karnataka Government, is planning to start the construction by end of this year.

Sources in the Human Resources Development Ministry told Deccan Herald that the Centre has been under the pressure from AP real estate lobby to shift the campus from Chitradurga to Ananthpur or Hindupura district.

However, a section of officials in the Ministry was against such lobby and wanted the campus to be set up in Chitradurga only where they have already bought land for lesser price.

The sources also said that the Centre is also mulling to set up a small research institute of IISc in Ananthpur.