Pragativadi on CM's letter to PM

IIT issue: Navin dashes letter to PM
Bhubaneswar: Close on the heels of the outright rejection of the Centre to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Orissa, chief minister Navin Patnaik on Thursday dashed a letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh in this connection.
The letter stated that the recent reply of Union minister of state for human resource development on the floor of the Parliament regarding establishment of IITs in the country has come as a shock to us.
Expressing deep anguish and surprise over the double entendre by the Centre in this connection, Patnaik, in his letter, reminded the prime minister of the announcement made by the Union minister of state for HRD Mohd Fatmi on August 28 last year in Patna that

Orissa was included in the proposal for three green field IITs in the 11th Five Year Plan.

It is indeed painful that this announcement has been reversed by the ministry of HRD for reasons not known to others, he noted.
Patnaik also went on saying that since Orissa has no institute of excellence in higher learning, there was a proposal to open a branch of IIT, Kharagpur, in Bhubaneswar for which the state government had promised land of nearly 300 acres.
It appears that even this proposal has been turned down, he observed.
Referring to his earlier meting with the honourable HRD minister in this connection, the chief minister said that the latter had told him that the case of Orissa can be considered for a full-fledged green field IIT.

The recent decision of government of India to locate the IITs in states which already have the benefit of many Central institutes indicates that objective criteria have not been followed in deciding the locations of the three IITs, he said, and requested the prime minister to include Orissa’s case in the 11^th Five-Year Plan.

It may be mentioned here that the ruling BJP and BJD MPs of Orissa had staged a walkout in the Parliament on Tuesday followed by a sit-in dharna in front of the Parliament on the next day in protest against the statement of Union minister of state for Human Resource Development D Purandeshwari that the Centre has no plans to set up an IIT in Orissa in near future.
They also threatened to take to the streets till the demand of the state is met by the Centre.

More news items on CM writes to PM again

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• Kalinga Times
• India Edu news.net
  
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• Samaja
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• Pragativadi
  

Orissa not to have a premier IIT institute: state government calls it unfortunate

Orissa not to have a premier IIT institute: state government calls it unfortunate
By Deepak Kumar Mohanty
Delhi

May 11: The people of Orissa have expressed the central government’s decision for not setting up an Indian Institute of Technology IIT in the state as unfortunate. In the parliamentary session, on Tuesday, the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, D.Purandeshwari, confirmed that the centre had no plan to set up an IIT in Orissa.

From a long time the people of Orissa have demanded a premier institute but the present UPA government has undermined the state government’s demand and also the will of the people, which can be realized as against democratic set up.

Though the UPA government has approved to set up three new IIT institutes at Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar but it has sideline the same for Orissa state. The fact that despite the state attracting huge amount of foreign investments for its mineral resources has not been helped with proper infrastructure is really unfortunate. Orissa is going to have India’s highest FDI with Korean steel maker POSCO and apart from it Mital Steel has also signed an agreement with the state government. Under these developments, the demand for IIT is unavoidable.

Earlier the state government informed the centre to provide 300 acres land and forwarded a proposal to set up an IIT in the state. Even IIT-Kharagpur has made a proposal for setting up an extensive campus in Bhubaneswar. The centre did earlier approve the proposal but the present government has ruled it out. The BJD-BJP coalition government in the state and the people of Orissa see it as ignorance on the part of central government.

The BJD and BJP MPs have already shown their dissatisfaction inside and outside parliament. Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, has also written a letter to the Prime Minister in this regard.

The Biju Janata Dal in the state is trying to provide for the positive results in future as far as vote bank is concerned. The Congress Party’s position is really worse in the state; and such ignorance can further weaken its position in the state.

Statesman: Naveen's missive to PM on IIT

IIT ~ Naveen’s missive to PM

Statesman News Service

BHUBANESWAR, May 10: “The recent reply of Union minister of state for human resource development on the floor of the Parliament regarding establishment of IITs in the country has come as a shock to us,” said chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik in his letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today.

Carrying forward the protest of BJD-BJP MPs in New Delhi and their walkout over the issue in parliament, CM today wrote to the Prime Minister iterating the demand for an IIT in the state. The BJP, on its part, staged a protest dharna in front of Raj Bhavan here today and some of their leaders said they would continue to agitate till the demand was met.
Union minister of state for HRD Mr MM Fatmi as recently as on 28 August 2006 had mentioned in Patna that Orissa was included in the proposal for three green field IITs in the 11th Five Year Plan. It is indeed painful that this has been reversed by the ministry of HRD for reasons not known to others, noted Mr Patnaik in his letter.

Orissa does not have any institute of excellence in higher learning. There was a proposal to open a branch of IIT, Kharagpur, in Bhubaneswar for which government of Orissa had promised land of nearly 300 acres. It appears that even this proposal has been turned down.

“When I met the honourable minister of HRD in this connection, he had indicated to me that the case of Orissa can be considered for a full-fledged green field IIT. The recent decision of government of India to locate the IITs in states which already have the benefit of many Central institutes indicates that objective criteria have not been followed in deciding the locations of the 3 IITs. Mr Patnaik implored the PM to include Orissa’s case in the 11th Five Year Plan.

Booklet compiling the IIT Orissa issue in the media (9 MB)

The various news items on the IIT Orissa issue that has appeared in the various Orissa based and national media has been compiled to a single 9 MB pdf file at is made available at http://iitorissa.googlepages.com/Binder1.pdf

I think if this compilation is shown by our MPs to other MPs, the planning commission and PM then it will convince them that this is a big deal for Orissa and it has caused a lot of strife in Orissa and they should pay attention and do something urgently.

Memorandum sent in by Tokyo Oriyas

It was addressed to the following people and faxed to them:

To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime minister of India
South Block,Raisina Hill
New Delhi, Pin code: 110011
INDIA
Telephone: 91-11-23012312.
Fax: 91-11-23019545 /91-11-23016857
Email: manmohan@sansad.nic.in

To
Dr. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi, Pin code: 110 004
INDIA
Fax: +91 11 23017290
Email: presidentofindia@rb.nic.in

To
Smt. Sonia Gandhi
Leader of UPA
President: INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
24, Akbar Road,
New Delhi, Pin code: 110011,
INDIA
FAX : + 91-11-23017047
Email: soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in

To
Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission,
Government of India
Parliament Street, New Delhi, Pin code: 110001
INDIA
Fax: 91-11-23096699-2132
Email: dch@yojana.nic.in

To
Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Vice-President of India
6, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi
INDIA
Fax: +91 11 23018124
Email: vpindia@sansad.nic.in

To
Shri Somnath Chatterjee
Speaker, Lok Sabha
17, Parliament House,
New Delhi, Pin code: 110001
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 23792927
Email: lokmail@sansad.nic.in

To
Sri Arjun Singh
Minister of Human Reource Development
Government of India
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001
India
Fax: + 91-11 23382365
Email: hrm@nic.in

To
REGD. & HEAD OFFICE NEW DELHI
The Press Trust of India Limited
PTI Building,
4, Parliament Street, New Delhi - 110 001
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 23718714
Email: trans@pti.in

CM's letter to the PM

Draft Letters

Several letters that have been sent to the Prime minister, President and UPA Chairperson Mrs. Gandhi are now available at
http://iits.11thplan.googlepages.com/draftletters

Samaja, Sambada, Dharitri and New Indian Express report that the CM wrote to the PM regarding the shifting of IIT

The NewIndianExp article is given below. This is also reported in Pioneer, Samaja, Sambada, Kalinga Times and Dharitri (2).

CM writes to PM demanding greenfield IIT
Thursday February 1 2007 00:00 IST

BHUBANESWAR: Taking strong exception to the reported move of the Centre to shift the establishment of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from Orissa to Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that a greenfield IIT should be sanctioned for the State.

The Centre had announced establishment of three greenfield IITs in the country during the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Orissa was included in this proposal, which was also announced by Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development MM Fatmi on August 28 last year at Patna.

Describing the move by the Centre to establish the IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan as ‘shocking’, the Chief Minister has sought the intervention of the Prime Minister in setting up such an institute in Orissa.

Establishment of an IIT would go a long way in supporting the rapid industrial growth in the State by producing highly qualified technical and managerial personnel as well as the much needed R&D support, he said.

Drawing the Prime Minister’s attention to the proposal of the IIT, Kharagpur for the upgradation of their extension centre in Orissa to a full-fledged IIT campus, Naveen said that the State Government has also formally recommended the proposal to the Ministry of HRD and conveyed willingness to provide 300 acres of land free of cost for the prestigious project. He requested the Prime Minister to sanction the extension campus also.

Stating that the vibrant growth in the industrial and technical education sectors provides enormous potential for industry and institutional linkages, Naveen said that establishment of an IIT in Orissa will greatly facilitate in intensifying this process.

Orissa is playing host to the biggest ever FDI projects in the country such as Posco and Arcelor-Mittal steel projects, he said and added that presence of such strong industrial players will definitely provide required synergy for an IIT level institution to realise its full potential.