Raipur | August 07, 2016: Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had provided 325 acres from its Bhilai project to set up country’s 23rd Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chhattisgarh’s industrial township.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar on Sunday inaugurated the IIT-Bhilai with all praises for state-run steel maker. The land was in the possession of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship and highest profit-making entity of SAIL.

“In the 21st century, nobody dares to give land,” Javadekar said, adding that it was a great step taken by the SAIL-BSP to provide land for setting up IIT. The IIT-Bhilai will have initially three branches including computer science, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.

Javadekar announced that the mining engineering branch would be opened in IIT-Bhilai from the academic session 2018-19 seeing the demand in the mineral-rich state.

According to state government officials, the BSP management played a proactive role in the exercise. Soon after the government communicated, the BSP management sent the proposal to SAIL board and followed it till the approval was granted, they added.

A senior SAIL official said the issue was also related to the sentiments of Bhilaians as they wanted the IIT to come up in the steel city that had fast emerged as the education hub of the state. A large number of students from Bhilai are qualifying in prestigious institutions.

The BSP management had earlier provided 280 acres of land for setting up state-run Swami Vivekanand Technical University.

(Source: http://www.business-standard.com/)