BENGALURU: Dharwad has won the race for the Indian Institute of Technology. The Union HRD Ministry on Tuesday took this decision and a government order in this regard will be issued in two to three days, Dharwad MP and state BJP president Prahlad Joshi told Express.
Along with Dharwad, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home district Mysuru and Raichur were in the race for the country’s premier technical education institute.
The Union government had sanctioned IIT to Karnataka in its 2015 budget. The proposed IIT will come up on a 200-acre plot near Belur Industrial Area on the outskirts of Dharwad. A team from the HRD Ministry had recently visited all three cities to assess the plots offered by the respective district administrations.
“The location shown by us was better than those in the other two cities in all respects,” said Dharwad MLA Aravind Bellad, and thanked Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani for choosing Dharwad.
Prahlad Joshi expressed his happiness over the Centre’s decision and said he was grateful to Smriti Irani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for choosing Dharwad. Thanking the prime minister and Smriti Irani, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar said the NDA government has given Dharwad not only the Smart City status but also the IIT.
KLE Technological University vice-chancellor Ashok Shetter said this was the best gift a government could give this region.
“Amazing. I have no words to describe it,” he said, and added that an IIT in Dharwad meant that the city would get a new direction. Mayor Ashwini Majjagi said that Dharwad deserved the institution and thanked Modi, Smriti Irani, Prahlad Joshi and Jagadish Shettar for their efforts to bring the IIT to Dharwad.
“After the Smart City tag, we now have the IIT. It is a joyous moment,” Majjagi added.