IIM-Amritsar: 2 yrs after announcement, Arun Jaitley to lay foundation
Running its first batch from a makeshift arrangement at the Amritsar polytechnic college, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) is set to get its own campus within three years with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley reaching the holy city on Sunday to lay the foundation stone of Rs 800-crore project on the national highway-1 at Manawala village.
Running its first batch from a makeshift arrangement at the Amritsar polytechnic college, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) is set to get its own campus within three years with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley reaching the holy city on Sunday to lay the foundation stone of Rs 800-crore project on the national highway-1 at Manawala village.
The IIM, which was announced by Jaitley during the 2014 Union Budget, will come up on 60 acres of land provided by the Punjab government, while the Centre will bear the project cost. Once the foundation stone is laid, the government will take around three years to complete the construction , said officials.
With the state government failing to find apt location to set up the IIM for over a year, the first batch comprising 60 students of the postgraduate management (PGM) programme was started at the Government Polytechnic Institute near Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in August 2015.
Earlier, Punjab had offered land at Awan village and near Baaba Bakala, but these were not found suitable for setting up the IIM.
Govt gets ready for grand show
With Jaitley finally reaching Amritsar to lay the foundation stone of the IIM, the Punjab government is trying its best to make it a grand affair. Over 10,000 chairs have been placed at the venue, which houses three big stages for VIPs.
Leaders of both Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia, are making the rounds of the venue to ensure everything goes on smoothly as top brass of the parties will be
converging on the city on Sunday. The entire administrative machinery, too, is virtually camping at the venue. Besides Jaitley, Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani and other senior BJP leaders will also be part of the function.
Traffic on a stretch of the national highway — between Jandiala and Amritsar — will be diverted during the function.