Bihar on Wednesday urged the Centre again to allow setting up the IIM in Gaya.

Education minister Brishen Patel made the request during a meeting of education ministers of states in Delhi convened by the Union human resource development department. Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani chaired the meeting.

'The education minister explained to the Union minister about the issues related to setting up of IIM in the state and also explained that how Gaya fitted the bill,' a state government official, present at the meeting, told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi.

Bihar's request assumes significance as the Centre had recently sent a letter to the government asking it to find a suitable site for setting up the IIM in the vicinity of Patna.

After a directive from the Centre, the state had started looking for a suitable location to set up the premier institute and had zeroed in on Gaya, as it was well connected with trains and flights and sufficient land was also available. The plot selected for setting up the proposed IIM is around 120km south of Patna.

The Centre had asked the Bihar government to provide around 200 acres for the IIM following which the empty land of Magadh University near Bodhgaya was identified. However, the teachers and non-teaching association of Magadh University (MU) refused to part with their land for another institution.

Sources said though the teaching and non-teaching employees are opposed to part with land, the state government would not find difficulty in finding plot as around 265 acres along Gaya-Dhobi road could be used.

'The Union minister gave a patient hearing to our minister and we hope that something tangible would follow,' the official said.

MU vice-chancellor (VC) Mohammed Ishtiyaque said: 'The state government's stand to set up the IIM is good step.' The MU VC claimed that a new building of distance education is coming up on the campus. 'One floor measuring around 1500sqft can be given to IIM for setting up a transit campus,' he said.