Patna, Nov. 15: Magadh University has softened its stand on parting with land to set up the proposed IIM in the state.

The development comes a couple of days after the Centre sent word to the state government requesting that the IIM should come up in Patna only.

Vacant land being a critical problem in the northern part of the state, the Jitan Ram Manjhi government earlier this month requested the Union human resource development ministry to have the IIM on Magadh University campus near Gaya.

However, the university officials said the proposed land of 200 acres had been donated by Bodhgaya Math around 50 years ago and it was almost impossible to part with it.

Amid the debate and confusion where the IIM should come up — in Patna or Gaya — education minister Brishen Patel said negotiations would go on with Magadh University, as the Centre was “not rigid” to set up an IIM in Gaya, also well-connected to rest of the country. Connectivity — air and railways — has been a criterion for the proposed IIM.

Today, Magadh University vice-chancellor Mohammed Ishtiaq said: “First, we would like to say that the state government wants 200 acres of land and that too in one piece. We have done our calculations and found out that we do not have so much land with us. We have land, which is around 100 acres and the plot is not in one whole piece but scattered. There have been certain reports stating that there is a forum in the university and protests will be organised against the stand of the state government. We would like to clarify that all this is wrong. We are a part of the government and if at all the state government is rigid in their stand and wants our land, we have no choice but to hand it over to them. It is our moral duty to do so. However, the state government must also consider the fact that a part of the vacant land has got establishments like residential quarters and they need to be demolished for giving way to the proposed IIM. If they demolish them then they should be re-constructed too.”

Many calls and text messages sent to Patel went unanswered today.

R.K. Mahajan, principal secretary, education department, sent a text message though: “The state government’s decision is to set up the IIM on Magadh University campus.”

Sources said there was a section in the university who are against providing land to the state government for the IIM. They are of the opinion that setting up of the IIM on the university campus would be useless, as the university will not benefit from it in anyway.

“We had suggested the state government that a plot measuring around 265 acres was present just 1.5km from the university campus along the Patna-Dobhi Road. The state government had already acquired the land for the setting up of a golf course. In the same periphery, we also have a plot of around 38 acres, which we are ready to give at anytime,” Ishtiaq added.

However, the sources said the softening of stand by the university has put the state in a dilemma.

“It can very well get confusing. The university’s new stand was definitely a relief for the state government if the Centre had not ‘requested’ them to look for land for the IIM in Patna. Of what can be said for now, the Centre has not turned rigid and it is a request even now. The whole drama involving the standoff between the state government and the university can however fizzle out if the Centre’s stand gets stern,” a senior official of the education department said.