Ranchi, July 6: Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi (IIM-R), will celebrate its seventh foundation day tomorrow, but the prestigious B-school's struggle for land to build itself a permanent campus is far from over.
After waiting for six years, suffering two abortive attempts to get land and going through a fruitless foundation laying ceremony, IIM-Ranchi was finally given a 60.4-acre plot in the HEC area on April 22 by the state government. But, the B-school hasn't yet been able to take formal possession owing to local protests.
Between April and June, the B-school tried to hold low-key bhumi pujan (foundation ceremony), not once but twice. But, its officials were shooed away by local villagers. IIM-R has, therefore, decided to wait and watch until the state administration intervenes and helps it take physical possession of the land.
IIM-R director Anindya Sen, however, said that they had not lost hope. "Ideally, we should have got physical possession of the land after transfer of land papers to us. But there are issues on the ground, which only the administration can handle as it involves law and order issues," Sen told The Telegraph from Calcutta today.
"We have already requested the deputy commissioner and other officials for help. We are hoping that things will be sorted out by this month," he added.
Sen will reach Ranchi tomorrow morning for the foundation day ceremony scheduled to be held at Dr Ramdayal Munda Kala Bhawan Auditorium, Khelgaon at Hotwar. Usha Thorat, former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will grace the occasion as chief guest.
As of now, IIM-R's biggest concern is its inability to get a boundary wall constructed around the 60.4-acre plot given to it. "Sixty acres is no small area. So, the first thing we wanted to do soon after the land got transferred was safeguard it from encroachment by building a boundary wall around it. Other processes for a permanent campus, like detailed project reports, et al, are on simultaneously," Sen said, adding that he had not lost hope as the state government had assured all help.
Besides IIM-R, the site in the HEC area is also expected to host offices of other establishments like RBI and passport kendra, among others.
Set up in 2010, IIM-R has been functioning out of a rented building at Suchna Bhavan. Students and teachers, however, maintained that despite issues of space and lack of a permanent address, the institute had been successfully making its presence felt as one of the key destinations for head-hunters.
This summer, as many 82 firms came calling for trainees and ended up making 180 offers to 167 students pursuing post graduate diploma in management (PGDM) and post graduate diploma in human resource management (PGDHRM) programmes. As many as 38 new companies visited the campus for summer recruitment of PGDM students, while 10 new companies came for interviewing PGDHRM students.
Deputy commissioner Manoj Kumar couldn't be contacted for a comment on IIM-R's land troubles. However, state land and revenue department secretary K.K. Soan assured The Telegraph that the state government would do the needful soon.
"I am aware of the situation. The transfer is taking time due to some local issues but be assured that it will be sorted out soon. Slowly, we are allotting land to institutions in need of space," he said on Monday.
