The proposed Ranchi site for the IIM coming up in Jharkhand. Pix: Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Dec. 17: It’s Ranchi versus Dhanbad.

A three-member team comprising senior officials from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, and Union ministry of human resource development (HRD) would visit the sites on December 20 for the proposed IIM coming up in the state. Nagri in Ranchi and near Baliapur in Dhanbad — both about 200 acres — have been chosen.

A jubilant Anjani Kumar Shrivastava, state higher education director told The Telegraph that senior officials from IIM, Calcutta, and Pushkar Negi, under secretary in the HRD department would be here.

“After visiting the Ranchi site they would head to Dhanbad. The Ranchi site would be inspected on December 22. Then they would decide on the final location,” he said.

Coal belt representatives are in favour of the Dhanbad-Bokaro region to house the IIM while the rest vote for Ranchi.

Sources in the district land acquisition department said the Nagri side would be beside Birsa Agriculture University, Kanke, and would fall along the proposed Ring Road along Pithoria-Sukruhutu villages.

The site is on government-owned land so one could perceive no land acquisition problems.

State HRD secretary R.S. Verma is in favour of starting classes from the 2009-10 academic session at a temporary building but state government is yet to take a decision on that.

IIMs would come up in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana. The government will spend Rs 250 crore for every new IIM.