Students outside the CAT exam centre at KIIT, Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 22: As many as 10,000 students from the state today took the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2014, the national-level entrance examination for admission to various management institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other top B-schools across the country.

The test holds special significance for the state, because it would also facilitate admissions to the proposed IIM, Bhubaneswar. The entrance tests were held at seven centres in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Sambalpur. “There were a few changes in the exam pattern and the logical reasoning and data interpretation sections were difficult,” said Arush Mahapatra, a student, who took the test.

The state government has conveyed its decision on the location of the IIM in Bhubaneswar, suggesting two probable sites. In a letter to the Union ministry of human resource and development and IIM, Calcutta (the mentor for the proposed IIM in Odisha), the department of technical education had mentioned Gothapatna near IIIT and Argul near the IIT, Bhubaneswar campus, as the possible sites for the IIM.

The Telegraph had, on November 13, carried a detailed story on the sites identified for the institute in the state. The department has requested the Centre to send its site selection team to take a final call on the location. The team is expected to visit next week. The technical education department has also decided to run the institute from a temporary campus in Bhubaneswar till the permanent campus is ready. The IIM, Bhubaneswar, will start admitting students from the next academic year beginning from April 2015.

On the other hand, protests continued at various parts of the state opposing the government’s decision to set up the institute in Bhubaneswar. While the Nagarika Sachetana Manch organised a 12-hour shutdown in Rourkela on the issue, the Peoples’ Forum for IIM in Sambalpur staged a demonstration outside the office of the revenue divisional commissioner (north) in the town.

The strike saw partial response in Rourkela, where shops and business establishments at old Rourkela, Ambagaon and Uditnagar remained closed and public transport kept off roads. “We did not want to take any risks, so we went with the strike,” said Amrinder Singh, a truck driver.

However, several smaller vehicles such as three-wheelers plied. Educational institutions, banks and government and private offices remained closed. However, production in the Rourkela Steel Plant remained unaffected with attendance being above 99 per cent.

Manch secretary P.P. Ray said: “We are going to meet the Prime Minister soon and if our demand is not met, we will launch a hunger strike.”

In Sambalpur, forum convenor Sapan Mishra said: “Sambalpur has all the infrastructure required for the IIM. We demand the decision be reconsidered. We also want the Centre to reject the recommendation of the state government.”