Central team members visit the site at Gothapatna. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 14: The controversy over the possible site for IIM here will be over as Gothapatna is likely to walk away with the cake.

The site, located adjacent to the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), is around 15km from the city airport and 12km from the nearest railway station. A hospital is also located nearby. This site is the most favoured one as IIM’s transit campus will be located on the IIIT premises located nearby, official sources said.

The other site at Haridamada behind the IIT, Bhubaneswar, which is also doing the rounds, is close to Jatni with Khurda Road being the nearest railway junction. However, IIT, Bhubaneswar, cannot accommodate the transit campus of IIM. Therefore, Gothapatna remains the preferred one.

A senior official of the state government said the site at Gothapatna was being preferred by the government since it would be convenient to supervise the construction of the new campus from the transit site. In comparison, the Haridamada site is far away, about 20km away from the transit campus.

The site selection committee, headed by Amarjit Sinha, additional secretary of Union human resources development (HRD) ministry, today visited both the sites.

“We will go by the specifications made by the Central government before finalising the site,” said Sinha. The committee is expected to submit its report to the Central government within a week.

Sinha, accompanied by Saibal Chattopadhyay, director of IIM Calcutta, and Umesh Mishra, chief engineer, central public works department, who are also members of the central committee, held preliminary discussions with chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati and other senior officials before going on a field visit. Additional secretary, state technical education department, P.K. Das, accompanied them to the two sites.

The state government had identified the two places on the city outskirts for the location of the proposed IIM. Both the locations meet the Centre’s specification of “one hour distance” from the nearest airport. A proposal was sent to the Centre, following which it sent the committee on a field visit.

Das, who was with the committee, said the team visited both the sites. However, the one near the IIT, Bhubaneswar, was found to be a little odd and the site near IIIT in Gothapatna was considered to be more suitable.

“However, the final decision will be taken by the central government,” he said.

The issue of IIM’s location had generated much heat in the state with several districts contending for the honour. There were agitations in Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Berhampur and Rourkela with people claiming that their areas were the best to house the premier management institute. However, none of these places were connected with a fully functional airport, a factor that turned the scale in favour of Bhubaneswar.