Appointment of officer for IIT at Dharwad draws flak

Bengaluru: The state government appointing nodal officer for establishing the IIT at Dharwad faced stiff resistance in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

The MLAs from Raichur district urged the government to withdraw the notification, appointing Mr Rajendra Chola as nodal officer, as the IIT at Dharwad had not been finalised. Soon after question hour, MLAs from Raichur including Mr Manappa Vajjal, Congress MLA Mr A.S. Patil Nadahalli, Mr Shivaraj Patil and Mr Guru Patil rose to their feet, exhibiting placards.

They contended that there was a widespread protest in Raichur district, after the government appointed a nodal officer to set up the IIT at Dharwad. Chief Minister Mr Siddaramaiah had written a letter to the Union Government saying the IIT could be shifted to Raichur instead.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra said that the government would convince the people and was making all efforts to shift the proposed IIT from Dharwad to Raichur.

Raichur protester suffers burns

There was a good response to Raichur bandh called on Thursday by the IIT Manjoorati Horata, which has been agitating for establishing an IIT at Raichur in protest against appointment of a nodal officer to the proposed IIT at Dharwad.

Santosh, a samiti activist, sustained serious burns on his face while setting a tyre on fire. Leaders of the samiti and other Kannada organisations gathered at Ambedkar and Basaveshwara circle and raised slogans against the state and union governments.

Schools and colleges declared holidays, and no buses entered the city. Advocates supported the bandh call by boycotting courts. Merchants of kirana bazaar, batte bazaar, saraf bazaar etc. expressed their solidarity by closing their establishments.

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