Establish Indian Institute of Technology in Hubli-Dharwad

Honorable Prime Minister, Sri.Manmohan Singh,
Honorable Union Minister for HRD, Sri.Arjun Singh,
Honorable Chief Minister, Sri.HD Kumara Swamy,
Honorable Deputy Chief Minister, Sri. Yediyurappa,
Honorable Minister for Revenue, Sri. Jagadish Shettar,
Honorable Minister for Primary & Secondary Education, Sri.Basavaraj Horatti,
Honorable MP, Sri.Prahlad Joshi,

Subject: Establishment of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hubli-Dharwad regarding

We, the citizens of twin cities, strongly urge you to grant the previously granted-but-missed opportunity, to set up one of the proposed 3 IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) in Hubli-Dharwad.

We would like to bring it your notice that the Union Ministry for Human Resources Development had set up the committee during 1996, under the leadership of space scientist, Sri. Dr.U R Rao, which had recommended the establishment of IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) in Dharwad, North Karnataka. Apart from Dharwad being selected as one of the places, the other places recommended by the committee included places belonging to Gujarat or Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh or Orissa. Please refer to the internet news article regarding this @ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?catkey=-2128833038&art_id=814796493&sType=1. Also previous Chief Minister and MP, Sri.SR Bommai, had requested previous Prime Minister, Sri.Vajpayee to place the recommendations made by the U R Rao Committee before the cabinet for facilitating the establishment of IIT in Hubli-Dharwad.

In the recently submitted McKinsey report to the Government of Karnataka, on improving IT / ITeS / BT industry within the state of Karnataka, Hubli-Dharwad has been identified to be the next destination for the IT / ITeS industry developments within Karnataka, based on the educated manpower and other inherent qualities of this region. If the recent developments of starting of IT / BT related operations by Neilsoft, Sankalp Semiconductors, planned / approved SEZ venture by TCS (approved by government of Karnataka), PolycloneBio, as a fallout of successful Investors Meet held on 20th May, 2006 are any indications supporting the findings of report by McKinsey, the anticipated needs of educated manpower to meet IT / ITeS / BT domain needs assumes significant importance.

The recent grant of wishes of citizens of twin cities (please refer to the online petition @ http://www.petitiononline.com/HDJNNURM/petition.html), for including Hubli-Dharwad into the list of JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) by Honorable President of Congress Party, Smt.Sonia Gandhi, ( please refer to the online news articles @ deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sep42006/state193026200693.asp
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1953067.cms) in itself speaks volumes about the potentials and needs to support the overall development and growth of twin cities. The official inclusion of Hubli-Dharwad will bolster the support for infrastrcutre facilities, that are so dear to the hearts of IT / ITeS / BT industry players.

Unequivocally, we putforth our staunch request to you to grant the establishment of one of the proposed 3 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hubli-Dharwad twin cities. We had missed out on the opportunity for the establishment of IIT in the not too distant past, but we cannot afford to miss out the same opportunity for the second time, in the interest of development of the twin cities and North Karnataka region. We look forward to active consideration and grant the wishes of citizens of Hubli-Dharwad, from across the globe.

Thanking you in anticipation.