Centre approves IISER locationnear Gopalpur

Bhubaneswar: The Centre has approved Laoudigaon near Gopalpur for the permanent campus of the proposed Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), it was reliably learnt.
Around 200-acre land in Laoudigaon was one of the two sites identified by the Ganjam district administration for the premier institute. The other site was 160-acre land on Palur Hill.
On the basis of an assessment by a central team, the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) approved Laoudigaon, an officer of MHRD said. The team visited the two sites on November 17.
Another MHRD team would visit the state again on January 8 for finalising the temporary campus of the institute, somewhere in Berhampur.
The state government had asked IISER to use the Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Berhampur, as the temporary campus for IISER.
However, there was difference of opinion among the team members who visited it in November. The Centre has asked the state to offer new options for the transit campus.
A section of officers involved in the decision making for the temporary and permanent sites of the IISER campus had suggested the temporary campus of National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) in Bhubaneswar to be used for IISER. However, the suggestion lost favour because it would not be politically acceptable.
In August, the state government had declared that IISER would be located near Berhampur. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced its establishment in Odisha, besides another in Nagaland, in the last Union Budget.