Finally, IIM-Bengaluru gets land for its second campus

BENGALURU: After much delay, decks are cleared for the Indian Institute of Management Bengaluru (IIMB) to set up its second campus on the outskirts of the city in Anekal.
The development comes at a time when the Union HRD Ministry is pushing IIMs to expand physically in order to meet growing needs.Both IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad have fully established their second campuses.

Although the Karnataka government allotted it five years ago, the 110-acre plot on survey number 47 of Mahanthalingapura was handed over to IIMB only a couple of weeks ago. “We have possession of the land by way of a letter from the authorities. We will soon float tenders to build a compound wall around the land,“ IIMB's project manager MS Vishwanath said.

Running out of space on its 100acre Bannerghatta Road campus, the IIMB hopes to expand existing academic programmes and intro duce new ones at the Anekal campus, which is about 20 km from the present one. The land is leased for a 30-year period.

“We have enough use for land,“ said Sushil Vachani, who retired as IIMB director earlier this month.“The existing campus is pretty full.We hope to get some money from the government and the private sector when we expand programmes through the new campus,“ said Vachani, who now heads IIMB's international advisory committee.

The delay in taking possession of the land was due to resistance by local farmers, forcing revenue authorities to identify an alternative piece of land for the IIMB. “The entire parcel is about 700 acres, of which IIMB has been given 110 acres. We have told the institute that we will arrange for police protection to fence the land,“ Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner V Shankar said.

IIMB's new campus could give a boost to Anekal as a higher education hub. T he Azim Premji University is building its permanent campus on an 80-acre plot between Attibele and Sarjapura under the Anekal Planning Authority limits. Besides, Anekal already has Alliance University, Karnataka's first private university.