New Delhi: Finally, theEnvironment Ministry has given its approval for the setting up of a permanent campus for Indian Institute of Technology-Mandi (IIT-Mandi) in Himachal Pradesh. The ministry has allotted over 300 acres of forest land for the institute.
Initially, the Environment Ministry had discarded the Himachal Pradesh government’s proposal for diversion of forest land for the IIT. However, finally the ministry has agreed to the proposal after the state government amended its proposal and reduced the forest land area to be diverted.
IIT-Mandi is one of the eight new IITs announced by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry two years back. The institute is designed to accommodate over 8,000 students and 800 faculty, besides other staff members. As per sources, the IIT-Mandi campus will be spread over 500 acres, of this 300 acres is forest area and some 7.54 acres is dense forest area.
