Sonepat villagers offer alternative site for IIIT

Our Correspondent

Sonepat, July 3

Residents of nearly a dozen villages in the Kharkhoda area of the district have offered an alternative site for the construction of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

Sources said the government took nearly 50 acres of the gram panchayat land of Kilorad village in the district on lease at the rate of Re 1 per acre for the construction of the IIIT in 2013 and the construction was to be completed in three years.

As the government had started the construction of the boundary wall, the new gram panchayat had demanded a new agreement with the government and also filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the old agreement.

Deputy Commissioner KM Pandurang had held a meeting with officials concerned with the construction of the IIIT last week to discuss the stubborn attitude of the Kilorad panchayat. There was a discussion in the meeting to find out an alternative site in the Kharkhoda region of the district.

Residents of several villages, including Hullaheri, Badwasni, Mahra, Sitawali, Moi-Majri, Juan, Chitana, Bhatana, Jahri and Mahra today handed over a memorandum to SDM Nishant Yadav. They urged the administration not to shift the IIIT from the present site and also offered an alternate site in the area if the institute was to be shifted from Kilorad village.