The Times of India              24.05.2013

HMDA plans mega edu hub at Jawaharnagar

HYDERABAD: A mega 'educational hub' to house premier institutions is in the offing on the outskirts of the city. If the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has its way, the hub will soon be a reality at Jawaharnagar. Many premier institutes have already approached the state government and sought allotment of land in the 700 acres belonging to HMDA.

The development authority has already roped in the department of higher education to identify the institutions and the Indian School of Business (ISB) to prepare the blueprint for the ambitious project.

Jawaharnagar already houses the Hyderabad campus of Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS) and Army College of Dental Sciences. HMDA officials said the idea was to develop the land between Shamirpet and Jawaharnagar for educational institutions of national and international repute on the lines of the 'Institutional Area' in Delhi as there is a huge chunk of government land available there. Besides, the area is in close proximity to the Outer Ring Road (ORR).

Interestingly, several institutions have already approached the state government and sought allotment of land at Jawaharnagar. These include management school

XLRI of Jamshedpur, which has sought 100 acres to set up a campus and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) that has also asked for 100 acres for its requirements. Currently, NIPER is functioning on the premises of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceutical Limited (IDPL) in Balanagar. Singareni Collieries has asked for about 30 acres for setting up a training institute while some others like All India Management Schools Association have asked for land ranging from 10 to 50 acres.

Officials said the task of preparing blueprint for the educational hub has been entrusted to ISB, Hyderabad. The ISB will give a report by studying various institutional areas around the world and come up with land allotment policy, type of institutions that should be allowed and other modalities for the proposed hub. The blueprint prepared by ISB will have to be cleared by the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) and higher education departments.

On its part, HMDA has already prepared a master plan for its 2,300 acres at Jawaharnagar area given by the state government as part of resource mobilization a few years ago. Of this land, about 600 acres was allotted to BITS Pilani. Of the remaining 1,700 acres, 900 acres land is either in litigation or has been encroached upon. Some of the squatters were evicted but in some areas cases are pending with different courts.

"Control and road network survey of the land has already been completed for Jawaharnagar area as per the master plan. The entire area will be divided into blocks between 5 and 25 acres for land allotment. The modalities for the educational hub are being worked out by the authority," HMDA member (Estate) P Krishna Mohan Reddy told TOI.