Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Technology, AlIMS, IIIT and several universities, including the Central and tribal universities, are proposed to be set up in the Seemandhra region.
These institutions will be set up by the Centre in the to-be carved out residual state of Andhra Pradesh (Seemandhra region).
The AP Reorganisation Bill 2014, which received Presidential assent last week, has many provisions that seek to address the Seemandhra concerns. They cover issues such as Hyderabad as a common capital for 10 years, special responsibility of Governor and retention of existing admission quotas in the educational institutions for a period of 10 years.
During a recent interaction here, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said the Centre had put in place many provisions that ensure that the Seemandhra region is not affected by the division. These include special status for five years, tax subsidies for new industries for 10 years, and setting up of several major institutions.
Apart from bridging the finance gap and also making provisions for funds, as a part of the overall package and to provide a boost to the Seemandhra region with quality higher education facilities, it is proposed to set up one Indian Institute of Technology, International Institute of Information Technology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, National Institute of Technology and National Institute of Disaster Management.
It is also proposed to set up four universities – a Central university, a petroleum university, an agricultural university and a tribal university.
With the Andhra Pradesh Government seeking to develop the Kakinada-Visakhapatnam as a petrochemical hub and corridor, the setting of a petroleum university will help meet the requirement of the region.
With most of the super-speciality hospitals located in Hyderabad, the government has also proposed to set up an AIIMS-type super-speciality hospital-cum-teaching facility.
In the recent Union Cabinet meeting it was also decided to set up a National Institute of Design in Seemandhra. This was initially proposed to be established close to Hyderabad.