By Bizodisha, Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 10, 2015 : The Indian Institute of Management [IIM] at Sambalpur in western Odisha is finally to take off with classes scheduled to start from September 24.

The good news follow prolonged uncertainty over the functioning of the newly set up B-school with a high-level meeting’s chaired by Odisha Development Commissioner Upendra Nath Behera at the state secretariat here on Thursday deciding to run the IIMS.

Representative of the mentor institute (IIM-Indore), Sambalpur Collector and officials of the state government participated in the meeting.

“While 30 of the 60 allotted seats have been filled up, the remaining seats will likely be taken up by September 15. Registration will be done and orientation programme will be conducted a day before the starting of classes on September 23,” said Prof Pawan Kumar Singh, co-coordinator IIM-Indore after the meeting.

Initially, seven professors from the mentor institute and guest faculties will take the classes of first-year students. Later, more teaching staff will visist the B-school within the next two-three months.

“There will be no problems for the students and faculties of IIM. Separate accommodation facilities have been made for them at the temporary campus—Silicon Institute of Technology. Besides, the state government has started the process of handing over land near Basantpur for the permanent campus of IIM-Sambalpur,” L N Gupta, secretary Employment, Technical Education and Training (ET &T) said.

There was uncertainty over commencement of classes at IIM-Sambalpur due to poor intake of students and the reluctance of faculties to join the institute. Some five students had even applied to withdraw their applications for admission in the institute after finding that the makeshift campus lacks basic infrastructure.

Incidentally, the faculties of IIM-Indore had expressed their reservation to come over to IIM-Sambalpur to teach students at IIM-Sambalpur citing several reasons.