Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 20, 2015 : With the Odisha government batting for Sambalpur as the location for proposed Indian Institute of Management (IIM), its fate is sealed with a four-member Central team leaving for the western Odisha town on Saturday morning to find out its suitability for the prestigious institution.

The team is comprised of Sailendra Kumar, director of management of Union HRD ministry, Rishikesh P Krishan, director, IIM, Indore, Umesh Swain, chief engineer, CPWD and secretary Employment and Technical Education (ET&T), Asit Tripathy.

The team will visit two sites identified by the state government and study the availability of existing infrastructure in the city, existing well-known business establishments and mega industries, communication network and facilities for the IIM staff.

The team after the review, will submit its report to the Centre, based on which the Centre will take a final call on setting up of the proposed institute.

The state government had requested the ministry to send its site selection committee to visit the proposed site.

Controversy dogged the selection of site for IIM from the beginning with various towns demanding for locating the Institution. Even in some places, there had been demonstration and strike to put pressure on the centre for its favour.