Jaipur: Rajasthan government has requested the union government to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kota.

In a letter to the central government on Thursday evening, the state said till the time land is acquired for the proposed IIT, the institute could be run on a temporary basis in the Kota University premises.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram as part of his budget speech informed parliament on Friday that three more IITs would come up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan in the fiscal 2008-09.

Meanwhile, the state government has started the process of acquiring land for the institution.

"We have identified over 1,200 acres of land in Ranpur," a district administration official said. The state government has asked the district authorities to acquire the land in 15 days, he said.

Kota, over 250 km from here, is known as the Education City. According to the 2001 census, Kota has an average literacy rate of 70 percent, which is much higher than the national average of 59.5 percent.

This includes a male literacy rate of 78 percent and a female literacy of 62 percent.

Kota, which once was Rajasthan's biggest industrial hub, is now coaching a large number of IIT aspirants in the country and some figures claim that one-third of the students who crack the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) are groomed in the city.

It is estimated that more than 20,000 students from different parts of the country land at Kota every year to realise their IIT dreams.

Of which, around 1,500 students succeed, which is one-thirds of the total seats of IITs and allied institutes.

The coaching classes of Kota, especially Bansal Classes, Resonance Institute and Allen Career Institute have year after year produced exceptionally high success rates in the all-India entrance exams to the IITs and medical colleges. IANS

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