AURANGABAD: Marathwada industries and the trading community on Thursday questioned the logic behind the government declaring an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Nagpur. “It is still a mystery that on what criteria the IIM has been given to Nagpur,” the Chamber of Marathwada and Industries and Agriculture (CMIA) said, strongly reacting to the government declaration.

“We are planning to write an open letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and higher and technical education minister Vinod Tawade, asking them as to why they have not kept their promise of first technically evaluating both Nagpur and Aurangabad, for announcing IIM at one of these places,’’ CMIA president Munish Sharma said in Aurangabad on Thursday. The chief minister has not adopted transparency while taking a decision on IIM, he alleged.

Sharma said a delegation of the CMIA and traders’ organisations had recently met the chief minister and the minister concerned to reiterate the demand for IIM in Aurangabad. “They promised us that since the demand was being made from other place too, they would conduct technical evaluation of both the places before taking any decision. However, no team came to Aurangabad for evaluation and study while suddenly, the minister made the announcement to set up IIM at Nagpur. This was not expected from the government that talks of transparency in its affairs,’’ Sharma told TOI.

The CMIA has been pursuing the demand of having an IIM at Marathwada – Aurangabad, since it was declared in the Union Budget on July 10, 2014. Subsequently, all trade, industry, professional, educational and social organizations came together and formed IIM Marathwada Action Committee to pursue the demand.

Sharma said the committee has now decided to launch a big movement if the government doesn’t make amends to its announcement. “We are considering legal recourse and seeking advice to explore possibility of approaching court to make the government reconsider its Nagpur decision,’’ he said.

The Union Government had announced its resolve to start five new IIMs across the country, out of which one would be set up in Maharashtra. “With Marathwada consistently getting a raw deal the members of various trade and industrial associations joined hands to aggressively push their demand with both the central and state governments to sanction IIM in Aurangabad,’’ Sharma said.

The CMIA’s argument was that the IIM would be an advantage for the region, which would act as an economic driver for Marathwada, especially in the wake of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project being implemented in the region. “However, the new government too opted to give a raw deal to the region. We will not allow the powers that be take the region’s demand for granted,” Sharma said.

“In spite of representations and justifications of the need and suitability of an IIM in Aurangabad, we feel that announcing the institute for Nagpur has not given justice to Marathwada. In the recent past, the IIM in Marathwada is the only subject that got highlighted on the streets of the region, as well as in the state assembly and the Lok Sabha. In spite of that, it seems that the voice has not reached to the decision makers. It is still a mystery that on what criteria the IIM has been given to Nagpur?” he added.

“Keeping in mind the economic, educational and social indicators and the upcoming industrial growth, Aurangabad was definitely the location. However, the public voice has failed in front of political bias,” the CMIA said, adding, “AIMS in one backward region of Maharashtra and IIM to another backward region of the state should have been the balanced decision. However, imbalance still continues.”