Union Minister of State for Education, Sanjay Dhotre; Union Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur; Chairman Board of Governance, IIM Sirmaur, Ajay Shriram also joined the occasion through online while Director IIM Sirmaur, Prof Neelu Rohmetra presided over the event. Ministers in Himachal Pradesh Government, Govind Thakur and Sukhram Choudhary also graced the occasion.

After e-unveiling the foundation stone, Union Minister for Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal acknowledged the contribution of IIM Sirmaur in development of Himachal Pradesh and predicted that the institution would soon emerge as world class institution. "IIM Sirmaur is going to be a big milestone in development of Himachal Pradesh and hone talent of our youth thus fulfilling the Prime Minister Modi's vision of Make in India, Digital India and Skill India," he said and emphasized to promote the synergy between various educational institutions for development of innovative technologies.

Highlighting the importance of management in all fields, including the intellectual property, Mr Pokhriyal said that India was taking big leaps for leading the world because of its institutions of higher education, particularly IIMs. "A number of big companies have CEOs from Indian origin, who got their education here while more than 1000 students from abroad are presently doing researches in various IIMs of India," he said.

Highly appreciating the administrative skills and confidence of Director IIM Sirmaur Prof Neelu Rohmetra, the Education Minister of India said that under her leadership and guidance of Ajay Shriram, Chairman of the Board of Governance, IIM Sirmaur would soon emerge as one of the top 10 management institutions of world class.

Mr Pokhriyal appealed the IIM to give suggestions and guidance to Himachal Pradesh for development of the State. He also appealed the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister for his personal intervention to resolve the land issue for IIM Sirmaur campus.

In his address, HP Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur also congratulated Prof Neelu Rohmetra for her hard work and dedication to develop IIM Sirmaur in the last three years. "Once developed, the IIM Sirmaur campus on 210 acre land with its Himachal architect will also be a centre of attraction for the visiting tourists beside a centre of academic excellence," he said. He also appreciated the IIM Sirmaur for introducing Hospitality and Tourism Management, which would greatly help in promotion of Tourism in Himachal Pradesh.

The Chief Minister assured to personally visit the campus soon for assessing the issues, if any, related to the campus development and redressal of the same. He also invited Union Education Minister to visit the IIM Sirmaur and hoped that Himachal Pradesh would continue to get support of the Union Education Ministry for development of institutions in the State.

Union Minister of State for Education, Sanjay Dhotre, appreciated the management of IIM Sirmaur for its achievements in the last five years, since its inception. "Learning Management Software for online education by IIM Sirmaur is particularly laudable," he said and also threw light on objectives of the New Education Policy.

Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance and MP Hamirpur, described the occasion of laying foundation stone for IIM Sirmaur Campus as big achievement for Sirmaur. "Let us work more to make and develop IIM Sirmaur as among top five IIMs of India," he exhorted and stressed the need to fill up the gap between industry ready educated youth and requirement of the sector by promoting incubation and innovation centres.

Ajay Shriram, Chairman Board of Governance, IIMs Sirmaur, highlighted achievements and targets of IIM Sirmaur and said that today's event of laying campus foundation stone was very significant and timely.

Prof Neelu Rohmetra, Director IIM Sirmaur, threw light on the salient features of the upcoming campus having consistent architectural vocabulary to give feel of Himachal in the lap of Himalayas to promote teaching-learning experience with ambience of Gurukul.

"It will be fully residential Green Campus with community facilities, MDP centre, classroom complexes, library, computer science, administrative block, Medical unit, hostels, etc," she explained with the help of power point presentation. The impressive Walk Through of the IIM Sirmaur Campus was showcased thereafter. She thanked all for their tremendous support in achieving this milestone.

The Foundation Stone was unveiled in the presence of Shri Givind Singh Thakur, education Minister (H.P), Shri. Suresh Singh Kashyap Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) Shimla, Shri Rajeev Bindal, MLA Nahan.

First phase of the campus will be completed by mid of 2022 with an expenditure of Rs 392.5 crores and it will cater to 600 students. The Campus shall come up on 210 acres at Dhaula Kuan, Sirmaur. The entire campus is designed to give a feel of Himachally culture and aesthetics featuring such as slant roof, stonewalls, and projected out balconies which reflect Kath -Khuni Architecture. The campus has been designed to provide easy access for physically challenged persons and has gender sensitive planning. Indeed, IIM Sirmaur is envisioned to be a fully residential World Class Management Institute.

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