In a first in its history, the Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has invited its alumni and corporates to contribute in the upkeep and upgrade of the institute's heritage campus. In a press conference on Thursday IIM-A formally announced that they are raising funds from alumni and corporates for conservation and restoration of the old campus buildings. 

The iconic Louis Kahn campus buildings consist of library, faculty wing, eighteen dormitories, tower lawn and Louis Kahn Plaza. The entire conservation and restoration work will cost approximately Rs 130 crore of which Rs 30 crore have been raised already. The restoration work has already begun for the library and one of the eighteen dormitories.

The aim is to conserve and at the same time upgrade the buildings for example to make the buildings disabled friendly but the main idea is to restore the original structure of the building as initially designed and constructed. The original structure, unfortunately, had to be pulled down after Gujarat earthquake in 2001, said the panelists addressing the media.

"We want to raise resources for classrooms and dorms and administrative blocks and for faculty complex and we are reaching out to alumni and corporates for each of these parts of the campus and we are trying to come up with a mechanism so that even smaller contributions can be made, and we would recognize the contribution made through some kind of trust", said professor Rakesh Basant, dean (alumni and external relations).

"The process of conserving and restoring will be more challenging now in the short run. We are convinced that in the long run this is clearly nurturing an asset that the institute will be very proud of and Indian society will be very happy about", said professor Ashish Nanda, director of IIM-A.