Odisha HRD

Update on Vedanta University front

August 4th, 2007

Following are excerpts from a report in Pioneer.

… At Friday’s meeting, it was decided that the land requirements for the university would be reduced. It has been decided that 6,270 acres of land would be given to the Vedanta group to set up its university instead of its earlier demand of 8,000 acres of land. The Vedanta group has agreed to the Government’s suggestion. Out if it, 5,500 acre of land is private land and the rest 770 acres are Government lands. Only 150 families would be displaced for the project. The land would be acquired from 18 villages.

The Vedanta group has also agreed to abide by the R& R policy of the State Government. Meanwhile, it has deposited Rs 27 crore before the Puri district administration for the land acquisition process.

It has been decided that Government would provide 1,500 acres of land to the Vedanta group in the first phase. So far, the State Government has provided 300 acres of land. The company officials said after they got a minimum of 1,500 acres of land, they would soon initiate the project.

In the first phase, the Government would start constructing four lanes to connect the University from both Puri and Konark sides.

As regards the 100-hospital 1000 bed hospital project the Vedanta group said the project would be started after September 15.

As per the plan, the Vedanta group would set up its international standard university by 2020 and it would invest Rs 15,000 crore for the purpose.

Following are excerpts from Business Standard on this.

The construction work of multi-billion dollar Vedanta University at Puri in Orissa will start in September.

The university, modelled on internationally famed campuses like Oxford and Stanford, is being set up under the aegis of the Anil Agrawal Foundation. The project, in its full scale, is estimated at about Rs 15,000 crore.

The first phase work of the project, comprising the construction of a medical college and super speciality hospital, will start in September, said A K Samal, vice-president (Commercial and projects), Vedanta Resources, here.

Talking to reporters after a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, he said the project was progressing in accordance with the plan. …

The acquisition of private land for the project has started and the company is hopeful of taking possession of 1,500 acres before September, when the first phase of construction is scheduled to start.

Ruling out any problem in land acquisition, Samal said there was no problem of displacement. Only 150 families are likely to be displaced and they will be resettled in accordance with the policy of the state government. The company has already deposited Rs.27crore for the first phase of land acquisition.

Vedanta university, which will provide teaching and research facilities in engineering, humanities, pure science, medicine and other frontier subjects, will come up in phases.

The full project is expected to complete by 2020. However, the first batch of admission is slated to start from the academic session 2009-10, Samal said.

Regarding the designs of the proposed university, he said, the entire architecture for the university and the hospital is being prepared by California based Roshni Thomas. ‘The building will be modern and the designs will be based on Indian traditions’, Thomas, who was present in the review meeting, said.

Orissa chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy said the progress of the project is satisfactory. He said like other universities of the state, the government will enact a separate legislations on Vedanta University and Ravishankar University.

Besides, the government is considering to enact an umbrella legislation for such universities which may come in future. He made it explicit that there will not be any environmental and rehabilitation problem for the project.

Deepika Global in its report on this focuses on the hospital aspect. Following are excerpts from it.

The Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF), promoted by Vedant Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal, will commence the work of its 1000 bedded most modern hospital in Orissa during this September.The project, which also envisaged a Medical College, was a part of its first phase of Rs 15,000 crore world class multi-disciplinary Vedant University in the state. …

He later agreed to a proposal of chief minister Naveen Patnaik to set up a modern hospital and focus on research and treatment on cancer, heart ailments and diabetis.

… Official sources said the state government has handed over 300 acres of land to the AAF to start the construction work of the Hospital and Medical College.

 

Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),Colleges,Land Acquisition and Land Use (Why so much land?),Vedanta University, Puri