Odisha HRD

Vedanta University links categorized to various topics

To make it easier to find various information regarding Vedanta University I have categorized various articles/reports on them. Hope this will be useful in seeing the real value of Vedanta University and convincing people of Odisha that we must thwart the BJP and Congress efforts to take Vedanta University to Karnataka and Andhra respectively.

1. Must see youtube video on the story of Vedanta University.

1. Vedanta University Home Page
2. Initial blog to watch the progress of Vedanta University
3. Petitions to thwart attempts to take Vedanta University away from Odisha
   1. Petition to the Honorable Governor of Orissa to give assent to the Vedanta University bill passed by Orissa assembly in July 2009 (more than a year back)
   2. Petition to the CM to seek the PM’s help regarding Vedanta University
   3. Petition to Delhi to stop putting hurdles on the Vedanta University project and to facilitate its establishment
4. Categorizing the articles on Vedanta University in this blog
   1. Accolades for its campus master plan
   2. Ads
   3. Anil Agarwal
   4. Appeal to Anil Agarwal
   5. Architects and Construction Contracts
   6. Beyond the Puri main campus
   7. BJP attempt to steal it to Karnataka
      1. Orissa BJP opposes Karnataka BJP lures
   8. Congress attempt to steal it to Andhra
      1. Andhra Science City plan: They have had plans like the Vedanta University township for a long time. So they are doing their best to take Vedanta University from Odisha.
         
      2. Congress ruled Andhra’s overture
      3. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, Congress MP from Andhra, creates hurdles
      4. Orissa Congress opposes Andhra Congress lures
   9. CSR in Puri
   10. Honorable Odisha governor (a former member of Congress) has not signed the Vedanta University bill which was passed in July 2009
   11. International media coverage
   12. Land Acquisition and Land Use (Why so much land?)
   13. Medical College progress
   14. Pictures, master plan layouts, Videos
   15. Provisions for Orissa students
   16. Rally, petitions and articles in its support
   17. Rebuttals to opposition arguments and unsubstantiated rumours
   18. Slowing brain drain
   19. Vedanta University Bill
   20. What does $1 Billion buy? What is once in a century opportunity?

3 comments September 13th, 2010

Vedanta University a closed chapter for Odisha?: Indian Express

Following is from a report in Indian Express.

As Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Resources battles to save its 1 MTPA alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district from the axe of Ministry of Environment and Forests, the much-vaunted Vedanta University project in Puri is for all practical purposes a closed chapter.

The proposed Rs 150 billion university seemed futuristic and sounded too-good-to-be-true when Agarwal signed the MoU in 2006 with the Orissa government. It was claimed that when completed the world-class multi-disciplinary university over an area of 6,800 acres on Puri-Konark marine drive would be at par with Harvard and Oxford universities. The university, when fully operational, was to have an intake of 100,000 students with cutting-edge research facility in 95 academic disciplines. But local opposition, problems over land acquisition and the MoEF’s spanners seem to have taken the wind out of its sail.

“The project is as good as over,” said a Vedanta official. The company’s officials confirmed that Vedanta has shifted 26 of its 30 staff at the site to other locations and all work has been put on halt.

Though the Anil Agarwal Foundation (a registered not-for-profit entity controlled by members of the Agarwal family) had acquired 4,500 acres of the 6,892 acres allotted to it on paper, it was unable to take physical possession of the land due to local opposition. Even the initial plan to build a 500-bed super-speciality hospital at the site met with hostility, the official added.

The first bottleneck for the project came in March this year when Orissa Lok Pal Justice P K Patra recommended a moratorium on the project till the Foundation complied with legal provisions pointed out by the Ministry of Company Affairs for conversion of its status from private to public company. The Lok Pal said the Foundation was a private company and thus the state government can’t acquire any land for it.

Acting on a petition of trade union leader Dwarika Mohan Mishra, the Lok Pal held that Land Acquisition Act and Section 16 of Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1954 have been violated by the government. The Lok Pal asked the Chief Minister to appoint a competent authority to investigate and inquire into the land deal and take appropriate action against the erring persons.

The university project faced another big hurdle when the MoEF on May 11 kept the conditional environmental and Coastal Regulatory Zone clearance in abeyance over allegations of irregularities, illegal and unlawful deeds by the Foundation.

With the project facing so many bottlenecks, Vedanta officials said the project may go to Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka. Both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have sent feelers to Agarwal assuring him all support.

32 comments September 8th, 2010