BHUBANESWAR : Three months after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s announcement on establishment of a visa application centre (VAC) in the state capital, it is likely to start operations from April 1.
The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) on Monday signed a tripartite MoU with the VFS Global Group and state Home department for establishing the facility at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bus Terminal (BSABT) at Baramunda here.
Home department additional secretary Soumendra Patra, BDA secretary Manas Ranjan Padhi and VFS Global Group associate vice-president (administration, South Asia) Viney John signed the MoU for opening the visa application centre.
The VAC at BSABT will span around 3,000 sq ft office space. It will enable people to submit visa applications locally instead of travelling to other metropolitan cities. At present, people of Odisha are required to travel to cities like Kolkata, Delhi or Hyderabad for visa services, officials said.
The VFS Global offers visa and consular services to many countries, particularly the Schengen area covering 29 European countries. The Bhubaneswar centre will also offer concierge services, including assistance with application form filling, document verification and travel insurance support, making the process more accessible for first-time travellers and families.
Earlier in February, VFS Global founder and CEO Zubin Karkaria had met Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi and communicated its intent for establishment of the centre in Bhubaneswar. He had committed to start operations from April 1.
The BDA also signed an agreement with the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) to lease out other vacant space at the terminal to IT and software companies.
BDA officials said, they will lease approximately 77,000 sq ft area across two floors in the bus terminal to OCAC, which will then allocate the space to IT companies. “The move aims to integrate transport, services and technology within a single hub. The commercial ventures are expected to enable the bus terminal to utilise its assets to the optimum and earn profits,” said BDA vice-chairman Chanchal Rana.
Inaugurated in March 2024, the bus terminal is spread across 11 acres and equipped with facilities such as food courts, shopping outlets, dormitories, ATM kiosks, car parking, etc.
BDA sources had, however, pointed out that despite having adequate commercial space, the terminal has been bearing huge losses. Against a monthly expenditure of `1 crore towards payment of staff, electricity and maintenance, the terminal was collecting a revenue of only a few lakhs of rupees from advertisements and commercial spaces, they said.