BHUBANESWAR: Over a year after Odia became the sixth language of the country to get classical status, the State Government has finally decided to begin the Central Institute of Classical Odia (centre of excellence) on the premises of Utkal University of Culture this year. The centre will temporarily function on the Culture University premises till the Government provides land in the Capital for setting up of a permanent building. The step will be taken after the Culture University is shifted to its permanent address at Madanpur.
This was decided at a meeting of Classical Odia Language Advisory Committee here that was presided over by Odisha Sahitya Akademi (OSA) president Satakodi Hota. The Culture Department and Sahitya Akademi will work on a roadmap on the kind of research that will be undertaken in the centre, informed Culture Minister Ashok Panda. A sub-committee has also been formed for the purpose.
Panda said work on opening the centre had started and recently two committees from Sahitya Akademi had visited Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to study the functioning of Centres of Excellence. The committees will submit their reports to the department soon.