BHUBANESWAR: It may take another year-and-a-half for the proposed Odia University, which aims at promoting study and research in the language, to see the light of the day.Five years after the State government enacted the Odia University Act in 2017 for establishment of the university, first phase infrastructure work on the much-awaited institution began only three months back at Bakula Bana in Satyabadi of Puri district. Work on the academic part is yet to start though.
To be a non-affiliating unitary institution, the university is coming up on 9.6 acres of land. Official sources in Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation Limited under Works department which is executing the project said land survey, soil testing and several other ground works were completed last year while piling work for hostels meant for students and scholars, construction of boundary wall, rest sheds for construction workers is carried out.
Foundation stone for the university was laid by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2018. But pace of the project has remained sluggish. Officials attribute the delay of the `63 crore project to land issues and the pandemic.
Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for the Odia University Bijay Nayak said work will be implemented in two phases. “Construction work in the first phase is progressing well. We are simultaneously in talks with experts in Odia language regarding academic structure and development of the university. We want to set up the university building first. If everything goes as planned, the university will be ready in the next one-and-half years,” he said. Nayak added that the decision on the number of departments, schools of study under them will be decided as per the students’ demand.
As per the Act, the university will offer PG education on different areas of Odia literature, language and linguistics, comparative literature, Odia criticism, evolution of Odia language scripts, history scripts, tribal language study, regional language study and Odia translation.Scholars will also undertake research programmes on specific areas within the context of Odia language and literature for making Odia scripts more adaptable to computer technology.
Government had enacted the Act three years after Odia received the classical language status on March 11, 2014. Except Odia, all the other five classical languages - Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu and Malyalam - have universities dedicated to their research and development. In case of classical Odia, Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) at Mysore has been working towards its promotion.