BHUBANESWAR: Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal has attributed delay in implementation of the aluminium park to slow progress in land acquisition. Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of the Make-in-Odisha conclave, Agarwal said land acquisition delays pushed the aluminium park at Jharsuguda and the group’s most ambitious university project much beyond their deadlines.
Approved by the state-level single window clearance authority (SLSWCA) in 2010, the aluminium park was delayed by over a decade due to land hurdles as a major portion of the land area proposed was dense forest.
After the initial land proposal could not be materialised as of the 257 acre of land, around 191 acre is dense forest, it took so many years for the state government to identify an alternative land parcel in Jharsuguda for the project.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of the park during the conclave nearly 12 years after it was envisaged by the country’s largest aluminium producer. The aluminium park will be set up by a SPV incorporated jointly by Idco and Vedanta Ltd.
Asked on the proposed Vedanta university for which he had signed a pact with the state in 2006, Agarwal said the varsity matter is now subjudice in the Supreme Court. “We are redesigning our university plan. It will be a digital university. Several states are interested in the project, but we want the university to be set up in Odisha,” he said.
The first of its kind varsity will revolutionise the system of imparting education making it more accessible and affordable to the needy.
“Lakhs of students opt for foreign universities to pursue higher studies. There are also many who are unable to study abroad due to high course fees. We want to reverse the trend and fill the gap through this digital university, which will focus on quality at affordable cost for both Indian and foreign students,” he hoped.
Though the company had acquired 4,500 acre of the 6,892 acre allotted to it along Puri-Konark marine drive for the university, it was unable to take physical possession of the land due to local opposition following environmental violations. “Things have started changing. The aluminium park is coming up and hopefully, digital university will also be a reality,” Agarwal added.