Bhubaneswar: Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal on Monday made a plea for setting up a world-class institute in Odisha’s Puri.
Referring to Donald Trump administration’s push to block foreign students’ enrolment in Harvard University, Agarwal drew attention to possible opportunity in the higher education sector, besides manufacturing, in India. “More and more Indians want a world class education. The West is closing its doors. The 800 Indian students at Harvard are facing this unfortunate circumstance. We should create Harvards and MITs in India. Universities built on a large scale with global standards,” he posted on X.
He then mentioned that Vedanta had been planning one such institution on the waterfront in Odisha near Puri. “It will be a not-for-profit, digital-first university with the best faculty and students from India and abroad. Students from less privileged backgrounds will get full financial support. Land should not become a constraint for building large universities. The returns to society will be phenomenal. Let us seize this opportunity to be a leader in knowledge and research, occupy the space other countries are letting go of,” he added.
During Utkarsh Odisha investment conclave in January, Agarwal had confirmed that his company was searching for appropriate land to set up a world-class non-profit university in Odisha, with a preference for Puri. “There is no scarcity of land in the state and its people are very lovable. With the blessings of God, the university will definitely be established. During the last 30 years in Odisha, I saw that whenever some development work is being undertaken whether it is Niyamgiri mines or industry in Kalinganagar, some foreign forces have opposed those,” the industrialist claimed, without elaborating.
PROJECT IN LIMBO
On July 19, 2006, Vedanta Limited signed an MoU with the state government to set up a university in the Puri-Konark Marine Drive area of Puri district. The BJD-BJP coalition government in Odisha decided to acquire land from 22 villages and some government-owned plots. A total of 3,342.53 acres of private land were allocated for the project, and 692.02 acres of government land were sought for leases, with 509.27 acres approved. Of this, 494.98 acres were handed over, and a lease deed was executed for 57.21 acres.
Seven families, facing displacement due to a project, approached the Orissa High Court, which ruled that the land acquisition for the Anil Agarwal Foundation violated Section 40(1)(a) of the Land Acquisition Act and asked the company to return the land to the landowners. The Foundation and the Odisha government challenged the order in the Supreme Court.
In April 2024, the SC upheld the High Court’s decision of quashing the proceedings initiated by the state government to acquire about 6,000 acres of land to establish a university over undue favour shown to Vedanta.
