Permanent Campus Of IISER At Odisha’s Berhampur Likely To Be Completed This Year

Berhampur: The permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)-Berhampur is expected to be completed by October this year.

Director IISER, Berhampur Prof Ashok Kumar Ganguli said 75% of the construction work of the campus, situated at Laudigam which is 25 km from here, has been completed. The CPWD has been asked to expedite it, he added.

“The work of boundary wall is progressing fast and is expected to be completed by November. Efforts are being made to expedite the construction of peripheral roads in order to prevent entry of public into the campus. Some residential towers are also nearing completion and are expected to be handed over to us by October,” he said.

During 2022-23 academic year, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd year students have been allocated rooms in the hostel in the permanent campus. “We have accommodated boys and girls on different floors of the boys hostel now. The kitchen and dining block are being used as student mess at ground floor, while the first floor is utilised as a 200-seater classroom and a library,” Prof Ganguli said.

The Health Centre building is being used as makeshift classrooms for the 3^rd year students. Similarly, the Visitor’s Hostel or the Guest House is used for meetings and classroom studies. The Community Centre and Commercial Centre are in the final stage. The director’s residence has also come up in the permanent campus.

“With the present strength of girl students and possible influx during the admission for next academic session in August, we hope the girls’ hostel would be completed. Blocks 1, 2 and 7 of the Academic Block are next in the pipeline which are required urgently to start the laboratories and classroom studies,” he added.

“We are also recruiting more faculty members to teach our 1,200 students. The number of faculty members would be more than 100 from the existing 40,” the director said.

The IISER-Berhampur is the youngest among seven IISERs created to be the centre for scientific excellence in the country. Established in 2016, the institute was later declared as the Institute of National Importance under NITSER Act 2007.