Odisha CM approves master plan for development of Burla VSSUT

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today approved a master plan for development of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) at Burla in Odisha’s Sambalpur district.

As per the master plan, the state government will make all arrangements for the enrolment of around 10,000 students to 24 undergraduate (UG) departments of VSSUT by 2026. It has decided to spend Rs 2,000 crore in three phases within five years for development of the technical varsity under the 5T initiative.

Earlier, the Chief Minister had directed Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra and 5T Secretary VK Pandian to visit VSSUT and take steps for preparation of a master plan for development of the varsity.

The state government has planned to develop VSSUT as a multi-disciplinary engineering and research university by 2030. The institute will have infrastructure and facilities at par with IITs and NITs.

According to the master plan, VSSUT will have at least seven schools including School of Engineering, School of Medical Technology and School of Basic Science.

“The master plan has been designed to raise the student strength of VSSUT to 10,864 by 2026 from the present level of 2,849. The institute will have seven schools, 24 engineering programmes and 27 centres of excellence. Each department will have modern laboratory and research centre,” said an official.

According to him, the centres of excellence will have collaboration with corporate houses. Besides, former students of VSSUT will act as mentors to the centres of excellence.

“The centres of excellence will work as research units for the corporate houses and play a key role in innovation of new technology. They can also work as nodal centres for urban and rural development in Odisha,” said the official.

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, directed the authorities concerned to complete the construction work of all smart classrooms at VSSUT within three months. Besides, the officials have been asked to expedite repair and construction work at the hostels of the institute.

The Chief Minister also held discussions with the Vice Chancellor and professors of VSSUT for the modernisation work.

The Chief Secretary, the 5T Secretary and Skill Development department Principal Secretary Hemant Sharma were present at the meeting.