Vedanta University, which is slated to come up along Orissa?s Puri-Konark highway, is one step closer to reality. The Union ministry of environment and forests last week granted an environmental and coastal regulatory zone clearance to Anil Agarwal Foundation which is promoting the ambitious project. The Anil Agarwal Foundation is a philanthropic organisation established by the chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc of the same name.
The environment clearance which was accorded late last week, would facilitate the not-for-profit project to move further, said a foundation spokesman. With this, Anil Agarwal Foundation has fulfilled another major legal requirement for establishing the university, the spokesman added.
The multi-disciplinary, world-class university has been envisaged as a one-of-its-kind institution for higher education. The varsity for quality higher education will have cutting-edge research facilities in 95 academic streams, with a maximum student enrolment of 1 lakh. The foundation claims that the Vedanta University is modeled on the lines of Stanford University in US.
The project is spread out over 6,892 acres. The entire complex will have the university?s academic block on 1,500 acres, R&D centre and research park on 1,200 acres, green belt and open spaces on 1,092 acres and a township for faculty and staff on 2,100 acres, among others. The Orissa government is in the final stages of transferring about 4,000 acres to the foundation.
