Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari for steps to establish a Maritime College at Paradip.
Pradhan in a letter to the Shipping Minister stated that Odisha, a mineral rich maritime State with 480 km of coastline, has a key position in the overall scheme of the Sagarmala project and Paradip is the first major port of the East Coast.
He said that since Odisha has a rich maritime tradition and the Odisha Government has inked pact for a few more ports like Kirtania in Baleswar, Astarang in Puri and Chudamani captive port in Bhadrak district, apart from the functional ports of Dhamra and Gopalpur, it would be befitting to set up a Maritime College in Paradip.
Notably, in the first meeting of Sagarmala Apex Committee held on October 5, 2015, Minister Gadkari had announced that a few Maritime Colleges under Maritime University, Chennai will be established in coastal parts of the country.
Pradhan said that the college will help in development of quality human resource related to port, shipping, marine engineering, management, logistics and other related fields.