Associate Professor Digambara Patra of Department of Chemistry American University of Beirut has urged the Odisha Government to establish the second agriculture university in Bhawanipatna.
A local of Kalahandi distrct, Prof Patra reminded Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that the ruling BJD had announced in its election manifesto in 2014 for establishing the second agriculture university of the State in the KBK region. later the Odisha Government had announced that an agriculture university would come up in Bhawanipatna. However, the project is in cold storage for more than three years, he lamented.
He stated in a letter to the CM that as a coincidence, the proposal was older than the proposal of five Government medical colleges, IIM and IISER. But, while they all were established in past three years, the agriculture university is yet to see the light of the day.
Bhawanipatna is well accepted to be the best suitable place for an agriculture university because Kalahandi is the top most agriculture producer, mainly paddy, pulses, cotton etc. district among the KBK districts; it is among the 25th largest rice producer districts in India. It is not limited to rice alone, agriculture products in Kalahandi is very diverse unlike many other districts in the region.
The agriculture growth of the district is not yet saturated and it is predicted that it can be one of the forefront districts in the nation in agriculture growth. Bhawanipatna is located centrally among all KBK districts and suits the interest for all the KBK districts.
The proximity of Bhawanipatna to all the existing Regional Research and Transfer Technology Stations and Regional Research and Transfer Technology Sub-Stations of OUAT in KBK and western Odisha region demands location of the proposed university. Besides, the Kalahandi Collector had already identified 500 acres of land for the university, Patra stated.