Odisha State Open University to get permanent campus by December of next year

The Odisha State Open University (OSOU), which is currently operating from the campus of Gangadhar Meher University (GMU) here, is expected to start functioning from its own campus by December next year, an official said. The construction work for the permanent campus, which is being developed over an area of 40 acres of land at Badsinghari area on the outskirts of the Sambalpur city, is going on in full swing now. Registrar Manas Pujari said the work on the boundary wall was almost complete and the work of the administrative building was going on now.

It will be a ground-plus-three floor building. The construction of one floor of the building has already been completed and work on the upper floor is being carried out now, he said. The Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC) is executing work on the permanent campus of the varsity. Pujari said the firm had set a target to complete the work by June 2022. However, due to the COVID pandemic, the construction work was affected. “But we are hopeful that the work will be completed at the latest by December next year and the office of the varsity will start functioning from there,” he said.

The OSOU is operating from a small building on the premises of the GMU and the former's staff are facing problems due to inadequate space there. However, the problem will be resolved after the permanent campus of the OSOU is developed at Badsinghari. Official sources said there was a proposal to construct an administrative building, academic block, library, centres of skill development, multimedia and guest house for the open university on the land. However, since the World Bank has sanctioned Rs 15 crore to the university for the permanent campus, the varsity authorities have decided to construct the boundary wall and administrative building in the first phase.

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The other facilities will be developed in the next phase. The land, where the permanent campus of the OSOU is being developed, is located adjacent to the land where the permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur is being constructed.