An expert team of the World Bank today held talks with top officials of the state higher education department to fund various development work in the sector. The three-member team led by Kurt Larsen is also scheduled to discuss with the officials of Berhampur University that suffered damages to its infrastructure facilities due to Phailin storm in October last year. Other members of the visiting team are educationists Soumi Saha and Nalim Jena.
A Word Bank team had last visited the state in November 2013 and held discussions with the officials of the higher education department.
"During the discussion with the World Bank team, we will present the details of the damage caused due to Phailin last year. We will also present the university's prospective development plan," said Deepak Kumar Behera, vice chancellor of Berhampur University.
Several facilities of the university including buildings and electricity infrastructure were damaged by the tropical cyclone which hit the area on October 12 last year. The cyclone also robbed the university of its lush green campus by uprooting 50,000 trees. Even though restoration work was taken up immediately after the cyclone, the university is yet to limp back to its normal state. Meanwhile, the university authorities have submitted a Rs 250 crore prospective plan to the state government for its development. The prospective plan envisions an e-campus through introduction of Wi-Fi facilities, smart classrooms and setting up of a central computing system.
Underground cabling in the university campus, solar street light system, re-wiring of buildings and overhead water supply system with rain water harvesting facilities are also in the agenda, sources said. The university authorities have also proposed for the establishment of a new library, administrative building, central instrumentation centre, central examination hall, central science laboratory hub and up-gradation of all 11 science laboratories and establishment of the South Odisha study centre-cum museum within its campus.
