The Odisha government has decided to release ₹36 crores to expedite the process of constructing six more model degree colleges across six districts of the State. The money would aid in the construction of the colleges coming up in the districts of Kandhamal (Baliguda), Koraput (Semiliguda), Kalahandi (Junagarh), Dhenkanal (Jantaribol), Bolangir (Kantabanji), and Gajapati (Paralakhemundi).
When the six colleges are constructed, it will take the total number of such institutions in the state to fourteen. At present, eight such colleges are operating since the 2016-17 academic session. The existing colleges are based in Deogarh, Malkangiri, Boudh, Nayagarh, Sonepur, Rayagada, Nuapada and Nabarangpur and were built under the central scheme RUSA 1.0.
Mihir Kumar Das, the officer in charge of progress monitoring and performance tracking in the higher education department, has released the funds under the RUSA 2.0 scheme. Under the said scheme, each college will receive ₹6 crores in the first instalment. The Centre will contribute the funding on a 60-40 basis, with the rest of the financing being provided by the Odisha government.