BHUBANESWAR : Massive land acquisition drive for a private university on prime Puri-Konark marine drive triggered off uproarious scenes in Orissa Legislative assembly on March 20, with the Opposition stalling the House proceedings.

As the ruckus continued on the floor of the House, Deputy Speaker Prahalad Dora repeatedly adjourned the House. No business of the House could be taken up in the entire morning session.

The trouble started when Higher Education Minister Samir Dey replied to a question related to the university. Dissatisfied with the Minister's reply, Congress members trooped into the well of the House and demanded scrapping of the deal signed between the state government and the Vedanta Group.

The Minister said that the multi-disciplinary Vedanta University which will be set up on the Puri-Konark marine drive near Puri on 8,000 acres of land would benefit the students of the state. Rs 15,000 crore would be invested in the project. "Around 1 lakh students will study and 40,000 employees will be employed," he said.

The Minister went on to refer to Stanford, California varsity, JNU, IIT Kharagpur etc to drive home his point on land requirement vis-à-vis the student strength. He referred to requirement of 8000 acres and also to the fact that disputed land
holdings of the temple were being acquired and this would benefit the temple.

The Vedanta Group project which has often raised a storm in the assembly in the past, kicked off a row with the Opposition alleging that valuable land including property of Lord Jagannath was being handed over to the company.

Congress member Nalinikanta Mohanty promptly asked as to who had authorised the government to sell the land belonging to Lord Jagannath and whether the project was not violative of the CRZ law. Leader of Opposition Mr J B Patnaik pointed out the
discrepancies over land requirement and wanted a detailed picture while Narasingha Mishra and Jayadev Jena of the Congress and NCP member Arun Dey lambasted the company as well as the government.

"It is a notorious company", alleged Mr Mishra, noting how the Norway government and even the apex court had refused to trust the company. Mr Arun Dey said that the Minister was speaking like a spokesperson of the company whose credibility had been questioned in the Supreme Court.

Mr Arun Dey demanded that the MoU be scrapped forthwith. Opposition members continued to protest, demanding a full fledged discussion even as the Deputy Speaker Mr Prahalad Dora said that the matter could be taken up later.