Bhubaneswar, May 6: The state government plans to set up a health university to bring all government and private medical, pharmacy, nursing, ayurvedic and homoeopathy colleges under one umbrella .

However, medical colleges under deemed universitieswill be kept out of the purview of the proposed plan.

The proposal to set up a university received the state cabinet's nod here today. Apart from setting up the health university, the state cabinet, which was chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, also decided to create 500 new gram panchayats and bring about necessary amendments to strengthen the panchayati raj system.

This amendment was key to fulfilling a poll promise made by Naveen in the run up to the 2014 elections.

With the Assembly's budget session on, the government did not organise an official briefing on the cabinet decisions. Official sources, however, said that the government planned to set up the health university to streamline the medical education system.

"Five more medical colleges are coming up in five district headquarters in the government sector. Central public sector units, such as the National Thermal Power Corporation and the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited have also decided in principle to set up two more colleges. At present, the government has three colleges in the government sector and three in the private sector. The proposed health university will help to regulate and streamline the medical education system of the state. With the increase in medical colleges, there will be demand for other supporting staff, such as nurses, pharmacists and technicians. The proposed university will be able to take care of all these requirements, " said a senior official of the state government.

The official also added that the health university would come up somewhere in Bhubaneswar. Though the exact location of the institution and its deadline were not revealed. The state cabinet also approved a proposal to amend the Orissa Gram Panchayats Act, 1964. This act will facilitate creation of another 500 to 600 new gram panchayats in the state. Now, the state has 6,236 gram panchayats.

"The purpose of increasing the gram panchayats is to make the administration available at doorsteps," said an official.

The cabinet also decided to change laws pertaining to reservation of seats for gram panchayats taking place every five years instead of 10 years at present. A no-confidence motion against an elected member of any panchayati raj institution can now be brought after a gap of two and half years instead of two years as stipulated earlier.

The state is going into panchayat polls in March next year. The move of the state government to create more gram panchayats is expected to boost the prospects of the ruling party in the elections. Though the panchayat elections are not contested on party symbols, they will be still be a litmus test for the BJD.