Bhawanipatna: Kalahandi Yuba Lekhak Samabesh has demanded setting up of an Odia university here.

The Bhawanipatna-based writers' organisation on Wednesday said that they had sent a memorandum demanding setting up of the Odia university to the governor, chief minister, chief secretary, minister of higher education and secretary of the department of higher education through of the district collector of Kalahandi. The members of the organisation said that several parts of the state were now victims of regional imbalance.

Convener of the organisation Sushil Kumar Bag said that Kalahandi had contributed significantly to Odia language.

"Kalahandi's contribution to Odia language is noteworthy and we have the best of infrastructure to offer for the university. Moreover, Bhawanipatna is now well connected by road and train," he said.

Bag said the distance of Bhawanipatna from Bhubaneswar shouldn't be a hindrance for setting up the university here. He said most of the language universities in the country are often situated far away from the state capital.

He said: "The Tamil University in Thanzavur is 341km from Chennai, while the Kannad University in Hampi is 352km from Bengaluru. Similarly, the Malayalam University in Mallapuram is 338km away from Thiruvanantapuram," he said.

The organisation also demanded that the proposed World Odia Language Conference scheduled next year be held in Bhawanipatna.

"This will do a lot of good to Odia language and also to Kalahandi," Bag said. He further said that they were launching a postcard campaign in support of their demand.

"In support of our demand for the university, we are going to launch a postcard campaign and have targeted to send at least 1,300 postcards from the 13 blocks of the district to the state government," Bag added.

The outfit also shared its concern about posts of Odia professors lying vacant in eight universities. The varsities include Utkal University, Sambalpur University, Ramadevi Women's University, Ravenshaw Universsity and FM University.

"Apart from the five universities, posts of Odia lecturers also are lying vacant in several colleges across the state," said Sudhir Dhangadamajhi of the organization.