Residents of Odisha will soon no longer need to travel outside the state for visa services.
A tripartite agreement was signed today between the Home Department, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), and VFS Global to establish a dedicated Visa Application Centre (VAC) at the Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bus Terminal (BSABT) in Baramunda.
The agreement was formalised by Soumendra Patra, Additional Secretary (Home); Manas Ranjan Padhi, Secretary, BDA; and Viney John, Associate Vice-President (Administration, South Asia), VFS Global Group. The state government has allocated approximately 3,000 square feet of space at the terminal for the centre.
At present, people from Odisha are forced to visit Kolkata, Delhi or Hyderabad to submit visa applications. The new facility will bring this essential service to their doorstep, significantly reducing time, cost and inconvenience.
The move follows the approval granted in December by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for setting up a Visa Application Centre in the state. Sources say the centre is expected to become operational shortly.
In a related development, BDA signed a separate agreement with the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) to lease around 77,000 square feet of vacant space on two floors at BSABT. The pact was signed by Manas Ranjan Padhi and Mili Samantaray, Administrative Officer, OCAC, in the presence of senior officials. OCAC will further sub-lease the space to IT and ITeS companies.
BDA Vice-Chairman Chanchal Rana described the developments as a game-changer. “BSABT is evolving into a modern integrated transport and business hub. With the Visa Application Centre and IT companies coming in, we expect higher footfall that will benefit vendors and all stakeholders,” he said.
Spread across 11 acres, BSABT is Odisha’s largest bus terminal, handling over 1,500 buses and nearly 20,000 passengers daily on inter-state and intra-state routes. The addition of visa and IT facilities is set to transform it into a one-stop destination combining transport, services and technology.
