Bhubaneswar, Nov 5 (IANS): The Odisha government on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for setting up a new state-of-the-art polytechnic in Sundargarh district of the state.

The Skill Development and Technical Education Department signed the MoU with NTPC for the institution to be set up at Darlipalli village of the district.

"I am happy to announce that the Skill Development and Technical Education Department, Odisha has entered into a partnership with the NTPC Ltd for setting up of a state-of-the-art polytechnic college at Darlipali in Sundargarh district," said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

NTPC will spend Rs 25 crore for infrastructure development of the polytechnic. The college would offer diploma course in electrical engineering, mining engineering and instrumentation and controls engineering. Each branch would cater to 60 students, said an official.

Informing that the state government accords the highest priority to skill development, Patnaik said it has taken up an ambitious target of skilling eight lakh youth of the state in the next three years, and to position Skilled-in-Odisha as a global brand.

Earlier, NTPC had taken up the establishment of a modern ITI at Seragarh, Ganjam and it shall start functioning from the next academic session, he added.

"Consistent efforts have been made by my Government to create an eco system for collaboration with industry to set up more such technical education institutions to hone the skills of our youth," he said.

In order to meet the requirement of shop floor supervisory level workforce, efforts have also been made in recent years to set up at least one Government Polytechnic in each district, he added.