Country's first aviation university in Rae Bareli

New Delhi: The first aviation university in the country will come up at Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and its academic session would begin in July next year. This was decided at a meeting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had with Minister of State for Civil Aviation KC Venugopal and top officials in New Delhi on Monday.  The National Aviation University (NAU) would train technical personnel, including engineers, and impart all aviation-related skills to its students. There would be a requirement of close to three million trained personnel in the Indian aviation sector over the next decade, according to independent estimates. The foundation stone is likely to be laid in June and the NAU would start functioning at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Academy (IGRUA) at Fursatganj in Rae Bareli from July next year, the Minister told PTI after the hour-long meet. Rae Bareli is the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Rs 80 crore has already been sanctioned for the purpose and “we have requested the UP government to allot more land for the university,” Venugopal said. The total project outlay for the first five-year period is Rs 202 crore. “A detailed project report has already been prepared and sent to the Planning Commission for in-principle approval. A legislation to set up the NAU has been sent to the Union Law Ministry for vetting. We intend to bring this Bill very soon,” he said. Venugopal said collaboration with such institutions in other countries was also being looked at to make NAU a world-class facility, though nothing has yet been finalised. Once approval is granted by the Planning Commission, proposals would be moved for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, official sources said. They said the Airports Authority of India was preparing the architectural plans for academic and hostel blocks for NAU at the IGRUA complex. PTI