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(This is another in the series of articles about future urban agglomerations and hubs in Orissa. Earlier we wrote about Berhampur area, Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area and Rourkela area. Now lets turn our focus to North Orissa.)

The more I think about the Rasgovindpur airport the more it seems that this area has a high potential of becoming a fine urban agglomeration. Following are some of the things that are going for this area.

• Population Base: Baripada has a population of 143,355 and Balasore has a population of 126,179. Jaleswar has a population of 22,000. My guess is that the triangular area covering them would have a population of 400-500K.
• Ports: As shown in the above map, five ports are being planned near this area. They are Chudamani, Inchudi, Bahabalpur, Kirtania and Talsari. Aditya Birla group signed MOU for Chudamani, IL&FS is interested in Inchudi, Bahabalpur is iffy as it needs DOD approval, Creative ports has signed an MOU for Kirtania and JSW is interested in Talsari.
  • An important aspect of ports is that they bring in additional infrastructure such as roads and railways and thus a whole bunch of jobs.
• Expressways: The GQ part of the expressways will pass through this area and the Howrah-Mumbai expressway will pass 20-30 kms to the North. Once the ports are operational there would be plan for a connecting expressway between the above two and it will pass through the heart of this area.
• Railways (Rupsa-Baripada-Buramara-Chakulia): Balasore is a major stop in the Howrah-Chennai line. Jaleswar is a smaller stop in that line. Baripada now has rail connectivity which is going to improve further with the starting of the Baripada-Buramara-Chakulia line and also the broad gauge conversion of Baripada-Bangiriposi.
• Railways (Jaleswar-Digha): Survey has been done before for Jaleswar – Digha. Moreover, with proposed ports at Talsari and Kirtania a railway line connecting Jaleswar to all those is going to happen soon.
• Name Recognition via Chandipur: Chandipur has world wide name recognition for the ITR missile testing range there.
• Similipal national forest and Biosphere: It was recently named as a UNESCO biosphere.
• Beautiful beaches: Chandipur and Talsari are beautiful beaches close to this area. Digha in West Bengal is also close by.
• Proximity to IIT Kharagpur: Kharagpur will be an hour away on the expressway.
• Universities and Colleges; private initiatives: Balasore and Baripada each have a university in FMU and NOU and they both have good general colleges in FM College and MPC College. There are 5 private engineering colleges in Balasore area, 1 more near Baripada and 1 more in nearby Bhadrak.
• Plan for an airport: The planned airport in Rasgovindpur will bring all these areas together. Besides serving the immediate area this airport will be convenient for IIT Kharagpur. If IIT Kharagpur starts using it as its gateway airport then it can be persuaded to invest near the airport in perhaps making an extension center.
• Plastic cluster in Balasore: The central government has approved a plastic cluster in Balasore.
• Local leadership: The only central minister from Orissa, Srikant Jena is an MP from Balasore. He also happens to be an extremely intelligent person and a smart politician (in a good way). He has already pushed for a plastic cluster in Balasore. His presence in the central government, gives this area a huge plus for at least the next 4 years.

The above are some of the points that are going  in favor of this area. The local people are also very active in demanding things for the area. Currently people from both Balasore and Baripada are demanding a medical college for the area. That is definitely a need. The following news item from today’s Samaja highlights the demand of the Baripada people. Few months back several thousand people from Balasore had demonstrated in Bhubaneswar for a medical college in Balasore.