No suitable land for Railway wagon factory in Kalahandi!! This is ridiculous.
Ganjam, Kalahandi, Railway Budget 2010, Railway Budget 2011, Wagon Factory March 24th. 2011, 5:58pmFollowing is from a report in Pioneer.
The railway authorities after inspecting number of places in KBK districts and not finding them suitable have identified Santipalli at Berhampur in Ganjam district to set up the proposed rail wagon factory.
According to sources, a rail wagon factory is to be set up in KBK districts of Odisha as per the 2010-2011 Railway Budget. Accordingly, the railway authorities visited Kalahandi, Kesinga, Narla Road, Lanjigarh Road, and Bhawanipatna Railway Station area to find out 100 acres of land adjacent to the rail track and submit a feasible report to the Government of Odisha for acquisition of land. However, the railway administration could not find a suitable place for the purpose and moved to coastal districts for feasible locations for wagon factory.
The Ganjam district administration and rail officers made a joint inspection in the district and found a place at Santipalli near Jagannathpur Railway Station of Berhampur. The State Government has approved to provide the 100 acre of land at Santipalli and the proposal has been sent to Railway Ministry, for their final consent for further plan of action. The project would be taken up in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
This is ridiculous. I can not believe that there is no suitable land near the railway track in Kalahandi.
Moreover the Railway minister has already said that he can give another wagon factory if a suitable land is found in Kalahandi. So even if some powerful person wants to have a wagon factory in Ganjam, that can still happen while a wagon factory is made in Kalahandi. So the Odisha government should take up on the Railway minister’s offer immediately.
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March 25th, 2011 at 3:22 am
I beg to differ. Jagannathpur is the place where the govt has land readily available that was earlier acquired for the TATA rehabilitation colony. So, attributing motives to a selection that as per the report was done by state Govt and railway officials is itself ridiculous. Now before any project is established in Orissa, peopelfirst decide where that is to be established. If on-line debates could decide the location than what is the need to have a Govt? If the railway Minister was indeed serius about Kalahandi then why did she club it alongside Bhubaneswar. That means the issues was left to the state Govt. Now when all the higher education institutions came across the state (people in Ganjam also wanted an Institute) no one raised a finger againt the state govt, because except KoraputCU all of them came in the state capital. Now people in Ganjam never demanded a railway factory, because Ganjam has never been a priority for the railway or the state Government. Out of 2900 kms railway line, Ganjam has only 80 kms. The local MLAof Chatrapur is from CPI, so there is no question of him putting pressure. Surya Patrao is a permanent resident of Bhubaneswar. Chandra Sekhar Sahu is neither in the state nor in the central Govt. Naveen Patiank though represents Ganajm, has never taken a line that will unduely faour Ganjam. Now the officials arrived at this plot of land near a small railway station and suddenly everyone is ready with a conspiracy theory. It seems people in Orissa are yet to accept Ganjam as a part of the state and it seems they still see this as a part of Madras Presidency. One more example: The ESIC Medical college could not be established in Orissa so far as there is a stand off. Everyone wanted the Medicalcollege in Rourkela, but despite that no motives were attributed to the state Govt. Now, every one is ready with a conspiracy theory because that will benefit a district that was never a priority among the scheme of things. If there is a lack of trust on the state Govt. which took this decision.. let there be alarger debate on the motioves of the state overnmnet starting from the establishemnt of AIIMS, IIT, NISER, NIFT, WCU, Orissa Law UNi, Orissa Open Univ, IIPH, XIMB satellite campuses, OCU etc etc. Peopleknow that on none of these Orissa Govt even considered Ganjam as an option. Has the state developed a sudden liking for this district that is otherwise bereft of state or Central PSUs despite sending 5 chief Ministers to the state starting from KC Gajapati.
March 25th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
I strongly believe, there is no such influence by any person for Ganjam district to have the Wagon Factory….. If any one is thinking, Naveen Patnaik is biased for the Ganjam district as he is representing Hinjili Constituency 3rd time (or any other Politician), why the district is facing various genuine issues and no body is bothering to address those….
1.Bhanjanagar to Gopalpur stretch is Part of NH-217 (Gopalpur – Raipur), why the state government is not raising concern to Center to make it to a double lane Road (at least) for the entire stretch. Please note that, this is the heart line of Ganjam district and 2nd busiest Road of Odisha after Bhubaneswar- Cuttack Road.
Owing to flow of heavy traffic, this stretch of road has become extremely dangerous. As per the data provided by city police, between April 2001 and April 2010, 104 persons died and 269 persons were injured due to accidents on this stretch of road (15 km stretch in Berhampur City).
http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/21/stories/2011012151390300.htm
2.Berhampur – Sambalpur (via Phulabani) Railway connectivity initiated during British era (our grand Parents used to say…) why still this is not materialized!!!
3.Why there is no daily train to Surat (from Berhampur Station) as everybody knows 6 lakh Ganjam workers alone are working there.
4.Aska region is the Sugar Bowl of Odisha and Sugar factory in Aska is the 1st Sugar factory in Asia. Is any body bothering to the Sugar factory situation now at Aska…! We are asking our local politicians to proceed for a Sugar Institute as like Karnataka Sugar Institute (KSI)-Belgaum / Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) – Pune / National Sugar Institute (NSI)-Kanpur, but it is in vain. http://askasugar.com/history.php
5.Our CM has written several letters to center for a “Gems and Jewelry institute†at Hinjilicut to stop migration of Labour to Gujarat, why till today it is not materialized!!!
6.Why Berhampur is not yet connected to Rourkela by Railway?
7.Why Khallikote College is not yet converted to a unitary university, when similar 100 + yrs colleges have been made Unitary University in Odisha ! When Junior colleges (year of establishment) are made Autonomous status, why it is ignored to KSUB College, Bhanjanagar (1960) and Science College, Hinjilicut (1963).
8.Why Judicial Magistrate court is not yet established at Hinjilicut (2nd largest town in Ganjam) even though CM is representing Hinjili Constituency (3rd term) and Law Minister Mr. Bikram Arukh also from Ganjam and there are 8 judicial Magistrate courts in Ganjam district.
9.According to the Health & Family Welfare Department sources of Government of Odisha, Ganjam district tops the lists of both HIV positive cases and AIDS death cases. Though Orissa is not one of the high risk states, Ganjam is one of the high risk districts in the country. Can anyone explain why still it is continuing and what are the remedial measures to be taken to stop migration of labour? http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=17687
The list continues….
Moral of the above write-up: There is no God Father for Ganjam district to influence the Wagon Factory.
March 26th, 2011 at 1:00 am
Come on. Do you gentlemen really believe that the site of the wagon factory was chosen purely because land was readily available and there is no exchange of money/or peddling of influence? Do you really believe decisions of such nature in India are taken without political considerations? (Of course before you jump to any conclusions about my antecedents and motives I would like to state I am not from the capital nor from any of the cities you find in most media reports.). Per se it does not make any difference to me whether the wagon factory is set up in Ganjam or Kalahandi as long as it is set up in the state! I certainly do not believe that any part of state is not part of Odisha. My point is simple just because you can give examples to the contrary does not make the argument (of money exchange/influence peddling/issue of political considerations) invalid.
As an aside I would like you to look at this very crude diagram. It is something that I thought up to clarify/understand some of the issues around land acquisition. As you will see at every stage there is an exchange of money and a tremendous unlocking of value of the asset class in question – land.
1. land –> farmer/individual –> middleman (politicians/goons a la Sadik Batcha)–> government.
2. land –> farmer/individual –> government (politicians/goons again) –> private industry.
3. land –> farmer/individual –> middleman (politicians/goons)–> individuals. (in the case of apartments/malls etc.).
Therefore as you can see it’s the middleman (politicians/goons/relatives) who make a killing in the whole process.
March 27th, 2011 at 3:41 am
shame…shame….shame…………
if the drought affected area of KBK has no land for factory then how they r finding land in fertile area of ganjam???????
A big Mindgame 4m some big men…..
March 27th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Fund for tribal development in KBK and elsewhere in the state is being diverted for constructing a flyover near Rajmahal in Bhubaneswar as accepted by the Govt in Assembly. Any one among the intellectuals concerned?
March 27th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
This govt. is only 4 capital region. I thought dat rahul gandhi nd jayaram ramesh was worng,they r playing politics with tribals. But Nw i m thinking dat they are ryt its our odisha govt who is playing dirty politics.
March 27th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
From http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=5110 .
Naveen Patnaik has favored the proposed Rail Wagon manufacturing factory in Ganjam.
The Chief Minister in a letter to the Union Minister Railways has specified about the land available for the wagon factory to be taken up in Public Private Partnership (PPP) or Joint Venture (JV) mode.
Once the announcement to set up a Rail Wagon factory in Odisha in the Railways Budget for 2011-12, East Coast Railways moved fast to identify the land for such Greenfield project in the State Government.
They scouted in various places of the state including that of Kalahandi for which Bhakta Charan Das is making serious efforts to impress upon the Union Government.
However the State Administration moved fast and along with experts of the Indian Railways in East Coast Railways have located a patch of 101 acres of plot at Sitapalli near Jagannathpur Railway Station, in Berhampur tahsil said sources.
Experts feel that this place will be eminently suitable as the land is available in a contiguous patch.
Secondly it will be suitable from the railway point of view as it will only require 2.5 kilometer rail link.
And the proposed link will pass through the agricultural field for which land acquisition shall not be a problem.
Under this backdrop, the Chief Minister has urged upon the Minister Railways to take early steps for setting up the wagon factory at an early date.
Odisha faces serious problem for land acquisition required for industries.
East Coast Railways has found out that the entire rail link will be extended solely to be used by Indian Railways authorities.
March 29th, 2011 at 8:13 am
See how cheap is odisha goverment. There is more than 1000 acres of govt. land in kalahandi But government is saying there is no land.
http://kalahandia.blogspot.com/2011/03/1000-acres-of-government-land-available.html
March 29th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Railway wagon factory is no one’s birth right and every District or place inside Orissa has the right over it, be it Ganjam or Kalahandi. So, why create and add to this suspicion. But, some people are presenting facts in such a manner as if one district has usurped the industry meant for another District with the intervention of the state CM only because the chosen place by the railway officials happened to be his district. So, because Naveen represents Ganjam the Dist has no right over industry? Or why suspect the government on such issues, as in the past the same CM established institutes and industries in large numbers across the state, even at times ignoring genuine claims of his own District. Only having 1000 acres of land is not sufficient, had that been so every district of Orissa would be have more than that land available. Even Ganjam has more than 1000 acres of land available near the proposed place. If there is any doubt, it is only the East Coast railway people who zeroed in on this place can clear that. Let the matters rest here.
The Railway Minister has in the past openly declared that she is ready for a 2nd such factory in Orissa. If we are sincere we can get two instead of one rail factory. So, why this debate? If any pressure is to be created on the Govt. it should be for identifying land for a 2nd railway factory.