___________

Following is from a report in ibnlive.com.

The committee headed by chief secretary B K Patnaik cleared two cement projects, an iron ore pelletisation unit and a high tension cable manufacturing unit, official sources said here. The pelletisation project, with 6 mtpa capacity, is proposed to be set up by Chadalavada Pvt Ltd at a cost of Rs 680 crore near Kalinganagar in Jajpur district, they said. The project, proposed to come up in 250 acre, is expected to generate 500 jobs, they said, adding that in the first phase its capacity would be 2.5 mtpa. The cable manufacturing unit is to be set up in 40 acre near Khurda by Gupta Power Infrastructure Pvt Ltd at an investment of Rs 192 crore. It has the potential to hire about 400 people. One of the cement units is proposed to be established in 25 acre, by Jajpur Cement Ltd near Kalignanagar, at a cost of Rs 63 crore. Its capacity would be 0.5 mtpa. Similarly, Nabadurga Industries Ltd seeks to set up two units at a cost of Rs 280 crore. It would have a clinker unit at Kantabanjhi in Balangir district and a crushing project at bainchhua in Cuttack district, sources said adding the entire project would have the potential to provide employment to 400 people.

Following 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. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Taiwan … has identified food processing, electronics, textiles, agri-business and IT hardware as the potential areas of investment in Orissa.

… Besides, the nation also intends to build educational tie-ups with KIIT and other premier universities of the state, he added.

"Our objective is to examine the investment potential of Orissa which has been quite successful in attracting investments. We believe that the areas of investment for the Taiwanese companies in the state are food processing, electronics, IT hardware, agri-business and textiles. The companies from Taiwan can explore possibilities of setting up manufacturing facilities for cell phones, refrigerators and computers in the state. Our investments would be relatively smaller compared to the likes of Posco and IBM nonetheless important because of the focus on job creation”, said Ong.

"We are keen on having tie-ups with the universities of Orissa. There is a good potential for collaboration between the universities of Orissa and Taiwan. We are also looking at the possibility of sea food imports from Orissa. Last year, Taiwan had imported $400-500 million of sea food from US, Canada and Australia”, he added.

Ong is scheduled to call on the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday and hold discussions on opportunities for the Taiwanese investors in the state.

"We are looking at job generation capacity and the we’ll see how many jobs can be created by the Taiwanese companies in Orissa. However, we are not interested in investing in steel and aluminium sectors”, he stated.

Asked on the visit of the Taiwanese business delegation to Orissa, Ong said, “I’ll go to Taiwan and persuade some Taiwanese companies to visit Orissa. However, the timing of the visit of the delegation from Taiwan would depend on the conducive atmosphere created by the state. Its going to be competition for Orissa with other states where we have already invested”.

Following is an excerpt from a report in moneycontrol.com.

If talks with the chief minister and senior officials yield positive results, a business delegation from Taiwan would soon visit Orissa with concrete investment proposals, he said. There was a lot of scope for cooperation in tourism sector.

Referring to the Buddhist circuit in Orissa, Ong said religious tourism could be tapped in a big way to increase the flow of Taiwanese tourists to the state.

Similarly, collaborations and ties in education, mainly vocational education, would also be explored, he said adding his country had already proposed scholarships for brilliant Orissa students.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

The environment ministry may have hoodwinked its in-charge Jairam Ramesh to help a company escape action initiated by the minister. The ministry’s forest division issued a circular on January 6, 2011, inserting the proviso “it is advisable” in the original rule without the minister’s approval.

The ministry had issued a notice to Jindal Steel and Power Limited on December 14, 2010, on why its environment clearance should not be revoked for starting construction in non-forestland for its integrated steel plant in Kerjang in Orissa before the forest clearance was granted in October 2010.

A ministry panel found the allegation to be true in December. Jindal steel admitted that the construction has taken place but cited a clause in an agreement with the Orissa government to start work within three years of signing it.

In the meantime, the Forest Advisory Committee, which allowed diversion of forestland, met and recommended insertion of key words — “it is advisable” — in the guidelines of the Act. The revised rule said, “if a project involves forest as well as non-forestland, it is advisable that the work should not be started on non-forest land till the approval of the government for release of the forestland under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 has been given”.

So, how can one trust such a Forest Advisory Committee. What action Ramesh is taking against this committee?

See also the report in danaindia.com which first reported on this harakiri by MOEF. Following is an excerpt from the latest one.

Three days after DNA showed how Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) used a January 6, 2011, circular to justify unauthorised construction in 2009 and 2010, minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has directed the Orissa government to take action against the company.

Here is an excerpt of what dnaindia wrote while exposing the initial misdeeds of MOEF.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) seems all set to add to the scams and scandals surrounding the UPA government at the Centre thanks to a controversial clearance given to Congress MP Navin Jindal’s proposed steel and power plant in Orissa.

Documents with DNA show that the MoEF issued a circular to change a few words of the guidelines of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 only to allow the withdrawal of a showcause notice issued to the Jindal project.

This notice, that made headlines when it was issued in November 2010, asked why the earlier issued environmental clearance may not be quashed because Jindal had started construction at the site before the forest clearance — the supplement to the mandatory environment clearance — was given.

Documents show that the provision of the Forest Act that was quoted by the MoEF to legitimise the transgressions of Jindal and withdraw the show cause notice was created only on January 6, 2011 — two months after the showcause notice was issued.

Documents also show that the provision (made through a circular) was scrapped on 17 February, 2011 — exactly a week after the notice to Jindal was withdrawn.

This makes it clear that the circular was issued purely for the benefit of Congress MP Navin Jindal’s project alone.

The above clearly shows the way Forest Advisory committee, MOEF and Ramesh operate. They were hoping to not get caught. But they have been caught red handed.

The sincerity and honesty of Ramesh will be judged by what action he takes against the MOEF official and Forest Rights Committee that did this harakiri; which as per Ramesh, without his knowledge. If Ramesh does not take any action on those officials then one can fairly conclude that he was very much a part of it.

Following is from a Q & A type article in Financial Express by Amitabh Sinha. Please read the article at its source for the details.

Did the environment ministry apply different yardsticks in the two cases? We answer the questions in our usual Q&A format.

Earlier this month, Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), a state government owned enterprise, approached the Supreme Court, challenging the order of the Environment Ministry cancelling forest clearance to a bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri area of Lanjigarh district of Orissa. The project was to be executed by Sterlite Industries India, a subsidiary of Vedanta Alumina, which had entered into an MoU with OMC in 2004.

One of the main reasons that is said to have emboldened the OMC to approach the Supreme Court, six months after the Environment Ministry had passed its order, was the recent decision to allow SAIL to mine iron ore in the Chiria mining complex of West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand. The Orissa government feels double standards had been applied in the two cases and argues that the environmental impact of the Chiria mines is going to be greater than the bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills. The Financial Express examines the two projects to see whether their cases are comparable:

What was the issue with the Niyamgiri project?

…

And Chiria?

…

What happened to Vedanta’s application for Niyamgiri project?

Vedanta had obtained stage-I forest clearance for the Niyamgiri project before running into trouble. While assessing its application, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) — the permanent expert panel in the Environment Ministry that is responsible for assessing whether a project deserves to be given forest clearance or not — recommended that the final approval should be granted only after assessing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act in the area, a law that had come into effect in 2008. Two different committees looked into the implementation of FRA at the Vedanta site. One was a three-member committee set up on the recommendations of the FAC. The other committee was set up jointly by the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to assess the implementation of FRA all over the country. This committee, led by retired bureaucrat NC Saxena, had sent a sub-panel to the Vedanta site. Both had adverse remarks to make about the project.

What about Chiria?

In the case of Chiria, the FAC had actually recommended that SAIL’s proposal to mine iron ore in that area be rejected.

What led to the cancellation of the Niyamgiri project?

…

So why was Chiria cleared?

In clearing SAIL’s proposal to mine Chiria, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh actually overturned the advice of his own ministry’s expert panel (FAC). Some of the reasons he gave justifying his decision were: …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Deccan Chronicle.

Mr Ramesh has pointed out that the project will not be accepted unless resettlement and rehabilitation works are taken up simultaneously with the construction of the dam. He said that the project required resettlement and rehabilitation of about 1,70,000 people living in four villages of Orissa and many more near Chhattisgarh, adding that there would be a public hearing conducted by the respective governments and a consensus on the issue would be arrived at.

He also said that the environment assessment reports that were prepared by private consultants engaged by the Union government were a joke. “I admit it publicly,” he said, “The reports are prepared by a person who is pushing for the project. I am very much concerned about it.” Mr Ramesh said that the ministry had blacklisted three consultants for preparing fraudulent reports and added that he had accredited about 200 consultants who were authorised to prepare environmental assessment reports for the government.

Update: Following from the PIB release at http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=71375.

Centre has provided an assistance of Rs.216.817 crore for Subernrekha project to Orissa State for 2010-11. With this, the total Central assistance for this Project has gone to Rs.1,058.35 crore. Subernrekha project is an inter-state project between Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. West Bengal component of the project is at present at initial stage and is not being posed for Central Assistance under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) after 2002-03. Jharkhand component of the project is not included in AIBP so far. Hence active component of the project under AIBP is in Orissa State only. Government of Orissa has earmarked March 2014 as the targeted completion date for Subernrekha Project. A total of 6,920 families in Orissa have been affected from this project. The Centre has been informed by the Government of Orissa that rehabilitation assistance has been paid to 2,840 families and payment is in progress for 1,699 families. The Government of Orissa has a budgetary provision of Rs.350 crore for the project for 2010-11.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

The project, a joint venture of Jharkhand, Orissa and Bengal, aims to cover around 3.6 lakh hectares of land. Jharkhand will benefit the most as its 2.63 lakh hectares land will be irrigated. It will also generate around 500 MW hydel power. Orissa’s 90,000 hectares and West Bengal’s 5,000 hectares will also be benefited by the SMP.

… The technical advisory committee of the Central Water Commission (CWC) has approved the project under the AIBP with an estimated cost of Rs 6,613 crore in four years.

… Joint secretary of the information and public relation department Rajiv Baxi said, "The CWC has approved the proposal of the state government to take the SMP under the AIBP. According to the decision 90 per cent of the project cost will be shared by the Union government as it covers three states and the remaining cost will have to be shared by the three beneficiary states," said Baxi.

Officials in the state water resources department said the Centre’s decision would be a boon for people of the three states as it would provide irrigation facility round-the-year. "Farmers will not have to depend on the vagaries of monsoon and at the same time it will also help maintain underground water reserve," said an official.

Following is from a report in dnaindia.com.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) seems all set to add to the scams and scandals surrounding the UPA government at the Centre thanks to a controversial clearance given to Congress MP Navin Jindal’s proposed steel and power plant in Orissa.

Documents with DNA show that the MoEF issued a circular to change a few words of the guidelines of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 only to allow the withdrawal of a showcause notice issued to the Jindal project.

This notice, that made headlines when it was issued in November 2010, asked why the earlier issued environmental clearance may not be quashed because Jindal had started construction at the site before the forest clearance — the supplement to the mandatory environment clearance — was given.

Documents show that the provision of the Forest Act that was quoted by the MoEF to legitimise the transgressions of Jindal and withdraw the show cause notice was created only on January 6, 2011 — two months after the showcause notice was issued.

Documents also show that the provision (made through a circular) was scrapped on 17 February, 2011 — exactly a week after the notice to Jindal was withdrawn.

This makes it clear that the circular was issued purely for the benefit of Congress MP Navin Jindal’s project alone.

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) had filed for environmental clearance for a 6 million tonne steel plant and a medium-sized integrated power plant in Kerjang, in Anjul district of Orissa in 2006.

The firm got environmental clearance in 2007, with the condition that no development should start till the other half of that clearance, a ‘forest clearance’, was also granted.

But Jindal started construction before the forest clearance was obtained and this was pointed out by Biswajit Mohanty, wildlife activist and member of the National Board for Wildlife, to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh last October.

A month later, the MoEF issued the showcause notice to Jindal.

However, on January 6, 2011, the MoEF issued a circular that changed certain words in the Forest Act that legalised the violations and weakened the case against Jindal.

Documents with DNA show that the original guidelines of the Forest Act, which were in force when the showcause notice was issued to Jindal for breaching the conditions of environmental clearance, said: “work should not be started” till the project gets the requisite forest clearance.

However, in its circular, the MoEF changed this phrase to: “it is advisable that work should not be started” till forest clearance is granted.

After the circular was issued, Jindal officials pointed out to the MoEF that its own circular indicated that the provision was not binding on them. Based on this argument, the MoEF withdrew the showcause notice to the Jindal project on Feb 10, 2011. Seven days later, the circular was scrapped.

To a question in Parliament as to how many projects were cleared during the time the circular was in existence (a little over a month), Ramesh pointed out that only one project had been cleared: Jindal’s Angul project.

“This is all very, very fishy,” says Mohanty, a noted conservationist known for his contribution to saving Orissa’s sea turtles. “This case needs to be probed. You can’t bring in a circular to help just one company and then withdraw it and not let any other company take advantage of it,” he says.

Mohanty, who maintains Ramesh is the best environment minister India has ever had, says the ministry’s actions are starting to smack of arbitrariness. “You can’t have one yardstick for Vedanta (Resources) and another where a ruling party MP is involved.”

This whole incident indicates that Ramesh, who has a clean reputation otherwise, has his limitations when faced with powerful groups within his party.

Jairam Ramesh did not respond to request for comments on the matter.

Following are excerpts from a report in Economic Times.

Sunil Agarwal , President & CEO, ARSS Infra in an interview with ET Now talks about the bus terminal development project bagged by the company.

This order its after a long time that I am seeing somebody bag an order of this nature bus terminals. What is the deal, how much is the annual expenditure for this development and what you will get in return?

Yes, this is a deal for developing of bus terminal in Bhubaneswar, Odisha which is a capital of Odisha. We will be developing bus terminal for Odisha Bus Bhubaneswar. This is located in Bermuda. We have paid 56 crore premium to the government of Odisha and we have signed the concession agreement yesterday.

The total project cost of the terminal will be around 1300 crore out of which we will be developing half of the terminal as bus terminal and the basic infrastructure for bus terminal will be also used for the commercial facility which also will be developed by Government of Odisha.

Any income will not come in this year, the income will generate from after 2 year when the bus terminal will be completed. We have to develop the bus terminal in 2 years and we have to operate and maintain it for 50 more years. As far as expenditure is concerned this year we will be spending around 200 to 250 crore and coming forward this total expenditure will be completed in another 5 years.

…

And when will revenues start to kick in from the same projects and what are the kind of margins that you are expecting?

See the overall margins for operating and lease rental and as well as from the commercial development we will be generating around 500 crore of margin in the period of 4 to 5 years and this margin will start generating from 2013 after development of the bus terminal in 2 years. And the basic facilities and infrastructure that we will be developing for the bus terminal the same will be used for commercial developments also.

If you start getting revenues after 2 years, what is the annuity that you expect from this project?

The annuity will be somewhere around 8200 crore a year.

For how many years would this be?

This one will continue for 15 years. …

If all these numbers are right this would be a wonderful facilty. Moreover, it will demonstrate the feasibility of other similar sized or bigger PPP projects, especially Railway Station (IR plans a world class station built on PPP mode), Airport, Metro/Light-rail.

To get a bit of background, we give the following from a slightly older report in Pioneer.

After long, the process has begun for developing three bus stands with modern facilities in the State. The bus stands to be developed in public-private partnership (PPP) mode include Baramunda Bus Stand of Bhubaneswar, Badambadi main Bus Stand of Cuttack and the Dhenkanal Bus Stand.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting held under chairmanship of Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik at the State Secretariat on Wednesday.

After the meeting, the Chief Secretary said to the reporters that while ARSS Infrastructure Project Limited has been given responsibility to develop two bus stands of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, another company PK Behera Construction Private Limited will develop Dhenkanal Bus Stand.

The Development works would be complete by December, 2012. “An MoU has already been signed with the two companies and concessional agreements would be signed soon,” Patnaik informed, adding that the construction work would begin in two months time and the projects would be complete in two years.

Regarding conditions of MoU with the companies, Patanik said the two companies have been asked to use 60 per cent of each of bus stands for bus terminal and 40 per cent as market complex. The lands would be given on lease basis and the company would hand over the terminal areas to the Government after completion of 15 years and market complex area after 90 years, he informed.

The companies would be given 14 acres of land for Baramunda Bus Stand, 4.6 acres of land for Badambadi Bus Stand and 5 acres of land for Dhenkanal Bus Stand. ARSS would give concessional fee of Rs 56 crore and 17.21 crore for Baramunda and Badambadi respectively and PK Behera Construction Private Limited would give 1.26 crore for Dhenkanal Bus Stand.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

The Rs 3,200-crore Dhamra Port in Orissa, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is ready and will go operational next month, a top company official said.

Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) has so far invested Rs 2,900-crore out of the total project cost of Rs 3,239-crore and almost 100 per cent work on the project has been completed.

… "We have completed 100 per cent work of the port including the construction work for the 62-kilometer rail link from Dhamra to Bhadrak on the main Howrah-Chennai line," he said.

… Situated between Haldia and Paradip, the port at Dhamra will be the deepest of India with a draught of 18 meters, which can accommodate super cape-size vessels up to 1,80,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT).

DPCL has recently entered into a sister port relationship agreement with the US-based Port of Seattle. The pact is aimed at exchange of information on port users, technology transfer and sharing of best practises between the two ports.

Following is a map from http://www.dhamraport.com/maps.asp.

Following is an ad from Dharitri.

Following is from http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/opgc-coal-block-row-orissa-cm-seeks-pms-intervention/427821/.

The spat between the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) and the Orissa government on the issue of coal blocks allocated to the state owned Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) has intensified further with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seeking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention on the issue.

The MoEF in a recent move had proposed to change the category of the Meenakshi group of coal blocks allocated to the Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) proposed at Sundergarh from ‘no go’ to ‘go’ under the condition that the Ministry of Power (MoP) would give up opening up of Manoharpur and Dulinga coal blocks allocated to OPGC and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) respectively.

The move had left the state government officials, especially the OPGC authorities, sulking with the state energy secretary P K Jena and the state energy minister Atanu Sabsyasachi Nayak writing letters to the P Uma Shankar and Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in this regard.

Patnaik has shot off a letter to the Prime Minister, stating that it would not be fair on the part of MoP to accept such a move at the cost of two other projects, particularly which is the only state owned project.

He has requested the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter and take a favourable stand in the upcoming meeting of the Group of Ministers to clear OPGC’s Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks into the ‘go’ category.

"Given that the coal blocks allocated to OPGC fall within a cluster of blocks owned by Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), Independent Power Plants (IPPs), UMPP and NTPC, any decision taken in favour of the UMPP block alone would be unfair, particularly considering the significant progress and investment made by OPGC vis-a-vis other two projects in consideration (UMPP and NTPC)”, Patnaik has stated in his letter.

Earlier, the state energy minister in his letter to the Union power minister dated February 26 had stated that Orissa is relying on OPGC’s project for meeting its future power security since the project is well placed to move into construction during the current financial year and any adverse decision in the case of coal blocks allocated to OPGC will be a serious blow to the state’s future power supply scenario.

Pointing out that there are only three projects being pursued in the same footing- UMPP, OPGC and NTPC, Nayak had stated that in case any favourable decision is taken for the UMPP project only, it will be difficult on the part of the state to facilitate and support the UMPP project at the cost of the other two projects, particularly OPGC.

OPGC is pursuing capacity addition of two 660 MW units in Jharsuguda district. It has been allocated Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks by the Ministry of Coal for captive use. The Meenakshi group of coal blocks allocated for the UMPP project and Dulinga coal block alloted to NTPC lie adjacent to and on either side of Manoharpur and dip side blocks in a continuous stretch.

Following is from http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110310/jsp/nation/story_13693720.jsp. 

Calcutta, March 9: The Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) has offered to relinquish exclusive rights to its extended territory in the Bay of Bengal and turn it into a common zone that a competing port in Orissa’s Dhamra can also use for operations.

But Orissa chief secretary Bijay Patnaik has shot down the proposal, made by CPT chairperson M.L. Meena during a meeting convened by the Union shipping secretary in Delhi last Friday, ministry sources disclosed.

The Orissa government has protested strongly before the ministry, which cleared the expansion in the CPT’s maritime limit through a gazette notification, so the Calcutta port can build a giant floating storage (dock) in the extended area.

Orissa claims the plan encroaches on its maritime area and will hit seven upcoming ports, including the showpiece Dhamra project that has been built by Tata Steel and L&T.

The inter-state row has turned into a legal battle with a public interest litigation being filed in Orissa High Court on Monday against the Centre’s decision to extend the CPT’s limit.

But CPT chief Meena’s proposal that both Bengal and Orissa could use the expanded area isn’t without precedent. Many ports in Gujarat and two ports in Mumbai — JNPT and Navasheva — have common maritime zones.

All non-major ports, like Dhamra, are on Concurrent list of the Constitution, which allows states to pass executive orders like defining their territory. But such orders will be finally subservient to the central decision.

“Business can save nearly $8 million (Rs 36 crore) every year if the transloading (from the floating dock) is allowed to take place. Ships should be given a free choice where they want to go,” said a ministry official.

The CPT plans to use a vessel of 180,000-tonne capacity as the floating dock where smaller ships (Panamax variety) of 75,000 tonnes can unload their cargo. Barges (of 12,000-tonne capacity) can then ferry the cargo to final destinations like Calcutta or Haldia.

The CPT plans to pick a private operator chosen through competitive bidding to build the Rs 300-crore floating facility. It will be stationed in Sandheads, 60 miles south of Haldia for eight months a year. During monsoon, when the sea is turbulent, the floating dock will be taken to Kanika Sands, next to Dhamra port and 60 miles south of Sandheads.

But the choice of Kanika Sands has riled Orissa, which fears the floating dock will take away business from the Dhamra port that has been built at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore. The port is apparently awaiting a railway connectivity to start operations and needs clearance from Mamata Banerjee’s ministry to get going.

In the absence of a floating dock that offers transloading facilities, ships are now forced to offload cargo at Orissa’s Paradip and then come to Haldia because of the low draught — depth — in the silt-clogged channel does not allow heavy vessels. The cargo offloaded at Paradip is then carried by rail or road to their final destinations.

The CPT expects to handle 6 million tonnes of cargo a year through the floating dock and host around 80 Panamax vessels. Each ship can save up to $1 lakh (around Rs 45 lakh) per trip as it will be able to return from the floating dock three to four days earlier than it did if it had come to Haldia. The CPT has also proposed building an exclusive jetty to handle such cargo at Haldia at a cost of Rs 290 crore through public-private partnership.

CPT officials argue that the savings in transportation will help trade, which could pass on the benefits to consumers through lower prices.

The CPT has tried to come up with the floating dock plan at least five times over the past decade but has run into opposition from Orissa.

No private operators were showing interest all these years but the shipping ministry’s move to expand the CPT’s area has given them confidence of taking up the project. The CPT has found support for its plan in Delhi from Mukul Roy, the Trinamul leader who is the minister of state for shipping.

Following is from http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_environment-ministrys-sail-tilt-miffs-orissa_1517973. After the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) cancelled several projects and put roadblocks (read riders) on many other, it seems the companies or organisations at the receiving end are not ready to give up without a fight. The Orissa government’s mining entity Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) on Tuesday knocked at the doors of Supreme Court challenging the ministry’s August 2010 decision to stop mining bauxite from the Niyamgiri Hills. The ministry and its boss Jairam Ramesh had in August 2010 accepted the recommendations of the four-member forest advisory committee headed by NC Saxena and pulled the curtains down on mining in Niyamgiri Hills citing severe flouting of environmental and forest conservation norms. The mining contractor for the Niyamgiri project was a joint venture company with 76% stake of Sterlite Industries, a the listed-subsidiary of Vedanta Resources and the remaining with OMC. The bauxite to be mined was to be fed to Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery. Sources say the Orissa government, after an endless wait and a fruitless representation to the MoEF, has finally decided to go the legal way and has prepared a complete war chest of arguments to take on the ministry. “While the Orissa government was planning to challenge MoEF’s decision in the Supreme Court for quite sometime, the what finally prompted it was Ramesh’s nod to a larger and environmentally more damaging project of Chiria mines in Jharkhand,” said a highly reliable source in OMC. On February 22, Ramesh, in a surprising change of stance by over-ruling negative reports from the ministry’s forest advisory committee (FAC), gave a go-ahead to Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to mine iron ore from the prolific Chiria mines in Jharkhand. In a statement on February 22, Ramesh said: “The FAC will continue to focus on bio-diversity-related issues and concerns, while as minister I will have to necessarily take a broader view but placing on record in a complete manner the reasons for taking that view.” However, Orissa is particularly miffed with this decision since it claims that on a comparative scale the Niyamgiri Hills too had a merit for approval and its impact on the environment would have been far less than the Chiria mines. “Much before the FAC was appointed, several other committees had done a study on the project and had given a decision in its favour,” the source said. Ironically, these bodies were appointed by the ministry to clear the mining project in 2007. The Central Mine Planning and Design Institute in its study on hydro-geological aspects had said that there are no water bodies, water table is available at a depth of 78m from top of the hill and mineral is available only up to 30-35m depth from top, therefore, no impact on groundwater. Similarly, Orissa Agriculture University of Technology (OAUT) established that due to khondalite rocks and very minimal soil cover available, soil erosion is negligible at Niyamgiri Hills and there is no possibility of choking any stream running at the bottom of the hill. Only, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had said that in any case the Wildlife Sanctuary located nearby Niyamgiri should not be affected. The Supreme Court, on August 8, 2008, based on detailed studies conducted by WII, CMPDIL, OAUT and recommendation of MOEF had cleared the Forest Diversion proposal after a prolonged debate spanning three years. “In spite of these, OMC was stopped from mining, while a central PSU like SAIL was given a go ahead,” he said. The source said Chiria iron ore mining project covers an area of around 2,376 hectares, which is 3% of total Saranda Forest area in Jharkhand where it is located. On the other hand, the total Niyamgiri Hill range is around 250 square km out of which nearly 7 sq km is the proposed mining lease area which constitute nearly 1.5 % of the total area. “Hence the forest cover diverted will be much less than that in Chiria,” he said. In the MoEF note, Ramesh said SAIL being a public sector unit, has a good track record of delivering corporate social responsibility. “Going by this track record, our partner Vedanta has already been investing Rs10 crore as profit from notional profit from proposed mining every year and Rs12.20 crore towards tribal development,” the source said. The area in and around Chiria is predominantly inhabited by Ho tribal community, which constitutes nearly 10% population (approx. 70,00,000) of Jharkhand population. While the number of tribals living in and around Niyamgiri are inhabited by Dongria Kondh tribal race having a total population of nearly 8600. “So the number of people affected through the project are far less,” he said. The mining process in Chiria will involve blasting, there by impacting the wildlife near Chiria forests while OMC will be incorporating surface miner and ripper dozer techniques which are blast-free processes, he said.

Based on the 2011-12 and 2010-11 budgets the status of doubling in Odisha is as follows:

1. Second bridge over Mahanadi and Birupa: Done.
2. Nergundi-Rajathgarh-Barang: Nergundi-Rajathgarh is basically done. For Rajathgarh-Barang, this year there is an allocation of 33.2 Crores. With this allocation, by March 2012, 265.2 crores is expected to be spent. This is out of a total estimated budget of 275 crores. In other words by 2012 March this part will be almost done.
3. Nergundi-Cuttack-Raghunathpur-Rahama-Paradeep: Doubling of Nergundi-Cuttack-Raghunathpur is basically done. There is a budget of 0.1 crores for this in 2011-12 and so far 178.19 crores have been spent on this out of a total estimated budget of 180.24 crores. Doubling of Rahama-Paradeep is also basically done. There is a budget of 0.1 crores for this in 2011-12 and so far 78.72 crores have been spent on this out of a total estimated budget of 80.76 crores. There is no mention of the Raghunathpur-Rahama segment in the budget, but the maps show that this part is doubled. In other words doubling of this whole segment is done.
4. Cuttack-Barang: This year there is an allocation of 39 crores for this. With this allocation, by March 2012, 180.2 crores is expected to be spent. This is out of a total estimated budget of 186 crores. In other words by 2012 March this will be almost done.
5. Barang-Khurda Rd 3rd line: This year there is an allocation of 39 crores for this. With this allocation, by March 2012, 220 crores is expected to be spent. This is out of a total estimated budget of 221 crores. In other words by 2012 March this will be basically done.
6. Khurda Rd – Delang: This year there is an allocation of 0.25 crores. It needs another 0.96 crores to complete the total estimated budget of 69.67 crores. So this is done.
7. Delang-Puri (28.7 km): This doubling was approved in 2010-11 with a total budget of  133.71 crores and an annual allocation of 2 crores. This year it has been given a budget of 35 crores. It needs another 96.71 crores before it is completed. That would mean that it will be done around in 2-3 more years. Odisha government may use the upcoming Nabakalebar in 2015 to get this done and operational before that.
8. Vizianagaram-Lanjigarh Rd-Titlagarh-Raipur: The maps show that Vizianagaram-Lanjigarh Rd is double line. For the Lanjigarh-Rd – Titlagarh segment, there is an allocation of 5 crores, and there is a need of another 0.8 crores tp take it to the total estimated budget of 171.4 crores. So basically the Lanjigarh-Rd – Titlagarh segment will be done by 2012 March. The 203 km Titlagarh -Raipur segment is just getting a start. The 2011-12 budget has a 60 crores allocation for this. But it needs another 629.16 crores for completion. The total estimated budget for this segment is 691.67 crores.
9. Jharsuguda-Rengali-Sambalpur: There is an allocation of 33.5 crores in this year’s budget for the Jharsuguda-Rengali segment. After that there is only a need of 7.48 crores to take it to the total estimate of 119.54 crores. So this segment will be almost done by March 2012.  There is an allocation of 20 crores in this year’s budget for the Rengali-Sambalpur segment. After that there is only a need of 0.6 crores to take it to the total estimate of 113.55 crores. So this segment will be basically done by March 2012. Together they will be almost done by March 2012.
10. Sambalpur-Titlagarh: This is in the initial phase. There is an allocation of 60 crores in the 2011-12 budget. By March 2011 only 39.73 crores would be spend on this. The total estimate of 950.84 crores.
11. Rajathgarh-Talcher-Sambalpur: Maps show that the Rajathgarh-Talcher segment is double line. Doubling of Talcher-Sambalpur was approved in 2010-11 with an initial allocation of 2 crores. This year there is an allocation of 66 crores. The total budget is 613.27 crores.
12. Bimlagarh-Champajharan-Dumetra (SER): There is a budget of 35 crores for Bimlagarh-Dumetra and another 35 crores for Champajharan-Bimlagarh. Based on the two entries in the budget, it seems the Champajharan-Dumetra part will be done by March 2012 and another 115.9 crores is need to complete the Bimlagarh-Champajharan part.
13. Jakhapura-Daitari-Tomka-Jaruli-Bansapani (ECOR/SER): Bansapani-Jaruli is listed in the SER budget and has an allocation of 35 crores for this year. It needs another 8.18 crores to reach the estimated total of 90.89 crores. ECOR budget lists the segment Bansapani-Tomka-Daitari-Jakhapura. It was initiated in 2010-11 with a budget of 150 crores of which only 29.57 seems to have been spent. Its budget for 2011-12 is 70 crores. It needs another 843.38 crores to reach its estimated total of 942.95 crores.
14. Bansapani-Padapahar Jn-Bara Jamda Jn-Barbil;  Raj kharswan-Padapahar Jn: Maps show that Rajkharswan-Padapahar Jn – Barajamda Jn is double line. The 2011-12 budget has 5 crores each for the two segments of Bansapani – Padapahar and Bara Jamda – Barbil. After that  Bansapani – Padapahar will reach its estimated total of 155.28 crores and Bara Jamda – Barbil would need 1.51 crores to reach its estimated total of 52.51 crores. So basically all these will be double lines by March 2012.

The total 2011-12 budget for doubling is 576.17 crores. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3272 for how this budget compares to past budgets. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3259 for an old projection to the future.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

• Overall: employment for 39104 people in the state by the end of December 2010.
• Steel sector: 31164 jobs which includes employment for 22399 people from the state and 8765 people from outside the state.
• Aluminium sector: 5474 people including 3657 from the state and the remaining 1817 outside the state. Investment worth Rs 11017 crore has been grounded in this sector.
• In the aluminium sector, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) has been the biggest job creator, generating over 5000 jobs through its one million tonne per annum (mtpa) refinery project and 75 MW captive power plant (CPP) at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district and aluminium smelter complex at Burkhamunda near Jharsuguda with a smelter capacity of 0.25 mtpa and a 675 MW CPP. At its refinery plant, VAL has employed 2523 people from Orissa and 1091 persons from outside the state. Similarly, 1026 people have been engaged from the state for VAL’s smelter plant while 686 others have been hired outside the state. VAL’s total investment on the refinery plant and smelter complex stands at Rs 9084 crore.
• Aditya Aluminium Ltd has invested Rs 1875 crore on its one mtpa alumina refinery at Rayagada and a 0.26 mtpa smelter plant cum 650 MW CPP at Sambalpur. The company has created jobs for 63 people from the state and 34 others outside the state.
• Cement sector: The total employment generated stands at 1502 by the end of December last year.
• OCL Cement Ltd has generated employment for 1494 people and the company has invested Rs 697.46 crore out of a total project cost of Rs 850 crore for its 1.10 mtpa cement manufacturing unit at Rajgangpur. The other two investors in the cement sector- Ultratech Cement Ltd and ACC Cement Ltd have made negligible progress on their projects in the state.
• In the power sector, the Independent Power Plants (IPPs) have generated employment for 964 people.
• Sterlite Energy Ltd has commissioned the first unit (600 MW) of its 2400 MW IPP, four other IPPs- GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, Monnet Power Company Ltd, Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd and Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) Ltd have started construction.

(Thaks to a reader for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Kumar Mangalam Birla-controlled Hindalco Industries plans to produce cans for beverages and food giants such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo from its plant at Hirakud in Orissa. The company has begun dismantling a closed plant of Novelis in Rogerstone, Britain, and intends to ship all key equipment to Hirakud.

The Hirakud expansion for beverage can-making is scheduled to be complete by October next year. “A project is underway for transfer of equipment for flat rolled products from the Novelis plant…this will enable us to produce can body stock for local and export markets,” said the company.

…

Hindalco would be using the plant and technology of Novelis to make cans’ body stock in India for the first time. Novelis is the world’s leading maker of aluminium rolled products, used for making cans.

About 45 per cent of Novelis’ shipment is beverage cans. It produces an estimated 19 per cent of the world’s flat-rolled aluminium products and is the number one producer in Europe, South America and Asia, and the second-largest in North America. It is also the world leader in the recycling of used aluminum beverage cans.

At Hirakud, the aluminium maker has a smelter capacity of 155 kilo tonnes per annum (ktpa). It is expanding this to 213 ktpa and building a 100-Mw captive power generation capacity. Expansion to 161 ktpa will be completed by July this year and the rest will be commissioned in October 2012.

Land acquisition for the expansion has been completed and statutory clearances obtained. The technology agreement has been finalised with GAMI. Equipment has started arriving at the site and erection begun, said the company in a recent investor presentation.

See also this article in Economic Times.

This is really great news. Odisha needs and should go after more and more downstream industries.

The above can be obtained by looking at the appropriate pages of this year’s pink book and last year’s pink book. Following are images cut from both.

From 2011-12 Pink book

Following are some observations based on the above:

1. Khurda Rd-Balangir: It seems 115.8 crores is expected to be spent on Khurda-Balangir line during March 2010-March 2011. This is close to the 120 crores that was allocated in the 2010-11 budget. So I am not sure why the budget was slashed to 60 crores. My guess is that last year they spent the money in building on the land they had already acquired. Now they need to acquire more new land to build and so until enough new land is acquired a lot of money could not be allocated for construction. The blame here lies with the railways for not anticipating in advance and not buying enough land in the previous years. The Odisha government should have also monitored this and prodded ECOR to buy enough land in advance. A bit of good news is that the budget speech explicitly mentions that Khurda Rd-Begunia will be completed this year.
2. Talcher-Bimlagarh: Last year the allocation was 50 crores. However, it is anticipated that 99.4-37.98= 61.42 crores will be spent on this during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is 66 crores, and the budget speech explicitly mentions that some part of this line will be completed this year.
3. Angul – Sukinda: In 2010-11 the allocation was 22.5 crores, out of which only 12.7 crores is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 27 crores (RVN) plus 169.15 crores (PPP). It is not clear where the PPP money is coming from. If it is from the Odisha government or Odisha industries then railways should not take credit for it.
4. Haridaspur – Paradeep: In 2010-11 the allocation was 101 crores, out of which 79.6 cores (=251.2-171.6 ) is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 10 crores (RVN) plus 169.15 crores (PPP). It is not clear where the PPP money is coming from. If it is from the Odisha government or Odisha industries then railways should not take credit for it.
5. Daitari – Banspani: I am not sure what the deal here is. This line is supposed to be complete. I don’t know why there is a 70 crores budget for this.
6. Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh: This line has an allocation of 10 crores and will be completed this year. Once that is done  Ispat Express should be extended to Lanjigarh Rd or Bhawnipatna and a Bhawniaptana – Bhubaneswar express should be introduced.

Now let us move to SER.

1. Jaleswar – Digha (41 kms): Last year 20 crores were allocated to it. But only 2 crores is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 150 crores. Also due to some modification in the plan the overall estimated cost has gone up from 255.11 crores to 533.63 crores. The modification includes a segment in West Bengal. It is not clear how much of the allocated 150 crores will be spent in the Odisha part and how much in the newly tagged on West Bengal part.

The overall new lines budget for 2011-12 is 733.4 crores. But if one takes out the PPP part then it is only 393 crores. And then, if the Jaleswar-Digha part is West Bengal centric and one takes 150 crores for it out then the total reduces to only 243 crores. Is Mamata Banerjee hoodwinking Odisha here?

See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3272 for how it compares with previous years budgets. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/4638 for a tabular listing of the new line budget over the years. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3202 for an old projection to the future.

This project was approved in 1993-1994 and since then very little progress has been made. In the 2010-11 railway budget, for the first time, there was a decent allocation of 120 crores towards this project.

Before the 2011-12 railway budget there were a lot of news that out of the allocated 120 crores 100 crores was returned due to non-utilization.

This seems to be a false news.

If one looks at the Pink Book at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,366,539,1056 one can note that by the end of the 2010-11 outlay this project would have spent 211.65 crores. (See below. There seems to be some typo on the total amount needed for the project.)

In last year’s Pink Book  that number till the end of 2009-10 outlay was 105.8 crores. (See above.) In other words between 2010 March and 2011 March 221.65-105.8 = 115.85 crores would be spent. This is close to the 120 crores that was allocated.

So unless I am missing something, the politicians are spreading misinformation and actually harming the cause of the Khurda Balangir line. Instead of making false claims that 100 crores was returned (and only 20 crores was spent) and blaming the state and central government, they should have stated that 115.85 of the 120 crores was spent; and now that both the state government and ECOR have shown the ability to spend almost 120 crores in the project, at least a similar amount should be allocated in this year’s budget.

Instead, for petty political gains they spread the wrong news and the aam janta who does not know the truth will think if the authorities could only spend 20 crores out of the allocated 120 crores, then its perfectly justified for the Rail budget to have only 60 crores for the project this year.

Unfortunately, we have bad politicians and many spreaders of false news and that has time and again harmed Odisha’s cause.

Having said all that, the Railway Board knew that 115.85 crores of the alloted 120 crores was going to be spent by March 2011. They should not have reduced the allocations to 60 crores for this year.

Now following are some excerpts from a report in Expressbuzz.com. It shows the misinformation being spread.

In lieu of the return of last year’s Rs.100 crore, she has sanctioned Rs.60 crore. Last year, Rs.120 crore was allocated out of which, Rs.100 crore was reportedly returned due to non-utilisation.

An earlier report, linked in a kddf posting, hopefully, gives some useful information on the land acquisition status.

… from Khurda Road to Balangir will pass through 32 bridges including the longest one over river Tel, 403 minor bridges, 11 tunnels — the longest being 1400 meters, besides 124 level crossings and 17 stations.

Land acquisition sources said land in 13 out of the 16  villages on Balangir side have been acquired. Paucity of funds has however hampered land acquisition in the remaining three villages, said Ganeswar Kanhar, Land Acquisition Officer.In 2007, compensation for 64 acres of land was given in eight villages.

Since then only six more villages could be surveyed as the proposal for land acquisition was kept pending till the first quarter of 2010. While the civil work would be taken up only after acquisition of land for the 50 km track is complete,  till now nearly 35 km is yet to be acquired. Kanhar said 36 km of civil work has been started on  Khurda side.

See http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/finance_budget/RailBudget_11-12/RailBudget_2011-12.pdf for the budget speech.

See http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,366,539,1056 for the pink book.

The new trains, extensions and frequency increases that may have stops in Odisha are:

1. Sealdah – Puri non AC Duronto (tri-weekly) [From Feb 2012]
2. Vivek Express: Dibrugarh- Thiruvanthapuram-Kanniyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar [From Nov 2011]
3. Vivek Express: Howrah-Mangalore Express (Weekly) via Palghat [New connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
4. Kavi Guru Expres: Howrah-Porbander Express (weekly) [From Nov 2011]
5. Rajya Rani Express: Jharsuguda – Bhubaneswar Express (tri-weekly) [From Nov 2011]
6. Visakhapatnam- Koraput Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Vizianagram [Much needed] [From March 2012; but only 2 days a week]
7. Howrah-Secunderabad Express(weekly) via Kharagpur [From Feb 2012]
8. Hyderabad- Darbhanga Express (weekly) via Muri-Jharsuguda-Nagpur [New connectivity] [From July 7 2011]
9. Howrah – Tirupati Express (weekly) [Summer special, regular from July 2011]
10. Puri-Shalimar Express(weekly) [Summer special, regular from July 2011]
11. Ranchi- Pune Express (bi-weekly) via Bilaspur [From Nov 16 2011]
12. Shalimar-Udaipur Express(weekly) via Katni, Kota [via Rourkela; new conectivity] [From Feb 2012]
13. Howrah-Mysore Express (weekly) via Gondia [New connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
14. Digha-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly) [From Feb 2012]
15. Puri-Gandhidham Express(weekly) via Durg [New connectivity] [From Nov 2011]
16. Howrah-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly) [Summer special, regular from July 2011]
17. Digha-Puri Express (weekly) [From Feb 2012]
18. Kharagpur-Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Vellore [Increases connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
19. Purulia –Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Midnapore, Kharagpur, Vellore [Increases connectivity] [From April 13 2012]
    
20. Howrah-Nanded Express (weekly) [New connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
21. Kendujhargarh- Bhubaneswar Fast Passenger ( 5 days a week) [Much needed] [From Nov 2011]
22. Koraput- Bolangir-Sambalpur Passenger (daily) [Needed] [From March 2012]
23. Baripada-Bangariposi DEMU [New connectivity] [From Nov 2011]
24. Sambalpur- Nizamabad Express to Nanded (18309/18310) [New connectivity] [From July 1 2011]
25. Rourkela- Bhubaneswar Express from 6 days to daily (18105/18106) [Needed] [From July 1 2011]

* Update (Not in the budget): Jammu Tawi-Hatia Express extended to Rourkela. [From Nov 12 2011] [New connectivity, Needed]

* Update (Not in this year’s budget): Bhubaneswar – Baripada Express extended to Bangiriposi [From March 2012] [Needed]

The items in red are ones that appear interesting to me. The reason they are interesting to me are given in square brackets. In particular, the budget brings new connectivity (from Bhubaneswar) to Mangalore, Calicut, Gandhidham and Mysore; (from Rourkela & Sambalpur) to Nanded; (from Rourkela & Jharsuguda) to Mysore and many en-route stations (possibly Hyderabad); the much needed VSKP-Koraput intercity express; and new connectivity (from ROU and JSG) to Hyderabad.

Now we go over the budget speech and extract all Odisha related parts from it.

6.  … During this year, we have met industry leaders, Chambers of Commerce and Industry to encourage investment in the specified areas of infrastructure, rolling-stock or service provision. Railways will provide economic share to our partners for such endeavours. With this objective, railways have developed several business-oriented policies for the first time. Some of these policy initiatives are:-

• i. Railways’ Infrastructure for Industry Initiative (R3i)
• ii.    Private Freight Terminal (PFT)
• iii.    Special Freight Train Operators (SFTO)
• iv.    Automobile Freight Train Operators (AFTO)
• v.    Automobile and Ancillary Hubs
• vi.    Kisan Vision (Cold Chains) vii.    New Catering Policy viii. Rail Connectivity to Coal and Iron ore mines (R2CI)

13.    Railways are already executing works either departmentally or through PPP/JV at Budge Budge, Dankuni, Naopara, Anara, Tindharia, New Cooch Behar, Kharagpur, Haldia, Guwahati and Kazipet. Work on the wagon factory in Orissa will also be taken up once the site is finalized.

 25.    I propose to set up more mechanized laundries for improving the quality of linen in trains at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Bhopal, in addition to Wadibunder, Tikiyapara, Kamakhya, Secunderabad, Kacheguda, Indore, Lucknow, Banaras, Samastipur, Sealdah, Tatanagar, Danapur, Bikaner, Bilaspur, Durg, Hatia, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, where they are commissioned or are being set up. Proposals for laundries at Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Gwalior, Manduadih, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri, Jammu, Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Tirupati, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Hubli, Bengaluru, Yashwantpur, Jabalpur, Allahabad, Mau, Amethi and Kota are also under examination.

28.    Madam Speaker, we had added only 10,677 km of new lines since independence. I had announced an ambitious target of 1,000 km of new lines in 2010-11. This is in contrast to average addition of 180 km annually. In the current year, we may do over 700 km, falling short of the target. But this would be almost double of the highest ever performance in any single year. Unless we set our targets high, we cannot realize the goals of Vision 2020. The hon’ble members will be happy to know that railways will be achieving its target of 800 km for gauge conversion, 700 km for doubling and 1,000 km of electrification.

Annual Plan 2011-12

30.    Madam, the Annual Plan for the year 2011-12 has been proposed at `57,630 cr which is the highest ever plan investment by the railways in a single year. The Plan is proposed to be financed through GBS of `20,000 cr, diesel cess of `1041 cr, internal resources of `14,219 cr, market borrowings of `20,594 cr through Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), considering its past excellent performance in the financial market. Normally IRFC raises between `9,000-10,000 cr annually for leasing of rolling stock. Next year, an additional amount of `10,000 cr will be raised through tax free bonds for financing select capacity enhancement works. Railways will ensure servicing this debt of tax-free bonds. Further, external source of financing through PPP, WIS etc is expected to yield `1,776 cr.

33.    In the last budget I had announced updation of surveys for 114 socially desirable new lines. Out of this 94 will be completed by March, 2011 and the remaining by December, 2011. I propose to take up construction of these lines in the 12th five year plan since this budget year is the terminal year of the 11th plan. Our dream is to bring about a social revolution through rail connectivity. We need political freedom along with economic freedom that will usher in prosperity for our millions of countrymen, more especially to the common man.

34.    Madam, we have proposed to create a fund to implement the socially desirable projects during the 12th Plan. Under the umbrella of this non-lapsable fund, not only will the pending socially desirable lines be completed, but many other similar new line projects would also be taken up. The scheme is being named, Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana. I am extremely thankful to the hon’ble Prime Minister for his support and guidance.

36.    Railways are already executing 19 projects in the similar difficult and underdeveloped areas in the States of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra and I propose to increase the allocation to these projects to `771 cr.

45.    I am now making an offer that whichever state ensures trouble-free train running for the whole year, shall be given two new trains and two projects as a special package.

50.    Upgradation of stations would provide safe drinking water, pay & use toilets, high-level platforms, better accessibility for the physically challenged among many other facilities at these stations. I would like to assure all the hon’ble members that all the suggestion for Adarsh stations given by them have been included in the following list of 236 stations. I will be happy to receive suggestions from the hon’ble members to add more stations.
Abhaipur, Acharya Narendra Dev Nagar, Achhnera, Alipurduar court, Alipurduar Jn., Ambalgram, Ambernath, Ambikapur, Anara, Asoknagar Road, Azimganj Jn., Baghdogra, Bagula, Bahadurpur, Baharu, Bahirgachhi, Bahirpuya, Bahraich, Balagarh, Bala Mau, Balarambati, Balgona, Ballalpur, Bamangachhi, Bamangram Halt, Bamanhat, Banarhat, Baneswar, Banka pasi, Bankimnagar, Banstala, Barabhum, Baragaon, Barasat Jn., Barhni, Barmer, Barsoi Jn., Basudevpur, Basuldanga, Batasi, Bathnakrittiba, Belakoba, Beldanga, Beliaghata Rd, Beliatore, Betberia ghola, Bhadaiyan, Bhadrak, Bhagalpur, Bhagwangola, Bharwari, Bhimgarh, Bidyadharpur, Bishnupur, Boinchi, Brindabanpur, Buniyadpur, Burnpur, Chanchai, Chamagram, Champa, Chandanpur, Chatra, Chatterhat, Chengannur, Chintamani, Chirimiri, Chitrakut Dham Karvi, Chowrigacha, Churu, Dainhat, Darjeeling, Daryabad, Dasnagar, Deoria Sadar, Deulti, Dhatrigram, Dhubulia, Dhulabari, Dildarnagar, Diva, Dubrajpur, Dumurdaha, Durgachak, Eklakhi, Ettumanur, Falakata, Fatehpur, Fatehpur Sikri, Gadadharpur, Gandhigram, Ghanpur, Ghoksadanga, Ghoragata, Ghum, Gidhni, Gobra, Guntur, Gurap, Harishdadpur, Harishchandrapur, Hasimara, Hindmotor, Hotar, Hridaypur, Hubli, Jabalpur, Jaganath Temple, Gate, Jakhalabandha, Jalor, Jamikunta, Janai road, Jangaon, Jessore road, Jhantipahari, Jodhpur, Jorhat Town, Joychandipahar, Kahalgaon, Kaikala, Kalchini, Kalinagar, Kaliyaganj, Kamakhyaguri, Kamareddi, Kanjiramittam, Kanthi, Karimnagar, Kathgodam, Kathua, Khagraghat Rd., Khajuraho, Khalilabad, Khemasuli, Khurja Jn., Kiraoli, Kishanganj, Kolar, Korba, Kotshila, Kulpi, Kumbakonam, Kunda Harnam Ganj, Kurukshetra, Kuruppantara, Labpur, Lohapur, Loknath, Lower Parel, Madarihat, Madhusudanpur, Majhdia, Malatipur, Malda Court, Malkajgiri, Manendragarh, Manigram, Maninagar, Mararikulam, Matigara, Mayiladuturai, Meerut City, Meghnagar, Mollarpur, Mulanturutti, Murarai, Nabadwip Ghat, Nabagram, Nagore, Nagrakata, Naimisharanya, Nandakumar, Narendrapur, Navsari, New Alipurduar, New Bhuj, New Cooch Behar, Old Malda, Palla road, Palsit, Panagarh, Pandaveswar, Panjipara, Patranga, Patuli, Phusro, Piravam Road, Pirtala, Prantik, Quilandi, Raghunathpalli, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajbandh, Rajgoda, Rajnandgaon, Ramrajatala, Rangiya, Ratangarh, Remount road, Rudauli, Rupnarayanpur, Sabarmati, Sadulpur, Sagardighi, Sakoti Tanda, Salanpur, Salboni, Salem, Sambre, Sankrail, Santaldih, Sardiha, Sasthankotta, Satna, Shahganj, Shalimar, Sidlaghatta, Simlagarh, Sirathu, Sitapur Cantt., Sivok, Sohawal, Sonada, Srinivaspura, Sukna, Sultanpur, Talit, Thanabihpur, Tildanga, Tiruppur, Tuticorin, Udhna, Vaikam Road, Vasco-da-gama, Vellarakkad.

52.    Out of the 160 MFCs announced, a few are completed and few are in the process of completion. I have given a special target to complete all the MFCs next year. I propose to set up more MFCs with budget hotels at Bangarpet, Secunderabad,    Amethi,    Ramnagar,    Ajmer,    Chandigarh,    Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram, Kamakhya, Gaya, Rae Bareli, Deoghar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Vellore, Kanyakumari, Srinagar, Sasaram, Bhagalpur, Panipat, Bhuj, Anand, Arsikere, Birur, Neemach, Ratlam, Azamgarh, Ujjain, Adra, Midnapore, Tamluk, Purulia, Thakurnagar, Sagardighi, Jangipur, Bahrampur, Nabadwip, Kulti, Bolapur, Diamond Harbour, Naihati, Kanchrapara, Hajipur, Islampur and Rohtak.

Golden Rail Corridor

55.    Madam, I am happy to announce that pre-feasibility study for the western leg (Delhi-Mumbai) of the Golden Rail Corridor would start early next year. The study is being undertaken with help from Japan, with the objective of raising speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph. Similar studies will be initiated for other corridors including Mumbai-Kolkata, Chennai-Bangalore, Delhi-Jaipur and Ahmedabad-Mumbai.

95.    In my last budget speech, 33 new line sections covering 1,021 km were identified for completion as compared to less than 200 km normally. I am happy to inform the House that we have taken a giant leap in completion of new lines projects. The progress of laying new lines will be further accelerated and in the year 2011-12, we are confident of exceeding a milestone of laying of 1,000 km of new lines. The sections which have either been completed or will be completed during 2010-11 are:-

• Bhawanipatna-Junagarh
• Khurda Road – Begunia

97.    The target for Doubling was fixed as 700 km for the year 2010-11 and I am happy to inform the august House that this target will be met. Sections which have either been completed or will be completed during 2010-11 are as under:-

• Barbil-Barajamda doubling

98.    The new lines sections covering 1,075 km proposed to be completed in 2011-12 are:-

• Part of Talcher-Bimalgarh

100. The following sections covering 867 km are proposed to be doubled in 2011-12 are as under:-

• Jharsuguda-Rengali
• Banspani-Jaroli

101. In the last two budgets, I had announced 251 updating surveys/new surveys for new lines/gauge conversion/doubling. Of these, the following 190 surveys have been completed or will be completed by the end of this financial year. These lines will also be taken up in the 12th Plan:-

• Raipur-Jharsuguda
• Barajamda-Tatina
• Gunupur-Theruvali
• Puri-Konark
• Sambalpur-Behrampur
• Jeypore-Malkangiri
• Navrangpur-Jeypore
• Banspani-Bimalgarh-Barsuan
• Digha-Jaleswar-Puri
• Bolangir-Nawapada

Rail Tourism

102. We have planned for rail business with Ministry of Tourism. If successful this year, we will expand the partnership. To improve look of twenty railway stations and its approaches, the cost will be shared on 50:50 basis. The stations are Hyderabad, Hospet, Agra, Rae Bareli, Belur, Varanasi, Kamakhya, Haridwar, Dooars, Gaya, Madurai, Tarapith, Thiruvananthapuram, Furfura Sharief, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Nanded, Puri, Tarakeshwar, Rameshwaram, Tirupati, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ajmer.

NEW SERVICES

Duronto trains
109.    The following new Duronto trains are proposed to be introduced:

iii.    Sealdah – Puri non AC Duronto (tri-weekly)

Vivek Express
113.    To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda which will be celebrated in 2013, I propose to introduce new trains called “Vivek Express”.

i.    Dibrugarh- Thiruvanthapuram-Kanniyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar
iii.    Howrah-Mangalore Express (Weekly) via Palghat

Rajya Rani Express
115.    I propose to introduce a new set of trains connecting state capitals with important cities/towns in those states:

ix.    Jharsuguda – Bhubaneswar Express (tri-weekly)

Express trains
117.    I propose to introduce following new express trains:

7.    Visakhapatnam- Koraput Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Vizianagram

8.    Howrah-Secunderabad Express(weekly) via Kharagpur

12.    Hyderabad- Darbhanga Express (weekly) via Muri-Jharsuguda-Nagpur

13.    Howrah – Tirupati Express (weekly)

15.    Puri-Shalimar Express(weekly)

16.    Ranchi- Pune Express (bi-weekly) via Bilaspur

20.    Howrah-Mysore Express (weekly) via Gondia

22.    Digha-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly)

35.    Puri-Gandhidham Express(weekly) via Durg

36.    Howrah-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly)

41.    Digha-Puri Express (weekly)

43.    Kharagpur-Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Vellore

45.    Purulia –Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Midnapore, Kharagpur, Vellore

55.    Howrah-Nanded Express (weekly)

Passenger services

118.    The following new passenger services will be introduced:

2.    Kendujhargarh- Bhubaneswar Fast Passenger ( 5 days a week)

3.    Koraput- Bolangir-Sambalpur Passenger (daily)

DEMU

119.    Following new DEMU services will be introduced:

19.    Baripada-Bangariposi

Extension of trains:

121.    The run of the following trains will be extended:

14. Sambalpur- Nizamabad Express to Nanded (18309/18310)

Increase in frequency of trains

122.    The frequency of the following trains will be increased:

7.    Rourkela- Bhubaneswar Express from 6 days to daily (18105/18106)

New Line Surveys

128. On the basis of requests received from the hon’ble members, state governments and others, the following surveys are proposed to be taken up in 2011-12:-

42    Paradip Port – Dhamara Port
43    Bhadrachalam – Kharagpur through Koraput-Talcher-Baripada

Railway Electrification

131.    The hon’ble members will be happy to know that railways would exceed the original XI Plan target of 3,500 route-km of electrification. In 2011-12, the following sections covering around 1,000 km are proposed to be electrified:-

i. Vizianagaram-Rayagada-Titlagarh-Raipur

I am very impressed by two things: 

(i) the popularity of the Malkangiri collector Vineel Krishna, and

(ii) the way the Odisha government handled the negotiation after the maoist abduction.

I will elaborate on this at a later point, but for now, please see http://ashok.name/?p=181, http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=5030 , and http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=5023.