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Telegraph (kolkata) reported the following.

Laxmipur is a hamlet in the hills in the wild western part of Orissa. It was unheard of by tourists even a decade back. The launch of the 160 km-plus Koraput-Rayagada line put it on the map of those willing to go off the beaten track.

The new line branches off the Kirandul-Visakhapatnam route through the Araku Valley, covering Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The tracks were laid mainly for transportation of minerals mined in the region and development of tribals who populate the stretch.

The route, with numerous waterfalls and over 40 tunnels, is one of the most picturesque in the country. The 1.5-km tunnel near Tikri is the longest on broad gauge tracks in India. There are also more than 50 bridges.

At an altitude of 3,000 ft, Laxmipur is surrounded by thickly forested hills. The forest envelops even the station, which is 3 km from the village. It is deserted after evening, when wild animals often drop by.

According to the station master, a stray dog that lived in the compound was carried away by a leopard in front of his eyes. Bear, hyena, wild boar, neelgai, sambar and peacock are some of the other inhabitants of the forest.

Several streams gurgle through mango, jackfruit, mahogany, tamarind, sirish and akashmoni trees to merge with rivers like the Marbeguda, Apreboda and Godlam. There are several water bodies which are frequented by animals. Tribals constitute the only human presence.

Clouds stretching several kilometres hang over the hilltops from monsoon to winter. This has earned Laxmipur the epithet of Darjeeling of Orissa. Nights can be cold even in August-September.

Damonjodi, Kakrigumma, Tikri, Rauli, Lilligumma, Bhalamaska and Kentuguda are some of the stations near Laxmipur that are also known for their wild natural beauty.

The largest bauxite mine in India is at Damonjodi. Bhalamaska was named after bears that overrun the forest.

There are many places of tourist interest in the vicinity. Koraput, Kolaba, Gupteswar, Duduma and Chitrakoot and Tiratgarh falls are worth a visit.

Going

Howrah-Koraput Express touches Laxmipur. If you are staying at Rayagada, get off there. Cars are available on hire for the 60 km-plus journey to Laxmipur.

Staying

Rayagada and Koraput have plenty of hotels. Contact the divisional forest officers at Rayagada and Koraput for government-run accommodation. There are also a few lodges at Laxmipur, along the Rayagada-Koraput road.

NOTE: This region needs more advertisment, it has all the ingredients to be one of the best tourist distinations for nature, water fall and wild life lovers. Aditionally, the region is also popular for tribal tourism.

Railway budget 2008-09(PDF):

• 75% of Railways goods traffic moves on about 20,000 km of the railways’ high density network, coal and iron ore routes and port connectivity railway lines.
• Coal is the mainstay of Railway’s freight traffic. Loading of coal in 2007-08 is likely to be 336 MT. Most of the new dedicated routes for coal movement will be fit for 25 ton axle load trains.
• The Railways receives 120 MT traffic from the steel industry every year.

Odisha is a major contributor to above two, coal and steel sectors, from which Indian railway makes a large share of profit and East Cost Railway is second most profit making zone of Indian railway.

However, in social responsibiltiy Railway has contributed little towards backward region development programme like for Kalhandi Balangir Koraput Kandhamal region.

• There is no new line proposed for Odisha during this budget.
• Based on demands, the following surveys are proposed to be taken up in Odisha:

Junagarh-Ambaguda
Barbil-Banspani
Kantabanji-Navrangpur-Jeypore
Khurda Road-Rajatgarh

Note:

(1) Survey has no meaning unless it is approved by railway. Junagarh – Nabarangpur was under consideration since years (from early 1990s, but no survey was under taken till now)

(2) Khordha road – Balangir was approved in 1993, but not yet started properly

(3) Lanjigarh road – Junagarh was approved in 1990 with initial estimate cost 250 crores, the project in not yet completetd by near about two decades.

(4) Bimalgarh – Talcher, on the ground no progress has been made since approval.

Economic times report the following.

Ganjam district of Orissa ranking second in the country in implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), officials and local representatives from Chhattisgarh are on a visit to the district to learn mantras of perfect administration.

Pragativadi reported that land acquisition for Talcher Bimalagarh railway line is delaying the project.

NDTV reported the following.

"Orissa topped the chart claiming almost 30 per cent of the total investments announced during the last quarter of 2007-08 totaling to Rs 3,25,285 crore," a study named ‘Statewise Investment’ said. India Inc lined up investment plans of about Rs 92,035 crore in Orissa during Jan-Mar 2008, with Rs 45,000 crore flowing to steel sector alone, it added. According to the study, Orissa is followed by West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh with the capital expenditure of about Rs 67,361 crore and Rs 58,226 crore respectively. The mineral rich states are attracting huge investments in sectors such as oil and gas, steel and power, Assocham President Sajjan Jindal said in a statement in New Delhi.

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

Till recently, most families migrated to other areas to make a living. This went on till the villagers learnt how to conserve rainwater through watershed development.

Usually, the rainwater would drain off or simply dry up. Now, the community along with the Orissa government and NGOs has started watershed programmes to conserve water in wells, man-made ponds and bunds. The state government has set up a Watershed Development Mission — the first of its kind in India — to take up livelihood and community development programmes.

At the village level, watershed committees implement the programmes. The good thing is, women too have come to the forefront as agents of change. They have formed self-help groups (SHG) to supplement their income.

Malati Sabar’s is one such family in Suklimundi village, Nuapada. They used to migrate to brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh every year. Now, Malati collects mahua flowers to supplement her income while her husband, a small farmer, grows an annual paddy crop on their two-acre plot. Malati has also become a member of an SHG that retails kerosene. Recently, she took a loan from the SHG to buy a goat. "My life has changed ever since the watershed programme was introduced here," says Malati.

In western Orissa, the watershed programme is being jointly implemented by the government and Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government under the Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLP). "We are following a ‘watershed plus’ approach. The aim is to give people more livelihood options besides agriculture," says Sarat Behra, project director, Watershed Commission, Nuapada.Villagers say they are earning more from the same field and it’s regular income too. Moreover, they now have the option of both farm and non-farm activities in their villages. This has curtailed the seasonal distress migration.

Tunu Sabar of Larki village was one such migrant who would go to Andhra Pradesh during the lean season. "Hardly any work was available here. We couldn’t irrigate our fields or grow crops. Most of us went to Hyderabad, Bhuban-eshwar, even Surat to work in brick kilns or as labourers," he says. Life at the brick kilns was tough. Each family got Rs 5,000 as advance from the sardar along with a weekly food allowance. In the end, the sardar took his cut and the migrant was left with almost nothing. But now life’s looking up. Tunu now grows paddy, onions, vegetables, sunflowers etc, on his two-acre patch. He has built a low-cost onion storage area and his kaccha house has been replaced by a pucca one. He has a motorbike and even a telephone.

Similarly, Jamuna Sabar, a widow from Malpada village, used to work as a coolie during the lean months while her son went to Surat as a labourer. Now, they have dug a pond that helps them grow paddy and vegetables. "We plan to diversify our crops and start pisciculture too," says Jamuna.

Common cause

Watershed development is not just about livelihood but also capacity building. Awareness levels among villagers have gone up and community mobilisation is more easy. Ambahal village in Baragarh is a good example. Here, the watershed development community got together to shut the liquor shop so that the village could get aid from NGOs. "We realised we couldn’t get money unless everyone got together. So we shut the liquor shop. Now we are working to spread education, build roads, control malaria etc," says Kamilini Patnaik, chairperson, watershed development committee. Moreover, the community makes sure the development work touches the poorest first and then trickles up. The central government is now planning to replicate this success story in other states as well.

The Statesman reported the following.

The new industrial policy of the state is laying primary importance on agro-food processing, IT, bio-technology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, garments and textile, said state energy, IT and culture minister Mr Surya Narayan Patro.

Economic Times reported

Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) will invest about Rs 2,500 crore to set up a greenfield steel plant besides two power plants in Orissa.

With a cash outlay of Rs 2,500 crore, the group plans to set up a greenfield stainless steel plant in Orissa, a 45-MW captive coal-fired power plant and a 250-MW coal based independent power plant in Orissa,” CMD FACOR R K Saraf said here.

Contradicting earlier speculation of slow progress between the state Government and ADGC on IT center in the state capital area, today “The Pioneer” reported that

“The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) has evinced interest to set up an information technology centre in the city or its outskirts. The process to acquire the required 40 acres of land for the Dhirubhai Ambani IT Centre is on. After the ADAG submitted the proposal, the Orissa Computer Application Centre has forwarded it to the State-run Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).”

It also added

“the representatives of ADAG have inspected three places in Jatni and two places in Khurda for identifying the land, according to IDCO sources.”

The Pioneer reported that

In order to expedite works at rural level, the State Government has decided to give more powers to the Block Development Officer (BDO). The BDOs can sanction project up to Rs 2 lakh without getting the prior approval from the Chairman of the Block. A notification to this effect was issued on Wednesday.

Earlier, the BDO was competent enough to sanction a work upto Rs 25,000. If a BDO wanted to give a project more than Rs 25,000 to any one, he had to take the permission of the chairman of the block. The chairman had to make a counter sign on the bill.

The Pioneer reported that

Tata Steel has converted a wasteland into an attractive park and dedicated it to the citizens of Joda valley in Keonjhar district on the occasion of its centenary year.

A couple of years back this barren wasteland by the side of the main road in Joda was just a parking place for trucks or grazing field for the animals.

Kalinga Times has a more elaborate article on this.

Following it an extract from a report from Ecomic Times.

The $7-billion metals-to-power group , Vedanta Resources, on Friday invited companies to build cement plants in Orissa near its thermal power facilities by using fly ash, a by-product of burning coal and a key ingredient for making cement. Vedanta said it will keep open the option to partner prospective companies in the venture.

Vedanta has asked interested companies to submit plans by the first week of September. The fly ash will come from the coal-based power plants owned by Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources.

According to Vedanta’s statement, the power plants will generate about 8MT of fly ash. Industry experts said that a tonne of fly ash produces an equal amount of cement. But the by-product from Sterlite’s plants may also be used to feed brick manufacturing units and other ash utilising units in and around Jharsguda, said executives.

Sterlite had recently floated an energy subsidiary – Sterlite Energy – to build thermal power plants in Orissa’s Jharsguda district, with a combined capacity of 2,400 MW.

The power plants, to be built at an investment of $2 billion, will come up by 2009, Sterlite had announced earlier. Sterlite had earlier this year raised about $2 billion in the US market, to be mainly used for funding the power projects.

Economic Times reported that

Larsen & Toubro, the country’s biggest engineering firm, will invest around Rs 400 crore in its proposed three million tonne alumina refinery joint venture with Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) in Orissa. It further said that "The total project cost would be Rs 15,000 crore. L&T would do the engineering, procurement and construction job for the project, which would cost around Rs 5,000 crore. The first phase of the plant at Rayagada with 1.5 million tons capacity is scheduled to be operational by 2010. In another similar report Zee News reported that Dubal will have the majority 74 per cent stake in the venture and the remaining 26 per cent will be with L&T.

The Statesman reported that

Priority will now be given on modernisation of stations and other passenger amenities, said Mr. Surendra Singh Khurana, general manager, East Coast Railway.

During his recent visit to stations like Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Berhampur, Mr. Khurana informed that the air-conditioning of booking office and PRS complex in Berhampur station will be completed soon and added that necessary development to the second class waiting hall will be taken up. A second two wheeler stand shall be constructed to free congestion in the existing stand and a proposal was underway for the construction of a washable apron at Berhampur station, along with development of platform no. 4 with foot over bridge (FOB) and second entry.

Proposals shall be processed for the frontage of Khurda Road including circulating area, more numbers of retiring rooms, VIP room on the second floor of the existing station building, stated Mr. Khurana. Lingaraj temple road station will be updated as a modern sub-urban station. Balugaon station will also be taken up for modernization this year.

An amount of Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned for Khurda Road division for undertaking various developmental works, which includes Rs 12.1 crore for traffic facility works, Rs. 10.4 crore for level crossing and Rs 7.5 crore for passenger amenities, informed Mr. Khurana.

Following is an excerpt from an Economic Times report.

Vodafone Essar has silently kicked off the groundwork in the run-up to launching greenfield cellular networks in six new circles – Orissa, Bihar, Assam, North East, Himachal Pradesh and J&K – where the licences are held through its wholly-owned subsidiary Vodafone Essar Spacetel (formerly, Essar Spacetel). For starters, the company’s project offices in Bhubaneswar, Patna and Guwahati are abuzz with activity these days.

Though Vodafone Essar Spacetel’s staff strength in these locations is skeletal, team leaders are trying to assess the appetite for cellular services in these eastern markets that are currently serviced by four GSM service providers – Bharti Airtel, BSNL-CellOne, Reliance Telecom and Dishnet Wireless.

Times of India mentioned that 

Orissa government has asked the Arcelor-Mittal group to reassess the land requirement for its proposed greenfield steel project in Keonjhar district.

A similar report was also published in Business Standard saying that

Worried over the resistance of the people to land acquisition and allegations of land grabbing by industrial houses in the name of setting up industries, the Orissa government intends to make realistic assessment of the land requirement of various industries interested in setting up manufacturing facilities in the state. In the process, the government has decided to take a re-look at Arcelor-Mittal’s land requirement for its proposed 12 million-tonne-per-annum steel plant in Keonjhar district’s Patna Tehsil. This follows a presentation by the company to the state industry department officials on the project.

The company has sought 8,000 acres for the project, which includes land for construction of a 750MW captive power plant and a civil township. However, all indications are that only a ‘reasonable’ piece of land will be given to the company.

Hindustan Times reported that,

the Orissa government is examining a proposal from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a 4,000 to 6,000-megawatt capacity nuclear power plant, which could be the largest in the country, which today has a total nuclear power generation capacity of only 4,120 MW.

The project is being proposed in the wake of the US government’s offer of technology under the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

“The NPCIL made their initial selection of the site based on satellite images,” Orissa Energy Minister Suryanarayan Patro told Hindustan Times on Monday.

A nine-member committee of NPCIL had visited Bhadrak and Ganjam districts for site selection and had finally selected Pati Sonapur in Chikiti Block of Ganjam,he said “They have asked the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation to drill six deep borewells as part of their investigations,” he said.     

The Pioneer reported,

“Another Alumina plant is in the offing. L&T and Dubai-based Dubal Company will set up an Alumina plant at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore at Kushumshila in Rayagada.

Representatives of both the companies met the Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy on Monday and held a detailed discussion. at the State Secretariat.”

Financial Express has more details on the proposed alumina plant.

Business standard on 24th May wrote,

“The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) board has in principle given approval to Rs 9869-crore modernisation and capacity expansion plan of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP)”

Telegraph added,

“The annual hot metal capacity of the plant will be raised to 4.5 million tonnes. A technology upgradation exercise will be undertaken to increase the production of crude steel and value-added steel, improve product quality and reduce energy consumption.”

Asian Age reported that the Orissa government has set an ambitious target to collect Rs 6,000 crore revenue during the year 2007-08. If successful, it would mean an increase of Rs 1,542 crores over the previous year.

The revenue earning which stood at Rs 1,168 crores in 1999-2000, has improved a lot in the past seven years. In the year 2006-07, the state government earned Rs 4,458 crores.

Financial Express reported that the Kerala government is gearing up to set up Rs 4,000-crore coal-based thermal station in Orissa.

Kerala goverment may soon sign MoU with Coal India Ltd and Orissa government for the new venture. The proposal is for generating 1,000 mw power annually for 25 years.

Tyre and Accessories reports the Applo Tyres group plans to invest Rs 4,000 million in expanding health care venture. At present the company is looking at a number of prospective cities including locations in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Vadodara, Coimbatore, and Bhubaneswar.

Economic times reported that Tata’s proposed multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) in Gopalpur is finally set to get the green signal from the government.