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Following are excerpts from a report on this in sify.com.

Stemcor India, which is setting up a Rs 1,500 crore iron ore pelletisation project in Orissa, achieved financial closure, securing Rs 960 crore debt with SBI Capital Markets as the lead arranger.

Stemcor India, a subsidiary of Stemcor, the London-headquartered $5 billion steel trading major headed by Ralph Oppenheimer, will fund the remaining Rs 540 crore through equity in setting up a 4 million tonne pellet plant in Kalinganagar.

This will be connected by a 220-km slurry pipeline to Barbil, in Keonjhar district, the heart of private iron ore mining in Orissa, where a beneficiation unit would be located.

Senior Stemcor India officials said that with the financial closure, the first tonne of pellets would be out in 2009.

Several steel companies, already in Kalinganagar or implementing projects, have submitted letters of intent to source raw materials from Stemcor.

The demand is such that the order book for at least 75 per cent of the projected capacity has already been secured.

The company plans to set aside 25 per cent of output to be placed in the spot market to benefit from rising prices of pellets.

Officials said that while the prices of pellets would be on a negotiated basis with customers, lump ore price charged by NMDC Ltd, the state-run mining major, would serve as a benchmark price for the domestic market.

Kalinganagar is the destination for many steel companies like Tata Steel, Visa Steel, Bhushan Steel, Jindal Stainless, Murugappa group and Maharashtra Seamless.

Many of these companies, which do not have mining linkages, are obvious customers of Stemcor pellets.

… In the domestic market, smaller non-integrated steel plants, which typically have blast furnaces but no iron ore plant or sinter plants and do not have resources to invest in pelletisation, would source raw materials from Stemcor.

Also, metallurgically, a combination of lumps and pellets fed into blast furnaces can increase steel production substantially. The Orissa beneficiation and pelletisation project is Stemcor’s second plant after a 6 million tonne plant in Tasmania.

In 2000, Stemcor had entered into a joint venture with Essar for a pelletisation plant in Vishakapatanam but later sold a 51 per cent stake to Essar.

Following is an excerpt from a Pioneer report.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has decided to open a hotel at the river mouth at Chilika Lake. The corporation has identified a patch of 500 acres required to set up the resort to which the State Government has agreed, according to official sources. Earlier local hospitality groups like Mayfair, Holiday Resort and Marrion had procured land to set up hotels, near the proposed project site of IRCTC. The river mouth of Chilika Lake is situated in Babhukundeswar in Puri district. Notably, Chilika is spread over a area of 11,000 sq km in Puri, Khurda and Ganjam district and is India’s largest lake , which attracts huge number of tourists and also birds.

Following is a big excerpt from a New Indian Express report on this.

As many as 432 towers are about to be set up in remote areas of the State, where there is no mobile coverage, under the “Mobile Infrastructure Project” rolled out by the Union Department with the help of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

The fund has been generated from levy of 5 percent of revenue earned by telecom operators and is to be utilised on propagating affordable telecom services to people in rural and remote areas.

The number is part of the total 7,871 towers planned for India through the ambitious project.

Half of the 432 towers would be complete and operationalised by March 2008.

Telecom majors like BSNL and Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd. (RCIL) have shouldered the responsibility in creating the infrastructure for increasing penetration by erecting the towers. The State has been divided into four clusters with BSNL taking charge of the Coastal, Northern and Western Orissa with 316 towers and RCIL to erect the rest 116 in southern Orissa.

Controller of Communication Accounts, Orissa, and project administrator Kamalakanta Panda said the project entailed two parts, one installation of passive infrastructure like erection of towers and equipping it with necessary things and power and the next where service providers would utilise the tower by installing their equipment to provide signals.

The USOF would be extending Rs 1.5 lakh subsidy per site per annum to RCIL and Rs 0.75 lakh to BSNL till five years. “The whole objective is to give increase teledensity in rural areas. It was realised that subsidising only fixed line services would not be effective and hence, was decided to extend it to mobile services. The subsidy would mean an investment of about Rs 100 crore in Orissa over the duration,” Panda said.

Joint Commissioner Kashinath Jha said that at present around 75 percent of Orissa was covered by mobile connectivity. This initiative would increase coverage up to over 95 percent. The rest would be taken care of during implementation of the Phase -II where thrust would be on expansion of broad band connectivity in rural areas. The phase is likely to go underway within six months.

• http://orissagov.nic.in/rti/index.htm
  
• http://orissasoochanacommission.nic.in (has details on decisions given by the SIC)
• http://orissarti.com/  (campaign for RTI site)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

The team:

Ronibala Chanu, Prashanthi Pradhan (goalkeepers); Gulti Choudhry, Ansha, Madhukumari, Alochana Senapathi, Jayanthi Barua, A. Romidevi, Thoi, Gitanjali Khuntia (defenders); Pinki Magar Bhompal, O. Bembem, Geetarani Chanu, Amoolya Jayaram, Gayathri Mallick, Lalvermoi Hmar, Sasmita Malik, Rinku Ghosh (mid fielders), N.C. Bala Devi, Shilpi Deb, Domiaka, S. Vasanthi, Jagdeep Kaur (strikers).

Following is from Dharitri.

Following is an excerpt from a New Indian Express report on this.

Hotel Hindustan International Group announced its arrival in the city with HHI Bhubaneswar having 104 luxury rooms in four different categories, a spa, banquet, dedicated swimming pool and a lawn over a sprawling 11,000 sq ft.

The star hotel which promises to provide quality services is looking to tap the ever-growing business class travellers from across India and abroad. For a start, each room will have plasma TVs, Wi-Fi connectivity and toilets with four compartments besides other amenities.

The hotel, at Kharvela Nagar where once another such property stood, has seen an investment of Rs 50 crore and boasts of a total makeover.

It has a dedicated “kebab centre” called “Kebaabs Unlimited”, a 24-hour multi-cuisine restaurant “Flavours”, “The Lounge Bar” besides business centre facility. Underground, a party floor, will soon add to the charm. HHI Bhubaneswar is the group’s third unit …

Jaiswal said that the group was planning a beach resort at Puri and is in talks with the Orissa Government for this.

A similar article appeared as an op-ed in Samaja about a month back.

Following are excerpts from an Economic Times report on this.

Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited on Friday said it plans to enhance capacity of its proposed steel unit from 0.3 MTPA to 2.5 MTPA and apprised the state government of the same.

The company’s managing director Sandeep Jajodia, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here, told reporters an integrated power project and a small steel unit in Orissa would be set up with an investment of Rs 4,200 crore.

The company had already acquired 450 acre out of its total requirement of nearly 1200 acre at Mangalapur, nearly 30 km from Cuttack, Jajodia said.

He said that the company’s proposed 1,000 MW thermal power plant was expected to be commissioned within three years.

“We have already acquired land for the purpose. Construction work for the project would start within 12 months after getting some more land,” Jajodia said, adding that the company would sign another MoU with the state government relating to capacity enhancement of its steel unit.

He said the company would first go for the power unit before starting the steel project. …

Following is extracted from a report in New Indian Express.

1. A package for the handicraft sector with the intention to woo the artisans on the eve of the Durga puja.
2. Lifting of the ban on recruitment, leading to 36,000 new hirings in the near future. (The salary expenditure for so many employees would be around Rs 600 crore per year leaving aside other entitlements.)
3. The first announcement made by the Chief Minister was the Rs 600 crore Biju K B K Yojana to be implemented over a period of five years from 2006-07.
4. Next came the move to placate the coastal Orissa voters with the announcement of Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana. The programme to be implemented over a period of five years had an estimate of Rs 600 crore.
5. Naveen also announced to electrify 100 villages every year that are not covered by Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Bidyutikaran Yojana at a cost of Rs 100 crore.
6. Waiver of cooperative loans for the farmers.
7. Incentives for the doctors.
8. A separate agriculture package.

The first Panatloon store in Orissa opens in Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneswar. It is next to Trupti petrol pum and its address is

Suruchi Commercial Complex, Plot No. 29 & 35, A/B, Janpath, Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneshwar – 751 018

Following is an excerpt from a report in Statesman on this.

Pantaloons Retail (India) Limited (PRIL) today inaugurated its first Pantaloons outlet in the capital city. Spread over 58,000 square feet area, the store adds a new dimension to life style retailing and houses a range of Pantaloons brands like John Miller, Lombard, Urbana, RIG and UMM.

… The store will have all of its popular sections like sportswear, ladies cosmetics, perfumes, accessories, handbags and toys.

Some more details from a New Indian Express report.

Multiple shop-in-shop outlets as “eZone” electronics section, “Depot” section for books, music, gifts and stationery, “Planet Sports” for sportswear, “Blue Sky” for watches and sun glasses, “Wellnes?”, “aLL” for plus size people and the “Food Bazaar”. …

Head of operations (East) Sandeep Marwah said the store would primarily cater to the middle and upper middle class segments while its sister unit “Big Bazaar” has been branded as a common man’s mall. There would not be any clash of interests among the two retail stores of one company as both have different consumer targets and showcase entirely different product ranges, he observed.

Following is from their web page.

The Orissa Watershed Development Mission (OWDM) is an autonomous State level agency constituted under the Department of Agriculture, Government of Orissa, responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring all Watershed Development programmes in the State. The OWDM was constituted by the Govt. of Orissa as a registered Society and came into existence on 30th June, 2000. Recognizing the importance of Watershed Development as a platform for poverty alleviation, the Government of Orissa created the OWDM to give a “Strategic Mission” focus to the programme. The mission is intends to provide the required focus, coordination and operational flexibilities in implementation of watershed concepts and approaches in the State.

Vision

To bring about social and economic transformation of the people in the State of Orissa by creating an enabling environment for development of sustainable natural resources, effective social mobilization and people centered institutions through Watershed based approaches.

Mission

To facilitate sustainable rural development in the State through watershed movement with a focus on marginalized and vulnerable rural sections of the society through sustainable initiatives, bringing in convergence in various developmental efforts, establishing new processes and practices, encouraging innovations through learning, building people-centered institutions and play catalytic role in the processes and policy formulation with the sole objective of improving livelihood options of the community with efficient natural resource management.

The OWDM acts as a facilitating organization with a responsibility of creating knowledge and resource by collaborating with the Agencies having expertise in various aspects of Watershed Development and functioning in a integral part of the Govt. of Orissa having adequate operational autonomy regarding interpretation of guidelines and accountability for improving the quality and process in watershed development programmes.

Programmes:

IWDP: Integrated Wasteland Development Project (IWDP), a Centrally Sponsored scheme of GoI, Ministry of Rural Development, is being implemented in 23 districts of the State. 501 micro-watersheds are currently under implementation, of which, 246 projects sanctioned prior to 1.4.2000 were with 100% grant from GoI. After 1.4.2000, the funding pattern between Government of India and State Government is in the ratio 11:1 at the new cost norm of Rs.6000/- per Ha. The total outlay of these projects is Rs.14807.15 lakh for treatment of wasteland area of 2.78 lakh Ha.

DPAP: Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), a Centrally Sponsored scheme of GoI, Ministry of Rural Development is being implemented in 8 districts of Orissa covering 47 identified drought prone blocks. 800 micro watershed projects are currently under implementation, of which, 192 projects sanctioned prior to 1.4.2000 were with funding pattern of 50:50 basis between GoI and State. The remaining 638 projects have been sanctioned after 1.4.2000 with the funding pattern of 75:25 basis at the new cost norm of Rs.6000/- per Ha. The total outlay of these projects is Rs.22740.25 lakh for treatment of 4.23 lakh Ha.

ACA: Out of Additional Central Assistance (ACA) of Planning Commission under Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) for KBK districts (Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Bolangir, Sonepur, Kalahandi and Nuapada), 314 micro watershed projects have been taken up in KBK districts since 2002-03. The total outlay of 314 micro watershed projects is Rs.10057.00 lakhs with a treatable area of 1.67 lakh Ha. This programme aims at drought proofing and improving the moisture regime in 314 micro watersheds with a view to improving agricultural productivity.

CDP: Coffee Development Programme for small growers in Koraput and Rayagada districts was taken under the RLTAP for KBK districts since 2002-03. The programme aims at providing gainful employment and a sustainable livelihood to tribal farmers through Usufruct / Dafayati rights enabling them to grow and own a small plantation of higher remunerative crop. In the first phase 2000 Ha (1000 hectare in each district) were programmed. Now, additional plan for expansion of this programme to another 8000 Ha. 4000 hectares in each district has been approved by Government for implementation. The total outlay of this programme is Rs.6721.21/- lakhs.

NWDPRA: National Watershed Development Projects for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA) is in operation in the State since 1990-91 with a broad objective of resource management for enhancing of agricultural productivity and production to bio-mass on sustainable basis and restoration of ecological plans in rainfed areas.

RVP: River Valley Project (RVP) is being implemented in the catchment of inter state River Valley Project namely Hirakud, Machkund-Sileru, Rengali-Mandira and Upper Kolab with a view to combat land degradation problems and to prevent silt inflow into the reservoir. It is now proposed to continue treatment to saturate 29 ongoing watersheds and start treatment of 7 nos. of new watersheds at an outlay of 497.84 lakh over an area of 9720 ha.

Following is some background on the WORLP from their web page.

WORLP

Western Orissa Rural Livelihoods Project (WORLP) works in four districts of the east Indian State of Orissa. The project was inaugurated in August 2000 by the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Naveen Pattanaik. Full-scale field implementation activities began in October 2001. The four project districts; Bargarh, Balangir, Kalahandi and Nuapara are among the poorest in India. Health indicators are poor, there is a shortage of safe drinking water and drought recurs regularly. Inequitable social structures, distorted land distribution, indebtedness, and gender and other inequities contribute to the widespread poverty in western Orissa and impede access by poor and marginalised people to resources.

Supporting new patterns of rural development, WORLP contributes to reducing poverty by promoting livelihoods initiatives for the poorest. The livelihoods approach adopted by WORLP focuses on building, and working with, people’s existing strengths and resources. The approach is about informing, enabling, initiating and empowering appropriate choices for long-term well being. It involves all sections of rural society across caste, class, gender and other divides.

WORLP, a Government of Orissa initiative, is managed by the Orissa Watershed Development Mission. It is a joint venture of the Government of Orissa and DFID – the UK Department for International Development. Technical assistance to the project is provided by NR International of UK.

Samachar reports that Infosys is uncertain about growth in Bangalore and Mysore. They are actively looking at alternative arrangements.

Perhaps, Orissa’s IT sector can provide an attractive proposal to Infosys. This can provide employment about 22,000 directly speaking.

Earlier we mentioned the Shipyard proposal by Bharti shipyards and the Apeejay Surendra group. Following are some more details, excerpted from a Kalinga Times report.

Orissa is all set to have a shipbuilding factory at Charidiha near Dhamra mouth in Bhadrak district of the State. It will be the first such private sector venture in eastern India.

The Apeejay Surrendra Group and Bharati Shipyard Limited would set up the ultra-modern ship-manufacturing factory jointly with an investment of Rs 2,200 crore.

The factory will have both ship-manufacturing as well as repairing facilities. The project would create job opportunity for 41000 people directly and indirectly. …

Work on the project will commence in middle of 2008 and the same would be implemented in three phases to be completed by the end of 2013.

The growth taking place in the steel sector in Orissa would be of great helping for the shipbuilding factory.

In the first phase, 75000 tonnes of steel will be used for establishing the ship making factory. In the second phase, the project will require 2,30,000 tonnes of steel, and 4,50,000 tonnes in the third phase.

The government said that the company would also set up an industrial training centre at Dhamra area to train its prospective employees.

Dhamra has already been news as the Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL), a joint venture of L&T and Tata Steel, has already started groundwork for setting up of a deep port at the Dhamra mouth.

…

The Apeejay Surrendra Group has also expressed its willingness to set up a research and design centre and a Knowledge Park at Bhubaneswar, the government said.

The Knowledge Park would have a school as well as higher education on subjects such as business management, hotel management, fashion designing, food technology, and nutrition science and nautical science.

Following are excerpts from a report in the New Indian Express.

Bhubaneswar: … L V Prasad Eye Institute here on Wednesday opened three new specialised eye centres. They are ‘Centre for diabetic eye disease,’ ‘Centre for sight enhancement’ and ‘Eye trauma centre.’

… The ‘Centre for diabetic eye disease’ would play a critical role in attending to diabetic patients suffering from visual disability. It is estimated that about 5.7 million people in India alone suffer from ‘diabetic retinopathy.’

It is preventable and can be treated. All that a diabetic individual needs to do is consult a physician in such centre for annual retinal examination and early detection of diabetic retinopathy. Such a step would significantly reduce the risk of visual loss in diabetic individuals.

National Thermal Power Corporation has donated about Rs 2 crore for setting up the three centres. The ‘Centre for sight enhancement’, similarly, promises quality treatment for children suffering from low vision. Estimate suggests that about 2.70 lakh children in India suffer from this defect.

In fact, congenital conditions such as ‘hereditary macular degeneration,’ ‘congenital glaucoma’ and ‘congenital eye’ anomalies account for the majority of visual impairment seen in children.

With the opening of the ‘Eye trauma centre’, the hospital aims to provide a comprehensive one stop care to patients with eye injury. Over a period of time, the institute plans to extend this to a 24X7 service, as in most of the accident cases, one needs immediate treatment to salvage the vision.

On the occasion, L V Prasad Eye Institute director Dr T P Das said the institute is contemplating to set up a school for eye care professionals in the next five years.

The institute provides 25 percent of outpatient services and 40 percent surgeries free of cost.

Following is an excerpt from a New Indian Express report on this.

Expanding its business portfolio, the Kolkata-based Saraf Group, promoters of Forum Mart shopping malls, has now decided to set up a titanium plant at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district.

The plant will be set up over 600 acres of land at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in collaboration with the Russian Government. Production is likely to start by 2009- end.

This was disclosed by Saraf Group chairman S M Shroff while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday. He said the project had received approval of the State Government and an MoU would be signed soon. The company had already acquired 200 acres.

He also announced setting up of two more shopping malls in the State, buoyed by the success of Forum Mart here. Both the malls – to come up in the Capital city and in Berhampur, would also have four-screen multiplex. The projects are likely to be completed by 2009-end.

Rediff reports that the new SEZ policy has been announced by the Govt.

Excerpts”

The National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement, 2007, which was cleared at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, provides for land-for-land compensation, besides preference to affected families for jobs in projects coming up on their plots.”“The new policy seeks to make those entitled for compensation stakeholders in development by allowing them to take up to 20 per cent of the amount in the form of shares if the acquiring entity is authorised to issue these instruments.

“With prior approval of the government, this proportion can be as high as 50 per cent of the rehabilitation grant and compensation amount,” the Rural Development Ministry said.

The policy discourages speculative transactions of land acquired for public purposes. As a relief for developers, 30 per cent land can be compulsorily acquired by states for the promoters while the rest has to be bought by them.”

Reliance has welcomed this policy. It remains to be seen what implications this has on POSCO which wants SEZ status for it’s project.

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

Effecting a major change in its schedule for Bhubaneswar, Air India has reduced the flights CD-7541 and CD-7542 on the Bangalore-Chennai- Bhubaneswar- Kolkata route to four days a week. In fact, it has obliterated Bangalore from the route.

The flights would, from October 11, ply only on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The flight CD-7541 would now depart Chennai at 10.05 am to land in Bhubaneswar at 12 noon. It would take off for Kolkata at 12.30 pm and land there at 1.25 pm.

Flight CD-7542 would take off from Kolkata at 2.30 pm to arrive Bhubaneswar at 3.25 pm. It would proceed to Chennai at 3.55 pm and land there at 5.50 pm. The daily flight IC 7479 connecting Delhi, Ranchi to Bhubaneswar has also been downgraded to five times a week.

The flight from Thursday would ply only on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. It would take off from Delhi at 4.55 pm to touch down at Ranchi at 6.40 pm from where it would leave at 7.10 pm and arrive in Bhubaneswar at 8.00 pm.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Orissa, one of the major coal producing states in India, would get a second ultra mega thermal power project to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 16,000 crore.

The Union power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, made this announcement …

Shinde said he had discussed the proposal with chief minister Naveen Patnaik today and he had agreed to it.

The Union minister did not specify the location of the proposed ultra mega power project.

However, he said it would be set up somewhere along the coastal belt.

This would be the second ultra mega power project in the state. Earlier, a 4,000MW ultra mega power project to be set up in Sundargarh district was cleared by the Centre.

Shinde said the entire coal required for the second ultra mega power project would be exported from abroad, while captive coal block had been allotted for the first plant.

Land and other inputs like water would be provided by the state government, said the state energy minister, Surya Narayan Patro.

The Centre has proposed to have 10 ultra mega power projects across the country with a capacity of 4,000MW each to bridge the gap in meeting 11th plan capacity addition target.

… “We will achieve the 78,579MW power addition target in the current Five Year Plan. The government would invest Rs 10,00,000 crore to achieve the capacity addition target and we would try to cross this target in this plan period,” he said.

Following are some excerpts from a report on this in Kalinga Times.

The milk products as well as horticulture and agro products of OMFED will now be available at petrol pumps of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) across the State.

The operation was launched at the Bhamra IOC petrol pump at CRP Square of the city on Tuesday soon after a memorandum of understanding was signed between

OMFED and IOC. Similar milk parlours will be opened at other places in due course.