___________

(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.

The approval of TIE Bhubaneswar Chapter was posted in http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/invest_bbsr/message/1027. The TIE Global web page is http://www.tie.org/. TIE Bhubaneswar facebook page is here.

On the visit of Cupertino Mayor, following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

… Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has joined hands with Cupertino City of California.

BMC mayor A N Jena on Wednesday signed a letter of intent (LOI) with his Cupertino counterpart Gilbert Wong here to explore the possibility of establishing a "sister city" tie-up between Bhubaneswar and Cupertino city. "This will help BMC understand the functioning of the foreign civic body as well as improving our operation," Jena said.

"Besides the exchange of expertise in the functioning of both the civic bodies, the Cupertino-Bhubaneswar Sister City Initiative will facilitate exchange of ideas and resource in areas of education, healthcare, environment, trade, culture, tourism, technology and urban planning," Cupertino mayor Wong said. "The initiative will soon be cleared at the Cupertino City Council meeting," he added. The details about the exchange programmes would be chalked out soon, Wong remarked.

Cupertino City recently established the "sister city" status with Hsinchu city of Taiwan, Ivrea in Italy and Toyokawa in Japan.

It is for the first time that BMC entered an agreement with a foreign civic body for logistic support. "BMC took the initiative to rope in Cupertino City Council, following a visit by some government officials to the US last year," BMC commissioner Vishal Kumar Dev said.

Wong’s visit came close on the heels of the tour of some foreign delegates of Washington State India Trade Relation Action Committee (WASITRAC) to Bhubaneswar for a similar "sister city" tie-up last November. But no such pact was signed.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

Steel players pay Rs 2041 cr tax to Centre, Rs 1038 cr to state

… the steel sector in the state has recorded an investment of Rs 51940.67 crore till the end of December 2010.

…The 50 steel companies that have inked MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government have generated direct employment for 21508 people besides creating indirect jobs for 52448 others.

Out of 21508 people engaged in the direct route, 14217 are from within the state and the remaining 7291 outside Orissa. In the indirect employment category, 38122 people from the state have got jobs and 14326 persons have been sourced from outside the state.

According to the state steel & mines minister Raghunath Mohanty, 29 out of these 50 steel firms have begun partial production, achieving a sponge iron output of 6.24 million tonne per annum (mtpa) and steel capacity of 7.79 mtpa.

These steel units have achieved a CPP (Captive Power Plant) capacity of 1062 MW and have spent Rs 61.21 crore on peripheral development till the end of December last year.

Among the steel investors who have made significant investments in the state are Bhushan Steel Ltd-Dhenkanal (Rs 12000 crore), Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd-Sambalpur ( Rs 7000 crore), Jindal Steel & Power Ltd-Angul (Rs 8470.96 crore), JSL Ltd-Kalinganagar (Rs 5367.59 crore), Essar Steel Orissa Ltd-Paradip (Rs 5077 crore), Adhunik Metalicks Ltd-Kuarnmunda (Rs 1740 crore), Visa Steel-Kalinganagar (Rs 1626.83 crore) and Tata Steel-Kalinganagar (Rs 1302.60 crore).

The units that have started partial production are Aarti Steels Ltd, Adhunik Metalicks Ltd, Visa Steel Ltd, Shyam DRI Power Ltd, Sree Metaliks Ltd, Jain Steel & Power Ltd, Eastern Steels & Power Ltd and Bhushan Steel Ltd to name a few.

…The envisaged capacity of all the steel companies, that have signed MoUs with the state government, is 83.66 mtpa and the state has attracted investments worth Rs 2.30 lakh crore in the steel sector.

Following is from Samaja:

On the education side Odisha must ask for the following:

• A campus of ISMU in one of the mining hubs of Odisha.
• A tribal university and a branch of the IGNTU.
• A central agricultural university in a backward district in Odisha, along with other such districts in India.
• A National Sports University/Institute in Rourkela/Sundergarh with a branch in Kendrapada.
• A rural engineering institute like SLIET Longowal, ABAGKCIET Malda, and CIT Kokrajhar.
• An IIM. (If more IIMs are being established.)
• Upgradation of VSSUT to an IIEST.

See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/5859, http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/6076, and http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/6091 for the reasoning that can be used to push for these.

Update on 3/19/2011: Jet adds a daily direct flight to Mumbai between 3/27/11 and 10/29/11.

Few years before, before Jet bought Sahara, the latter used to fly Bhubaneswar-Delhi, Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Chennai and Bhubaneswar-Kolkata routes. After Jet bought Sahara, Sahara was rechristened as Jetlite and Jetlite flew those routes but it then cancelled the first three and last year Jet Airways flights at Bhubaneswar only included two daily Jet Konnect flights between Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. 

So it is good news that in March 2011, Jet will start new Jet Konnect services in the routes of Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar-Delhi and Bhubaneswar-Raipur. The outgoing flight timings of these flights are:

With these additions come April the daily flight connectivity for Bhubaneswar increases to:

• Bhubaneswar-Delhi: 6 flights (Air India, Indigo -2, Jet Konnect, Kingfisher Red -2)
• Bhubaneswar-Mumbai: 3 flights (Air India, Indigo – with one stop at Hyderabad, Kingfisher Red); Jet Konnect has two good connecting flights with short connection times. (Update: 4 flights till 10/29/11; Jet introduces a Jet Konnect flight.)
• Bhubaneswar-Kolkata: 4 flights (Jet Konnect -2, Kingfisher Red-2)
• Bhubaneswar-Hyderabad: 3 flights (Jet Konnect, Indigo-2)
• Bhubaneswar-Bangalore: 3 flights (Indigo – with one stop at Hyderabad, Jet Konnect, Kingfisher Red)
• Bhubaneswar-Chennai: 1 flight (Air India), Jet Konnect has a good connecting flight with short connection times
• Bhubaneswar-Raipur: 1 flight (Jet Konnect)

The above data in a matrix form is as follows:

Following is an excerpt from a report in DNA.

After giving clearance to Chiria mines and Korean giant POSCO’s steel plant s on “developmental” grounds, the environment ministry under Jairam Ramesh has once again been pushed to the backfoot — this time by Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Steel & Power.

The ministry on Monday announced it was withdrawing its earlier threat to withdraw environmental clearance to Jindal’s Rs25,000 crore steel and power plant in Angul, Orissa.

The ministry had, in November last year, sought cause as to why the clearance may not be withdrawn after it was proven that Jindal had started work on the project before getting forest clearance.

“The ministry, while according the environmental clearance, stipulated the specific condition: “no construction activity shall be initiated till the approval for the 168 hectare forest land is obtained… Serious non-compliance with the stipulated environment conditions reported above mandate commensurate action,” the ministry had said in its November order.

In the new order, the ministry seems to have accepted Jindal’s contention that the ‘no construction’ condition in the clearance was merely a well intentioned ‘advice’ and not a legal requirement.

The firm argued that the condition was there only to make sure that Jindal would not lose money on initial construction if the forest clearance ulitmately failed to come through and the project had to be abandoned.

It argued that “this clause is only intended to prevent the expenditure involved from proving to be infructuous if the diversion of forest land involved is not approved,” pointing to an “office memorandum” of the ministry.

As both stages of forest clearances have been obtained, Jindal Steel & Power pointed out, there is no case of withdrawing its environmental clearance.

The ministry too seemed to accept the ‘office memorandum’ agreement, abandoning its earlier stance that Jindal had violated clearance conditions.

“A circular has been issued by the Ministry on 6 January 2011 [after the show-cause notice was issued] .. that if a project involves forest as well as non-forest land, it is advisable that work should not be started on non-forest land till approval.. for the release of forest land has been given,” it noted in its final order.

Following is an excerpt from a report in expresstravelworld.

Deccan Charters and TajAir have recently joined hands to form a marketing alliance called Powerfly. The alliance includes Capt GR Gopinath’s Deccan Charters, IHCL owned charter services TajAir and Business Jets India (BJETS) and is poised to connect as many as 500 airports in India with the extensive charter services. Capt Gopinath, CMD of Deccan Charters, said, "The aim of setting up Powerfly is to tap the top of the travelling pyramid, providing seamless experience to international travellers. With Powerfly, we will be able to provide hassle free travel to any location in the country with complete end-to-end solutions." Powerfly services will be active from February 14, 2011 operating from eight cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Jammu.

The Powerfly alliance fleet will have 16 Deccan Charter crafts, and four crafts each of TajAir and BJETS, bringing three Hawker 850XPs and the Cessna Citation CJ-2, along with the P180 Avanti and the Falcons. Deccan Charters will take over the maintenance and operations of the BJETS crafts. Deccan Charters will also be the exclusive marketing concessionaire for BJETS aircraft in India and will work on developing, expanding and consolidating the market across the country through Powerfly. The combined fleet will be available through various programmes including ad hoc charters and memberships, loyalty programmes that extend across all three brands and the various hotels of Taj, and membership options. "People can buy hours and utilise them according to their needs. We aim at tying up with major charter operators in Middle East, Europe and Singapore. We are also looking at fractional ownership in these international destinations and are currently in talks with the government to allow the same," added Capt Gopinath.

The web pages of the three participating companies mentioned above are:

• Deccan Charters
• Taj Air
• Business Jets India (BJETS)

Among these Deccan Charters shows a map of its major operations.

What the above map and the list of eight locations in the Powerfly list suggests is that Bhubaneswar is one of the eight places in the country where a lot of charter flying happens. This is partly because of the development and growth happening in Odisha and partly because of the lack of airports in Odisha with regularly scheduled commercial airlines. Considering that a lot of charter flying happens by business houses, this means Bhubaneswar and Odisha are among the top 7 (Jammu is more for tourists) places in the country with ties to top business houses. While most of them are eying our mineral resources, Odisha should make efforts to cajole them to put positive long term legacies (such as Vedanta University) in Odisha.

Following are excerpts from a report in Telegraph.

The proposed bridge from CDA Square up to Trisulia and Baranga, which is said to be longest and first of its kind three-lane bridge in the state, would act as ‘direct-link’ between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

… “The distance between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar would be reduced by 10km after the completion of the project. Efforts are on by the government for the all-round development of Cuttack and I hope the new project would be completed on time,” Naveen said.

… With the construction of the second bridge, one would have to cover a distance of only 20km from CDA square to Jaydev Vihar via Nandankanan and Trisulia. The length of the bridge would be 2.8km and it would also have footpaths for pedestrians and cycles on both sides and dividers and railing. The cost of the total project was estimated to be around Rs 122crore.

… The project, to be built in assistance of National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), is expected to be completed within three years.

The three-lane bridge would not only solve precious time of the people, it will also create new vistas for development in Barang and nearby areas which are also in an expansion mode. The project has been targeted to be completed within three years from the date of agreement with the company, Pradhan said.

… Apart from this, there is also a proposal to construct another bridge over Mahanadi river. The bridge would connect Pitapali area near Khurda with Dhenkanal on NH-5 via Manguli square. The existing route distance would be reduced to 71.5 km from 93km. The project is also likely to take off soon.

The last paragraph is confusing. Pitapali, Dhenkanal and Manguli Square form a triangle. It could mean the proposed bridge near Jatamundia in the following map.

Or, as suggested by reader Debi Prasanna Sarangi, it could mean the bridge over Mahanadi in the following map. (Note: The point where NH-5 meets NH-42 is called Manguli Square.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

Editors and News Heads of leading Oriya and English newspapers and television channels have expressed their deep concern over the rising number of attacks on media persons in the state.

… The Editors expressed surprise over the fact that police had not taken any action on an elected member of the ruling Biju Janata Dal despite leading a brutal attack on Pipili-based journalist Rajat Ranjan Dash a week ago. They said it strengthened the perception that the state government was against Media Freedom. 

The Editors and News Heads resolved to join hands to ensure the Media responds as one when faced with such challenges.

I have read many news items on attacks on media persons in Odisha and these (the attacks) need to stop.

However, I think, one aspect is missing from the response.

One needs to analyze the reason behind the attacks and address the root cause. I think one of the root cause behind the attacks is that some people or organization rightly or wrongly feel that they have been unfairly portrayed by some media. Now if someone feels that way, what is their recourse.They can of course go to the courts and sue for libel but the courts in India and Odisha are too slow and by the time they process the case the aggrieved person incurs a lot of damage.

Many do not know that there is another outlet. They could file a complaint at the Press Council of India. See http://presscouncil.nic.in/complaints.htm . That is a lawful outlet and thus there is absolutely no reason for people feeling aggrieved by media coverage to resort to violence and become a criminal.

I would suggest the MUFP to highlight this option in their articles and releases so that this outlet becomes well known. It will act as a safety valve and protect them from physical harm.

The media in Odisha does an outstanding job (and in trying circumstances) in keeping various people with power  and influence in check. The threat of media exposure of their misdeeds and/or high handedness constrains the people with power and influence.

However, with "media unity" where media people follow the unwritten code of not exposing each others misdeeds (which may be rare but is not zero), many people and organizations feel helpless against what they think as being victimized by some media.

Sometimes these people and organizations react to this in bad ways:

• I was told one organization had signs made saying "Dogs and reporters of XYZ are not allowed". (XYZ is a media house in Odisha.)
• Similarly recently there were reports of some police officials behaving badly with media person of a particular media organization.

My point is that the Odisha media as a group needs to also refelect on their own conduct and publicize venues such as http://presscouncil.nic.in/complaints.htm and humbly tell people that they are not above criticism or mistakes and if someone feels that they have been wronged by media then they have an outlet such as http://presscouncil.nic.in/complaints.htm which they can approach.

This will greatly enhance the respect of common people towards media and towards the job they do as the fourth pillar of democracy. It will also greatly enhance their safety.

I explored some of the reports of the Press Council of India by googling "Press Council of India Orissa" and found some interesting reports. From reading them it seems that indeed they are a fair organization and their process is impartial. Following are some links to read.

• http://presscouncil.nic.in/Decisions/decision05/5.htm
• http://presscouncil.nic.in/Decisions/agiant_press/12.htm
• http://presscouncil.nic.in/Decisions/9.htm
• http://cyberjournalist.org.in/archive/council.html.

Following is from a PTI report in dnaindia.com.

Exactly eight years after the ministry of environment and forest accorded stage-I forest clearance to Ong Irrigation Project, the Orissa government has decided to go ahead with the major project to be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs305 crore, official sources said.

"Notification for land acquisition for the Ong project has already been made. The state government has also made budgetary allocation for the purpose," water resources secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra told reporters after holding a discussion with the local MLA and state’s Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Minister Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha.

Stating that the project would irrigate about 30,000 hecatre of land in Bargarh district, Mohapatra said that public hearing for the pupose was conducted both in Orissa and
neighbouring Chhatishgarh state.

The drought prone area of Padmapur, Sohela, Bijepur, Gaisilat blocks of Padampur in Baragarah district and Agalpur block of Balangir district would get irrigation facilities after completion of the project, Mohapatra said.

While Rs10 crore was allocated for the project in the current fiscal, Rs 15 crore could be sanctioned in 2011-12, Mohapatra said adding that there was apparently no opposition to the project in Bargarh’s Padmapur area.

While the Stage-I Forest clearance had been received from MOEF during February, 2003, the public hearing for environment clearance was conducted on August 6, 2004 in Orissa and on September 11, 2007 in Chhatisgarh.

The salient features of the project given at http://dowrorissa.gov.in/Projects/MajMed/Proposed/Details/SFONG.pdf are as follows:

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The construction of a 75-km ring road circling the capital is likely to begin in two months. 

… Sources said in the first phase of the project a 13km road would be built from Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital Square to Lingipur near the Daya Bridge on the outskirts of the city.

With tenders having been finalised, the work is likely to begin in the next two months. Sources said that the project will be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 35.09 crore and would be completed in two years. 

… the ring road would help address the communication needs of the city besides acting as a buffer against occasional floods. All the major roads of the city would join the ring road at one point or another.

… once the road materialised the traffic congestion between Rasulgarh Square and Samantarapur would be reduced significantly. This will be an additional support to the National Highway-203 bypass road, which is bearing the brunt of the traffic currently.

… Foundation stone for two more feeder roads, which would ultimately join the ring road, was also laid yesterday. While one of these would involve two-laning of an existing road between Kalpana Square-Jagannath Ashram, the other one would be a four-lane road stretch from Ravi Talkies Square to Sai temple. …

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

… The first preparatory meet for Nabakalebara was chaired by Chief Minister, was attended by P K Mohapatra, RDC, U N Behera Principal Secretary Home, Aditya Prasad Padhi Principal Secretary to CM.

… A Four Lane National Highway is progressing from Bhubaneswar (Rasulgarh) to Puri (Sipasarubali) with almost half the road will be new alignment. 

Meeting decided to approach National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) to develop Four Lanning of Puri-Konark and Puri-Satapada Road. 

Secondly at least seven roads will be taken up for Four Lanning, which include Pipili-Konark, Charichhak-Niali-Phulanakhara, Balighai-Gop, Pipili-Jatnai, Chandanpur-Rameswar, Bira Harekrishnapur-Talabania and Bira Harekrishnapur-Rahangiria Roads.

… There is a need for creating more hotel and lodging rooms, for which appropriate Government land has to be provided to the promoters adopting transparent procedure.

The following maps show the location of some of the names mentioned above.

One interesting point to note is that Puri district’s area is 3,479 sq. km, which is comparable to Goa’s 3,702 sq km. Population wise they are also comparable. Goa’s population is 1.4 million while Puri district’s population is about 1.5 million.

Past the Nabakalebar in 2015, the Odisha government may think of building up on the infrastructure and try to benchmark Puri district with respect to Goa. It may also consider to make it a special district with some special laws that will allow it the flexibility to become as big a tourist hub (or bigger) than Goa, minus the negatives.

Following is from Dharitri:

Following is from a report in ibnlive.in.com.

• Of the total Rs 3,400 crore investment proposals approved by the SLSWCC, Rs 2,870 crore would be in the steel sector …
• SLWCC approved a proposal from Tata Steel to set up a re-bar mill and a hi-carbon ferrochrome unit at its Gopalpur SEZ in Ganjam district. The steel major would invest Rs 800 crore in the project … this time the company had been asked to use water through the process of desalination, Ramachandru said. While the Tata Steel was planning to manufacture 4 lakh metric ton of re-bar mill per annum from its re-bar mill unit, it would produce 55,000 metric tons of hi-carbon ferrochrome at the Gopalpur SEZ to be set up by the company.
• Other steel units included
  • a 0.6 mtpa integrated plant at an investment of Rs 925 crore by Shyam Steel Industry
  • Sri Bajrang Power & Ispat company’s 0.12 mtpa steel plant at an investment of Rs 500 crore
  • another 0.21 mtpa plant at an investment of Rs 645 crore by Rupa Ispat
• Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation Limited’s proposal for setting up an ore benefication plant at Koeda in Sundargarh district at an investment of Rs 423 crore was also okayed
• Kashivi International’s proposal to set up an iron ore pellet plant at an investment of Rs 56 crore was also cleared
• Binani Cement Limited which had initially decided to set up a cement plant at Dhamra in Bhadrak district had been allowed to shift its unit to Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Orissa government’s water resources secretary Suresh Mohapatra said: “We have information that the Chhattisgarh government is building a number of annicuts and not barrages across the upper stream of Mahanadi. We had taken up the issue. We found out that the annicuts would not pose any threat to Orissa.”

Mohapatra said: “Orissa will not have any problem even if the Chhattisgarh government builds 100 barrages. We are using only a small quantity of water from the Mahanadi river system. Mahanadi basin is a surplus water basin. In the last 25 years, the water flow has more than doubled. Only 30 per cent is used for irrigation purposes and 10 per used for industry. The remaining 60 per cent goes down stream. The water should be used purposefully.”

The government officials said the state government has been able to maintain the water reservoir capacity on the Hirakud reservoir by discharging excess water.

The water reservoir level in Mahanadi stands at 630 feet and it comes down to 590 feet in summer.

This is important as many groups oppose all kind of things in the name of lack of water in the Mahanadi basin and spread all kinds of misinformation. In general Odisha has plenty of water; what it lacks in many parts is proper distribution systems for this water.