___________

(This is another in the series of articles about future urban agglomerations and hubs in Orissa. Earlier we wrote about Berhampur area, Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area and Rourkela area. Now lets turn our focus to North Orissa.)

The more I think about the Rasgovindpur airport the more it seems that this area has a high potential of becoming a fine urban agglomeration. Following are some of the things that are going for this area.

• Population Base: Baripada has a population of 143,355 and Balasore has a population of 126,179. Jaleswar has a population of 22,000. My guess is that the triangular area covering them would have a population of 400-500K.
• Ports: As shown in the above map, five ports are being planned near this area. They are Chudamani, Inchudi, Bahabalpur, Kirtania and Talsari. Aditya Birla group signed MOU for Chudamani, IL&FS is interested in Inchudi, Bahabalpur is iffy as it needs DOD approval, Creative ports has signed an MOU for Kirtania and JSW is interested in Talsari.
  • An important aspect of ports is that they bring in additional infrastructure such as roads and railways and thus a whole bunch of jobs.
• Expressways: The GQ part of the expressways will pass through this area and the Howrah-Mumbai expressway will pass 20-30 kms to the North. Once the ports are operational there would be plan for a connecting expressway between the above two and it will pass through the heart of this area.
• Railways (Rupsa-Baripada-Buramara-Chakulia): Balasore is a major stop in the Howrah-Chennai line. Jaleswar is a smaller stop in that line. Baripada now has rail connectivity which is going to improve further with the starting of the Baripada-Buramara-Chakulia line and also the broad gauge conversion of Baripada-Bangiriposi.
• Railways (Jaleswar-Digha): Survey has been done before for Jaleswar – Digha. Moreover, with proposed ports at Talsari and Kirtania a railway line connecting Jaleswar to all those is going to happen soon.
• Name Recognition via Chandipur: Chandipur has world wide name recognition for the ITR missile testing range there.
• Similipal national forest and Biosphere: It was recently named as a UNESCO biosphere.
• Beautiful beaches: Chandipur and Talsari are beautiful beaches close to this area. Digha in West Bengal is also close by.
• Proximity to IIT Kharagpur: Kharagpur will be an hour away on the expressway.
• Universities and Colleges; private initiatives: Balasore and Baripada each have a university in FMU and NOU and they both have good general colleges in FM College and MPC College. There are 5 private engineering colleges in Balasore area, 1 more near Baripada and 1 more in nearby Bhadrak.
• Plan for an airport: The planned airport in Rasgovindpur will bring all these areas together. Besides serving the immediate area this airport will be convenient for IIT Kharagpur. If IIT Kharagpur starts using it as its gateway airport then it can be persuaded to invest near the airport in perhaps making an extension center.
• Plastic cluster in Balasore: The central government has approved a plastic cluster in Balasore.
• Local leadership: The only central minister from Orissa, Srikant Jena is an MP from Balasore. He also happens to be an extremely intelligent person and a smart politician (in a good way). He has already pushed for a plastic cluster in Balasore. His presence in the central government, gives this area a huge plus for at least the next 4 years.

The above are some of the points that are going  in favor of this area. The local people are also very active in demanding things for the area. Currently people from both Balasore and Baripada are demanding a medical college for the area. That is definitely a need. The following news item from today’s Samaja highlights the demand of the Baripada people. Few months back several thousand people from Balasore had demonstrated in Bhubaneswar for a medical college in Balasore.

Update: Expressbuzz also reports on this.

Following is from today’s Dharitri.

From the above, and its actions in the past, it seems that Orissa government’s future plan in terms of airports are:

• Make an international airport in Bhubaneswar. (Shifting to the new location will take another 10 years.)
• Make an airport in Jharsuguda to cater for Bargarh-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela belt: Will take 2-3 yrs to be operational.
• Plan for an airport in Jeypore: Will take 8-10 years to be operational
• Plan for an airport in Rasgovindpur (near Jaleswar, close to Balasore and Baripada): Will take 8-10 years to be operational

Couple of implications of the above are: Berhampur and Rourkela may not get functional airports in the near future (say next 10 years) as they are close to airports at Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda respectively. The overall airport situation in Orissa in 10 years will be as follows:

Now lets analyze how feasible the airports at Jeypore and Rasgovindpur will be.

• Jeypore: It is 258 kms from Visakhapatnam by Rail and 224 kms by road. It is 378 kms from Raipur; 450 kms from Jharsuguda and 520 kms from Bhubaneswar. It will be at the junction of two expressways and thus would be able to serve a large population in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.
• Rasgovindpur: It will be 30-40 kms from Balasore and Baripada; 70-80 kms from Digha; 80-90 kms from Kharagpur mostly on the expressway; 90-100 kms from Bhadrak mostly on the expressway, close to two expressways; 200kms from Kolkata airport;  210-220 kms from Tatanagar and 260-270 kms from Bhubaneswar. (Tatanagar being only 170 kms from Ranchi may not have a viable commercial airport for some time. Kharagpur being 120 kms from Kolkata will not have a viable commercial airport for a long time.) Thus it is far enough to the nearest airports in Bhubaneswar and DumDum (Kolkata), but at the same time there are enough population centers (Balasore, Baripada, Bhadrak, Digha, Kharagpur, Medinipur, Jhargram, Ghatsila) that will be close to this airport than the existing airports. So this aiport could serve a significant population in Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Update2: Picture of the Bhubaneswar airport upgradation plan. Courtsey: tathya.in.

Update: Excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

… the Chief Minister talked to the Chairman AAI at length and reportedly acceded to the demand of the AAI to bear the cost of Rs.25 crore needed for both land and infrastructure.

815 acres of land is needed for the purpose.

Secondly power, water and road infrastructure is required to be provided free of cost.

So the financial implications will be coming around Rs.25 crore, which will be borne by the State Government, said sources.

State Government and AAI will sign a MOU for development of the airport.

 

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

Airports Authority of India (AAI) seeks 800 acres of land to set up airport in Orissa’s Jharsguda. This was said by AAI chairman, VP Agarwal at Bhubaneswar.

… He also informed that AAI likely to invest Rs 150 crores in Biju Patnaik airport for the establishment of a new terminal building at Bhubaneswar.  … Moreover, work for the proposed terminal building start from April next year he added. The new terminal building would be designed to accommodate 1000 passengers and it would be centrally air-conditioned.

Following are excerpts from a report in expressbuzz.com.

the Government has distributed over 86,000 titles under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, by December second week. … close to 90 per cent of such titles is in 15 Maoist-affected districts. To be precise, 78,011 titles have so far been distributed in these areas.

… Forest Rights Committee received a good 3,22,590 claims of which 2,86,006 were verified and sent to gram sabhas.

The gram sabha-level committee approved 2,13,666 claims recommending them for titles to the sub-divisional-level committees which verified the cases and in turn sent 99,868 claims to the district-level committees (DLCs). Finally, the DLCs gave a green signal to 88,136 claims for issue of title.

… Of the 86,878 titles distributed yet, 13,321 titles are in Malkangiri alone. …

“It’s very important to note that 17 per cent of these title certificates so far distributed in the 15-affected districts are in Malkangiri alone which at the same time account for 25 per cent (31,570 acre) land.

… The trend shows in Koraput too. The number of title certificates so far been distributed stands at 13,203 which translates into 21,784 acre land. …

For other Maoist-affected districts like Gajapati, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sundargarh, the rate of title distribution is very high.

… Interestingly, of 1,38,004 acre land for which title certificates have been distributed, 1,25,401 acre are in tribal districts of Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Rayagada.

So far, 3,551 primitive tribal groups have been issued the titles accounting for over 5,559 acre land.

To get KBK out of backwardness governments at the center and states have had packages for KBK, but they have not helped that much. The following suggestion by Jibanendra Mohanty in Orissa Today is a very good suggestion. Our government should pursue it.

Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal  have made significant progress on Industrialization during the last few years, via the Special Industrial Package provided by the Government of India. Most of the Industries set up in recent times  are in  Manufacturing/Engineering/ Agro-products/ Drugs & Pharmaceuticals/ Computer Hardware, etc  not dependent upon mining operations.  The high lights of these Industries are  a) they need small land parcels i.e.  areas of 1 to 10 acres, b) they provide  employment ranging from 50 to 1000 persons/unit.  These Industries do not need mining operation, do not need  high  water consumption nor do they create  major problem for Ecology and Environment. These Industries have made significant impact on the  employment & economic front and on  all round development of the States.

 The existing  special  package is valid up to end of 2010 and the States have already started lobbying for extension of the said package up to 2020.

Now the Question is why such special Industrial package is not being provided  for the KBK region of Odisha??

The above is a very good idea. Some links on special industrial package for Himachal Pradesh is here. Links for special industrial package for Uttarakhand is here and here. 

The Orissa state government should pursue this. In Koraput and Kalahandi the focus can be on downstream industries and Balangir which is very well connected by Rail as well as by NH the focus could be on all kinds of industries.

I was going through the report "ASSOCHAM Placement pattern study" and in that report it categorizes cities into various tiers. I wonder how it does that. It does not seem like it is done based on population. Following are some excerpts from that report.

SAMPLE SIZE
The study has covered employment trends across 33 prominent sectors located in 6 tier-I, 17 tier-II cities and 33 tier-III cities.

…

Tier I cities:
Among the tier I cities Delhi NCR and Mumbai recorded highest share in job creation with 34.06 per cent and 13.48 per cent share in total job creation respectively, during April to October 2009-10. But as compared to the April to October 2008-09, Delhi NCR registered 23.42 per cent decline in job creation whereas Mumbai registered 3.28 per cent
growth in job creation.

Employment scenario in Tier I cities (April – October 2009-10)
Tier I cities Share in %age Growth in %age as compare to the 2008-09
Delhi NCR 34.06 -23.42
Mumbai 13.48 3.28
Bangalore 10.70 -18.48
Chennai 5.59 -11.25
Hyderabad 5.36 19.33
Kolkata 4.27 64.82

Other tier I cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata registered 10.07 per cent, 5.59 per cent, 5.36 per cent and 4.27 per cent share in total job creation respectively, during April to October, 2009-10. But as compared to the April to October 2008-09, Kolkata and Hyderabad registered 64.82 per cent and 19.33 per cent growth in job creation, whereas Bangalore and Chennai registered 18.48 per cent and 11.25 per cent decline in job creation respectively.

…

Tier II cities
As per the analysis, 17 major tier II cities recorded 18.82 per cent share in total employment generation during April to October 2009-10. Among the tier II cities, Pune and Ahmedabad recorded 5.46 per cent and 5.01 per cent share in total job creation respectively, and registered 6.29 per cent and 21.50 per cent growth in job creation as compared to same period of last year.

Top five Tier II job creating cities (April – October 2009-10)
Tier II cities Share in %age Growth in %age as compare to the 2008-09
Pune 5.46 6.29
Ahmedabad 5.01 21.50
Chandigarh 1.95 21.58
Surat 1.13 137.02
Lucknow 0.82 0.82

Among the other major tier II cities Chandigarh, Surat, Lucknow and Gandhi Nagar recorded 1.95 per cent, 1.13 per cent, 0.82 per cent and 0.80 per cent share in total job creation during April to October 2009-10 and registered 21.58 per cent, 137.02 per cent, 92.66 per cent and 38.48 per cent growth in employment generation over the same period of last year.

Other tier II cities which had major share in employment generation during April to October 2009-10 were Jaipur (0.68 per cent), Vishakapatnam (0.50 per cent), Patna (0.41 per cent), Indore (0.33 per cent), Nagpur (0.32 per cent), Cochin (0.32 per cent), Ludhiana (0.28 per cent), Bhubaneswar (0.25 per cent), Bhopal (0.21 per cent), Amritsar (0.18 per cent) and Gwalior (0.17 per cent).

Tier II cities, which registered major growth in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compare to the same period of 2008-09 were Vishakapatnam (115.21 per cent), Indore (60.00 per cent), Bhubaneswar (49.49 per cent), Jaipur (28.74 per cent) and Patna (20.52 per cent) whereas Bhopal, Amritsar, Gwalior and Ludhiana were among the cities which registered decline in job creation by 26.68 per cent, 9.60 per cent, 6.27 per cent and 3.94 per cent respectively.

Tier III cities
The impact of stimulus package provided by the government during the economic downturn generated majority of jobs in tier I and tier II cities, but the tier III cities were largely untouched, this would increase the migration of the unemployed people from small towns to cities. The analysis of the tier III cities shows that 21 cities out of 33 cities registered decline in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compared to the same period of the last year. The 33 major tier III cities accounted for 7.70 per cent share in total employment generation during the period.

Top ten Tier III job creating cities (April – October 2009-10)
Tier III cities Share in %age Growth in %age as compare to the 2008-09
Vadodra 1.02 14.55
Pondicherry 0.58 -27.16
Ankleshwar 0.56 1.31
Vijayawada 0.46 -8.3
Guwahati 0.37 22.6
Dehradun 0.32 51.07
Aurangabad 0.31 -2.38
Coimbatore 0.31 -56.30
Kanpur 0.31 -75.78
Raipur 0.29 2.22

Among the tier III cities, Vadodra, Pondicherry and Ankleshwar recorded highest share with 1.02 per cent, 0.58 per cent and 0.56 per cent during the period respectively. As compared to the same period of last year, Ankleshwar and Vadodra registered 14.55 per cent and 1.31 per cent growth, whereas Pondicherry registered 27.18 per cent decline in job creation.

Other tier III cities, which registered major growth in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compared to the same period of 2008-09 were Cuttack (99.05 per cent), Ranchi (54.86 per cent), Mysore (38.31 per cent), Calicut (26.92 per cent), Allahabad (1.58 per cent), Vellore (1.33 per cent) and Panjim (0.52 per cent).

If Tiers are based on population, then some of the anomalies in the above are Kanpur being labeled as a Tier III, Gandhi Nagar (separate from Ahmedabad) being labeled as a Tier II city, and having Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh in the same tier as Pune and Ahmedabad.

Following is an excerpt from a report in livemint.

“In three months, Luan Airways lines will start flying based out of Surat,” Vardhan said, adding in next six months, three more regional carriers from Uttarakhand, Orissa and the North-East will start flying.

Indian Railways has come up with a Vision 2020 document. It is at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/DEPTTS/Infrastructure/VISION%202020_Eng_SUBMITTED%20TO%20PARLIAMENT.pdf.

In that it says:

The Vision 2020 also envisages the implementation of at least 4 high-speed rail projects to provide bullet train services at 250-350 kmph, one in each of the regions of the nation and planning for at least 8 more corridors connecting commercial, tourist and pilgrimage hubs. Six corridors have already been identified for technical studies on setting up of High Speed Rail Corridors. These are:
i. Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar;
ii. Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad;
iii. Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai;
iv. Howrah-Haldia;
v. Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam;
vi. Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna

In the following map the above six corridors are shown in RED. In BLUE are the corridors that I think Orissa government should push for on the ground of connecting to the commercial, tourist and pilgrimage hub of Bhubaneswar-Puri. These two corridors are:

• Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Puri and
• Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam-Vijaywada

In addition the following corridors (shown in GREEN) should also be made to connect the smaller corridors to make larger corridors.

• Hyderabad-Pune
• Ahmedabad-Jaipur-Delhi
• Patna-Kolkata
• Patna-Guwahati

Following is an excerpt from a PTI news report.

The Orissa government today said it would set up a Forest Academy and expedite the process of giving forest land rights to people living in jungles.

"The Forest Academy will train officials in forest management and protect wild life with more professionalism," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said at a conference of Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) here.

He said Orissa has 20 lakh hectares of poorly managed and degraded forests. Restoration of tree cover and increased vegetation on these degraded forests would make the government’s anti-poverty programmes successful.

The forest department had drawn up a plan for the next five years to give forest cover to ten lakh hectares of land.

Farm forestry and agro forestry had huge potential to improve the income of households, he said.

The document is at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/DEPTTS/Infrastructure/VISION%202020_Eng_SUBMITTED%20TO%20PARLIAMENT.pdf.

Following are some excerpts related to Indian Railways operation in Orissa. 

… the Vision proposes to add 25,000 kms of New Lines by 2020, supported by government funding and a major increase in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Of this, at least 10,000 kms would be socially desirable lines regardless of their economic viability in the short run. This will, of course, include the completion of the backlog of 11,985 kms of lines already sanctioned.

The Vision 2020 also envisages the implementation of at least 4 high-speed rail projects to provide bullet train services at 250-350 kmph, one in each of the regions of the nation and planning for at least 8 more corridors connecting commercial, tourist and pilgrimage hubs. Six corridors have already been identified for technical studies on setting up of High Speed Rail Corridors. These are:
i. Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar;
ii. Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad;
iii. Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai;
iv. Howrah-Haldia;
v. Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam;
vi. Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna

These could be built as elevated corridors in keeping with the pattern of habitation and the constraint of land in our country. The Railways will use the PPP mode for investment and execution, and draw on frontier technologies incorporating the highest standards of safety and service quality.

My Comment:  Orissa jointly with Andhra Pradesh should push for a high speed corridor of Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada. This will create high-speed corridor all the way to Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ernakulum.

Execution of new line projects presents a unique set of challenges. Of the 109 new line projects already sanctioned and taken on hand, 8 are national projects (which enjoy assured funding) and 12 are financially viable. Others have been sanctioned on socio-economic grounds. Railways face insurmountable pressures to add more such projects each year, but are unable to earmark more than Rs.1500 crores per annum for these projects. Needless to say, the amount is barely sufficient to neutralize the annual escalation in cost. At this rate, the projects would languish forever. A solution has to be found to ensure funding of these projects. Possible
solutions would include:
(i) Projects in which state governments are willing to share more than 50% could be allocated assured funding by Railways and completed in a time-bound manner.

My Comment: Orissa should contribute part of its NREGS funds which it is having a hard time spending anyway.

(ii) A non-lapsable dedicated fund could be set up outside the normal railway budget for construction of lines sanctioned on socio-economic considerations, so that all the projects could be completed by 2020. 

By 2020, IR would strive to
a) Establish quality of service benchmarked to the best of the Railway systems in the world.
b) Expand its route network at the rate of 2500 kms per annum. By 2020, 25,000 kms of new line will be added and almost the entire network (barring the hill and heritage railways) would be in Broad Gauge. This would include completion of the pending shelf of new line projects of 11985 kms. More than 30,000 kms of route would be of double/multiple lines. Electrification of 14,000 kms of routes would take the total length of electrified route to 33,000 kms. This would include all inter- metro links and the other busy corridors.

Several areas currently identified for execution through PPP such as redevelopment/development of world-class stations, high-speed
corridors, setting up of Multi-modal Logistics Parks, Kisan Vision projects, expansion and management of the extensive network of Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs) and big infrastructure projects like new lines and Dedicated Freight Corridors, rolling-stock manufacturing units, Multi-functional Complexes at stations and port connectivity projects would need to be developed and awarded on a mission mode. To be able to do so, Railways would have set up dedicated project organizations who would work with model documents and streamlined procedure within the framework determined by Government of India.

Attainment of the goals in Vision would require a categorical commitment on the part of Government to ear-mark and ensure a steady-flow of financial support to the programme. This should be ideally in the form of an with budgetary commitment to the tune of
approximately, 5,00,000 crore spread over next 10 years. An amount of roughly Rs. 1,00,000 crore of the ADRF could be set aside to clear the pending backlog of socially desirable New Lines and Gauge Conversion projects as a one-time outright grant.
7.2 Budgetary disbursement from the ARDF needs to be front-loaded as a high-growth strategy would necessitate investment in capacity augmentation immediately while the take-off to high-growth and consequently, generation of internal surplus could take at least three years to materialize. During this period, the impact of the implementation of 6th Pay Commission would be fully absorbed and preparatory work to develop and bid out big-scale PPP projects would have been completed to allow a gradual phasing down of the budgetary contribution.

ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS (New Lines)

5 ECoR 1997-98 Angul-Sukinda Road Orissa (Length = 98.76kms) (Latest anticipated cost =344 crores)  (Balance fund required to complete = 323.13 crores)
6 ECoR 1996-97 Haridaspur-Paradeep Orissa 82 594 496
7 ECoR 1994-95 Khurda Road-Bolangir Orissa 289 700 622.26
8 ECoR 1993-94 Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh Orissa 56 170 84.69
9 ECoR 2003-04 Talcher-Bimlagarh Orissa 154 810.78 782.8

 Gauge Conversion

2 ECoR 1997-98 Naupada-Gunupur Orissa, Andhra 90 168.88 19.79
Pradesh

31 SER 1995-96 Rupsa-Bangriposi Orissa 90 137.56 22.14

Doubling

4 ECoR 2009-10 Brundamal-Jharsuguda-Flyover Orissa 6.6 38.44 38.44
connection for joining down line
5 ECoR 2003-04 Cuttack-Barang Orissa 12.3 178.98 55
6 ECoR 2005-06 Jharsuguda-Rengali Orissa 25.96 150 119.55
7 ECoR 2003-04 Khurda-Barang 3rd line Orissa 35 207 65
8 ECoR 2006-07 Kottavalasa-Simhachalam Andhra Pradesh 16.69 94.73 75.22
North 4th line
9 ECoR 2007-08 Raipur-Titlagarh Orissa, 203 614.35 548.35
Chhattisgarh
10 ECoR 1999-00 Rajatgarh-Barang Orissa 29.32 242.87 76.51
11 ECoR 2002-03 Sambalpur-Rengali Orissa 22.7 106.54 23.12
12 ECoR 2006-07 Sambalpur-Titlagarh Orissa 182 474.25 399.25

86 SER 2008-09 Banspani-Jaruli Orissa 9 90.88 89.82
87 SER 2007-08 Barbil-Barajamda Orissa 10 50.01 31.3
88 SER 2007-08 Bimlagarh-Dumitra Orissa 18.3 99.01 92.04

92 SER 2006-07 Padapahar-Banspani Orissa, Jharkhand 28 129.74 26.38

 List of Surveys (for new lines)

203 Bargarh-Nawapara Road Orissa 136
204 Extension of Rupsa-Bangriposi to Gurumahishani Orissa 42
205 Jeypore – Navarangpur Orissa 38
206 Jeypore-Kottametta Orissa 148
207 Jeypore-Malkangiri Orissa 130
208 Phulbani – Berhampur Orissa 170
209 Puri-Konark Orissa 35
210 Talcher station to Talcher-Sambalpur line Orissa 7
211 Talcher/Hindol Rd. – Berhampur/Gopalpur Orissa 293
212 Gunupur-Theruvali Orissa 76
213 Raipur-Jharsuguda via Khartapalan, Baloda Bazar, Batgaon and Sarangarh Orissa, Chhatisgarh 310

 List of Surveys (for doubling)

37 Bhadrak-Nergundi 3rd line Orissa 105

38 Khurda Road-Puri (Delang -Puri) Orissa 29
39 Sambalpur-Talcher Orissa 168
40 Koraput-Kirandul (256 km) Orissa, Chhatisgarh 150 

Plan of Action: Short-term and Long-term

The following strategies will be adopted to attain the goals outlined in Chapter-V.

Infrastructure

a) In the short to medium term, the emphasis would be to remove bottlenecks and create capacity quickly. This would be achieved by providing freight bypasses in the large cities, by identifying and completing traffic facility works such as splitting of block sections, removal of conflicting movements and improvement of terminal facilities etc. Simultaneously, effort would be directed towards opening alternate routes to the busy routes through gauge conversion or by closing missing links, if any. In the long run segregation of passenger and freight routes on HDN and substantial segregation on most of the busy routes would be the goal. Dedicated freight corridors and speed raising projects on the passenger corridors would be completed in a time-bound manner.
b) Project execution capability would be strengthened.
c) Port connectivity works would be taken up on priority in partnership with ports and other major users.
d) A non-lapsable dedicated fund will be set up to fund new line projects and wipe out the entire throw forward of new line projects. A mechanism for mobilizing the support of State Governments towards capital costs and sharing of operational losses will be institutionalized.
e) Connectivity projects to the North-East (new line and gauge conversion) and J&K (new line) would be accorded priority. All state capitals would be connected by rail.
f) Segregations between commuter and non-commuter lines in large cities with population exceeding one million shall be achieved by partnership with state governments and city authorities.
g) All construction projects would be executed by use of modern technology and construction equipment. Emphasis would be to create maintenance-free, economic and durable assets. Mechanized maintenance would be adopted to maintain the health of the track assets and provide reliable, uninterrupted service.
h) PPP will be used for efficient execution of projects especially in areas like construction of world-class stations, multi-modal logistics parks, cold-chain facilities and connectivity to ports/industrial clusters.

I was browsing through the web pages of the Project Report on Indian National Expressway Network at http://www.morth.nic.in/writereaddata/sublinkimages/Final_Report_Part13901147970.pdf

It is a masterplan for Indian National Expressway network developed by Craft consultants which was probably hired by the Ministry. The final version of it is dated November 2009.

In that report, they have mentioned feedback received from various states such as Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan and UP. They have taken this feedback into account in making their masterplan.

Unfortunately, Orissa is missing in the list. In other words Orissa probably did not give them any feedback or if it did then not in time.

As a result there is no new expressway in Orissa during the first phase ending 2012. (The GQ is not counted as part of the first phase.) In the second phase  (2012-2017) Orissa has a very very small portion. Only in the third and 4th phase is there a substantial portion in Orissa. Even then there is no east west expressway connecting the capital area with western Orissa directly. Such connectivity between the capital area and western Orissa is extremely significant.

This is gross negligence on the part of Orissa to not have sent feedback to correct the above slights in the master plan for the expressways.

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

The State Government has decided to extend the targeted rural initiative for poverty termination and infrastructure (TRIPTI) scheme to all the 314 blocks.

… TRIPTI is being implemented under the Mission Shakti through the self-help groups (SHGs).

The Chief Minister directed the officials to create the required infrastructure for implementation of the scheme across the State. The scheme is being implemented in 8,369 villages of 38 blocks of the State covering 12,54,607 rural families.

The World Bank-assisted scheme aims at capacity building and employment generation for the women with the help of women SHGs.

It has agreed to provide a loan assistance for the implementation of the scheme for five years.

Naveen also reviewed the progress of Mission Shakti. So far, 46.5 lakh women have become members of 3.87 lakh SHGs. According to a release from the Chief Minister’s Office, so far a loan assistance of Rs 1,367 crore has been provided to the SHGs in the State.

Official sources maintained that during 2008-09, one lakh SHGs from all the 30 districts were provided assistance of Rs 50 crore for creation of livelihood. Similarly, 1,614 SHGs in the KBK region (undivided Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput districts) were provided Rs 80.7 lakh for creation of job opportunities. SHGs in the urban areas were provided a loan assistance of Rs 2 crore during the year.

Besides, the SHGs have also dug 7,000 water bodies under the livelihood support programme for pisci-culture. The release claimed that 63 SHGs distributed LPGs under the Shakti Gaon Programme. The SHGs also implemented mid-day meal scheme in 34,000 schools and members of 7,000 SHGs worked as public distribution system (PDS) agents.

The State Government has signed an agreement with Reliance Fresh and ITC for marketing products from the SHGs. …

Many of you may have parents, friends and relatives who employ domestic workers in Orissa. Please convey them regarding the following rules on minimum wage so that they do not run afoul of the law.

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government has raised the minimum wages for the domestic helps. The minimum wage of such workers has been fixed at the same level as for the unskilled workers. So a domestic help will be entitled to get a basic wage of Rs 2340 per month.

Besides, they will be entitled to a special allowance (variable dearness allowance) from the date of fixation of minimum wages at the rate of Rs 20 per day for a block period of 2 years. It will be applicable for the domestic workers engaged in cleaning of vessels, washing of clothes, sweeping and swabbing floor, care of old and infirm persons, kitchen shopping, taking children to school among others. For implementation of this decision, employment of domestic workers has been made a part of the schedule of the minimum wages act, 1948.

They will have a six days week and an off day and will be paid 7 days wages for the 6 working days. If they work on any weekly off day, they will be paid double the daily wage. On the otherhand, the owners who employ domestic helps will pay 20 percent less if they provide 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner).The owners can’t deduct any amount from their wages for providing accommodation, water and electricity.

The labour and employment department of the Orissa government has come out with the required notification, sources said.

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

The road, transport and highways ministry (MoRTH), which has sought a $3 billion loan from the World Bank for this project, has already finalized 3,769 km to be taken up for double laning. The ministry has also identified another 2,600 km for this purpose.

Seven stretches covering 807 km of single-lane highways would be doubled in Bihar while nearly 638 km of single-lane NH falling in Himachal Pradesh would be upgraded. Orissa and Uttarakhand will see 558 km and 448 km of similar stretches being upgraded.

Sources said the preliminary report prepared by the ministry for other stretches shows that HP would get a good share in the list of states to be covered under the plan. Similarly, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Orissa will see large stretches being double-laned.

I could not find out which highways in Orissa are part of this. Some of the sites to watch for are:

• What’s New
• World bank funded highways

Following is a map of the National Highways in Orissa obtained from the Ministry of Road and Transport’s website.

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

From the irresistible Hyderabadi biryani to Pather ka Gosht. From Mutton Pasinda to Mirchi ka Salan. Denizens of the city would now not have to travel to the land of Charminar for a taste of the delicacies.

For, Hyderabad House has opened at Xavier’s Square bringing with it a wide array of culinary delights exclusive to the kitchens of the Nizams.

The reputed restaurant chain has laid a platter full of Nizami and Nawabi vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare. The lavish spread of rich and aromatic Hyderabadi cuisine that has gained popularity world over would be offered at prices that would suit most sections. A whole course meal including the biryani would be available for a couple at prices as low as Rs 300, CEO of the Bhubaneswar restaurant Jeet Singh said.

… “We do have home delivery services but plan to open at least seven take away outlets across the city for ease of the food loving public soon,” Singh said.

This is a good restaurant and very popular in Hyderabad which can be judged from the fact that it has 22 outlets in Hyderabad. It has good inexpensive food.

Many of them raised various Railways related issue. MPs Bhakta Das and Sanjay Bhoi raised the issue about a medical college and a national university in Bhawanipatna. Following are news items from Dharitri and Samaja on this.

Following is an op-ed piece from Samaja on the Railways issue.

(Thanks to Future Berhampur blog for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Centre has approved the development of four different sectors in Orissa including granite through the cluster approach under the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS).

These clusters include the Ganjam Granite cluster at Berhampur, the handicrafts cluster of the Khurda-based Trishakti Self Help Group (SHG), Sponge Iron cluster at Bonai near Rourkela and plastic cluster at Balasore.

New Delhi-based National Productivity Council (NPC) has been chosen as the nodal agency for the implementation of these cluster units. The formation of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) is necessary for the formal declaration of these cluster units.

“We have already taken steps to form the SPV for the granite cluster at Berhampur”, said Santosh Kumar Bebarta, secretary, Ganjam Granite Cluster. Once all the formalities are completed, the granite cluster will be launched, said B B Dhal, general manager, District Industry Centre (DIC), Ganjam. The deadline for the functioning of the proposed granite cluster is December 31 this year. The SPV of the particular cluster could get a funding up to Rs 10 crore from the Centre for setting up of the Common Service Centre (CSC).

The web page for the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS) is http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/schemes/lean-manufact.htm. In the pilot phase 100 mini-clusters have been proposed.

I hope the above pointers will be useful for readers to approach people and officials in their local area to pursue mini-clusters under the above scheme.