___________

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.

About 80,000 tonnes of iron-ore worth more than Rs seven crore has been seized by Orissa’s mining authorities from Koida mines in Sundargarh district, officials said today.

Mining officers, during their raids yesterday seized about 70,000 tonnes of lumps and 10,000 tonnes of fine iron-ore.

Irregularities were also found in mining operation by a contractor, they said, adding ESSEL company has allegedly left its leased mining areas untouched and has been illegally raising the iron-ore beyond its surface rights.

Essel Mining is an Aditya Birla group company. Such action, if true, by a Birla group company contractor is really unfortunate. No wonder many people in Orissa mistrust industrialists. If the above allegations are true, the Orissa government should cancel the mining lease of Essel Mining.

Following is from http://eastcoastrailway.gov.in/.

Bhubaneswar, October 29, 2009

Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce eight new trains, extension of four trains, and increase in frequency of two trains
along with change of timings for 19 trains in ECoR for the New Time Table to be implemented with effect from 1st November 2009.

NEW TRAINS

Two daily new trains, five weekly new trains, one bi-weekly new train will be introduced in E.Co.Rly. Date of introduction for these trains will be notified.

One daily new Intercity train will be introduced between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar. 8105 Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity express will leave Rourkela at 05.30a.m and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 01.00p.m. 8106 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela Intercity Express will leave Bhubaneswar at 01.35p.m and will arrive at Rourkela at 09.30p.m.

One daily new express train will be introduced between Rourkela and Koraput. 8107 Rourkela-Koraput Express will leave Rourkela at 04.45p.m and will arrive at Koraput at 07.30a.m on the next day. In the return direction, 8108 Koraput-Rourkela express will leave Koraput at 05.00p.m and will arrive at Rourkela at 07.00a.m on the next day.

One new weekly DURANTO non stop Super Fast Express will be introduced between Bhubaneswar and New Delhi. 2281 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duranto Super Fast non stop express shall leave Bhubaneswar at 08.15a.m on every Sunday and will arrive New Delhi at 06.05a.m on the next day. In the return direction, 2282 New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Duranto Super Fast
non stop Express will leave New Delhi at 01.00p.m on every Monday and will arrive Bhubaneswar at 11.05a.m on the next day. There will be no commercial stoppage for this train.

One new weekly Super Fast Express will be introduced between Puri and Surat. 2743 Puri-Surat Super Fast express will leave Puri at 07.50p.m on Sunday via Sambalpur, Titilagarh & Raipur and will arrive Surat at 03.20a.m on Tuesday. In the return direction, 2744 Surat-Puri Super Fast Express will leave Surat at 08.30a.m on every Tuesday and will arrive Puri at 04.15p.m on the next day.

One new weekly Super Fast Express will be introduced between Puri and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai). 2746 Puri-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) Super Fast express will leave Puri at 05.25a.m on Tuesday via Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Raigarh & Bilaspur and will arrive LTT at 01.35p.m on the next day. In the return direction, 2745 LTT-Puri Super Fast Express will leave LTT at 00.15a.m on every Thursday (Wednesday night) and will arrive Puri at 08.50a.m on every Friday.

One new weekly Express will be introduced between Puri and Kamakshya. 5643 Puri-Kamakshya express will leave Puri at 10.15p.m on Saturday via Howrah & Malda Town and will arrive Kamakshya at 04.20a.m on Monday. In the return direction, 5644 Kamakshya-Puri Express will leave Kamakshya at 11.45p.m on Thursday and will arrive Puri at 08.00a.m on Saturday.

One new weekly Express will be introduced between Howrah and Yeshvantpur. 2847 Howrah-Yeshvantpur express will leave Howrah at 11.30p.m on Sunday via Bhubaneswar and will arrive Yeshvantpur at 09.15a.m on Tuesday. In the return direction, 2848 Yeshvantpur-Howrah Express will leave Yeshvantpur at 08.00a.m on Thursday and will arrive Howrah at 08.00a.m on Friday.

One new bi-weekly Super Fast Express will be introduced between Visakhapatnam and LTT. 2749 Visakhapatnam-LTT bi-weekly superfast express will leave Visakhapatnam at 09.00a.m on Wednesday and Saturday and will arrive LTT at 1.05a.m on the next day. In the return direction, 2750 LTT-Visakhapatnam Express will leave LTT at 12.25p.m on Thursday and Sunday and will arrive Visakhapatnam at 02.45p.m on the next day.

EXTENSION OF TRAIN

Four trains will be extended in the new time table. Date of extension for these trains will be notified.

8425/8426 Bhubaneswar-Raipur-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express, 8413/8414 Paradeep-Bhubaneswar-Paradeep Intercity express and 2821/2822 Howrah-Bhubaneswar-Howrah Dhauli Express will be extended to Puri. Similarly, 8416/8415 Puri-Kendujhargarh-Puri Express will be extended to Barbil in the new Time Table.

INCREASE IN FREQUENCY:

2443 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express will run four days a week instead of earlier two days. This train will now leave Bhubaneswar on every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. In the return direction, 2444 New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express will leave New Delhi on every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Now this Rajdhani will run three days a week w.e.f. 3rd October 2009 and the services of this train for running in fourth day in the week i.e. from Bhubaneswar on Thursday and from New Delhi on Tuesday will be notified.

2739/2740 Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam express will now run daily instead of earlier four days a week which will be notified.

CHANGE IN DAYS OF SERVICE
      

5639 Puri-Guwahati express will now leave Puri on Tuesdays instead of earlier Saturday with effect from 3rd November 2009. 5640 Guwahati-Puri Express leaving Guwahati on Thursday will now leave on Sunday with effect from 1st November 2009.

CHANGE IN TIMINGS
      

The timings of 19 trains have been changed from 05 minutes to 45 minutes in the new time-table. These trains are 7479 Puri-Tirupati Express, 8410 Puri-Howrah Jagannath Express, 2896/2888 Puri-Howrah weekly, 2882 Puri-Howrah Garib Rath Express, 2898 Bhubaneswar-Puducherry, 2830 Bhubaneswar-Chennai, 8411 Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Intercity Express, 8518 Visakhapatnam-Korba Express, 8509 Visakhapatnam-Nizamabad Express, 8309 Sambalpur-Nizamabad Express, 8507 Visakhapatnam-Amritsar Express (via Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur), 2880 Bhubaneswar-LTT Express, 8452 Puri-Hatia Tapaswini Express, 2739 Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Garib Rath Express, 210 Puri-Dhenkanal Passenger and 222 Puri-Angul Passenger.

Similarly the timings of 2801 Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express at Cuttack and 2841 Howrah-Chennai Coromandal Express at Brahmapur have been changed for midnight adjustment.

Sd/-
Sr.PRO

Following is from http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127365.htm.

In Kandhamal, Orissa State, individuals affiliated with left-wing Maoist extremists killed Hindu religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) workers on August 23, 2008. Although ultraleft Maoists claimed responsibility, the murders exacerbated underlying socio-economic tensions between the dalits and the tribals and unleashed a wave of revenge killings, assaults, and property destruction. According to widely accepted government statistics, 40 persons died and 134 were injured; most of the victims were Christians. The large-scale violence, which included the August 25 alleged rape of a Christian nun, attracted worldwide media attention. The central Government sent 39 companies of paramilitary forces to restore peace and security. State authorities established 18 emergency camps to house displaced persons, worked with NGOs to deliver assistance and relief to victims, and allocated funds to compensate next of kin and repair damaged houses, businesses, and places of worship. The police arrested 1,200 persons and registered more than 1,000 criminal cases. On April 21, 2009, police arrested Maoist leader P. Rama Rao in connection with Saraswati’s murder. According to several independent accounts, an estimated 3,200 refugees remained in relief camps, down from 24,000 in the immediate aftermath of the violence.

In March 2009 Orissa’s ruling party, Biju Janata Dal, terminated its 11-year alliance with its coalition partner, the BJP, reportedly in part over differences in responding to the Kandhamal violence. The state government, supplemented by central police, ensured that all communities in Kandhamal were able to freely and fairly exercise their franchise in April 2009 state and parliamentary elections. Since the reelection of the Biju Janata Dal Party, without its former coalition partner, the state government has worked with the central government to rebuild communities in Kandhamal both through infrastructure improvements and peace councils with various stakeholders. In June 2009 the central Government disbursed $ 300,000 (Rs. 14,648,437) compensation to the next of kin of 35 Kandhamal riot victims.

A part that is not mentioned in the report is that in the 2009 April elections the BJP party which was accused of playing a role in the violence in Orissa was decimated across the state. Out of 147 state level seats, their number reduced from 32 to 6 and in the national level MP (member of parliament) seats their number in Orissa (total seats 21) reduced from 7 to ZERO. The other party that was in power in Orissa, BJD, severed its coalition with BJP before the elections  and went on to win the elections with a larger number of seats than before.

The above is from Samaja. Following is an excerpt from a report in Economics Times by Nageshwar Patnaik.

A knowledge park is coming up here at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. This is the first public private partnership integrated industrial park by Government of Orissa and Bharat Biotech International [BBI].

Work at the 100 crore ‘Konark Knowledge Park’ at Mouza-Andharua near the state capital here began today with the ground breaking ceremony held here on Sunday. …

The project aims to boost investments in the areas of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in the state of Orissa. When completed, this infrastructure will create world-class, state-of-the-art research and development enterprises in an exceptional environment designed to foster novel approaches to healthcare and its delivery.

The state government has allocated 64.86 acres of land (30 acres in Phase I and 24.86 acres in phase II) including 10 acres of land for development of Biotech Incubation Centre through a Special Purpose Vehicle [SPV] for development of an integrated industrial park to attract and promote biotechnology, pharmaceutical and information technology industries here. The land for park has been allocated in the form of a long term lease to the SPV named Konark Knowledge Park Pvt. Ltd.

The SPV will execute the Lease cum Development Agreement with Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO). The project is expected to be completed over a period of 8 years.

… Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) will provide all external infrastructure facilities, such as four-way lane roads to the gate, uninterrupted water supply, uninterrupted power with 33KVA sub-station, sewage etc to facilitate rapid development of internal infrastructure.

BBI has successfully developed an integrated Agri-Biotech Park in Bangalore and establishment of Genome Valley BioPharmaceutical cluster located in the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times by Nageshwar Patnaik.

The Aditya Birla group on Thursday signed a MoU with Orissa government to develop a sea port on Build Own Operate [BOO] basis at Chudamani in Bhadrak district on an investment of Rs.1,500 crore.

The projected capacity of the port to be developed over four years will be three million tons per annum [MTPA] in the first phase. This will be expanded subsequently to 10 mtpa.

The port will have two berths, and will handle bulk cargo such as cement, aluminium, iron ore, thermal coal, limestone, gypsum, clinker and copper. The port will be connected by a rail corridor from Markona Station to port site.

  … "In this port, directly or indirectly, about 5,000 people will be employed. By operation of the port, the state government will get revenue about Rs.20 crore per annum."

Mr Patanik hoped that the port promoter would work with the district administration and other agencies to plan and develop a port-based industrial township. …

Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Birla group executive president, Ravi Kastia said, "… We are confident that the Aditya Birla Group’s experience in putting up as many as six port facilities in the Western Coast, backed by the unstinting support of the Government of Orissa, will help us create a much required port in the state."

Our sister site in Twitter is http://twitter.com/orissalinks. (Often when we are busy or do not feel like writing a full posting here, we post a micro-blog in our Twitter sister site. The Twitter sister site also automatically adds the headline from this site and the orissalinks site. Once in a  while we will collect those headlines here. But readers wanting a broader and more immediate coverage should consider following our Twitter site at http://twitter.com/orissalinks.) Following are some selected items from that site between August 20th and October 20th 2009.

• A tribal farmer trained by Regional Centre for Dev. Coop, Bhubaneswar makes a living by farming earthworms. http://bit.ly/30r1bta
• The 15-km, 65 crore 4-lane Chorda-Duburi highway linking Jajpur Road with Kalinga Nagar expected to be compl. by 2010. http://bit.ly/3weXTC
• Nalco with HQ in Bhubaneswar and operations in Angul, Damanjodi and Vizag made a profit of 1,272 Crores this year. http://bit.ly/3GXPqc
• The current Power Situation in Orissa – A suggestive plan for its control. A nice report in scribd. http://bit.ly/d1lkE
• In the 21-80th outsourcing cities of the world: Chandigarh, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Thiruvananthapuram http://bit.ly/duTw2
• Among the top 10 outsourcing cities of the world are: B’lore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, H’bad, Pune. http://bit.ly/duTw2
• Orissa govt. plans a ‘rail-road-water pipeline and infrastr. corridor’ in Meramundali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt. http://bit.ly/2XH8CY
• Dhamra port, being built by Tata Steel and L & T to be operational by April 2010; Rail connection by October 2010. http://bit.ly/3hn2Cg
• LMJ International is developing food parks in Orissa and Tamil Nadu; expected to be operational in April-May 2010. http://bit.ly/2Ak3cc
• Rungta Mines Limited, plans to set up 1 million tonne cement plant in Orissa. http://bit.ly/kinkt
• Consortium led by Lanco Infratech Ltd has won 2 coal-bed methane exploration blocks at Talcher and Ib Valley, Orissa. http://bit.ly/1x0shQ
• Essel Mining to sign MOU with Orissa government on Oct 22 for developing a captive port at Chudamani, Bhadrak http://bit.ly/2VVKfb
• Bhushan Steel proposes to establish a ‘SME Steel Park’ around its steel project at Meramundali in Dhenkanal, Orissa. http://bit.ly/1M7j6f
• Orissa CM proud of the herbal garden around Bindusagar, Bhubaneswar. Shows it to visiting biggies. http://bit.ly/aOaRo
• New Mines and Minerals Bill may be presented in the parliament in the winter. Gives more power to states on leases. http://bit.ly/3YPQJb
• Update on Shamuka Beach project in Puri, Orissa.http://bit.ly/1Bio2r
• Bhubaneswar – Chennai flight revived. Chennai 11 -> 12.55 PM. BBS 13.35 -> 15.30 Chennai http://bit.ly/nK1VV
• Nalabanta, a village near Aska, is known as Sivakasi of South Orissa for manufacturing fireworks in huge quantity. http://bit.ly/HadmV
• May07 WB RPT: Towards sustnable mineral-intensive growth in Orissa: managing env. & social impacts. http://bit.ly/5paFM http://bit.ly/Hazb0
• November 2008 World Bank report: Orissa in transition : challenges for 2006-2010. pdf – http://bit.ly/JXyQP txt – http://bit.ly/14Y6Kb
• @Proj_Shrike "YouTube – Orissa – The Essence of Incredible India" Ad by Dept.of Tourism, Govt. of Orissa (http://twitthis.com/w9kdf9)
• Indian Govt. revised royalty rate of many minerals eff. 8/13/09. Will benefit mineral rich states like Orissa. http://bit.ly/rl7mP (pdf)
• Cuttack plans to write its 1000 yr history in its walls. http://bit.ly/Dxge7
• Rath Yatra pictures from Washington Post. http://bit.ly/dTqc8 First two in Puri by Biswaranjan Rout; others interesting too.
• Biswaranjan Rout’s photos seem to be picked by AP often. See picture 18 in this Washington Post picks (same one). http://bit.ly/4zGy7m .
• AP Photo by Biswaranjan Rout. http://bit.ly/oJZ3j Hindu devotees dressed as Ram and Hanuman, seen, near the immersion ground in Bhubaneswar.
• SBI launches ‘SBI FinMart’ from Orissa: includes ins, mutual fund, credit card, gift card, home loan, car loan, etc. http://bit.ly/1Qehh
• Prof. Pankaj Jalote proposes to reform affiliating univ model in India by having only core courses controlled by univ. http://bit.ly/bafPG
• Samaja: Durga Puja in Cuttack. Cal Kali tmpl, Delhi Birla tmpl, Rajasthan’s Rani Sati tmpl and China’s Temple of Heaven. http://bit.ly/zZ7PJ
• RT @hiteshhoha http://bit.ly/3ItRB7 — Beautiful pictures of Durga Puja pandals in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Saheed Nagar one is awesome.
• Emami group plans to set up its 4th paper unit (500 tonnes/day), at Balasore in Orissa, at an investment of Rs500crore. http://bit.ly/RBr2f
• Bhitarkanika ( #Orissa ) Tour photo galleries, beautiful pictures. http://bit.ly/2Z03hI 2672 sq-km Bhitarkanika mangroves is a Ramsar site.
• RT @meghaverma Cute picture of state bird of Orissa, a blue jay. http://ts1.in/26958 – article on Orissa’s state bird http://bit.ly/qrvaC
• Automatic ticket vending machines to go live this Sept. in New Delhi, Sec­underabad, Kolkata, Bhub­anes­war and Pune. http://bit.ly/VfrvF
• Nandan Kanan zoo in Orissa has the impression of skin of white tiger in its logo. http://bit.ly/MWwNJ
• Orissa CM asks for a Central Govt. funded Youth Hostel at Bhubaneswar. The Union Minister responded favourably. http://bit.ly/3ryYWF
• Orissa CM requests defence minister for 2 more BROs (Koraput & Baripada) to encourage tribal youth to join the army. http://bit.ly/hOJGv
• Adani group met Orissa CM for making a port at Barunei Muhana, Kendrapada. http://bit.ly/IqQd2 Others also interested. http://bit.ly/2DqJNq
• Very nice pictures. RT @swagatsen The 1000 year old Buddhanatha temple , Orissa India and millenial change http://bit.ly/d3OGi
• RT @FotoWala Images from Orissa: Raghurajpur – the crafts village http://tinyurl.com/m5h9cu
• RT @FundACause An NGO in #Orissa trying to raise Rs 5 lakhs to build a science museum for school kids in Balasore. http://bit.ly/MOf7k .
• Pipli applique work of Orissa & Banaras saree are among the 5 to receive GI certificate due to UNCTAD’s interventions. http://bit.ly/39D6Js
• GI (Geographical Indication) regstrn of Khandua Saree and fabric of Orissa is in process. Study & documentation done. http://bit.ly/asbkM
• GI registration of ‘Sambalpuri saree’ and ‘Berhampuri pattu’ is also in process. http://bit.ly/70ztM
• Other designs planned 4 GI: Nuapatna tie&dye, Bomkai, Pasapalli, Berhampur kumbha, Dholapathar temple and Gita Gobinda http://bit.ly/4oIIu5
• A nice web store of crafts from Orissa. http://bit.ly/lmsCn
• http://bit.ly/2mqUXB IDCO of #Orissa and NALCO sign MOU for a 50-50 200 acres aluminum park in Angul at an initial cost of 75 crores.
• Orissa govt. to spend 54 crores in corridor mgmt plan for elephants. 6 corridors identified. http://bit.ly/4nhKn6 Orissa has 1862 elephants.
• Kamath hotels and OTDC would sign a MoU on setting up a food craft institute on a leased land of two acre at Balangir. http://bit.ly/ZyO1G
• RT @kalahandia Kalahandi’s `Habaspuri’s textile craft, designs to be patented: Orissa’s textile craft .. to be patented http://bit.ly
• RT @kalahandia Some Kalahandi related books by Parameswar Mund: 1. Folk & Tribal Festival of Kalahandi… http://bit.ly/1SFmV3
• IOC to complete 30000 cr,15-million-tn refinery in Paradip #Orissa by 2012, to make it eligible for a 7-yr tax holiday. http://bit.ly/14IhMi
• Orissa CM to visiting POSCO CEO: “Win the people’s heart first”. http://bit.ly/Ekp0j
• Orissa has identified 27 bus terminals in the state for development in PPP mode using the land premium model. http://zikkir.com/business/283
• IOC: 30,000 cr mega refinery-cum-petrochem complex at Paradip in #Orissa. To begin commercial ops. in 3 yrs. http://bit.ly/11FlQZ
• Orissa to spend 10,000 crore for irrigation to cover 5.60 lakh hectares. http://bit.ly
• Sambalpur-HWH via Angul and Kapilas Rd. although is a longer route (654 kms instead of 563 kms in Sambalpur-ROU-HWH) is very useful.
• 0869 Puri-Bangalore weekly Garib Rath Special train for Puja. A good idea that needs to be made regular? #Orissa http://bit.ly/phuzt
• Special train for Puja Sambalpur-HWH via Angul and Kapilas Rd. A good con. that needs to be made regular? #Orissa http://bit.ly/phuzt
• Rs 7,963 crores for roads in #Orissa. http://bit.ly/masWO
• NALCO plans to invest Rs 6000 crores for a 1000-1500 MW nuclear power plant in #Berhampur, #Orissa in 50-50 collaboration with #NPCIL.
• More information on the proposed plastic park in #Balasore #Orissa. http://bit.ly/fvClc
• Dharitri reports that ECOR plans to start passenger trains on the Naupada-Parlakhemundi sector (of Naupada-Gunpur line) next month.
• #Rourkela ‘s airport, which at one time had commercial Vayudoot flights, does not have any now. http://bit.ly/YsKeD
• Vijaywada-Ranchi highway, 983 kms of which is in #Orissa is expected to be completed by 2014; CM reviews its progress. http://bit.ly/aRwjc
• Vanivihar- Rajmahal road in #Bhubaneswar #Orissa will be converted to an eight lane road. http://bit.ly/aRwjc
• Pandapada-Naranpada, Cuttack-Banki, Barkote-Lahunipada, Balangir-Kantabanji, Chorda-Duburi & Udala-Baripada this yr. http://bit.ly/aRwjc
• CIPET explores making a plastic park in Balasore, #Orissa. Kudos to MOS Srikant Jena for pushing this. http://bit.ly/hnRuW
• Demand to extend some South bound trains to Sambalpur. http://bit.ly/oZTvz Seems like a good idea; especially 2829/30 & 2897/98
• Nice article. RT @PRSLegislative Nick Robinson on why MPs need professional support staff funded by the taxpayer. http://bit.ly/WwEQc
• Various organizations in Balasore #Orissa unitedly demand for a govt. medical college there. http://bit.ly/OYS8q
• Sukhuapada in #Orissa, 20km from Kendrapara & next to Paradip-Daitary Xpresway has 300+ sculptors working allover India. http://bit.ly/wnWN7
• Champeswar in #Cuttack district of #Orissa has a 1000 yr old temple; its tank has 200+ turtles. Worth a visit. http://bit.ly/2vr5NT
• Chaumukh (Baliapal block) at the mouth of river Subarnarekha is preferred over Kirtania for a port in Balasore Dist. http://bit.ly/2z1X5v
• Large plastic corridor planned for Balasore-Baripada; includes a CIPET satellite center for Balasore: Srikant Jena. http://bit.ly/lH1p5
•  

The following urban centers are either a part of present Berhampur city or are located close to it. Strangely some pockets inside Berhampur city were till recently considered as village with population in the range of 5-10 thousand.

Berhampur (core) – 402672
Hinjilikatu (NAC) – 24229
Chatrapur (NAC) – 21892

Under BMC
Lochapada (inside Berhampur) – 10123
Bhabinipur (Under BMC limits) – 7324
Lathi (Under BMC limits) – 6479
Jagadalpur (Under BMC limits) – 5868
Mohada (inside BMC) – 3265

Berhampur East City
Golabandha (Military cantonment) – 9366
Arjyapalli (Gopalpur port) – 8511
Gopalpur (NAC) – 7633
Pathara (Under BMC limits) – 5692
Korapolli (BAMP-Gopalpur) – 3540
Rangilunda (Berhampur University) – 2493

Berhampur South City
Golanthara (NIST) – 5345
Konisi (inside BMC)- 4210
Haldiapadar (under BMC and AutoNagar) – 2762
Randha (cluster of Engineering colleges) – 2703

Places close to Berhampur with educational or other Instiutions:
Sundarpur (Engineering colleges) – 8328
Kukudakhandi (less than 5 kms) – 7073
Ankusapur (SMIT & inside Berhampur)- 4743
Narendrapur (Govt eng college & inside BMC)- 3470
Bendalia (inside BMC)- 2920
Matikhala (IRE)- 2852
Chamakhandi (TATA)- 2638
Chandipadar (SMIT Eng College)- 2467
Mandiapalli (JN TATA Institute) – 2303
Nimakhandi (inside Berhampur) – 2929

————————————————
Greater Berhampur Total: 573830 (Excluding few other Panchayats which have since been subsumed under BMC)

The following insights and suggestions are from reader Ajay Sahu. We invite similar insights from other readers so that people can have a better understanding of various parts of Orissa and their needs. In particular, we are looking for suggestions on institutions that can be or have branches in a particular region of Orissa, with proper reasoning given on why that institution is a good fit for that part of Orissa.

Aska-Kabisuryanagar Area:

1. In many parts of India especially in Tamilnadu, People call "ASKA" for the name "Sugar" but we Odia’s normally call Chini / Sakar just copying the Hindi language (probably).I believe, this needs to be awakened among all Odia’s about the 1st Sugar Plant in Asia which is at ASKA. If possible, we need to pass this information to respective Govt. officials for a documentary movie on Sugar City-ASKA.

Historical background of ASKA relates to Sugar factory of ASKA which is Asia’s 1st Sugar Factory build by Minchin Saheb in british time.This factory has its own name.Due to this factory the Aska Town is known as Sugar City.Still many parts of India(Tamilnadu), call sugar as ASKA.

When one thinks of Aska Cooperative Sugar Industries Ltd., many things come to memory, its history, the pioneers in the field, the hardy local farmers, its workmen, the dedicated bureaucrats, the support it got at highest levels, the institutional infrastructure that helped, and how it over-come so with a back ground of its heritage of being the story of Sugar in Asia and the place where Asia’s 1st Sugar Factory was established in 1824.

The jaggery mill which was started in the year 1948 by the name "The Aska Sugar Works and Distillery Ltd." by ‘Biny and Co. Madras’ which met with huge losses for lack of supervision and other transport bottle-necks. There after Fredrick Josheph Vivian Minchin, the Book Keeper of Biny & Co. purchased the said factory and with the new Sugar Technology obtained from Germany designed and rebuilt the factory in 1856.

http://askasugar.com/ 
http://www.coopsugar.org/history.php 
http://www.kalingatimes.com/explore_orissa/news_20080413-Gopalpur-on-Sea.htm

Thus, since Aska is known for Sugar city and having the 1st sugar Plant in Asia established in established in 1824, request to demand towards establishment of National Sugar Institute as like Kanpur or as like Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), Pune.

2. Aska is famous for Sanskrit toll and college (Mac Micle Sanskrit College, Aska) since many many years. I believe, state govt can open a branch of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya (Puri) to the right fit to this location. Presently Aska is having a Sanskrit school and College which can be upgraded.

3. Aska is known for 1st industrial town in Ganjam district having Sugar Industry and Spinning Mill. State govt should demand for opening a central school on this locality. The best choice for opening central school will be at Hinjilicut as it is center place  between Aska and Berhampur (15 km on each side)

4. In the last railway budget, Railway Survey has been granted for the route Berhampur to Sambalpur which needs to be expedited as it is passing through the region of Aska, Bhanjanagar, Kandhamal district etc.

Bhanjanagar- Belaguntha Area:

 1. As this is the main town in Ghumusar region and no technical institute is nearby, state government should open a govt engg college and demand to central govt for opening a Indian Institute of Forest Management like in  Bhopal.

2. KSUB College is the oldest college after Khallikote College in Ganjam district. This college should be converted to a model college.

3. Bhanjanagar is famous for good spoken language as people say…And this town is the place of Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja. State should consider Research center on Bhanja Sahitya and Oriya literature.

4. In the last railway budget, Railway Survey has been granted for the route Berhampur to Sambalpur which needs to be expedited as it is passing through the region of Aska, Bhanjanagar, Kandhamal district etc.

The greater Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area has the potential to become a major metropolitan area of Orissa. The following maps give some idea of this area.

The population numbers from 2001 obtained from this map are as follows:

More up-to-date numbers from the World Gazetteer is as follows:

Sambalpur District:

Jharsuguda District:

Baragarh District:

Sundergarh District:

Some of the recent notable developments of this area are:

• An airport is being developed in Jharsuguda (This needs to be speeded up.)
• UCE Burla has now become Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology
• Several major industries are coming up (for example; Vedanta Aluminum in Jharsuguda)
• There are 6 engineering colleges in the area: 2 in Bargarh, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Sundergarh, VSSUT in Burla and Silicon in Sassan.
• Sambalpur-Jharsuguda as a whole has excellent Railway connectivity.

However, a more planned approach is needed. In particular, a core metro area consisting of Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Brajarajnagar needs to be formally formed and a CDP (Comprehensive Development Plan) must be developed at the earliest. In addition if local participation in developing more private HRD institutions is enhanced and local  handing of industrialization is done in a smarter way (not just blind knee-jerk opposition) then that will propel this area to a Tier II metro area of India.

If one looks at the map of population centers in Orissa, Ganjam district seems to have the maximum number of urban centers.

The following is with respect to the 2001 cesnus.

As per the 2009 estimate the urban areas of Ganjam with a population of more than 7500 are:

Ganjam is the only district in Orissa to have two Lok Sabha constituencies named after its towns/cities: Berhampur and Aska.

Based on the above the state, district and city planners should plan on creating larger urban agglomerations so that they can get more funding and infrastructure. In particular, the larger the urban area, the more is the funding from the urban development ministry.

In particular, the Berhampur area should be planned to grow radially:

• To the North east on NH-5 towards Chhatrapur, Rushikulya river and Chilika lake
• To the east to Gopalpur
• To the North on NH-217 towards Hinjilicut (the second largest urban area of Ganjam and the CM Naveen babu’s constituency)
• To the west towards Digapahandi
• To the southwest towards Chikiti
• To the south towards Andhra border

An initial start in this direction has been made. But the area needs to be made bigger. See below.

If one looks at the map of roads in Orissa, Ganjam district seems to be the most dense with roads. Looking at the above map an initial metro area bounded by Berhampur, Hinjilicut, Chhatrapur and Gopalpur would be good. The Rushikulya river frontage and the beach areas could serve as scenic demarcations.

In terms of other developments, the Future Berhampur blog lists the various development taking place in Berhampur. Some of the notable ones are:

• The number of educational institutions in the area, especially through private ventures. (For example, 7 diploma granting polytechnics, NTTF center, 10 engineering colleges, etc.)
• Gopalpur port
• Tata SEZ in Gopalpur
• Planned atomic power plant
• Planned IIIT Berhampur

This is a good core to start with. With proper planning and attention the Berhampur area could become a Tier-II metropolitan area of India. Its distance to the Bhubaneswar area is similar to the distance of Pune from Mumbai and Mysore from Bangalore.

Following are links from http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/.

Site Index, Part X: East India, before 1000

Maurya (323-185 BC)
Dhauli – Ashoka’s Rock Edict (3)

Chedi (2d century BC – 1st century AD)
Udayagiri (Khandagiri) – Jain Cave Temples (8)

Orissan dynasties, 8th – 12th century
Ratnagiri – Buddhist Monastery (12)
Udayagiri – Buddhist Monastery (5)
Bhubaneshwar – Hindu Temples (31)

Site Index, Part XI: East India, 900-1400

Somavamshi (9th – early 11th century)
Hirapur – Chaunsath Yogini Temple (9)

Eastern Ganga (10th – 14th century)
Konarak – Surya Temple (12)

A report in myiris states that: "About Rs 300 million is proposed to be spent by the company for the hospital project."

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report in Hindu Business Line.

Tata Steel is all set to establish a 200-bed hospital at Gobarghati in Kalinganagar industrial complex of Orissa’s Jajpur district.

About 10,000 people in the vicinity will benefit from the hospital as the steel giant has been extending healthcare facilities to people in its project as well as operational areas as part of periphery development and CSR plan, company sources said.

… For families affected in its green field steel project at Kalinganagar area, Tata Steel is setting-up the hospital in Gobarghati rehabilitation colony. The hospital building is under construction on a land of 4 acres and the civil part of the construction is almost over, the sources said.

When completed it would have round-the-clock service, pathology lab and outdoor complex. In a phase wise manner the number of beds in the hospital would increase to 200. Also to begin with, the hospital would have 4 to 5 doctors and required number of para-medical staff.

Following are excerpts from a report by Bishnu Das in Business Standard.

… Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, plans to set up an aluminium park at Jharsuguda.

The proposed park is expected to house at least 10-15 medium size downstream units with the total investment projected to be in excess of Rs 5000 crore. About 150 acres of land has been identified by the Orissa government for the purpose, sources said.

The units to come up in the park will utilise liquid alumina or ingot produced by VAL for manufacturing various products like electrical appliances, cable, aluminium extrusion and automobile parts.

The location of the park close to the VAL’s smelter plant at Jharsuguda is expected to reduce the input cost for downstream products.

…  Meanwhile, two downstream units have already applied to the district administration to set up shops in the proposed park.

On the other hand, the company’s refinery unit located at Lanjigarh has initiated steps for setting up an ancillary complex in its vicinity. The complex will house industries related to the field of fly ash bricks, cement, mineral water, hotels and food processing.

Joint advertisement by the company and District Industries Centre located at Lanjigarh was published and more than 80 applications have been received for setting up of industries in the identified field.

Sources said, about 20-25 acres of land has been earmarked for the setting up of ancillary units …

It may be noted, the company has already set up a 1 million tonne per annum greenfield alumina refinery at Lanjigarh and a 0.5 million tonne per annum aluminum smelter at Jharsuguda.

This is great news. I hope the people of Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda help in the early implementation of these plans. The downstream units often hire more people than the smelters. They also lead to the development of townships. In case of Jharsuguda such development would speed up the operationalization of the airport.

The following is constructed using today’s data in the world gazetteer.

Notes:

1. Delhi metropolitan area (not listed above)  has a population of 18,639,762 encompasses the state of Delhi and parts of UP and Haryana.
2. In the above Chandigarh is listed under Punjab mainly because there is more growth in the Punjab suburbs of Chandigarh. It is actually a centrally administered unit and capital of both Punjab and Haryana.

Considering the close relation between urbanization and other developmental indicators, Orissa must aim to have at least 5 metropolitan areas other than Bhubaneswar with population of 10 lakhs within the next 25 years.  Those are:

• Rourkela-Kansbahal-Rajgangpur (within 5 years)
• Berhampur-Chhatrapur-Hinjilicut (within 10 years)
• Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Brajarajnagar (within 10 years)
• Baripada-Balasore (within 20 years)
• Koraput-Jeypore-Sunabeda (within 25 years)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Subernarekha Multipurpose Project (SMP) which is an inter-state irrigation project conceived in 1970 by the Bihar government with funds from the World Bank, is likely to be partly functional by the middle of 2010 when the 56-km canal now in final stages of construction will be operational by releasing water to irrigate at least 6,000 hectares of land in Orissa.

According to SMP sources, the Jharkhand government is likely to hand over the canal to Orissa government in the middle of next year. The Orissa government has started construction of three reservoirs to store surplus water to irrigate more lands.

…  The initial cost of the SMP was estimated at Rs 3,000 crore, but gradually the cost went up manifold. The original plan of the SMP was to erect a dam on the Kharkai at Chandil, near Jamshedpur and a barrage at Galudih to supply water to Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal using the canals.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The first phase of the Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL)’s proposed 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel project and 1000 Mw power plant at Angul in Orissa is expected to be commissioned in 2011-12.

The shifting of families to be displaced by the project was going on and simultaneously, the construction of the boundary wall had started. The detailed engineering would follow the completion of the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of displaced persons and large scale construction would be taken up after that.

“We plan to start large scale construction work in January next year and the first phase commissioning is scheduled to be in 2011-12”, Rajesh Kumar Jha, executive director, JSPL told Business Standard.

He said, out of three villages to be shifted completely for the first phase construction, two villages had been rehabilitated completely. The remaining village would be rehabilitated by December this year. The company’s strategy of combining the project economy with the rehabilitated family’s economy has gone down well with the people. …

… the company had placed orders for civil and structural works worth Rs 1584.57 crore which was 60 percent of the estimated costs. Similarly, orders for plant and equipment worth Rs 4,034.34 crore had been placed which was about 35 per cent of the total estimated costs of plant and equipments.

The total cost of the project is Rs 22,420 crore with the first phase investment pegged at Rs 13,000 crore. The project has already attained financial closure and will have a 60:40 debt-equity ratio. While the debt component will be Rs 8,958 crore, the equity is Rs 13,452 crore.

…  While the company requires 5,279 acres for the steel plant, about 3000 acres have been acquired so far. The acquisition of additional 707 acres of private land is likely to be over by the end of this month.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… the Orissa government has approved two more bio-mass based power projects with a combined generating capacity of 39 Mw of power.

With this the total envisaged generating capacity in the bio-mass sector will increase to 129 Mw. Earlier, the government had approved 8 bio-mass based power projects with a combined generation capacity of 90 Mw.

… to promote bio-mass based power plants through the use of the wastes like rice husk, groundnut cover, coconut cover and other agricultural waste, the state government has started some initiative and approved the setting up of ten bio-mass based projects so far.

The State Level Technical Committee (STC) chaired by the secretary, science and technology, in its meeting held recently cleared two proposals- one by Starlight Energy’s proposal to set up a 15 Mw bio-mass power plant at Nuapada and the other by Mahavir Hitech Chemicals (P) Ltd to set up a 5 Mw power plant in Ratanpur village of Sundargarh district.

STC has also approved setting up of five more solar power projects aggregating 25 Mw in the state. The proposals include 5 Mw power plant proposed by RSB Energy Pvt. Ltd in Sundergarh dicstrict and Enzen Global Solutions’s plan to set up a 5 Mw solar power plant in Khurda district.

Similarly, Lanco Solar’s 5 Mw solar plant to be set up in Cuttack district, Sunark Solar’s 5 Mw power plant in Puri district and Kolkata based SREI Infrastructure’s proposal to set up a 5 Mw solar power plant in Bolangir district have been given the green signal.

Earlier the state government had approved Moserbaer Pvt Ltd’s 5 Mw grid interactive solar photo voltaic project and Sahara India’s proposal to set up a 5 Mw solar power plant in the state.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… Projects awaiting the chief minister’s nod include those proposed by National Thermal Power Corporation (Rs18,000 crore), L&T-Dubal (Rs 19,668 crore) and Lanco Babanh Power (Rs 11,402 crore) among others.

… The SLSWCA in its meeting held in March 2007 cleared the Rs 4232.54 crore investment proposal of Ashapura Minechem Ltd for setting up of a 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery and 0.15 mtpa smelter with 300 Mw captive power plant (CPP) in Koraput district.

Similarly, NTPC proposal to set up a 3200 Mw thermal power project at Darlipali in Sundergarh district was approved by the SLSWCA in February 2008.

The fate of L&T’s proposal to set up an alumina-aluminium complex at Kusumsila near Rayagada and Vadrapali near Sambalpur in joint venture with Dubal is still uncertain.

Sources said, the HLCA is yet to consider the Rs 8,250 crore investment proposal of Orissa Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL) to set up a 2000 Mw coal based power plant at Rengali. It is also yet to take up the Lanco Babandh Power’s application to enhance the MoU capacity from 1320Mw to 2640 Mw at Kurunti and Kharagprasad in Dhenkanal district.

The Rs 3101.86 crore proposal of Tata Sponge Iron to set up a 1.5 mtpa steel making capacity at Beliapada near Joda, recommended by the SLSWCA in May this year, is also pending for approval by the chief ministers.

… Though VAL had proposed to expand the capacity of its existing refinery at Lanjigarh from 1 mtpa to 6 mtpa, smelter plant capacity from 0.25 mtpa to 1.6 mtpa and the captive power plant (CPP) capacity from 674 Mw to 1350 Mw with a combined investment of Rs 37,440 crore, it was cleared in part by the SLSWCA.

The SLSWCA meeting held in May this year had recommended for a smelter capacity of 0.5 mtpa as the company had already achieved this level while approving the capacity expansion of the CPP to 1350 Mw without any increase in the refinery capacity.

Similarly, Hindalco Industries Ltd (Aditya Aluminium) had proposed to expand its alumina refinery capacity to 1.5 mtpa from 1 mtpa and expansion of its smelting capacity to 0.72 mtpa from 0.26 mtpa along with an increase in the CPP capacity to 1650 Mw from 650 Mw.

SLSWCA has only recommended a marginal increase in the smelting capacity from 0.26 mtpa to 0.36 mtpa and CPP capacity from 650 Mw to 950 Mw to the HLCA. Partial approval of these proposals was officially attributed to the non-availability of bauxite linkage and pending the final report of the environmental carrying capacity study taken up by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board.

That apart, the SLSWCA in its meeting on 26 August 2009 also recommended two projects of Rs 14,275 crore to HLCA. The Rs 7988 crore proposal of JR Powergen Private Ltd to set up a 1980 Mw power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul and BRG Energy Systems’s proposal to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at an investment of Rs 6287 crore at Bhapur in Nayagarh district are yet to be approved by HLCA.