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Following is an excerpt from a news report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Titanium Products Private Limited (TPPL), an Indo-Russian joint venture, for setting up of a Rs 2000 crore integrated titanium complex and sector specific special economic zone (SEZ) at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district.

SM Shroff , chairman of TPPL and the state industry secretary, A P Padhi signed the documents in the presence of chief minister, Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat.

The company will invest about Rs 2000 crore in two phases. While the first phase will cost about Rs 1200 crore, another Rs 800 crore will be invested in the second phase. The first phase will be completed within a period of 24 months and is likely to be commissioned by October 2010. It will produce 1,08,000 tonnes of titanium slag, 68,000 tonnes of high purity pig iron, 40,000 tonnes of di-oxide pigment and 10,000 tonnes of titanium sponge.

TPPL has already entered into an agreement with the Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL) for the supply of the raw material Ilminite. The company will require about 2 lakh tonnes of Ilminite annually for its project. India will be the fourth country in the world to have smelting technology required for production of titanium. The products will have applications in the field of aircraft engine, power plants, chemical plants, automobile industry as titanium is light and corrosion resistant.

TPPL will develop a sector specific special economic zone (SEZ) at its plant site for which it has received the in-principle approval from the Centre. However, it will require additional land beyond 250 acres acquired for the titanium complex.

The Orissa government has agreed to supply 65 Mw of power and 3 million gallon per day water for the project.

Speaking on the occasion chief minister Naveen Patnaik  … He said, the project is the anchor industry for a sector specific SEZ for establishment of downstream industries in sectors like high quality paint manufacturing, automotive casting, ductile iron casting, sillicon and zircon based products.

Patnaik said, the upcoming port at Gopalpur and the integrated titanium complex are the foundations for an industrial corridor in southern Orissa. These will further be integrated with the aluminium hinterland in Kalahandi, Koraput anfd Raygada. For the purpose, he has requested the railway ministry to take up the Therubali-Gunupur railway connectivity at the earliest.

Stating that establishment of a quality vocational educational institution offering the most modern trades relevant for the industry will be an important initiative in the skill upgradation of the local youth, Patnaik said, TPPL should explore such possibility. Besides, it should develop partnership with the local technical institutions.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) will prepare a project report for setting up of a mega food park at Malipada near Khurda, about 30 km from Bhubaneswar. It will study the feasibility, plan for infrastructure within the park, formulate promotional and marketing strategies among others. …

The latest initiative of the state government assumes importance as the Union government is encouraging establishment of food processing parks and has already announced a grant of Rs 1500 crore for 30 mega food processing parks in the country by the end of 2008.

Though none of the proposed mega food parks in the country has been notified yet, the state government will send a proposal to the Union ministry on setting up of a food processing in Orissa, said the sources. In case the Union government does not approve the state’s proposal, the state government intends to go on its own to set up a mega food park at Malipada, sources added.

The state government has already identified 80 acres of land at Malipada for this purpose. It will be handed over to the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idcol) by the district collector of Khurda and the process will be completed within 45 days.

The Union minister for food processing will be invited by the state government to visit the identified location towards the end of November. Besides, steps will be taken to develop a chain of cold storage between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

This was decided at a review meeting on the food processing industries in Orissa chaired by the Development Commissioner (DC) R N Bohidar recently.

As per the Government of India (GoI) scheme, the mega food park need to be built on a minimum area of 100 acres and maximum area of 100 hectares and the grant can be availed in two installments.

Khurda will be a preferred location as it will be closer to the bio-technology park being set up at Andharua near Bhubaneswar which will add synergy to the project.

Sources said, the plans for the development of terminal market or distribution centres at key locations like Choudwar, Berhampur and Sambalpur along with the supply chain of horticulture products in the catchment areas are being worked out by the department of horticulture.

That apart, multi-product cold chain network and the Inland Container Depos (ICDs) at Kalinganagar and Jharsuguda by CONCOR and similar facilities proposed at other places like Rourkela, Bhadrakh and Angul are likely to give a fillip to the sector.

In view of the potential in the food and the agro-processing sector, some sub-sectors have been identified by the state government for development. This includes rice, cashew, spices, mango, marine and fishery, diary and maize.

… According to the official figures, there were 92,417 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the state by the end of 2006-07 with an investment of about Rs 2825.16 crore. Out of it, 21,298 units were in the food and allied sector with an investment of Rs 803.78 crore. While the MSE sector accounted for about 5,56,908 employment, out of it the food processing sector engaged 1,10,329 persons.

 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

The Indian Railways on Monday finally spelt out its plan of action to bring the Khurda-Bolangir new broad gauge line, which was sanctioned 13 years ago, back on track here.

Addressing a press conference, Chairman of Railway Board Kalyan Coomar Jena said the Orissa government had been approached to provide land required for the 290-kilometre-long stretch Khurda-Bolangir line free of cost.

Moreover, funds available in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) with the State should be diverted to take up earthwork needed for laying the new line, Mr. Jena said.

“If the state government responds positively to our idea, the Khurda-Bolangir project would move much faster,” Mr. Jena said.

… The proposed Khurda-Bolangir line is a vital railway link, which would connect coastal Orissa with the western part. Though people had started demanding the railway link more than two decades ago, it was sanctioned in the year 1994-1995.

The projected cost of the project has now reached Rs. 1,000 crore.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) said 52 per cent of cumulative physical progress had been achieved while work was in progress up to 36 km distance. Till March 2007, only Rs. 67.83 crore had been spent on the project.

The Indian Railways also sought the State government’s cooperation on land acquisition for the Puri-Konark railway link. 

Sharing the progress on the proposed world-class railway station at Bhubaneswar, Mr. Jena said the railway was scouting for suitable land for the project.

He said Chinese expertise had been sought to prepare concept of the station, which would require at least 200 acres of land.

Subsequently, an expression of interest would be floated inviting interested firms to execute the project.

A high-level Chinese railway delegation headed by W.U. Wei, Director of Sino-India Railway Co-operation Working Group along with 12 members had visited the city for conducting a survey for developing a world class station here.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Kalinga Times.

… Jena said the gauge conversion of 90 km Naupada-Gunupur would be completed during the current fiscal.

Following is excerpted from a report in tathya.in. The various projects that were cleared are:

• A 12 MTPA Greenfield steel mill at Astaranga in Puri district by Navayug Steels Limited with an investment of Rs.34,000 crore. Linkage for iron ore has not been covered in the proposed mega project. The Navayug Group is setting up a port in Astaranga with an investment of Rs.6000 crore and a 2640 mw mega thermal power plant with an investment of Rs.11200 crore in Astaranga.
• Bhusan Steels Limited (BSL), which is setting up a 3.10 MTPA steel mill in Meramundali in Dhenkanal was allowed to expand it’s capacity to produce 9 mtpa with an additional investment of Rs.20,804 crore.
• Reliable Sponge’s proposal to set up a 0.25 MTPA steel plant along with a 24 mw captive power plant having a total investment of Rs.227.13 crore was cleared by the Authority.
• Emami Paper Mills Limited (EPML) proposal for a 1.32 lakh ton per annum Newsprint unit along with a co-generation power plant for an investment of Rs.500 crore was cleared.  EPML has established a paper mill at Balasore in 1982 and the new plant will come up in the same area. 
• Purvi Bharat Paper & Power (PBPP) has proposed for a 33,000 TPA writing & printing paper mill at Choudwar in Cuttack district with an investment of Rs.90.50 crore.
• The proposal to set up 5 mw solar park near Bhubaneswar with an investment of Rs.125 crore by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) received clearance of the Authority.
• In total, the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) on 17 March cleared the proposed investment of Rs.55,650 crore in 6 projects.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu. (See also http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=526, http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=480  and http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=319 )

Construction companies eyeing the access controlled, six-lane expressway projects of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are likely to get investment opportunities for at least four such projects spread over 495 km over the next few months.

They are Chandikhol-Jagatpur-Bhubaneswar (70 kilometre length, estimated cost Rs 761 crore), Delhi-Hapur (47 km, Rs 474 crore), the 198-km stretch of Vijayawada-Elluru-Rajamundri (Rs 1,602 crore) and the 180-km stretch on Delhi-Agra highway (Rs 1,918 crore). The feasibility reports for these projects are already completed and the work is likely to be awarded in about six months, said NHAI officials. Toll collection

These projects are for widening the current four-lane highways into six lanes and operating them for certain durations.

Companies would have to bid competitively for these projects on a revenue-sharing basis. Thus companies would have to bid on the extent of toll revenue that they are ready to share with the Government if they are allowed to operate the roads.

Since these highways are already four-lane stretches, the road operators can start toll collection even during the project construction phase from an ‘appointed date’ (within six months of winning the project), mutually decided by NHAI and the road operator. The toll revenues will be routed to an escrow account.

… From the NHAI perspective, these projects have emerged as money-spinners, with companies willing to foot the entire construction cost and part with two per cent to 48.06 per cent of their revenues in the initial leg of the project.

At the end of the concession period, which is about 12 to 15 years duration, the winning firms have agreed to part with 12 per cent to 59 per cent share of toll revenues.

The following is from http://jcdl.in/about.htm.

JCDL is a unique public-private partnership between IDCO and Industries supported by Government of India & Government of Orissa. JCDL has been formed with the objective of undertaking infrastructure development of Steel & Metallurgical Cluster, Jajpur under Industrial Infrastructure Up-gradation Scheme of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India.

JCDL was incorporated on 9.3.2004 as 100% IDCO owned. Pursuant to the restructuring proposal approved by the Industries Department, Government of Orissa vide their letter vide No. 22474 dated 24.12.2004, Kalinganagar Industries Association (KIA), an Association of industries in the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex. Jajpur has subscribed to the equity capital of JCDL. Now, KIA holds 51% equity capital in JCDL whereas the equity held by IDCO is 49%.

Current approved sub-projects (from http://jcdl.in/app_proj.htm):

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India had approved Steel & Metallurgical Cluster development project with outlay of Rs.62.50 crores vide their letter No. 5/23/2004/DBA-1 dated 4.8.2004, which was further revised to Rs.80.60 crores vide their letter No. 5/23/1/2004/DBA-I dated 3.4.2006. 

The source of funding includes GOI grant of Rs. 47 crores, Rs. 15.50 crores to be contributed by the stakeholders, and Rs.18.10 crores by IDCO.

The sub-projects sanctioned for implementation with;

Sl. No.	Project	Project Cost (Rs. in crores)
1.	Augmentation of water supply scheme	14.00
2.	Strengthening and up-gradation of Old Military road	26.00
3 .	Road development in Utility corridors	30.60
4 .	Setting up of Central Tool Room	3.00
5.	Up-gradation of power distribution infrastructure	4.50
6.	Development of common facilities centre including Information & Communication infrastructure	2.50
	TOTAL	80.60

 

Following is culled from various sources, including Samaja and Pioneer. The 11 projects that have been cleared or partially cleared are:

1. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd’s proposed power plant in Sundargarh. An investment of Rs 18,000 crore has been made for the project which will produce 3,200 megawatt of power.
2. Proposed Air Separation unit factory by British Oxygen which will come up at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district. It will produce 1800 tons of oxygen daily. It will need 15 acres of land and will invest 838 crores.
3. Jindal Stainless Ltd’s Rs 4,090 crore proposed power plant. The project will come up at Gajamara in Dhenkanal. The power plant will produce 1,000 megawatt.
4. Aarti Steel’s Rs 2,065 crore power plant at Ghantakhal in Athagarha
5. Salivahan Green Energy Ltd’s power project at Nimidha in Dhenkanal
6. Hind Metal and Industries Pvt Ltd (HMIL) Rs 237.10 crore plant at Meramunduli in Dhenkanal
7. Kalinga Energy and Power Ltd’s Rs 4261.27 crore project at Babuchakuli in Sambalpur
8. JSW Energy Ltd’s Rs9189.7 crore project at Chiplima in Sambalpur
9. Chambal Infrastructures and Ventures Ltd’s Rs 4993.98 crore project at Siaria in Dhenkanal
10. Ind Barath Energy Ltd (IBEL)’s Rs1007.69 crore power plant at Banaharpali in Jharsuguda.
11. Expansion of Balasore alloys.

Following is from a report in New Indian Express.

The Rs 2,000-crore titanium plant to be established jointly by the Russian Federation and Kolkata-based Saraf Group at Chatrapur in Ganjam district would lay the base for development of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The SEZ spanning over 600 acres would house beach sand mineral-based industries.

It would be spearheaded by the Russian and Indian partners and developed into an industrial hub as the flagship titanium project gets executed, said General Director of Technochim Holdings L N Bobkov here on Tuesday.

Plans are to pump in around 3 billion USD for development of the SEZ and the concept paper would be submitted to the Governments of India and Russia for consideration and approval.

The high-value applications of titanium as raw material would open a floodgate of opportunities for value-addition by downstream industries.

Units in the sectors of casting, titanium metal, magnesium, automotive and machine parts, electronics , computers and other manufacturing sectors, etc., can come up. The SEZ would also be open to other private players, the developers have said.

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

The city is all set to have one of the biggest aquariums in the country, spread over 332 square metre and housing as many as 140 varieties.

Deputy Director-General (Fisheries) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research Prof. S. Ayyappan would inaugurate iton Friday.

It has been built by Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA).

The research institute is describing it as one of the biggest ecosystem-based aquaria.

It will hold 140 varieties including 20 marine species and as many indigenous species in about 54 aquaria.

Entry fee has been priced at Rs 10 per adult, Rs 5 for child and Rs 3 for students (group of 20 or more).

The primary objective of the aquarium would be to create awareness among the public about aquatic fauna and flora.

It will aim at providing first hand information on ornamental fish and motivate farmers and entrepreneurs in ornamental fish farming and trade.

Some of the important fresh water varieties it would exhibit include Discus, Angel, Barbs, Danios, Tetras, Catfishes, Gouramies, and Cichlids.

Besides, some of the popular marine fishes in collection include Clown Fish,’ ‘Starfish,’ ‘Tang Fish,’ ‘Angel Fish,’ ‘Lion Fish and Anemones.

Importantly, the aquarium also has in possession a few pretty exotic fishes like Ghost Knife Fish of the Amazon, Texas and Flower Horn.

Update: Pioneer reports that ‘"The NHAI has agreed to provide funds immediately to take up the widening and strengthening the NH-215 from Panikoeli to Rajmunda. Rs 96 crore will be spent for this purpose. The tender process for the four laning would start soon."

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Under the PPT mode, the State Government has decided to build a Capital Region Ring Road. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Empowered Committee on Infrastructure (ECI) chaired by the Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy on Tuesday.

The proposed ring road will constructed with an aim to lessen pressure on the vehicular traffic movement on Bhubaneswar-Cuttack road. The road will start from Khurda and pass through Bhubaneswar via bypass and touch Nirgundi near Cuttack. The survey work for the project will commence soon.

Keeping the growing industrialisation in view, another road under PPT will be built connecting directly Bhubaneswar to Paradip. It will also help the smooth movement of traffic from Capital to Port City. ILFS will do the necessary survey work.

In order to strengthen the PPT mode, Government has constituted seven cells in different departments like Fisheries and Animal Development, Energy, Panchayat Raj and Information and Technology.

The committee approved five proposals under PPT. In a bid to develop the infrastructure of Berhampur city, Government has decided to build an integrated commercial and residential complex under the banner Gajapati Plaza. Rs 10 crore will be spent to build this project. Government will provide five acre of land for this purpose. All the modern amenities including swimming poll facilities will also be available in the complex. The project work would be entrusted to Forum Project Private Limited. Work on the project would commence in the next 15 days. The ECI also gave its nod to set up a bio-tech farm in an area of 64.86 acres of land near Andharua on the outskirt of Bhubaneswar city. A bio-tech incubation centre will be set up in another 10 acres of land in Andharua also. Five major state-of-the-art infrastructure in the form of modular laboratories, loaded wet laboratories, common equipment facilities and amenities, pilot plant facilities and training centre would be provided in the park.

These facilities in the Biotechnology Research Platform will help to multiply the number of users on free-for -use basis. Selected private developers will be allowed to operate, manage, maintain and market the park in Bio-Tech Pharma and Bio-Informatics -IT related issues.

Dharitri has a nice article on the golden future of Dhamara. Following are some of the major projects involving Dhamara. My prediction is that in 10-15 years the Chandbali-Dhamara-Bhitarakanika area will be a beautiful metropolitan area  next to a national park. (See top right in this map.)

1. L & T and the Tatas are building a port in Dhamara.
2. Central government is upgrading Dhamara fishing jetty  to an international fishing harbor.
3. Bharati Shipyard and Appejay group plan to build a shipyard in Dhamara.
4. A railway line connecting Dhamara and Bhadrakh will be build.
5. Good roads will definitely connect Dhamara to nearby National Highways.
6. Dhamara will be a major stop in National Waterway 5.
7. Dhamara is next to the Bhitarakanika National Park (more)

Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33328.

In some stretches entrusted to National Highways Authority of India, maintenance of trees is included as a part of ongoing Operation & Maintenance contracts. The details are as under:

(i) NH-8   :           Jaipur  bypass

(ii) NH-79A: Kishangarh – Kanwaliyas-Jajaro Ka Khera section (km. 0 to km. 35) &   NH-79 (km. 15 to km. 163.90).                             

(iii)   NH-76   :    (Udaipur-Chittorgarh (km. 113.825 to km. 220.00).

(iv) NH-5      :       Bhubaneswar-Jagatpur-Chandikhole (km. 0 to km. 61).

Following are extracted from a report in the Pioneer.

• the State Commerce and Transport Department, in its sanction order-29753, dated May 30, 1970, had allotted 3, 793.21 acres in the first phase and 2285.23 acres in the second phase to the Paradip Port Project. Most of the lands were obtained from Sandhakuda, Bijayachandrapur, Balijhari and Bhitaragara villages, under Kujang Tehsil. According to the official sources, about 6,889 acres of land were supplied to the Paradip Port Trust.
• The State Government had provided 62.19 acres of land to the Paradeep Phosphate Ltd, which is a fertiliser plant that started its project in 1982. The PPL had acquired 405 acres of private lands from Bhitaragada village on its own.
• … in Paradeep-Cuttack railway line 137 acres of land were acquired from the Bhitaragada village.
• Kujang Tehsil had about 1,500 acres of Government land in the Musadiha area that was provided to the Oswal Fertiliser Plant in the year 1995-96. The plant had also purchased about 500 acres of private land from the local people.
• … in 2000 Indian Oil Corporation had purchased 3,300 acres of private land from the local people of 17 villages for its refinery project, which was to be set up on the outskirts of Paradip but the project is yet to come.
• for much-hyped Haridaspur-Paradip Railway Project, widening of the NH-5 and recent expansion of Cuttack-Paradip State Highway, thousands of acres of both Government and private lands have been acquired from Kujang Tehsil.
• Essar, the 6 million tonnes steel plant project, moves for the land acquisition in Paradip and the project needs about 1,950 acres of land. The State Government has already given 350 acres of land to the plant. It will procure the remaining required land from private land.
• Posco has shown a demand of about 4,004 acres of land in Dhinkia, Gadakujang and Nuagaon villages for its steel plant and port project. The State Government has given assurance and has provided Posco most of the encroached Government and forestlands. The rest of the required land would be purchased from private landowners.

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

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

It also added

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

New Indian express reports that Orissa Stevedores Ltd (OSL) started the renovation of Gopalpur Minor Port and its expansion into an all weather port. Excerpts:

“This seasonal port work which was earlier managed by the State Government was entrusted to OSL last year to be developed into a full fledged, all weather port by OSL, on a build own operate share transfer (BOOST) basis for a concession period of 30 years.While the minor Gopalpur port was spread over 282.755 acres the planned all weather port will come up on 513.786 acres. As per the notification by the State Government the district administration has already initiated measures to hand over land to OSL besides leasing out some stone quarries.

As per the initial plans, the port would be developed in two phases at Rs 720 crore. The first phase of the project would involve upgradation and rehabilitation of the existing minor port at Rs 20 crore.

Phase II involves an investment of Rs 700 crore for the development of the port into an all-weather one. On completion of 30 years, the developed port will be handed over to the State Government. However, the private operator would also have to share its gross revenue with the State Government.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Chairperson of the Railway board, in Bhubaneswar for the Railways athletic meet, met various Orissa government officials. Following are excerpts from various newspapers report on the meeting.

Statesman:

The state government would provide land for the proposed general stores depot of the east coast railway at Mancheswar.

The proposal was taken in a meeting between the chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik and the railway board chairman Mr KC Jena here today. It is hoped that this particular endeavour would assist the small entrepreneurs to a great extent.

The state government has also promised to provide land for beautification of the entrance to the Bhubaneswar railway station.

Mr KC Jena informed the chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik that a survey is being conducted for running of passenger trains on the Daitari- Banspani route and the certificate of the commissioner for railway safety is being awaited.

Issues pertaining to the development of the railways in the state like expediting of the important railway projects of the state, increasing the allocation, setting up of special purpose vehicles for Haridaspur-Paradeep and Angul-Sukinda railway projects and passenger amenities were the topics discussed in the meeting.

The establishment of a world-class station at Baranga also formed a part of the discussion. The chief secretary Mr Ajit Tripathy of the east coast railway, the general manager Mr SS Khurana, the secretary to chief minister Mr BK Patnaik, the commerce and transport secretary Mr P Patnaik were present in the meeting.

Pioneer:

During the meeting, discussions were also held for speedy implementation of the Khurda Road-Bolangir new broad gauge rail link and Lanjigarha Road-Junagarh rail link project.

The Government also urged the Railway Board chairman to expedite the Bargarha-Nawapara Road -via- Padmapur railway link, Jeypore-Malkangiri railway connection, extensions of Nuapada- Gunupur broad gauge rail link to Theruvali and formation of a special vehicle for the Angul-Dubri-Sukinda Road broad gauge rail link project.

The State Government also took up the issue to introduce more pantry cars on passenger trains. The Government also urged the Railway Board chairman to introduce more AC coaches in the Tapswini and Puri-Raipur Express.

Prior to the meeting, Sambada had published the following as the agenda of what Orissa government will discuss with Mr. Jena.