___________

Google Map Link: https://www.google.com/maps/@20.2471662,85.7396776,3429m/data=!3m1!1e3

In Design Studio Ahmedabad has developed a master plan for the above area. See details at https://www.inidesignstudio.info/dev/portfolio/town-planning-scheme-tps-02-bhubaneswar/

Update: SAIL RSP has now agreed to consider upgrading IGH (Ispat general Hospital) to a medical college. All that was needed was the CM asking for it. The Odia papers suggest that he already agreed. If this works out then the 4 public sectors MCL, NTPC, NALCO and SAIL will each be making medical colleges at Talcher, Sundergarh, Koraput and Rourkela respectively.

If the IGH upgradation happens it will be the second medical college in Rourkela. (Note that HiTech medical college is now operational in Rourkela and has taken the first batch of MBBS students.) When the NTPC medical college is made in Sundergarh, the medical college count in that district will then go to 3.

Next Odisha government must push the other companies that heavily use Odisha minerals to contribute at the similar level. The TATAs who have mining in Odisha for more than 100 years should be told to establish medical colleges in Joda-Barbil and Sukinda-Kalinganagar and do much more.

Following are some of the projects that are in progress as collected from various media reports.

• NALCO has agreed to build a medical college at Koraput. A few days back (I think sometime in June 2012) the state government decided to ask NALCO for this and this was in the media around July 3rd. The NALCO officials met the concerned government officials on July 5th and NALCO immediately agreed to this proposal. In the past the public sectors MCL and NTPC had agreed to establish medical colleges in Talcher and Sundergarh respectively. Odisha now must push SAIL for a medical college in Rourkela.
• As per this Times of India report: "New Delhi-based OSL Group’s Centre for Joint Disorders will established a 150-seat medical college, 750-bed super-speciality hospital, a dental college and a nursing college in Bhubaneswar. The group has promised to start work within two months…"
• As per this Times of India report: "The upcoming Sardar Rajas medical college and hospital at Jaring in Kalahandi district, being established by Selvam Education and Charitable Trust of Tamil Nadu, will start admitting students from the next academic year …"
• As per this Times of India report: "The sDFID of UK has been preparing a report to facilitate a medical college in Balangir. "
• As per this Times of India report: "land transfer work for the proposed medical college by Sahyog Foundation in Keonjhar will be fast-tracked"
• As per this Times of India report: "the government would soon examine the proposals of Basantidevi Charitable Trust and Bidyabharti Charitable Trust as well to open a medical college in Rayagada."
• As per this Times of India report: "The government has also agreed in principle to a proposal from Shankar Netralaya of Chennai to start a 200-bed eye hospital in Berhampur."
• As per this Times of India report: "The government on Tuesday asked Bangalore-based Narayana Hrudayalaya, which has taken land from the state government to establish a super-speciality hospital in Bhubaneswar, or start work or return the land. The group assured to start work by September.
• As per this article in Business Standard: " Odisha government today asked the Centre to set up a National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Science (NIMHANS) besides expediting establishment of a para-medical training institute in the state."
• As per this article in Telegraph: "The Acharya Harihar Cancer Institute at Cuttack will be upgraded and seats along with number of employees will be enhanced, said Union Health Secretary Prasanna Kumar Pradhan while attending a review meeting here on Sunday. It will be an apex institute in the country, Pradhan added. In the review meeting, Pradhan said Rs 200 crore would be sanctioned during the 12th Five-Year Plan to upgrade this premier cancer treatment institute of the State. Now the institute has 320 beds which will be increased to 600, he added."
• As per this article in Times of India: "the minister also asked the Union health secretary to expedite process for establishment of the proposed Regional Institute of Paramedical Sciences (RIPS). The state government has already given around 25 acre land for the paramedical institute near the AIIMS."
• As per this article in Times of India: "The state government sought financial assistance for infrastructure development of the three medical colleges to increase the MBBS seat strength from the current 150 to 250 each."
• As per this article in Times of India: "The government also submitted a proposal to create super-speciality disciplines in VSS Medical College and Hospital, Burla and MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur. The government has sought central assistance of Rs 150 crore each for superspeciality faculty in the two hospitals."
• As per this article in Times of India: "Acharya requested the Union health secretary to upgrade the geriatric ward of SCB Medical College and Hospital into a Regional Geriatric centre. Designating a regional centre will attract better central funding, Acharya said. "

A good news and a bad news:

• Good News: Hi-Tech medical college in Rourkela has got approval to admit 100 students fro this academic year. This will be the 4th private medical college (and the first outside of Bhubaneswar) in operation in Odisha.
• Bad News: KIMS Bhubaneswar has been debarred to admit students for two year.

Following are excerpts from an excellent article by Bibhuti Barik in Telegraph.

The proposed corridor will include nine places linked to Jagannath Dham and the rich tradition of Odia art, craft, architecture and rural lifestyle.

… “We want to touch a part of Odisha’s essence through this heritage corridor. It will start from places in the neighbourhood of the capital, such as Sisupalgarh, Gangotri Nagar, Dhauli, Pipili, Danda Mukundapur, Dasia Bauri Peetha, Sakhigopal, Danda Sahi and Raghurajpur. While the first two places can be tagged together as they are near the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, Danda Mukundapur, Dasia Bauri Peetha, Sakhigopal and Danda Sahi need special emphasis so that the travellers can get to know about them and their historical links,” said a senior official of the state tourism and culture department.

The department’s principal secretary Ashok Tripathy said: “… we are going to put an extra emphasis on the rural sector. The heritage corridor will be the first effort towards the initiative. We are going to give the travellers a feel of not only the rural Odisha, but also the essence of our cultural traditions attached to it, in the form of crafts, dance forms, saga of Lord Jagannath and the folklores linked to the holy city and its temples.”

While Sisupalgarh is one of the unique fort settlements in the world and dates back to the Mauryan-era, Gangotri Nagar is fast becoming a small but beautiful settlement of national award winning artists in patta chitra and stone carving.

But after visiting the two places, one can move up to Dhauli where apart from the famous peace pagoda a sculpture garden is already in the pipeline.

While Pipili represents a nice cooperation between Muslims and Hindus with its appliqué work, the state culture and tourism department is also planning a project to attract tourists near the diversion of NH-203 which is under renovation.

… Danda Mukundapur is famous for poet Bhakta Salbeg, a Muslim follower in love with Lord Jagannath. There is a place where Bhakta Dasia, a devotee of Lord Jagannath from the weaver community was born and proved that through love and devotion one can conquer the Lord. It is said that the image of the Trinity once appeared in a sacred pond near Dasia’s house when some priests came calling to realise Dasia’s tale. The lush green surroundings, including the paddy fields, coconut and banana plantations recreate another Kerala inside Odisha.

Sakhigopal also has the sacred Sakhigopinath temple which, according to legend, is a shrine describing the Lord’s love for his follower. Sakhigopal is the major work place of the famous five friends or Panchasakha — Gopabandhu, Acharya Harihara, Nilakantha, Krupasindhu and Godabarish.

The last two places — Danda Sahi and Raghurajpur — are famous for patta chitra. However, while the latter became famous with proper patronage and promotion, Danda Sahi is yet to get prominence that it deserves. Raghurajpur has already become a model village with traditional studios of the artists, Gotipua dance recitals, cultural exchanges between the foreign tourists or artists and local talents.

Following is from Dharitri.

As S. Pani points out Indigo is going to have the following new flights through Bhubaneswar:

Starting 16th Feb:
6E 293 Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Mumbai-Coimbatore
6E 294 Coimbatore-Mumbai-Bhubaneswar-Kolkata

Starting 7th March
6E 511 Chennai-Vizag-Bhubaneswar-Kolkata
6E 512 Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Vizag-Chennai

With these and other recent changes following is a glimpse of the flight connectivity between Bhubaneswar and other cities. We only show direct flights or flights with one stop (but no plane changes).

Kolkata:

Delhi: (Note – The Jetlite flight does not show up in the left.)Mumbai: (The Jetlite and Jet Konect flights below refer to the same flight.)

Bangalore: (The Jetlite and Jet Konect flights below refer to the same flight.)
Hyderabad: (For some reason the above Jet Konnect/Jet Lite flight to  Hyderabad does not show up below.)Chennai: (The Air India flight below is five days a week.)Visakhapatnam:      Port Blair: Coimbatore:

The new flights that Indigo introduced has the hopping schedule that South West airlines in USA has. Such a hopping schedule allows for additional 1 or 2 stop connections without plane changes. I hope in the future similar connectivity is added to places like Cochin, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Guwahati, Lucknow/Kanpur etc.

I also noticed that on some days the price to fly between Bhubaneswar and Mumbai is more than flying from Bhubaneswar to Coimbatore via Mumbai on the same flight.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer. 

With top software companies chalking out their strategies for growth, the top administrators in the Information Technology (IT) sector in Odisha say that by 2013 the state will have more than 10,000 seats for software professionals.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro and above all MindTree have started their plans for expansion in Odisha in a big way, said an official in the Department of IT(DoIT).

MindTree, a global IT and Product engineering services company, is starting work on its 20-acre campus from Thursday, said sources.Though MindTree wanted to open its campus way back in 2004, bureaucratic wrangles forced the IT major to wind up its plan. However, with the intervention of the top officials in the DoIT, it has once again taking up the job to set up 2,000-seater campus by 2013, which will ultimately a 10,000-seater campus in future.DoIT Secretary and IDCO CMD Pradeep Jena played a crucial role in roping in the Global IT company to Odisha by providing 20-acres of land in Infocity I.

… Wipro has also started construction of its campus in Infocity I, said an offcial.

This will be a 3,000-seater campus with the latest facilities for software development.Similarly, Infosys has decided to be co-developer of a 50-acre zone in Info Valley SEZ coming up near Khurda.

DoIT sources said 5,000 seats would be developed in next two years.TCS has also started adding its second campus with 3,500 seats in Infocity I.All these companies would be adding 10,000 seats by 2013 …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Mid-sized IT solution provider MindTree Ltd has plans to complete its Orissa project by 2017 and the first phase by June 2013 …

… MindTree will invest Rs 250 crore in a span of five years to build the facility, which can employ 5,000 persons and can train 1,000 freshers, he informed while saying that the entire campus will have the touch of Puri temple along with modern architecture.

In its Bhubaneswar campus, the company will provide all its services including specialised Product Engineering Services that accounts for a third of its revenue. After its completion, it will also look for universities which can make changes in their curriculum to suit the business requirement, he said.

(Thanks to Devasis Sarangi for the pointer to this in facebook.)

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

Number one in growth over last year’s net direct tax collection during April 1-December 1 is Bhubaneswar, with a 52.6 per cent increase at Rs 4,187 crore (Rs 2,744 crore in last year’s corresponding period). Of the collection this year, Rs 2,959 crore has come from corporate tax and Rs 1,226 crore from personal income tax.

A senior department official said the better growth in direct tax realisation in smaller regions clearly indicated an increase in business activities in these. And, that this had come despite overall sluggish performance.

I am tempted to draw more conclusions but am not sure of jurisdictions of each of the locations in the left. For example, for the number corresponding to Bhubaneswar, is the data just about collection from Bhubaneswar city (as defined by what?) or about the collection from Bhubaneswar tax circle (what are the areas it covers?). Although not knowing this makes it difficult to draw more conclusions, one thing is for sure; Bhubaneswar tops in the growth of direct tax collections.

Following is a list of museums and ASI ticketed monuments in and around Bhubaneswar:

1. Odisha State Museum, Bhubaneswar. (branch museums at: Puri, Dhenkanal, Salipur, Khiching, Baripada, Balasore, Nuapara, Bhawanipatna, Balangir, Jeypore, Baragarh and Koraput)
2. Museum of Tribal Arts and Artifacts, Bhubaneswar.
3. Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), Bhubaneswar.
4. Regional Science Center, Bhubaneswar
5. Handloom and Handicrafts museum, Bhubaneswar (being set up)
6. ASI Museum in Konark.
7. ASI Museum in Ratnagiri.
8. ASI Museum in Lalitgiri (being constructed)
9. ASI Ticketed Monuments (Konark, Udaygiri and Khandagiri caves, Rajarani temple, Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri)
10. Srikhetra Culture Museum, Puri (being constructed)
11. Dhenkanal Science Center. (Kapilas Science Park.)

Following is a list of live museums in and around Bhubaneswar:

1. Nandan Kanan, Barang
2. State Botanical Garden, Barang
3. Regional Plant Resource Center (Ekamra Kanan), Bhubaneswar (with a cactus garden, arboretum, orchidarium, bamboosetum, wild fruit garden and palmetum)
4. Medicinal plant garden, Patrapada, Bhubaneswar
5. Jayadev Vatika, Kenduvila (30 kms from Bhubaneswar)
6. Jayadev batika at Khandagiri.
7. Ekamra Vana (Medicinal plant garden), around Bindu sagar lake, Bhubaenswar
8. Various parks in Bhubaneswar.
9. Aquarium at Nandan Kanan.
10. Aquarium at CIFA, Bhubaneswar
11. Aquarium, Puri (planned)

Others:

1. Sudarshan Sand art institute, Puri.
2. Raghurajpur artisan village.

Following is from a report in Indian Express.

The Tribal Museum here is up for a makeover. Located on the premises of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), the archives displays objects from almost every tribe. The institute is the only government-run tribal museum in the State and  attracts hundreds of visitors from abroad each year. A few years back, it was identified as the best among the 21 tribal museums in India by Unesco.

 Apart from the existing five galleries in the Museum that houses ornaments, paintings, photographs, hunting tools, agriculture implements, musical instruments and Dokra items,  the authorities are setting up another Primitive Tribal Group (PTG) gallery on the institute’s 18 acre campus. Construction of this gallery is underway and after completion, it would adorn artefacts related to 13 PTGs in the State.  Plans have also been drawn up to rope in tribal artisans and use the institute premises as a live museum-cum-platform where tribal artisans would get the chance to display and sell their products. This apart, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has sanctioned ` 40 lakh for beautification of the Museum this year that would entail landscaping, construction of pathways and plantation of trees like Sal, Mohul, Bamboo … "… The land behind the five hutments within the Museum will be used for setting up small forests that are typical to a tribal habitation,” said Museum in-charge Trilochan Sahoo, adding stone statues of tribal deities will also be installed. Besides, touchscreen kiosks will be set up in each of the existing five galleries where short films on tribal livelihood will be screened for interested tourists. The Tribal Museum has around 2,247 tribal artefacts, 34 items of textiles of 10 tribes and 927 ornaments of 25 tribes. The five huts within the premises are of Santal, Juang, Gadaba, Saora and Kondh tribes.

Tribal Dance Festival

The three-day Tribal Dance Festival will  be organised this year by the SC & ST Development Department from December 12. … every day during the festival, five tribal dances will be showcased and this time, tribals from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have been invited to perform besides the those from the State.

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

The state government has started work on development of a railway corridor through Choudwar to Rourkela to allow ease of inward and outward transportation of goods from the industrial hubs and mining belts along the region.

Land acquisition for the project, the first of its kind initiative by a state government, has already been initiated by the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco). The project would go on ground after the land acquisition and is targeted to be completed by 2015, said Idco CMD Priyabrata Patnaik on Friday.

The corridor involves development of extensive rail and road connectivity, along with provisioning of water supply and other infrastructural facilities. The corridor would encompass two track railway lines and six-lane road passing through the industrial hubs and the coal mining belts. New industrial areas and downstream units would be developed along the corridor.

Common infrastructure facilities under the corridor would solve the problems of inward and outward transportation of goods and minerals. The stretch would pass through the heart of coal mining operations in the state, which harbours about 65 billion tonne of reserves. The coal reserves in the Talcher belt only is around 43 billion tonne.

The corridor would cover 17 large and mega-industries, along with 57 other units, through the stretch from Choudwar to Rourkela. Traffic projection on the route is given out as 8.7 million tonne.

The route would have 163 km of railway track length and 465 km on road. As many as 308 minor bridges and 77 major bridges would have to be constructed on it, said Patnaik.

Note 1: The 163 km of railway track probably refers to the Talcher-Bimlagarh segment.

Note 2: Although the above report only mentions the Choudwar-Rourkela part, in earlier documents there is mention of Paradeep-Choudwar-Rourkela industrial corridor. See for example this 2009 Business Standard report. Following are some excerpts from that.

The Orissa government plans to develop an industrial corridor running from Paradeep to Rourkela through industrial hubs like Choudwar, Talcher and Sambalpur.

Though the initial proposal was to have an industrial corridor originating from Choudwar to Rourkela, the proposal was modified to extend the corridor till Paradeep to allow inward and outward transport of goods through the Paradeep port, sources said.

… The proposed industrial corridor will be in line with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and is designed to pass through national highway no.42 and national highway no 5 (A).

Under the project, both road and rail corridor will be developed, which will be the backbone of the proposed project. The industrial estates and down stream units would be developed over 25 km area on both sides of the corridor.

IL&FS has been appointed as the consultant for the project and it has already submitted the pre-feasibility study report to the industry department on the project. However, the detail cost of the project is yet to be worked out yet, sources added.

…

The latest initiative of the state government follows a similar initiative to develop a common ‘rail-road-water pipeline and infrastructure corridor’ in Meramundali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt, to facilitate movement of coal in the Talcher coalfield area.

The project is estimated to cost about Rs 5000 crore including Rs 2000 crore for 2-line rail corridor and Rs 1100 crore for 4 lane road alongside it. The land width of the proposed corridor will be 300 metre which includes 60 metre for road and 20 metre for water pipeline.

The total length of the corridor is 137 kilometre which includes length of 43 number of major bridges to be constructed on this stretch. RITES Ltd has already submitted a pre-feasibility report to the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (Idco) on the project.

The project is designed to have multi-point centralised loading stations conceived along the corridor rather than individual bulb connections with a view to avoid interference or wastage of coal bearing areas. Road and water pipe alignment will run parallel to rail alignment, sources said.

It will be connected to rail line at three locations- Jharpada, Angul and Budhapanka. The common corridor will have multiple entry and exit points and no surface crossing. Besides, flyovers are proposed to avoid cross movements at junction stations.

This ‘rail-road-water pipeline and infrastructure corridor’ in Meramundali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt is projected to handle 113 million tonne coal by 2014-15. It includes 55 million tonne coal movement required by the power companies, 40.76 million tonne by steel companies and 17.22 million tonne by other industries.

The above is a good idea.

• A plan over a larger area will avoid congestion and slums that are typical of densly packed areas.
• Another big benefit will be that the term "Capital Area" will make it easier for institutions, companies and other entities to come to the gretaer area rather than coming to "Bhubaneswar". For example, many institutions that are looking for land in Bhubaneswar are hesitant to locate in Kendrapada or Jagatsinghpur; even though the political leadership is very welcoming.  But once the term "Capital Area" encompasses Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur, these institutions will be less hesitant to come there.

So while the current Bhubaneswar and Cuttack planned areas will sever as the core urban area, the larger Capital Area development region will morph to a sub-urban area which down the road will touch the metropolitan areas around Angul in the west and Berhampur in the south.

We wrote about this in http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3637.

A similar term needs to be coined for the greater Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela area. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3660 , http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3672 and http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3668.

Perhaps it can be called the "Western Odisha Development Region".

Following is from a report by Bibhuti Barik in Telegraph.

The state government is planning to build a new road from Lingaraj Temple to Kotiteertheswar Temple at a cost of around Rs 2 crore, to ease traffic pressure in the area. The 410-metre two-lane road will come with a three-acre parking area.

The project, which is to be taken up jointly by the tourism department and the roads and building division of the public works department (PWD), will also help provide a clearer view of the 11th century Lingaraj temple as shops and roadside vendors in front of the shrine will be relocated along the new road.

… the dilapidated Lingaraj Market Complex … will be demolished to clear the area for the laying of the road which will run along the Devi Padahara pond, behind Ananta Vasudev Temple and the farm lands on the side of natural drainage channel No. 7 near Kotiteertheswar Lane. The private land near the temple, which is owned by businessmen and the Lingaraj Temple Trust, will also be acquired to speed up the road project.

… “The state tourism department has already given Rs 30 lakh to the PWD and the rest — Rs 1.69 crore — will be provided by them from their plan budget. All the displaced traders and vendors will be rehabilitated.”

… the two-lane road would have facilities such as footpath and accompanying drains. However, the parking lot would be built by the tourism department, as it is not included in the road project.

The road would later be extended up to Taleswar Mahadev to improve the communication between Kedar Gouri and Lingaraj Temple.

Tourism department sources added that Old Town would soon have a mega tourist circuit, for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 8.14 crore. The proposed circuit envisages, among others things, renovation of two major roads, construction of a “parikrama” around Lingaraj Temple, soft lighting for eight protected monuments and two tourism interpretation centres.

While the tourism department is trying to revive Ekamreswar, the miniature temple of Lord Lingaraj near Lingaraj police station, a dedicated road corridor will be constructed to link Puri, Old Town and Khandagiri via Dhauli. An amphitheatre will also be built opposite Madhusudan Park at Pokhariput with a capacity to accommodate 3,000 people.

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

The Indian Academy of Paediatrics, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and sahidnagar Socio-Cultural Society have planned a unique park for the differently-abled children of the city to be built up approximately at a cost of Rs 3 crore on PPP mode.

As per national coordinator of IAP Disability Chapter Dr Arabinda Mohanty, the park is planned over an area of 17,000 sqf near the ESI Hospital and will provide an entertaining and amusing centre to over 700 spastic children in the city.

The proposed park will be far ahead of the parks in Mysore and Bilaspur (Chhatisgarh) in many aspects including it being 100 per cent disabled-friendly with merry-go-round provisions for children in wheel chairs and modern gadgets for amusement , besides physiotherapists, supporting staff and a standby ambulance.

Dr Mohanty said though the park will be meant for the wheelchair-bound children, normal children would also be allowed but only after they are sensitised to related issues. “Entry of normal children will help in mainstreaming of the spastics and in increasing the understanding of the normal children about spasticity,” he said.

Following is from a report in Telegraph.

The capital will soon have a mega-tourist circuit for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 8.14 crore.

The proposed tourist circuit envisages, among others things, renovation of two major roads in Old Town area, construction of a ‘parikrama’ around Lingaraj temple, soft-lighting for eight protected monuments and two tourism interpretation centres.

While the tourism department is trying to revive Ekamreswar, the miniature temple of Lord Lingaraj near Lingaraj police station, a dedicated road corridor will be constructed to link Puri, the Old Town area and Khandagiri via Dhauli.

Moreover, a 3,000-seater amphitheatre will be constructed opposite Madhusudan Park at Pokhariput.

… Samal spoke to reporters after the heritage walk, which was held today as part of World Tourism Day function.

The circuit will aim at facilitating various cultures as the city is perhaps the only one place in the region where three major religions — Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism — have their presence and the Daya riverbed is linked to the transformation of Emperor Ashok from Chandashok to Dharmashok.

… While the mega circuit will be part of the development of the ambitious Bhubaneswar-Puri-Chilika tourism sector, the Old Town area of the city will have a 40-feet road near the temple connecting Kotitirtheswar Lane and a proposed three-acre parking site.

Later, the same road will be extended up to Kedar Gouri temple. These two roads, in turn, will provide a better corridor so that tourist vehicles can pass through the areas smoothly. Similarly, a ‘parikrama’ or circular road will be planned around the Lingaraj temple.

“Apart from providing better connectivity to the Old Town area, the side walls of various buildings and structures will be decorated with tiles of red laterite stones. The concept has already been adopted in various western cities and states such as Rajasthan. …

The mega circuit will also emphasise on infrastructure development to connect various sites of Buddhist and Jain religious interests. Other than central assistance, there is also a plan to develop a road connecting Gangua nullah (through its right embankment) to the historical Kapileswar village. Another road will link Ganesh Ghat near Dhauli Peace Pagoda with the Jatni Kapilaprasad Road.

According to the pre-feasibility report, the state government will spend more than Rs 30 crore on the two proposed roads.

“These two roads will connect Dhauli with Khandagiri and the travellers and tour operators need not take the longer Cuttack-Puri Road via Rasulgarh to reach the historical Jain sites. Even nature lovers visiting places such as Deras in Chandaka or Nandankanan Zoological Park can take this road in future,’’ said the MLA.

“The state government has also asked the Bhubaneswar Development Authority to construct an amphitheatre opposite Madhusudan Park in Pokhariput. This will resemble the amphitheatre at the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya near Rabindra Mandap,’’ he said.

Sources at the public works department said: “There is a plan to construct a flyover over the railway level crossing at Pokhariput for Rs 42 crore. While the state government will share Rs 22 crore, the rest will come from the railways. Once the flyover is commissioned, the road from Dhauli to Khandagiri will become a vital link to various religious centre.’’

Under the mega tourism circuit, temples such as Lingaraj, Rajarani, Mukteswar, Rameswar, Parsurameswar, Lakshmaneswar, Bharateswar and Satrughneswar will be illuminated with light emitting diode based ‘dynamic lighting system’ for which Rs 3.98 crore will be utilised. The project will be executed by the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation.

Hinting at the development of two interpretation centres near the Lingaraj temple, Samal said: “While one will be constructed on the premises of Sibatirtha Mutt, the other one will come up near the employees’ colony.’’

On the proposed tourist interpretation centre near Khandagiri-Udaygiri caves, he said the project would be completed within two or three months time.

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government has decided to promote heritage tourism at eight locations along the coast line with an investment of Rs 7.41 crore in the next five years.

Based on archeological, architectural, sculptural and historical importance, the selected structures, identified by the state archeology department, would be taken up under the World Bank funded Rs 227.64-crore Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project.

… The structures identified to get a face lift under the scheme included Potagarh (Buried Fort), located on the bank of river Rushikulya in Ganjam town which stands as a mute witness to the vicissitudes of history in Orissa.

Apart from historic Potagarh, the British Cemetery near Ganjam town, Bhaba Kundaleswar temple of Manikapatna, Baliharichandi temple near Puri, Hariharadeva temple, Nairi, Bateswara temple, Kantiagada (Ganjam), Jagannath temple, Pentha and Jamboo Colonial Building, Kendrapara will be refurbished under the scheme.

Preservation of ancient monuments under the project will include their protection, structural conservation, chemical conservation, landscaping and maintainance from time to time.

… The officials of the Gujarat and West Bengal projects along with a World Bank team visited various places including Ganjam and Kendrapada districts in the state recently to review the implementation of the project. Project Director of ICZM (Orissa) AK Pattnaik briefed the team about various steps taken under the project and their progress. The scheme, whose tenure spans from 2010 to 2015, is being implemented in two coastal stretches: Paradeep to Dhamara and Gopalpur to Chilika.

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

The single window committee (SWC) on Friday approved proposals for four industrial units, two of them power plants, with an investment of Rs 1,286.61 crore.

… The proposal of M/S Beverages Private Limited to set up a soft drink beverages unit with capacity of one lakh crates per annum at Atabira in Bargarh district with an investment of Rs 59.61 crore was approved in the meeting.
Similarly, the proposal of M/S Essar Power Orissa Limited to set up 4×30 MW captive power plant in two phases at Paradip with an investment of ` 683 crore was also given the green signal.

It is expected that the project will provide employment opportunity to 200persons.

The proposal submitted by Investa Ventures Limited for setting up a LED manufacturing plant and incubation park at Chandaka near Bhubaneswar with an estimated investment of Rs 190 crore was also approved.

The plant will produce energy saving LED electric bulbs and tubes and is expected to open employment opportunities for 470 persons.

Besides, the proposal of M/S Ultra Tech Cement Ltd for expansion of the existing cement grinding capacity from 1MTPA to 3 MTPA at Jharsuguda Cement Works and bulk terminal in Cuttack district with an investment of ` 354 crore has also got the approval of the committee.

A few points and recap of similar news:

1. TATA Steel has a football academy in Jamshedpur.
2. Hockey: SAIL has a hockey academy in Rourkela which serves the tribal belt around Sundergarh well.  The proposed Hockey academy in Bhubaneswar will be a good plus. I think KISS with its large tribal students could and would be one of the top recruiting ground for the proposed hockey academy.
3. Women’s footbal (soccer): As per the news item at http://www.dailypioneer.com/321111/FAO-glad-to-host-SAFF-Championship-in-December.html the Football Academy of Odisha (FAO) is setting up a woman football academy in Cuttack or Kendrapada.
4. Sports, Hockey: The above article also mentions that the State government is spending 20 crores for an Odisha Hockey Academy and astroturf hockey stadium in the Kalinga stadium complex. (See news item below.)
    
5. American Football: Bhubaneswar to be one of the eight teams in the Elite Football League that will start in 2012.
6. Indoor games: ECOR making an indoor stadium in Bhubaneswar.
7. Tennis Academy: Being established in Bhubaneswar.
8. Cricket Academy: Odisha Cricket academy has been established in Cuttack.
9. Cricket: ECOR has made a cricket stadium in Bhubaneswar and aims to make it of international standards.

Following is from the Team Orissa newsletter of AprilJune’2011.

In regards to the airport in Paradeep, there has been news that it will be an important aspect of the proposed PCPIR in Paradeep.

In the past, two other airport locations have been mentioned: Koraput/Jeypore/Sunabeda area and Balasore/Baripada/Rasgovindpur area. In fact, after Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Gopalpur, these two will be the important locations as they have the potential to be regional airports.

Update: The San Jose Mercury News has a long article on this and talks about how it happened and what the future plans are. I hope other expatriate Odia groups in different parts of the world will make similar efforts.

Following is an excerpt from a report in a Cupertino news paper.

Reflective of Cupertino’s growing Indian population, the city is getting a new sister city in Bhubaneswar, India, thanks to a major push by citizens, Rotary Clubs on two continents, and the blessing of the City Council on Tuesday night. The Bhubaneswar Sister City Initiative, a committee of local citizens, told the council that residents from both cities are anxious to establish a connection. Committee member Mahesh Pakala said Bhubaneswar is “considered the cleanest and greenest city in India,” and like Cupertino is home to high tech companies and has a strong interest in education. Mayor Gilbert Wong visited Bhubaneswar, a 2,000-year-old city on the north east coast of India that serves as the capital of the state of Orissa, earlier this year. Bhubaneswar will be the fourth sister city for Cupertino. Two active committees promote relationships with Toyokawa, Japan, and Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China; the city has a less active relationship with Copertino, Italy.

The official web site of Cupertino, CA is http://www.cupertino.org/. Cupertino’s wikipedia page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupertino,_California. Following is an excerpt from its wikipedia page.

Cupertino is one of many cities that claim to be the "heart" of Silicon Valley, as many semi-conductor and computer companies were founded here and in the surrounding areas. The worldwide headquarters for Apple Inc. is also located here in a modern complex circled by the playfully named Infinite Loop. Apple has also announced that it plans to build a new 150-acre (610,000 m²) second campus between Interstate 280, N Wolfe Rd, E Homestead Rd and along Tantau Ave one mile east of the old campus. The different (nine) properties (50-acre (0.2 km²) south of Pruneridge Avenue were bought in 2006, the property (100-acre (0.4 km²) north of it in 2010 (from Hewlett-Packard).

As per the wikipedia page, as of today, three of its top five employers are: Apple (34,300 employees in the area), Oracle (8,000 employees in the area) and HP (3,000 employees).

Update: See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110714/jsp/orissa/story_14234760.jsp for a recent news on the CDP for Sambalpur. Thanks to Jitu for the pointer.

Following is from Samaja.

Related past postings:

• Cuttack Development Plan links – draft proposal 2030
• Bhubaneswar CDP.
• Population of Bhubaneswar – Cuttack urban complex is 1.9 million in 2008.

The website of this league is http://www.efli.com/. This league is backed by some big names in American Football. Following is an excerpt from the page http://www.efli.com/news/american-football-is-coming-to-india/.

The Elite Football League of India plans to kick off in the fall of 2012, and Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal reports that its backers include some familiar names to American fans, such as Ron Jaworski, Mike Ditka and Packers linebacker Brandon Chillar (pictured), who is of Indian descent.

Following is an excerpt from the page http://www.efli.com/news/cowboys-in-india-jaworski-helps-launch-new-football-league/.

Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, and current ESPN football analyst, Ron Jaworski is an investor and consultant for a new football league being started in India, according to a report in our sister publication Sports Business Journal.

… Other investors in the proposed eight-team league, which would begin play in November 2012, include Michael Irvin and Mike Ditka, who are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The eight teams in this league and the tentative week 1 schedule in 2012 is:

This is a big deal for Bhubaneswar and if indeed things go as planned Bhubaneswar will get a lot of publicity in the USA.

The logo of the Bhubaneswar Warhawks is a nice one. See below.

I was wondering how come Bhubaneswar is one of the eight teams. Its probably because they will try to get some of the rugby players to play American Football and the KISS Bhubaneswar rugby team has won several international championships in recent years. Following are some pointers.

• 2011 under 13 International Rugby tournament Champion.
• 2010 under 16 Rugby Championship held in Bhubaneswar. (See also this report)
  • KISS team has won this three times in a row.
• 2007 under 14 international cup winner.

Following is from http://ppporissa.gov.in/web%20site/Housing%20&%20Urban%20Development_files/frame.htm.

• H&UD Deptt. / BDA
• Location: Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar
• Area: @ 10.74 Acres
• M/s. UNITECH Ltd. has been selected as the developer.
• This would be the largest Commercial complex in the Eastern region with international standards
• Project Investment of USD 150 Million with an unprecedented Final Winning Bid of USD 47 Million
• 10.8 lakh Sft. Commercial space will be created.

The following is from http://unitechgroup.com/retail/comingsoon.asp.

The exact location is next to the current NISER hostel.

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday laid the foundation-stone of the second-phase expansion of the Global Software Development Centre of TCS here at Kalinga Park Phase II.  …. The State Government, along with the Central Government, is setting up of an IT investment region in the State where IT and electronics hardware industry is an important component, he informed.

Patnaik said that to achieve the objective, industry-friendly ICT Policy-2011, IT Roadmap, Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Policy and IT Hardware Policy are being prepared to attract more IT industries to the State. The State’s IT export has crossed Rs 13,000 million during the year 2010-11 with direct employment of more than 10,000 persons.

… TCS Vice-President Projects B Sharma said that the second phase expansion is expected to be completed by March 2012, which would add 3,500 seats to the operation here. After the planned third phase, the total number of seats would be 11,000. The capital expenditure on different phases of expansion is estimated to be Rs 500 crore.