___________

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.

A brief description of the program is given here and here. Following are some excerpts.

About PMRDF The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified 60 districts of the country as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts. The Government of India has launched a special programme in these districts called Integrated Action Plan (IAP). On 13th of September, Union Minister of Rural Development Mr. Jairam Ramesh announced a scheme of PM’s Rural Development Fellows for deploying young professionals in each of the IAP districts to assist the District Collector. Mission PMRDFs will basically function as development facilitators, they will assist the Collector and his/her colleagues in each of the IAP districts and provide them with the necessary analysis of situations and how they should be handled. The fellows would actively pursue a district programming approach following three key strategies given below:

• Strengthen the district resource base for programming by finding ways of resourcing all the planned activities and rational budgeting.

• Establish or strengthen systems by exploring alternative ways of delivering services to reach the most deprived communities.

• Trigger processes which would support the changes that have been envisioned in this approach (e.g. village planning).

This would be complemented by a set of supportive actions such as building the capacity of district and block officials; triggering district-wide social mobilization processes particularly among the youth; achieve a ground swell of support and build strong relationships with the Panchayats.

The number of districts is now 78 instead of 60. Each of these districts will have two fellows. 18 of those districts are in Odisha. They are listed below. We welcome the 36 fellows that will be working in those districts in Odisha and will be happy to help them in any way possible.

Update on May6th 2012: 300 crores for Malkangiri and Sukma (Chhatisgarh) under the Special Area Development plan (SADP).

The initial list of 83 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme is at http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/LWE-aftdDist-131210.pdf. A jpg copy is given below.

In the 83 SRE districts all the expenses incurred on security in these districts are reimbursed by the MHA. These districts were identified after a survey where Maoist violence incidents are more than 20 percent of all the incidents in that district.

As per a recent news item in Pioneer, four more districts from Odisha have been included in this list. They are: Nuapada, Bargarh, Bolangir and Kalahandi.

Besides the LWE SRE scheme, there is an Integrated Action Plan for Backward and Tribal districts. Originally there were sixty such districts out of which:

(a) Five are in Odisha. They are: Deogarh, Gajapati, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Sambalpur. Each of these districts get a block grant of 30 crores.

(b) The eight KBK districts are also included in the IAP and they get the 30 crores each plus 130 crores for all 8 as part of the BRGF (Backward Regions Grant Fund). The eight KBK districts are:  Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Balangir and Sonepur.

(c) As per a recent news item in Pioneer, three more districts from Odisha have been included in this list. They are: Ganjam, Nayagarh and Jajpur.

In total there are 14 districts from Odisha that are covered under the IAP. They are: Balangir, Deogarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri,  Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sonepur.

In total, 20 of Odisha’s 30 districts are now covered under these schemes. Following is the list.

• Balangir (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
• Baragarh (LWE SRE)
• Deogarh (IAP, LWE SRE)
• Dhenkanal (LWE SRE)
• Gajapati (IAP, LWE SRE)
• Ganjam (IAP, LWE SRE)
• Jajpur (IAP, LWE SRE)
• Kalahandi (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
• Kandhamal (LWE SRE)
• Keonjhar (LWE SRE, LWE SRE)
• Koraput (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
• Malkangiri (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE) (Update: SADP)
• Mayurbhanj (LWE SRE)
• Nabarangpur (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
• Nayagarh (IAP, LWE SRE)
• Nuapada (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
• Rayagada (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
• Sambalpur (IAP, LWE SRE)
• Sonepur (IAP, KBK)
• Sundergarh (LWE SRE)

The ten districts that are not covered above are: Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Bauda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Khurda and Puri.

Following are excerpts from a report in ibnlive.com.

The coffee plantation would be taken up in the undivided Koraput district where currently about 1,300 hectares are under cultivation. …

It has been decided to invest the ` 400 crore over a period of 10 years from 2011-12. The ICB would fund ` 35 crore for a programme on organic coffee production in the State. Rest of the funds will be pooled from MGNREGS, Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) for KBK districts and other schemes.

As per the survey conducted by the Coffee Board, an area of 11,650 hectare in the Koraput, Kalahandi, Ganjam, Phulbani and Keonjhar districts has been found suitable for coffee cultivation.

Public sector industries like Nalco, Hindustan Aluminium Company and a host of private sector enterprises have evinced interest to take up coffee cultivation in about 1,000 acres which is mined for bauxite ore extraction.

 … For Orissa, the Board is implementing a Special Area Programme with the objective of checking ‘Podu’ cultivation, rejuvenating small coffee holdings and expanding coffee plantation in the tribal sector by providing a subsidy of ` l5,000 per hectare.

Besides, the Board is also providing financial assistance for installation of coffee processing units and imparting training to coffee growers on latest coffee husbandry practices and scientific methods of cultivation.

Six hulling units were also supplied under the scheme to the State during 1999- 2000 to process coffee at farm level.

At present, there are about 122 private coffee growers in the Koraput who have taken to commercial cultivation. …

As per the article below the six most backward districts of Odisha are: Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.

See our earlier posting at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/5102 for various data about these districts. In particular the ST% of these six districts are as follows:

• Gajapati: 47.88%
• Koraput: 50.67%
• Malkangiri: 58.36%
• Nawarangpur: 55.27%
• Phulbani (Kandhamala): 51.51%
• Rayagada: 56.04%

The ST% of the other districts which we earlier identified as backward are:

• Bolangir: 22.06%
• Boudh: 12.92%
• Kalahandi: 28.88%
• Keonjhar: 44.52%
• Mayurbhanj: 57.87%
• Nuapada: 35.95%

One other point to note is Sundergarh has 50.74% tribal population. Yet it is not a backward state. The reason is "Rourkela". I hope the people who blindly oppose industries in the backward districts would take note of this fact.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Orissadiary.

217 Puri-Palasa passenger which is leaving Puri at 07.50a.m and arriving Palasa at 03.25p.m will leave Palasa at 04.30p.m and will arrive at Paralakhemundi at 06.45p.m in the extended portion. In the return direction, 218 Paralakhemundi-Puri Passenger will leave Paralakhemundi at 07.45a.m and will arrive at Puri at 09.05p.m.

This train will stop at Pundi, Rauthpuram, Naupada, Tekkali, Pedasana, Temburu, Ganguvada, and Pathapatnam between Palasa and Paralakhemundi. The timings of 217/218 Puri-Paralakhemundi-Puri passenger will remain unchanged between Puri & Palasa. The train will run as a special train on the flagging off day of the extended portion and the regular run will be from Puri w.e.f 19th December and from Paralakhemundi w.e.f 20th Dec’2010.

…

8447 Bhubaneswar-Koraput Hirakhand Express, which is leaving Bhubaneswar at 07.35p.m and arriving Koraput at 09.45a.m on the next day, will leave Koraput at 10.05a.m and will arrive at Jagadalpur at 12.40p.m in the extended portion. In the return direction, 8448 Jagadalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will leave Jagadalpur at 03.30p.m and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 08.25a.m on the next day.

This train will stop at Jeypore and Jagadalpur in the extended portion. The timings of 8447/8448 Bhubaneswar-Jagadalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will remain unchanged between Bhubaneswar and Koraput. The train will run as a special train on the day of flagging off of the extended portion and the regular run will be from Bhubaneswar on 18th December and from Jagadalpur from 19th Dec’2010.

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=67682.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved commencement of an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts to cover identified 60 districts as an Additional Central Assistance (ACA) scheme on 100% grant basis. This is in pursuance of the Finance Minister’s announcement in his Budget Speech of 2010-11 and the Prime Minister’s address to the National Development Council on 24th July, 2010.

The scheme will, to begin with, be implemented over two years i.e. 2010-11 to 2011-12 with the following Components:

(i) In the current year (2010-11), a block-grant of ` 25 crore will be made available to each of the 60 selected districts for which the schemes will be decided by a Committee headed by the District Collector with District SP and District Forest Officer as members. During the year 2011-12, the block grant will be raised to ` 30 crore per district. The scheme will be reviewed for implementation in the 12th Plan at a later stage.

(ii) The existing KBK plan under BRGF will continue as before with annual allocation of ` 130 crore for all eight districts put together. The eight KBK districts have also been included under the IAP and will get additional block grant of ` 25 crore per district in the current year and suitable additional amount under both State and District Components of IAP in the subsequent years.

(iii) The scheme will focus on improvements in governance and specific preconditions will need to be complied with by the States before availing of the second tranche of the proposed additional financial assistance in 2011-12 under the State Component of the IAP. However, these conditionalities will not apply to the District Components of IAP.

(iv) The scheme will focus on effective implementation of the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (Forest Rights Act).

(v) A mechanism for procurement and marketing of MFPs, including issues of manpower requirement, capacity building and development of value chain specific to MFPs would be worked out by the Planning Commission, in consultation with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The administrative mechanism for enforcement of the minimum support price for MFP in accordance with the mechanism so work out will be the responsibility of the State Government concerned.

(vi) The District Component will be administered by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the State Component by the Planning Commission.

AD/LV/RK

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

The Empowered Committee on Infrastructure (ECI), chaired by Chief Secretary has decided to run water sports facilities at Rambha, Barkul and Satapada in Chilka lake and in Ramchandi, Nua Nai, Tampara, Jhumuka, Naraj, Hirakud, Deras, Derjang, Bhanjnagar, Upper Kolab, Upper Jonk and Pitamahal.

… To start cruise, house boat and other water sports facilities in the above locations, it was decided to rope in private players on PPP Mode.

Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) will be implementing the project and Department of Tourism will provide onsite infrastructure.

The developer will provide boats and other sporting equipments and operate and manage the facilities.

… The ECI has decided to invite bidders for development of water sports in the above places.

Recently the leading Seashore Group has started water sports facilities in Mahanadi, which has attracted great attention of the tourists.

Tourists are flocking to avail the facilities, said Prashant K Dash, Chairman of Seashore Group.

Experts feel that to start with two main places for the dare-devils of the water are Chilka and Dhabaleswar.

Barkul, Rambha, Balugaon and Satpada are the bases for visiting Chilika, where water sports can be developed in a big way.

Similarly Dhabaleswar in Cuttack also provide an excellent opportunity to enjoy water sports, feel experts.

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

The meeting decided to hand over 9 properties of the State Tourism for renovation by the private players and it was decided that these properties would be offered to these highest bidding private players on a long-term lease of 30 years.

… These properties at Kapilas, Daringibadi, Dhabaleswar, Patharajpur, Sunabeda, Rameswar, Jaipur, Ramachandi and Aradi are to be handed over to highest bidders, ECI decided.

DOT will go for fresh tender for Ratnagiri, Nrusinghnath, Bangiriposi and Sohela, where offers were found less attractive.

The Government will also go for fresh tenders for 17 properties which failed to attract any bidder in the tendering process held earlier.

Another 10 properties will be included in the new bidding process to attract private players, said sources.

These properties include Panthashala, Panthika and Wayside Amenities Centre (WAC) in various tourist centres of the state.

With the help of these private players the properties will be given a face lift which has been rendered decrepit due to want of maintenance.

While the State Government will continue to hold the ownership of such properties, the onus will be on the private players to refurbish and maintain them.

The renovation of the properties is being done on the public private partnership (PPP) mode.

The private players, who will refurbish and maintain the properties, will give us an upfront payment besides paying the usual annual royalty”, said Mr.Tripathy.

A 3-Star hotel and a Convention Centre will be developed at Puri on PPP mode, where the DOT has 2 acres of land as Puri is the most important destination of the state.

And Puri has the potential to be developed to a Meeting Incentive Convention Exhibition Destination (MICE), said Principal Secretary Mr.Tripathy.

Following is from a PIB release dated 5th October 2010.

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure

05-October-2010 19:48 IST

Upgradation of road from Vijayawada to Ranchi approved

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) today approved improvement of balance 600 Km. of State roads in Orissa with a view to develop, in a phased manner, the entire 1632 Km. long Left Wing extremism affected Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor at an estimated cost of Rs.1200 crore. The project will be completed in next three years by March, 2014.

The project will also provide a good communication network between the tribal districts of Orissa and other developed areas in the State as well as to the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

The project will cover Malkangiri, Jaypore, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhmal, Boudh, Sambalpur, Angul, Deogarh, Koenjhar and Mayurbhanj districts in Orissa.

BACKGROUND:

In view of growing activities of Left Wing Extremists in various States, the stretch between Vijayawada-Ranchi Route was considered for development as an integrated project by Central and State Governments. In Sept., 2009, the Government took decision to sanction remaining stretches of National Highways on Vijayawada Ranchi route in Orissa for widening to two-lane standards and undertaking preparation of Detail Project Reports (DPRs) for 600 Km. length of State Roads, which are not covered under any other programme.

***

AKT/SH/SM

Various KBK statistics are known to everyone here as well as to the planning commission. We will not rehash them here. We will just like to point out that various programs in KBK (such as RLTAP) will not work to their potential unless qualified people are willing to be there to implement those programs and unless there are enough local people who are qualified. For example, one can open schools and hospitals and initiate irrigation projects. But if teachers, doctors and engineers do not go there in sufficient numbers to staff the schools, hospitals and irrigation projects they will not achieve their impact. So while we make programs for schools, hospitals and irrigation projects we need to pay attention to the infrastructure aspects that will (a) create enough local teachers, doctors and engineers and (b) will not deter teachers, doctors and engineers to come to this place.

With that in mind we propose that the following be pushed with the central government for implementation in the next 7 years  — the remaining part of the 11th plan and the 12th plan starting in 2012. I think the list below is doable. (Much more needs to be aimed for and done through the state government, industries and people in this region; but here we only focus on what one can realistically push with the central government and achieve.)

1. Railway Infrastructure: The Railway infrastructure of the KBK districts need to be drastically improved. In particular there are several approved lines that need to be speeded up. In addition there are some hanging lines that need to be extended and completed. The following shows the current Railway lines in Odisha.

The following picture shows the lines that bring better rail connectivity to the KBK districts. The ones in brown have been approved and we request that they be completed within the next 2-3 years and. We request that the ones in blue are approved and completed within 5 years.

2. Airport at Jeypore:  Currently Odisha has one airport with commercial flights. That is in Bhubaneswar. AAI is in the process of making another airport at Jharsuguda. We propose that another airport be built near Jeypore-Koraput with commercial flights in mind (small planes to start with) to serve the KBK area. An airstrip is already there.  The following map shows the location and its distance from the other airports in India.

3. Roads: On roads, we request that the construction of the Vijaywada-Ranchi highway be expedited.  More.

4. HRD/Education: The 11th plan has good proposals regarding schools, ITIs and model colleges. But as we said in the beginning of this document, KBK needs to produce its own teachers, doctors and engineers.

As a first step the Odisha government decided to locate the Central University of Odisha in Koraput. However, considering the vast area of KBK, we request the following.

4.1   The 11th plan has provision for having medical colleges and engineering colleges in 5 of the 16 new central universities. (See the page from Volume 3 of 11th plan below.) We request that the one of those medical college and engineering college be established as part of the Central University of Orissa, Koraput.

4.2   A centrally funded engineering college of the kind in Longowal Punjab (SLIET), Kokrajhar Assam and the one being made in Malda (GKCIET): These three centrally funded engineering colleges have rural focus and we request that one such rural focused 3-tier (catering to workers, technicians and engineers) is needed for KBK. We request that it be made in Balangir. In the next page we have cut-outs related to the above mentioned three colleges which show their mission perfectly matches what is needed in the KBK districts.

4.3 Upgradation of Food Craft Institute Balangir to an Institute of Hotel Management.

4.4 Some kind of a centrally funded institute in Kalahandi: One has to be realistic in pursuing something that is achievable; something central government has established in smaller towns in other states; something with similar philosophy as SLIET/GKCIET/CIT-Kokrajhar but in a different field.

Added on Dec 11th 2010: I think a Central Agricultural University can be pushed for Kalahandi. Currently a Central Agricultural University exists in Imphal (http://www.cau.org.in/). I came across the news item in http://bundelkhand.in/portal/NEWS/Centre-clears-an-AIIMS-like-institute-for-Jhansi-Bundelkhand that says "the Union agriculture ministry had given the go-ahead to develop a central agriculture university in Jhansi". So a similar one can be pushed for Kalahandi.

4.5 Special funding for proposed state Universities in KBK: The Odisha government higher education task force has recommended new state universities to be made in Jeypore (Koraput), Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi) and Balangir. We request that the central government give a one time 50 crore grant to each of these proposed universities so that they can be started at the earliest.

 5. Job Centers:

• Wagon factory in Kalahandi.
• Tourist infrastructure around Gandhamardan hills and Harishankar.
• Tourist infrastructure around Kolab dam and tribal hamlets of Koraput.

6. KBK+: In addition in the KBK+ district of Kandhamal a branch of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) can be realistically pursued and achieved.

Final Word: Please make additional suggestions. But be realistic. Also, note that here we are talking about what to pursue with the central government.

People reading this blog must must have seen the news about the Saxena committee (which was empowered by Jairam Ramesh and the environment ministry) report on Vedanta’s operations in Lanjigarh, Odisha.

Although the report reads like an activist team’s report, the fact remains that the laws of the country are sacred and needs to be followed.

It is a different matter that laws are broken with impunity at all levels ranging from the laws reported to be broken by Vedanta to normal people extending their houses and gardens into government land, groups building temples as a ruse to capture government land where ever they feel like, people blocking roads, trains, doing bandhs whenever they feel like, etc. etc. In India laws are broken with impunity and are broken more often than they are adhered to. But this does not excuse what Vedanta is reported to have done. The committee report also rebukes the Odisha government for its hand in the whole affair.

However, one needs to put this report in perspective with what the environment ministry and Jairam Ramesh have found in rest of India. Following are excerpts from a report in rediff.in that gives us some added perspective.

… several industrialists are also upset about what they call Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s activist-like positions. "He is taking positions, which are normally associated with unreasonable activists and their organisations," says one leading industrialist whose project is stuck. …

… Data from the ministry’s website show that of the 58 projects that have come up for Coastal Regulation Zone clearance since April 2009, it gave only half a dozen of them the green signal.

Over 1,800 projects are awaiting clearances as of the first week of this month.

…"There are people who consciously instigate and organise people in coastal Andhra against projects coming up in the region," says a spokesperson of a power company,  which is promoting a project in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

"Land availability is a big issue in India. Developers can approach the ministry only after either acquiring the land or have assurances to get the land, to request for the terms of reference to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment study. By that stage, a lot of investment and time may have gone into execution of the projects, and still you are not sure of getting the clearance," says Sanjay Sethi, executive director (infrastructure) at Kotak Investment Banking.

"It is necessary to have more transparent and clear guidelines and checklists for land available for various commercial and industrial uses, with clear maps of sensitive zones, which should be easily available to project developers," he adds.

… To be fair to the environment ministry, there are issues like misrepresentation of facts by project developers and the state, or conflicting reports on issues by expert panels.

In a recent development, the environmental clearances for at least four projects in an around Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh were suspended by the ministry.

On July 15, the ministry cancelled the clearance given to Nagarjuna Construction Company’s 2,640 megawatt (Mw) coal-based super critical thermal power plant at Gollagandi and Baruva villages in Srikakulam.

An expert panel said most of the project land allocated by the state government might be regarded as wetland, contrary to an earlier panel report that the 750 acres of grasslands were barren and not fit for agriculture.

The same expert panel, which visited East Coast Energy’s 2,640 Mw thermal project near Kakarapalli village in Srikakulam during the same time, found the state government had ignored reports on the ecological value of low lying areas of the well recognised Naupada swamps wetland and migratory bird breeding in nearby Telineelapuram of Srikakulam.

"This amounts to suppression/distortion of facts," the panel said.

A nearby project – that of JSW’s 1.4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) alumina refinery and a co-generation plant – is also being reviewed by the ministry.

… On June 28, the ministry directed the formation of a supervisory committee to monitor the influence of toxic effluents from JSW Energy’s 1,200 Mw thermal power plant at Jaigad in Maharashtra, following apprehensions that effluents could affect the quality of Alphonso mangoes and cashew orchards in the region.

… Ten days before that, Jindal Power Limited drew the wrath of the ministry for commencing construction of a 2,400 Mw power project at Tamnar in Chhattisgarh,  without obtaining prior environment clearance.

The ministry has directed the state government to stop work and initiate action against the Naveen Jindal-promoted company.

Some of the other high-profile projects that have been halted include the Maheshwar Hydroelectric project on the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh on grounds that the conditions of the statutory environmental clearance were not complied with and the resettlement and rehabilitation of the project-affected families was less than satisfactory – charges denied by the state chief minister and the company.

… Also, many say the minister has involved himself in much-publicised wars of words with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel over the environment ministry’s reluctance to clear the Navi Mumbai international airport, citing destruction of mangroves, razing of a hill and diversion of two rivers; with Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath, who openly accused him of blocking projects;

… But, even his sharpest critics agree on one thing: Ramesh has made sure that no one can treat the environment ministry lightly any longer.

… "This is probably the first time that an environmentalist has become a minister. He is almost single-handedly bringing about a paradigm shift within the government about how to view progress and development," says Pandey.

I agree with the sentence in the red. Earlier companies and state governments were not taking the environment ministry that seriously. Ramesh’s actions will make sure that everyone take the environment ministry seriously. That is a good thing and kudos to Mr. Ramesh for that.

However, as far as Odisha is concerned Jairam Ramesh seems to have something against it. We say that for the following reasons.

• When Odisha was trying for an IIT Jairam Ramesh insulted Odisha with his comments. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/286.
• Recently, Hindustan Times (see http://www.hindustantimes.com/Environment-Ministry-puts-on-hold-Vedanta-University-in-Orissa/Article1-542363.aspx) reported the following: "The Union Environment Ministry on Tuesday put on hold the controversial Rs.150 billion Vedanta University project in Orissa following complaints of alleged irregularities by its promoter Anil Agarwal Foundation. The direction to keep the project in abeyance has come within a month of the Ministry granting conditional environmental clearance to the Foundation which is building the university." Now stopping a mine or a factory or an airport for environmental reasons may make sense, but a university?? That too, just because some one complained. No investigation! Just people complained and he stopped the project, when the project was about to construct a medical college!!
• Jairam Ramesh and his ministry recently granted environmental permission to construct the Polavurum dam in Andhra Pradesh against the objections of the Orissa and Chhatisgrah government. See http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Environment-ministry-clears-Andhra-project/articleshow/6233874.cms . Times of India was surprised with this. It wrote: "Oddly, while the ministry had set up separate committees to investigate the settlement of rights under the Forest Rights Act in other high profile cases such as Vedanta and Posco which propose to displace far lesser people, in the Polavaram case the ministry has decided to accept the state government’s compliance report on face value.  The mega-project is expected to submerge 276 villages displacing upwards of two lakh people by some estimates. "   

In summary, while Jairam Ramesh deserves kudos for putting his foot down on environment laws and making sure everyone takes them seriously, people of Odisha need to be very careful of him as he seems to be against Odisha; he has stopped projects clearly beneficial to Odisha (namely, Vedanta University) by using his environment stick, and at the same time has allowed projects clearly harmful to Odisha  (namely, the polavurum dam) even after the Odisha government and Odisha chief minister have vehemently objected to it. This does not at all gel with the actions they took against Vedanta University. There the project was ordered to stop because some people complained. Here the project was given green signal despite the state of Odisha and its chief minister complaining and that too reportedly without any enquiry. 

Tathya.in has an article about this. Following are some excerpts.

The Odishans world-wide now recognize the need of International Flights to Bhubaneswar and Domestic Flights to Jharsuguda in order to effectively connect to the hi-tech businesses and tourism around the world.

Without the requisite air connectivity, Odisha cannot expect a jumpstart in development given all the potential that the state has in Tourism, Education and IT, feels Purna Mohanty, leading Non Resident Odia(NRO).

It all started during Pre Invest Bhubaneswar meeting at Hotel Swosti in May 2010, said he.

And then further concretized with hard-copy signature campaign during Invest Bhubaneswar and OSA Convention during 1-4 July, followed by Ratha Yatra Festival in Silicon Valley, CA, USA.

The signature campaign was completed and submitted to Prime Minister, Civil Aviation Minister, Chief Minister and Member of Parliaments.

NROs are thus presenting an overall proposal of Air connectivity in Odisha, with a request to consider & expedite the implementation of the following at the minimum:

Upgrade the 6 decade old regional Airport at Bhubaneswar to an International Airport at the earliest possible.

Expedite and complete the construction of ongoing western regional Jharsugda Airport in Jharsugda district, in western Odisha, within next two years.

The petitionodisha site has a petition on immediate upgradations of airports in Odisha. Please visit it. Besides signing it please also send emails (email addresses of where to send is given here) as in my experience emails have more impact than e-petitions. While our earlier email sample only mentioned Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda, the petition adds Jeypore. It is indeed a good location for a 3rd functioning airport of Odisha. (We earlier wrote about it.) Feel free to add that to your email. 

Pointers to relevant postings from the past:

• Jain Steel, an obstacle to Jharsuguda airport.
• Bhubaneswar international airport issue raised in the assembly.
• Jharsuguda airport status statement by the CM in the assembly.
• Campaign for international airport in Bhubaneswar and airport in Jharsuguda.
• Jharsuguda airport to be developed by PPP?
• Future airport plans (includes info on Jeypore and Rasgovindpur).
• 800 acres needed for Jharsuguda airport.
• Airstrips in Odisha.
• MOU to be signed for Jharsuguda airport.

Earlier we discussed the coastal belt and the western industrial corridor. However, there is a big part of Odisha outside of these two areas. Although, that area was long neglected except small industrial pockets in Rayagada and Koraput area, things have started happening in the overall area. Following is a map of that.

In the map above Berhampur and Balangir are reference points for the southern tip of the coastal belt and western industrial area respectively. Coming back to the outposts the current industrial areas are:

• Koraput-Jeypore Sunabeda and
• Rayagada-Therubali

They are 150 kms apart. Besides industries, both areas have several engineering colleges and a central university (possibly with a medical college) is coming up near Koraput.

North of Rayagada-Therubali is the Lanjigarh operations of Vedanta and its emerging township. How fast this area develops will depend on how quick there is an understanding between the loacls and the Vedanta people.

Further north is the Bhawanipatna-Kesinga-Titlagarh area. Titlagarh is a railway junction. A train line connecting Bhawanipatna and Junagarh to Lanjigarh rd of the Raygada-Titlagarh line should have passenger traffic in a couple of years. Recently, Bhawaniptna is getting some attention from the state government in terms of HRD institutions. A government engineering college and a government agricultural college has started here and the higher education task force has recommended a state university here. A private medical college is under construction. (However, its progress is slow.) I hope the government takes over the medical college infrastructure that has been built and makes it a government medical college and a location in this area is chosen for the announced Railway wagon factory.  However, for the area to further develop and develop rapidly, the locals need to actively chip in. They need to learn how locals in the Koraput area, Rayagada area, Gunupur and Parlakhemundi have created  and/or facilitated private HRD infrastructure. (For example, each of them have private engineering colleges.) In addition they should form a win-win partnership with Vedanta. If people don’t help themselves and don’t stop actively opposing private development instead of facilitating it, there is only so much the governments can do.

On the eastern side Parlakhemundi and Gunupur are slowly emerging as educational mini-hubs. The JITM and CRESM in Parlakhemundi are together becoming a private university and Gunupur has the biggest (in terms of student intake) engineering college (private or government) of the state. The railway line connecting Gunupur and Parlakhemundi to the Howrah-Chennai line at Naupada is about to start passenger service.

The lone central outpust is Phulbani. At present it has nothing much except some negative name recognition. The government needs to pay attention to this starting with pushing for the early establishment of a branch of the Tribal University here.

However, there are still several areas which are being left out. This includes the area south of Koraput (namely the Malkangiri district) and the districts of Nabarangpur and Nuapada. Unless development spreads there, they will be the new KBK of Odisha.

1. Economic Times on 3 more terminal markets in Odisha:

Orissa government will provide four terminal market yards to enable the farmers to sell their produce at market prices…. One of the terminal has already been constructed at Sambalpur with an investment

of Rs 86 crore and three others are coming up at Cuttack, Berhampur and Rourkela,…

2. Business Standrad on MOU with five IPPs for 4800 MW power:

The cumulative capacity of these projects would be 4800 Mw and the total investment is envisaged to be Rs 23203.52 crore.

With this, the total power generation projected in the state would increase to 31100 Mw from 26300 Mw earlier.The Orissa government has already inked MoUs with 21 IPPs with an aggregate generation capacity of 26,300 Mw earlier.

… Five companies who signed the MoU included BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd, Maa Durga Thermal Power Company Ltd and Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd.

JR Powergen Private Ltd would set up a 1980 Mw thermal power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul at an investment of Rs 7988 crore. BGR Energy Systems Ltd also plans to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Bhapur in Nayagarh district at an investment of Rs 6287 crore.

Similarly, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district entailing an investment of Rs 8079.74 crore. All these proposals were cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) chaired by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

On the other hand, Maa Durga Thermal Power would set up a 60 Mw ((2x30Mw) power plant at Tangi in Cuttack district, involving an investment of Rs 296.95 crore. Besides, Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd, planning to set up a 120 Mw power plant (IPP) at an investment of Rs 550 crore at Kesinga (Turla Khamar) in Kalahandi district.

The total land requirement for these projects have been assessed at 4360 acres and about 22,325 direct and indirect employment opportunities are expected to be created when these projects would be fully commissioned. Three projects namely BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would source water from the Mahanadi river system, Maa Durga Thermal Power would draw water from Birupa river.Vijaya Ferro and Power plans to source water from Tel river.

3. Hindu on preliminary bids for UMPP at Bedabahal:

the government was likely to invite preliminary bids for the 4,000-MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa by April 30.

The request for qualification (RSQ) for the project may be issued by April 30.

This Bedabahal project would be the sixth UMPP project. The government has already awarded four UMPPs, of which three — Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand — have been bagged by Reliance Power.

4. Sify on 595 crores for waterbody upgrade:

As many as 1817 water bodies, mostly the minor irrigation projects (MIPs) in 20 districts of Orissa, would be revitalized under the Centrally sponsored scheme of Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies.

These water bodies would be revitalized within a period of three years at an estimated cost of Rs 595.14 crore.

The funding for these projects would be shared between the Government of India and the Orissa government in the ratio of 90:10 for the Maoist infested, drought prone and backward districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK).

For the other districts, the share between the Centre and the state government will be 25 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

While the design ayacut of all 1817 projects was 2, 48,545.86 hectares, the irrigation potential of an additional 89,110.02 hectares of land would be revived through these projects, sources said.

Most of these projects under the RRR scheme are being taken up in south Orissa’s Ganjam district. About 800 projects under the scheme are to be taken up in the district at a cost of Rs 250.87 crore.

… Apart from Ganjam and KBK, the other districts where the scheme will be implemented are Bargarh, Bolangir, Gajapati, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Mayurbhanaj, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Balasore, Malkanagiri, Subarnapur, Deogarh and Dhenkanal.

The pilot project for this scheme was implemented for 137 projects in Ganjam and Gajapati districts at a cost of Rs 18.84 crore during 2005-06 to 2008-09.

5. Hindu on Japan giving 150 crores for an irrigation project:

Japan will also give … over Rs 150 crore for Rengali irrigation project in Orissa.

6. Hospitalitbizindia on a mega food park at Malipada, Khurda:

Government of India is likely to set up a mega food park and a marine food park at Malipara near Khurda in Orissa with an area of 282 acres. This information was given by Subodh Kant Sahai, Union Minister for Food Processing while responding to a demand raised by Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa at the Orissa Investors meet 2010.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

Aditya Birla Group chairman, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla is very hopeful of completion of the Rs 4,500-crore alumina refinery plant coming up at Kashipur in Koraput district and expansion of Hindalco aluminium smelter project at Hirakud in Sambalpur district. 

… In June last year, the Orissa government had recommended the union mining ministry to allot mining lease of Lakharis bauxite deposit in Koraput district in favour of Hindalco Industries Limited, the flagship company of Aditya Birla Group.

This is the second bauxite deposit to be allotted to the Group, which entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Orissa government in April, 2005 is to set up a world-class aluminium complex in the state.

Officials said the Lakharis mine is estimated to have about 45 million bauxite deposits.

Earlier, the Hindalco was allotted Kodingamali bauxite deposit in the district for its proposed aluminium complex at Kansari.

Aditya Aluminium (another unit of Hindalco) had signed a MoU with the Orissa government on April 8, 2005 to set up an integrated aluminium complex in the state. The project involves a total investment of Rs 11,500 crores for production of 1.5 lakh tones of alumina and 3.25 lakh tonnes of aluminium per annum.

Aditya Aluminium has already signed a joint venture umbrella agreement with the Orissa Mining Corporation for bauxite mining in Koraput district.

The company has sought 2012 acres of land for its refinery and 3331 acres for the smelter, sources said.

The state government is in the process of acquiring land for the project, but faces problem in some villages, the sources added resulting in the delay in grounding of the project.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Orissadiary.

“With in coming 6 months the 32 seated Aero-service to commence from Jeypore”, declared by MP Shri. Jayaram Pangi along with some Administration Officials at Jeypore Airport. …

During past 1962 the said Airport was established by Ex-Chief Minister Biju Pattanik. During 1980 the service commenced on those days from Jeypore to Vishakapatnam and Bhubaneswar. But now days the said Airport get activated during the VIP visits only. After establishing HAL at Sunabeda the said Airport was established, but the importance found raised after the establishment of NALCO at Damanjodi.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

NALCO has its headquarter in Bhubaneswar. In Orissa, its major operations are in Angul and Damanjodi (Koraput). This week there has been several different news reports about it. We start with an excerpt from a report in Telegraph about the proposed aluminum park in Angul.

An MoU was signed between the central public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) here this evening.

… The proposed aluminium park, with an estimated cost of Rs 75 crore, will be located at Angul close to the smelter plant of Nalco, said its chairman and managing director C.R. Pradhan.

Nalco and Idco will set up a joint venture on 50:50 basis soon after signing the MoU, he said.

A pre-feasibility study for the aluminium park was conducted by AF Ferguson and 200 acre land has already been earmarked. Electricity, water, road facilities would be developed soon, Pradhan said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express about the bauxite mine it got in Andhra Pradesh.

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is all set to go ahead with its Rs 6,000 crore aluminium complex venture in Andhra Pradesh as the bauxite mines it had sought has been cleared by the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government. The company has bagged Gudem and Katamraju Konda bauxite mines in AP, which promises a deposit of 85 million tonne of bauxite, according to a Nalco spokesperson.

Nalco plans to build a 1.4 million tonne green field alumina refinery based on the Gudem and KR Konda bauxite deposits at Visakhapatnam at an estimated investment of Rs 6,000 crore.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Reuters.

NALCO plans to build a 310,000 tonne smelter and a power plant in Iran with Iran’s Kerman Development Organisation in a project that would cost it 80 billion rupees ($1.7 billion).

"Maybe in a month or two we will go ahead for signing the joint venture agreement with our local partner," B.L. Bagra, NALCO’s director of finance, told Reuters.

… Another overseas venture in Indonesia for a smelter and power plant was awaiting port and rail concessions by the Indonesia government, Bagra said.

Following is from a report in farminguk.com.

The large poultry farm meant for research and promotion of poultry farming in south Orissa had been closed down due to management problems. It was revived and modernised with Central aid. It would serve as a major breeding farm in south Orissa. The chicks produced in this poultry farm would be sold to poultry farmers of Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal and Nayagarh districts.

The Regional Poultry Farm is ready to start its sale of newly-hatched chicks from 29 April. … The farm has decided to specialize in breeding ’Banraj’ breed of poultry. The head of the farm, G.Naresh Kumar informed that at present the animal husbandry department is promoting this breed among rural poultry farmers.

The Banraj breed is being promoted to cash on the market of organic chickens of traditional breeds, which are still grown in large numbers in rural areas in an unorganised manner. The traditional breeds are slow growing yet they have a good market and fetch good price in market. It may be noted that similar poultry farms of the State government at Chiplima, Angul, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Sundergarh, Bolangir, Semiliguda and Koraput are also being modernised to meet the increasing need of poultry products in Orissa.

The Government of India has a Department of Animal Husbandry and Diarying under its ministry of Agriculture. That Department has the following sub-ordinating offices, of which three are in Orissa. Orissa should try to get a Fisheries division office.

I. Animal Husbandry Division

1. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm, P.O. Dhamrod, District Surat, Gujarat.
2. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Andesh Nagar, District Lakhimpur, (UP).
3. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Similiguda, P.O. Sunabada (Koraput) Orissa.
4. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Suratgarh (Rajasthan).
5. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Chiplima, P.O. Basantpur, District Samalpur, (Orissa).
6. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Avadi, Alamadhi (Madras).
7. # Central Cattle Breeding Farm,P.O. Hessarghatta, Bangalore North.
8. # Central Frozen Semen Production and Training Institute, Hessarghatta, Bangalore North.
9. # Central Herd Registration Unit, W-15, Jagdish Colony, Rohtak (Haryana).
10. # Central Herd Registration Unit, W-34, G.N.M. Colony, Christian Ganj, Ajmer – 305 001.
11. # Central Herd Registration Unit, 10, Gautam Vihar, Cooperative Society Building, Usmanpura, Ahmedabad.
12. # Central Herd Registration Unit, Santhapat, Ongole 523 001, District Prakasam (A.P.)
13. # Regional Station for Forage Production & Demonstration, P.O. Netaji Subhash Sanitorium, Kalyani, Distt Nadia (W Bengal).
14. # Regional Station for Forage Production & Demonstration, 48, Rajbagh (Extension) Srinagar (J&K).
15. # Regional Station for Forage Production & Demonstration, Suratgarh (Rajasthan).
16. # Regional Station for Forage Production & Demonstration, P.O. Textile Mill Hissar (Ha ryana)_.
17. # Regional Station for Forage Production & Demonstration, GA 128/2, Sector No. 30, Gandhinagar, (Gujarat).
18. # Regional Station For Forage Production & Demonstration, Avadi, Alamadhi, (Madras)-600052.
19. # Regional Station for Forage Production & Demonstration, Mamidipally, Via Keshavagiri, Hyderabad – 500005.
20. # Central Fodder Seed Production Farm, Hessarghatta, Bangalore North.
21. # Animal Quarantine & Certification Service Station, Delhi -Gurgaon Road, Kapashera Village, New Delhi.
22. # Animal Quarantine & Certification Service Station, Velachary Main Road, P.O. Pallikarni Village, Madras – 601 302.
23. # Animal Quarantine & Certification Service Station, Village Gopalpur, P.O. Gopalpur, Distt Choubis parganas (W Bengal).
24. # Animal Quarantine & Certification Service Station, Bombay – 400 065.
25. # Central Sheep Breeding Farm, P.O. Box No. 10, Hissar – 125 001 (Haryana).
26. # Central Poultry Development Organization, Southern Region, Hessarghatta, Bangalore North.
27. # Central Poultry Development Organization, Eastern Region, Bhubaneshwar.
28. # Central Poultry Development Organization, Western Region, Aarey Milk Colony, Mumbai.
29. # Central Poultry Development Organization, Northern Region, Industial Area Chandigarh.
30. # Random Sample Poultry Performance Testing Centre, 69/4, Urban Estate, Gurgaon (Haryana).

II Dairy Development Division

1. # Delhi Milk Scheme, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi.

III Fisheries Division

1. # Central Institute of Coastal Engineering For Fishery, Bangalore
2. # Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training, Cochin.
3. # Integrated Fisheries Project, Cochin.
4. # Fisheries Survey of India, Mumbai.
5. # Aquaculture Authority, Chennai.

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 FAX: PMO at 23016857 , 23015603 (Delhi STD code is 11), CMO at 674 2590 833 (home) 674 2535 100 (office) and Planning Commission at 23096699

To:

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister of India

Cc: Mr. Naveen Patniak, Chief Minister of Orissa

Cc: Shri Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, Governor of Orissa

 
Subject: Solving the greater Kandhamala problem – going after the root cause in a war footing

Dear Dr. Singh: 

While the civil society in Orissa, the nation and the world is disturbed by the  communal violence in Kandhamala, I would urge you to take steps to eradicate the root cause of the violence in Kandhamala and the nearby tribal, hilly, forested, awfully connected, poor and backward districts of Orissa (and its neighboring states). In this regard, please note that the violence did not spread to the major towns and cities of Orissa (such as Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Balasore etc.)  that are well connected (by Rail and roads), decently developed and have a civil society. 

While the violence involving the murder of Swami Laxmanananda on August 23^rd 2008 and the subsequent communal violence that has taken about 40 lives is most deplorable and is in the forefront of the media, please also recall the following events that also took place within the last year in these areas:

1. February 15 2008:  400 to 500 armed Naxals raided the Nayagarh armory and killed 15 people including 13 policemen.
2. June 29 2008: 30 elite anti-insurgency policemen were killed by Maoists near Malkangiri.
3. July 16 2008:  21 Orissa policemen were killed in a land mine explosion and firing by the ultras in Malkangiri.
4. Dec 27 2007: Eleven churches were ransacked and torched in several areas of Kandhamal district.

Please note that these events happened in places in Orissa (Nayagarh, Malkangiri and Kandhamal) that are badly connected, near or within forests, have a large tribal population, and are among the most backward districts of India. The following map shows these districts are surrounded by large tracts of dense and open forested areas, and partly explains why the naxalites and Maoists are able to make them their base and why it has been difficult to deploy adequate police there in a timely manner.

Sir: As an economist and a world leader you must know that lack of connectivity, lack of development, lack of a civil society, entrenched forest and mountainous areas together with a different population base is a recipe for the sprouting of troubled areas. This is true all across the world; from J& K and North eastern areas of India to caucuses in Asia. While one cannot and should not get rid of the mountains or the people, the problem can be solved by making the areas well connected and bringing development. The Indian government is doing that in J & K and in the northeast; but has mostly forgotten about the similar areas in Orissa, Chhatisgrah, and Andhra Pradesh, which are the favorite bases of the Naxals and Maoists.

Sir: We would like you to pay the same attention to these areas in terms of connectivity, development, and creation of civil societies, as you do to the North east and J & K. In particular we would request that following be done in a war footing during the 11^th plan.

(i)                  The Vijaywada-Ranchi highway that passes through many of these areas be completed.

(ii)                Broadband connectivity be brought to these districts with adequate access locations.

(iii)                Two Railway lines, parts of which have already been sanctioned by the Railways but are progressing slowly, are completed and made operational. Those lines are:

a.       Khurda Rd – Balangir (passes through Nayagarh and Boudh) – This line was sanctioned in 1994-95 is progressing very slowly.

b.      Bhadrachalam Rd (Andhra Pradesh) – Malkangiri – Jeypore – Nabarangpur – Junagarh – Lanjigarh Rd – passing through Kandhamala – Boudh – Angul – Talcher – Bimlagarh: Several segments of these lines are approved but progressing slowly. Those segments are Junagarh – Lanjigarh Rd and Talcher – Bimlagarh. Angul – Talcher is operational.

(iv)              With the above lines operational, development should be brought into Kandhamal, Boudh, Gajapati, and KBK districts (including Kalahandi and Malkangiri) through 1-2 Rail factories and public sector units that can use the steel and aluminum and power produced in abundance in Orissa.

(v)                Orissa govt. should be encouraged and aided to establish a university in Kandhamala and another in Kalahandi.

(vi)              A branch of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University be established in one of these districts.

(vii)             Orissa govt. should be encouraged and aided to establish a government medical college and nursing college in Kandhamala or Boudha district.

Sir:  In regards to the cost of establishing the Railway lines, please note that as per the calculation in  http://kbkrail.orissalinks.com/ Indian Railways is scheduled to make a profit of 2679.72 crores/year from its operations in Orissa. If 1500 crores of this money (the rest may go to Indian Railway’s current plans for Orissa) is put into Orissa, in just 2-3 years the above mentioned lines could be completed.

Sir: We sincerely hope that you will translate the great concern you have shown towards the recent violent events to the above mentioned action items that address the key issues of lack of connectivity and development in these areas and thus provide a long term and real solution.

Sincerely

Appendix:

1. Estimated profit Indian Railways will make from Orissa in 2008-09:

2.  One of the earlier planning commissions has noted in http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_orissa/sdr_orich2.doc

“Railways have always played an important role in economic development and rapid social transformation in all parts of the globe. It is one of the key economic infrastructures. However, it is most unfortunate that in a poor and backward state like Orissa, development of rail networks has received much less attention of the Central Government in the post-independence period. There are as many as seven districts like Boudh, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur out of the 30 districts of the state, which do not have any railway line passing through them. In the year 1998-99, the density of railway route length per 1000 sq. km of area in Orissa was only 15.03 km as against 42.66 km in West Bengal and 19.11 km. at all-India level”.

3. The tribal population percentage of the KBK districts are as follows:  Malkangiri  58.36% ST  (+19.96% SC),  Rayagada 56.04% ST  (+14.28% SC),  Nabarangpur 55.27% ST (+15.09% SC), Koraput 50.67% ST (+13.41% SC), Nuapada 35.95%  ST(+13.09% SC), Kalahandi 28.88% ST (+17.01% SC), Sonepur 22.11% ST (+9.5% SC), Balangir 22.06% ST (+15.39% SC). Two adjacent districts also have high tribal population. They are Kandhamala 51.51% ST (+18.21% SC) and Gajapati 47.88%  ST(+8.77% SC). 

4. The literacy rates in the KBK districts are abysmally low. Malkangiri 31.26%, Nabarangpur 34.26%, Rayagada 35.61%, Koraput 36.2%, Nuapada 42.29%, Kalahandi 46.2%, Balangir 54.93%, Sonepur 64.07%. Two adjacent districts also have low literacy: Gajapati 41.73% and Kandhamala 52.95%. The state average is 63.1%.

5. Population below the poverty line in southern Orissa (of which KBK is a part) is reported to be 89.17% of the people according to the 1999-2000 NSS data and 72% of the families according to the 1997 census.

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

… With the state attracting around Rs 6,00,000-crore investments, including two biggest FDI proposals from ArcelorMittal and Posco, property prices in the city have jumped 4-8 times in five years.

Rapid urbanisation coupled with positive developments in sectors like information technology, biotechnology and mega investments in airport, steel, aluminium, mining, power, railways, road, port, hospitality and manufacturing has given a boost to realty in the state capital. A 1,200 square feet apartment in an up market area such as Kharabela Nagar, Forest Park and Saheed Nagar now costs between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 40 lakh.

“There is a mismatch between demand and supply, leading to steep hike in property prices in Bhubaneswar. Against a demand of 2,0000 houses in the medium and upper housing categories, the supply is mere 1,000 houses only. …

In the last five years, the city has witnessed tremendous growth in all segments,IT park, BPO, call centres, hotels, technical institutes, medical colleges and hospitals. In fact, the rise in number of world-class educational institutes has put the pressure on the city. This also has attracted many leading real estate companies in the country, which have taken the land for different projects.

But confusion is writ large among both the developers and customers with the government owning around 80% of land. “The state government is yet to come out with a clear policy on real estate for the capital city. Besides, land consolidation policy is conspicuous by its absence. …

The state government owns about 80% of the land in the state capital while 10% of private land is under legal dispute and the rest 10% is in the hands of landlords. The leading real estate companies from the country have taken land from the government to put up huge properties.

DLF has taken 54 acres of land from the state government owned IDCO near Infocity at Chandrasekharpur where it is coming up with 40 lakh square feet floor space to accommodate an IT Park, shopping, hotels, retail and residential apartments. Similarly, Unitech emerged as a successful bidder for 11 acres of land leased out by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority to develop commercial properties like multiplexes, retail and office space.

Vipul Group is developing a 19-acre township in a public private partnership mode with Orissa State Housing Board (OSHB). Similarly, Mumbai-based K Raheja Corp proposes to set-up a Mindspace IT Park here through a joint venture with the government or any of its agencies over 30 acres in three years at an investment of Rs 250 crore.

Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IIDCO) will acquire land for the project. FIRE (First Indian Real Estate) Capital Fund, a global PE Fund, is eyeing major investments in Bhubaneswar. …