___________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aska-Kabisuryanagar Area:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bhanjanagar- Belaguntha Area:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sambalpur District:

Jharsuguda District:

Baragarh District:

Sundergarh District:

Some of the recent notable developments of this area are:

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

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

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

The following is with respect to the 2001 cesnus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Update: Biswarup Basu in an IRFCA posting pointed out that based on the current schedule this train is  competitive with the 8005/06 Koraput-Howrah Express; 1 hr 5 minutes faster towards Howrah and 15 minutes slower in the other direction.  So many may not mind traveling end-to-end on this train. He thinks there is enough traffic to introduce a daily train in this route.

East Coast Railway is running eight pairs of a special train between Sambalpur and Howrah via Angul. Following is its schedule.

From end-to-end connectivity point of view the path taken by this train is longer than the regular Sambalpur-Rourkela-HWH path.

• SBP – Howrah : 563 kms
• SBP – Kapilas Rd (273-15 = 258) + Kapilas Rd – HWH 396  = 654 kms

However, this train would give a direct connection between Howrah and places like Angul, Talcher and Dhenkanal. A train in this route with different times and more stops could also provide direct and useful connection between Sambalpur/Redhakhol/Angul/Talcher/Dhenkanal and Jajpur Rd/Bhadrakh/Balasore.  Perhaps ECOR is exploring a regular train in this route. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in TimesofIndia.

The Union government is planning to develop such parks in the state with state-of-the-art infrastructure for the plastic industry and if everything works out according to plan, Balasore will have the country’s first such park. Inspired by the success of software technology parks across the nation, the Centre is planning to set up these parks, which will provide raw materials, power and land for plastic companies.

Moreover, the companies will also be helped to market their products. These parks are expected to generate huge direct and indirect employment. A technical team led by Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology director general S K Nayak, was recently here to survey the feasibility of the project. "We held a meeting with local industrialists who were given a broad idea about the plastic park and its facilities. The response was good. We will submit a report to the Union government and later have a discussion with the state government for land and other facilities. At least 250 acres of land is required for the project," said Nayak.

According to sources, Balasore, which is known as the plastic hub of the state, has about 42 plastic companies with a combined turnover of more than Rs 200 crore. While all the companies come under the small scale industry category, the range of products include plastic pipes, pipe fittings, furniture, woven sack bags, polythene bags and sheets and general moulded items.

"As plastic has become an integral part of everyday life, the Centre is planning the park, which would house at least 100 companies. Existing industries can shift their units to the park and new units can also be set up. Since several facilities are being offered at the park, it will attract new entrepreneurs. We are excited to have the park in the region," Balasore Chamber of Industries and Commerce president Himanshu Das said. "The park will promote development and growth of the plastic industry. It will provide land and efficient power supply at subsidised rate. There will be a bank, common raw material depot, testing centre, common tool room for maintenance and finally an effective marketing system within the park," he said.

This apart, the government of Orissa is also planning to start a "plastic cluster" at Balasore. The Union government has already approved 14 clusters out of 20 notified by the state government for Central assistance.

"Two proposals – one plastic cluster at Balasore and another engineering cluster at Mancheswar have been sent to the Union government for assistance under Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme. Each of these units will avail Rs 60 crore under the scheme," said an official. The team also visited some unutilized government buildings built at the cost of Rs 4.5 crore at Baliapal during the late 80s. The structures were built on around 150 acres of land under the rehabilitation package during the proposed National Test Range which was stalled in 1992 due to vehement opposition.

"We are planning to start the technical training institute here. …

Kudos to Balasore MP and MOS Srikant Jena for playing a major behind the scenes role on this. Now if only Hemanada Biswal, the chair of the labor committee which has a MOS rank, would show similar leadership with respect to Sundergarh and Rourkela. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa IT department has got its act together to expedite the Infocity-II project to be developed over 500 acres of land at Janla on the outskirts of the city. …

the state government is gearing up to keep the infrastructure of Infocity-II ready to welcome any IT firm keen to set up its shop in the city.

Towards this objective, the state IT department has now planned to go for a four-lane approach road connecting the Infocity-II project with the National Highway.

“We are committed to provide external infrastructure like roads, water and electricity for the Infocity-II project. The state IT department has engaged a consultant which is undertaking a survey work on the proposed four-lane approach road and the private land that needs to be acquired for the purpose”, …

Earlier, the state government had sanctioned Rs 150 crore for developing external infrastructure for the project like approach road, electricity and water.

While land acquisition for the Infocity-II project is already over, the construction of the boundary wall is underway. The state government is on the look out for anchor tenants for the project.

As per the estimates of the Orissa IT department, the Infocity-II project is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2012 and the project is set to attract investments worth Rs 4,000 crore from IT ad ITes (IT enabled services) companies.

The proposed Infocity-II project will generate direct and indirect employment for about four lakh people in the information technology (IT) and ITes sectors.

Presently, more than 18,000 professionals are engaged in the IT sector in the state while the ITes sector had a workforce of over 15,000.

The Infocity-II project would be a part of the proposed IT investment region in the state. The IT investment region (ITIR) in Orissa was to be developed on an area of 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

The ITIR project in the state is expected to be fully operational by 2020.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standrad.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the country’s largest oil marketing company is exploring the possibility of setting up a wind mill in Paradeep (Orissa). The wind mill is likely to be operational either in or after 2012. …

The company has already set up two wind mills in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu”, V Ramgopal, general manager (marketing), IOCL told reporters here.

… IOCL was planning to set up a new depot at Jharsuguda in western Orissa at an investment of about Rs 100 crore. The proposed depot would have the capacity of around 60,000 kilo litre (KL).At present, the company is scouting for 35-40 acres of land for this modern depot. Plans are also afoot to deepen the reach of LPG cylinders among the people in Orissa.

Presently, only 18 per cent of the state’s population has LPG connections and we are aiming to extend the LPG connections to 50 per cent of the population within the nest two years, Ramgopal informed.

IOCL was planning to launch the LPG Gramin Vithark scheme in the state to reach out to the rural customers.

About eight lakh people in the state have LPG connections with Hindustan Petroleum being the market leader in this segment with 4.2 lakh customers followed by IOCL at 3.6 lakh, said Ramgopal.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Genpact, the BPO arm of the US-based General Electric, had aimed to operationalize its delivery centre in the city by the fourth quarter of 2009-10. But as things stand today, the project is unlikely to take off before March 2010. …

Initially, Genpact planned to hire 500 professionals for its delivery centre in the city and later ramp up the headcount to 3,000.

Genpact had so far only put up a boundary wall for its proposed centre which would have a total built-up area of seven lakh sq ft. Another IT firm MindTree Consulting Limited which had announced a software development centre in Bhubaneswar at an investment of Rs 200 crore is non-committal on its project.

MindTree was scheduled to commence construction work for its development centre in September 2008. The software firm had sought 30 acres of land for its development centre and it had a long-term manpower requirement of 5,000 employees.

Meanwhile, the projects of other IT investors like Zensar Technologies, ICICI Group, Raheja Corporation and Apeejay Surrendra Group were now put on the back burner, given the slump in demand for IT projects, the official added.

ICICI bank, which had announced to set up its eastern regional hub in the city in May 2007, is understood to have submitted a fresh building plan to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) after the notification of the revised building norms by the authority. With a built-up area of 1.5 million sq ft, the eastern regional hub of ICICI bank will have a pool of 15,000 employees in the long-run. The project is to be developed in phases over a period of six to seven years at an estimated investment of Rs 600 crore. Similarly, Zensar Technologies was allotted three acres of land in the Infocity area of the city by the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco).