The recorded forest area of the country, as reported by the state forest departments, is 76.52 million ha which constitutes 23.28 per cent of the total geographical area of the country.
Orissa:
The recorded forest area is 5.72 million ha, which constitutes 36.73% of the geographic area of the state. The forests are uniformly distributed in the state except in coastal districts where they are scarce. By legal status, the Reserved Forest constitutes 47.37%, Protected Forest 52.60% and Unclassed Forest 0.03%. About 0.503 million ha, constituting 8.8% of total forest area, is affected by shifting cultivation.
There are four forest types namely Tropical Semi Evergreen, Tropical Moist Deciduous, Tropical Dry Deciduous, and Littoral and Swamp Forests.
Trains/Fare/Reservation Availability Status Between Important Stations — Editor’s comment July 30 2005: There is a list of about 150 stations there, but the list only includes two stations in Orissa, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. They should atleast add Puri, Khurda Rd, Cuttack and Sambalpur to that list. Moreover, Khurda Road should be considered to be in Bhubaneswar area and trains that skip Bhubaneswar but pass through Khurda Road should show up when queries about Bhubaneswar are asked.
Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express (weekly) after gauge conversion;
Bhubaneswar-Ranchi Garib Rath (tri-weekly) [most likely to follow the route Ranchi-MuriJn-ChandilJn-KandraJn-SiniJn-Chaibasa- Dangoaposi-PadapaharJn-Bansapani-Kenojhargarh- Tomka-SukindaRd-Jakhapura-Cuttack-Bhubaneswar]
Increase in Frequency: 2843/2844 Puri-Ahmedabad Express via Rayagada (from triweekly to 4 days in a week); 2835/2836 Hatia-Yesvantpur Express (from weekly to biweekly)
Doubling works of Bimlagarh-Dumitra (Part), Barbil-Badajamda, Titlagarh-Raipur have been given approval.
Survey for doubling: Sambalpur-Talcher; Khurda Road-Puri
Budget Numbers
New lines (94 crores total as opposed to 271.85 crores in 2006-07): Koraput-Rayagada (2 crores), Talcher-Sambalpur (3 crores), Lanjigarh Rd-Junagarh (12 crores), KhurdRd-Balangir (20 crores), Haridaspur-Paradeep (20 crores), Talcher-Bimlagarh (15 crores)
Gauge conversion (60 crores total as opposed to 49.8 crores in 2006-07): Naupada-Gunupur (25 crores), Rupsa-Bangiriposi ( 35 crores)
Doubling (293 crores as opposed to 293.16 crores in 2006-07): Talcher-Cuttack-Paradeep with 2nd bridge on Mahanadi and Birupa (64 crores), Cuttack-Barang (55 crores), Barang-Khurda Rd 3rd line (88 crores), Rajathagarh-Barang (86 crores). [Sambada lists some more doubling projects that is not listed in the pink book (ecor, se). Sambada claims the total 2007-08 budget for doubling to be 449.5 crores.]
Extension of trains: 7227/7228 Vasco-Vijayawada Express (4 days a week) to Howrah [done]; 8507/8508 Visakhapatnam-Nizamuddin Hirakud Express to Amritsar; 8305/8306 Raipur-Sambalpur Express to Bhubaneswar [done]; 8467/8468 Puri-Jaipur Express to Jodhpur [done]; 8563/8564 Bangalore-Visakhapatnam Prashanti Express to Bhubaneswar; 211/212 Puri-Sambalpur Passenger to Rourkela
Increase in Frequency: 5625/5626 Bangalore- Guwahati Express from bi-weekly to tri-weekly [done]
In 2006-07, Railways propose to complete over 550 kms of New Lines. The sections include : Keonjhar-Daitari of Banspani-Daitari. With the completion of the above sections, the connection of Jakhapura (near Jajpur Road, between Bhubaneswar and Jajpur Rd) to Daitari, Keonjhar, Bansapani, to Rajkharsuan (between Chakradharpur and Tata) will be complete. See map. This will create alternate paths from Bhubaneswar to Rourkela (not much shorter, if any, than BBSR-Sambalpur-RKL though), and Bhubaneswar to Tata (a bit shorter than BBSR-KGP-Tata).
Completion of doubling of Titlagarh-Kesinga, Sambalpur-Sarala and Jharsuguda bye-pass in Orissa. Doubling of Padapahar-Banspani have also been included in the budget. In addition, works of doubling of Sambalpur-Titlagarh have been included in the Budget. Other doubling plans include Koraput-Kirandul, Kottavalasa-Koraput, and Bhadrak-Nergundi 3rd line.
Budget numbers: Total of Rs 653.9 crore for Orissa in 2006-07 ( against a request of 800 crores, and 279.39 crore more than allotted in 2005-06.): Rs 19 crore for the Lanjigarha Rd – Bhawanipatna – Junagarh, Rs 23 crore for the Khurda Rd- Balangir, Rs 155.58 crore Daitari-Keonjhar-Banspani, Rs 44 crore for Haridaspur-Paradip, Rs 20 crore for Angul-Duburi- Sukinda Road, and Rs 10 crore for Talcher-Bimalgarh. Rs 15.89 crore has been sanctioned for gauge conversion of Rupsa-Bangiriposi (Simlipal), Rs 34 crore for gauge conversion of Nuapada-Parlakimidi-Gunpur project, and Rs 293.16 crore for 12 doubling projects for 2006-07 as against Rs 170 crore for 2005-06.
New lines in progress or recently completed plus wish list for immediate consideration
Daitari-Banspani 155 km, estimated cost Rs 590 corres, 78% complete by May 2004. [map]
Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna-Junagarh 55.67 km, Rs 120 crore, 15% complete on May 2004. [map] Editors note: Highest priority should be to have the following link: Malkangiri (southwestern tip of Orissa) to Jeypore (next to Koraput) to Nabarangpur to Junagarh-Bhawanipatna-Lanjigarh (in Kalahandi district), where Lanjigarh is just south of Titlagarh. (This will bring railways to the districts of Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi in KBK.)
Sukinda Road-Angul 90 km, Rs 415 crore, 0.2% complete on May 2004, but on fast track. (Sukinda Rd is in between Jajpur Road and Daitari) [map].
Talcher-Bimlagarh (Total: 154 km, Rs 727 crore) [map] [ This will make the shortest distance between BBSR to Rourkela to 308 kms: BBSR-Talcher (114) + Talcher-Bimlagarh(154) + Bimlagarh-Rourkela(40). Other alternate paths between BBSR-Rourkela are: BBSR-KGP-Rourkela (440-115+412-115= 325+ 297=622); BBSR-Talcher-Sambalpur-Rourkela (440); BBSR-Jakhapura-Daitari-Bansapani-Rajkharswan- Rourkela (92+38+155+108+122=515); BBSR-Bansapani-Padapahar-Bolanikhadan-?- Kiriburu-Bondamunda-Rourkela (285+28+32+ 15+85+7=452). ]
Wishlist: Kiriburu-Bolanikhadan (about 10 kms) — will result in the path Rourkela-Bimlagarh-Kiriburu- Barbil-Bansapani-Jakhapura-Cuttack- Bhubaneswar: [google-image], [map].
Wishlist: Naraj-Khordha-Khurda-Road line as part of a circular rail for the Bhubaneswar area, Khordha-KhurdaRd should be constructed immediately as part of the KhurdaRd-Balangir line, then complete the Khorda-Naraj part and then make Khorda another reliever station for Bhubaneswar. Then there should be a train running between Cuttack-Barang-Bhubaneswar- Khurda Rd-Khordha-Naraj-Barang at frequent intervals.
Recently completed or planned to be completed: Koraput-Raygada (Dec 1995), Talcher-Sambalpur (Aug 1998), Rupsa-Baripada (Sept 2005), Daitari-Bansapani (scheduled – 2006/07).
Goal: Better connectivity between BBSR and Rourkela.
Introduce a BBSR-Rourkela half day Intercity train and/or extend BBSR-Sambalpur train to Rourkela. [BBSR-Rourkela distance is Rourkela-Jharsuguda (102) + Jharsuguda-Sambalpur (49)+ Sambalpur-Talcher(175) + Talcher-Barang(98) + Barang-BBSR (16) = 440km] So a BBSR-Howrah (437 km) Janashtabdi/Dhauli kind of timing, or the BBSR-Vijag (443km) Intercity timing would be ok. For example: If it starts from BBSR at 6 AM then using the 8413 timing it can reach Sambalpur by 11 AM and can reach Rourkela by 1:40 PM. Then it can leave Rourkela by 2:30 PM and reach BBSR by 10:10 PM. If this is successful then have another train with the opposite timing. I.e., leaving Rourkela at 6 AM reaching BBSR at 1:40 PM and leaving BBSR at 2:30 PM and reaching Rourkela at 10:10 PM. Extend Puri-Sambalpur and Rayagada-Sambalpur expresses to Jharsuguda so that passengers from BBSR/Puri/CTC can connect to many of the trains that go west (to Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad etc.) from Jharsuguda.
Goal: More frequency between BBSR and Mumbai: Do one or more of the following.
Easiest: Extend Visakha-Express to Mumbai.
Next: Extend the newly extended 8305/8306 Raipur-Bhubaneswar express to Mumbai (via Nagpur) [Alternatively extend this train to Bhopal via Nagpur]
Extend Vidarbha or Sevagram Express (between Mumbai and Nagpur) to Bhubaneswar (via Raipur-Titlagarh-Bargarh-Sambalpur-Dhenkanal) [Also increases connectivity to Nagpur]
Increase frequency of weekly 2145/2146 BBSR-Mumbai express(so that twice a week it goes in the current route via Anugul-Sambalpur, twice a week it goes via Vijainagaram-Rayagada- Titlagarh- Raipur, and thrice a week via Vizag-Koraput- Rayagada-Raipur); [Similar to the trains connecting Puri-BBSR to ADI.]
Goal: Increase connectivity between Western Orissa and Allahbad-Delhi ( Public demand):
Extend 8601 Hatia Jammu Tawi express (now via Allahbad and Delhi) to Sambalpur (via Rourkela) first and may be after a year all the way till Bhubaneswar
Increase frequency of Vizag-Delhi(now planned to be extended to Amritsar) express and on the new days let it take the route of Vizag-Koraput-Rayagada-Titilagarh-Balangir- Sambalpur and then follow the rest of the schedule.
Increase frequency of BBSR Rajdhani (perhaps once or twice plying through Sambalpur, once plying through Keonjhar, and going beyond BBSR to Viskhapatnam);
Goal: Better connection between western Orissa and South India, especially Hyderabad ( Public demand) [There are direct trains from Rourkela/Sambalpur to Bhubaneswar, Howrah, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, but none to Hyderabad currently]:
Extend 6512 Bilaspur-Bangalore Express (via Hyderabad) to Rourkela or via Rourkela to Hatia/Ranchi or Tata.
Extend Vizag-Hyderabad Godavari express to Rourkela.
Introduce a Tata-Hyderabad Express going through Rourkela. [This should be happening soon, as Tata has excellent connections to all parts of India except to Hyderabad. May be ECOR can chip in towards this.] (Note in 2006 budget a new weekly Tata- Bangalore express is proposed. This may be routed through Hyderabad.)
Have a new Rayagada-Raipur (343 kms) day time express and Balangir-Vijainagaram (336 km) day-time express.
Increase frequency of weekly BBSR-Bangalore express and extend it to Mysore;
A Bhopal-Nagpur-BBSR-Puri train. (Bhopal and Nagpur are very close to Orissa but are not properly connected to BBSR by Rail.)
Extend Dhanbad-Tata Subarnreka express to Bhubaneswar.
Extend 8102 Muri express (Tata/Hatia-Jammu Tawi) to Bhubaneswar via Keonjhar (on the Hatia part) and Bhubaneswar via Kharagpur and Balasore on the Tata part.
A weekly Puri-Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur-Jabalpur-Bhopal-Kandla express
Extend Puri-Jodhpur express to Jaisalmer
A weekly Puri-Jaipur-Bikaner express
A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Tuticorn express
A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Cape express
A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Trivendrum express
A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Mangalore-Calicut express.
Once Daitari-Bansapani line is completed: a Tata-Puri passenger as well as a BBSR-TATA Intercity express via Keonjhar. [BBSR-Tata distance via Keonjhar will be about 421Kms: BBSR-Jakhapura (92) + Jakhapura -Tomka(24) + Tomka-Bansapani(155)+ Bansapani- Rajkharswan(108) + Rajkharswan-Tata(42)] Just for reference: BBSR-KGP-Tata = (440-115) + (249-115) = 325+134 = 459 kms.
Once Daitari-Bansapani line is completed, run one of the BBSR-SiniJn-Delhi train via Keonjhar on some of the days. (BBSR-Kenojhar-Sini = 410 kms while BBSR-Tata-Sini=486 kms)
a daily North Orissa Express train between Baripada and Puri. (in 2006-07 plan there is a thrice daily Baripada-BBSR train. This train is operational now.)
extend one of the trains to Delhi to beyond say Chandigarh/Jammu
increase frequency of 5639/5640 weekly Puri – Guwahati express;
once the line between Howrah-BBSR is completely electrified [done Dec 1 05] an almost non-stop twice a day, 4 hrs each way train between Howrah-BBSR;
Extend Konark express to start from Baripada as well as 2145/2146 BBSR-Mumbai express to start from Baripada. [There are direct trains from Balasore to BBSR, Howrah, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, but none to Mumbai. In general all train going west that start from BBSR should be extended to Balasore];
make a reliever station to Bhubaneswar with express halts at Patia. It is 1 km to the right of Magnetic Square in this map, and 2 km to the top of Patia square in this map. Note that this station is 3 km from Infocity, 1 km from KIIT, 2 km from Silicon, 3.5 km from Trident, 2 km from Koustuv, 2 km from College of Engg, 2 km from CIPET, 5 km from Fortune tower, etc.
People’s demand: [Pioneer July’05: Extension of Raipur-Sambalpur intercity express to Bhubaneswar instead of Sambalpur [in 2006-07 plan], completion of Khurda-Balangir Railway Line, extension of Bhubaneswar -Sambalpur intercity express to Titilagarh instead of Sambalpur]
Orissa integration plan (July 2005):
Now: lots of trains in the route Howrah- Kharagpur -Balasore-BBSR-Berhampur- Palasa-Vizag and Howrah-Rourkela-Mumbai; and many trains in the line Sambalpur-Dhenkanal-Bhubaneswar.
in 5 years: 2 fast express trains daily between: Koraput-Raygada-Gunupur-BBSR, Tata-Baripada- Rupsa-BBSR, Rourkela-Bansapani-BBSR, Chakradharpur-Keonjhargarh-Bhubaneswar; every two hours during the day trains between Puri-BBSR, Paradeep-BBSR, Berhempur-BBSR, Dhenkanal-BBSR, Bhadrakh-BBSR
in 10 years: 2 express trains daily between Junagarh-Bhawanipatna-LanjigarhRd-Titlagarh- Balangir-Phulbani-BBSR, 1 express train daily in the route Rourkela-Bimlagarh-Talcher-BBSR
Orissa related projects: 11:Kharagpur-BBSR electrification, 12:BBSR-Kottavasla electrification, 14:Talcher-Paradeep doubling with new bridges on Mahanadi and Birupa, 15:Daitari-Bansapani-Jakhapura new line and electrification, 19:Angul-Sukinda new line, 20:Jakhapura-Haridaspur 3rd line, 26:Rajathagara-Barang doubling, 27: Cuttack-Barang doubling, 28: KhurdaRd-Barang 3rd line, 43:Angul-Sukinda electrification, 44:Haridaspur-Paradeep newline (11 out of 48 projects on March 16 2007 were in Orissa)
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