___________

A one year old baby, named Kalinga, was abandoned by its parents and relatives; after 41 days she was taken back by them. This happened in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Should not we be outraged by the fact that the baby was abandoned in the first place? Should not the parents be put in jail for abandoning their months old baby? And what has this got to do with the growth of Orissa. Read more and watch the following embedded video to find out why this is such a sweet and charming story and its happening in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, makes Bhubaneswar an attractive place.

You see Kalinga is a baby elephant which got isolated from its herd when the herd had strayed into Bhubaneswar from the adjacent Chandaka Elephant Sanctuary. The wild life staff tried many ways for the baby elephant to be taken back by its herd, and finally yesterday a herd took it back. Although the wild life staff which fed it with lactogen is worried about its future feeding, they are extremely happy that the baby elephant was taken back to the wild.This is Bhubaneswar. A city with a similar sized elephant sanctuary just next to it. We discussed this sanctuary in earlier postings (here and here). I have never gone inside the sanctuary, but I will definitely go there in my next visit and spend some time in the Bharatpur watch tower to watch elpehants in the wild. I wonder if there is any other city in India where you have an elephant sanctuary right next to it. This aspect of Bhubaneswar is not much known. May be it should remain that way despite this posting.

Note: New Indian Express has a nice report on the forest officers attempt to reunite the lost baby elephant with its herd. Following are some excerpts.

It’s something unheard of but Kalinga which slipped into a small well after getting isolated from its main pack that strayed into an OUAT farm on May 5, finally found acceptance on Saturday from a group of 22 elephants in forests of Chandaka, on the City outskirts.

Two forest guards monitoring the calf saw how it was welcomed into folds of two herds near the watch tower of the protected area. Kalinga was allowed to roam near a water point adjoining the watch tower at Bharatpur.

The herds – in groups of four and 18 – reached the spot at 5.30 pm where a female, as if in a gesture of welcome, tugged at the calf before dragging it into the group. The rest encircled the baby and vanished into the jungle. …

The Chandaka Sanctuary officials had tried the reunion earlier but in vain. Kalinga was kept confined in a breakable enclosure near sanctuary’s entrance at Godibari but the herds would pass by it.

However, DFO Akshay Kumar Patnaik was not one to give up hope. The calf was shifted near Bharatpur watch tower on June 11 as the area is frequented by several herds because of the water point. On the first day itself, two herds came calling but Kalinga found no acceptance.

Then the calf was freed from its enclosure so as to facilitate interaction with the approaching herds. On Tuesday, three packs came across the calf and approached it but Kalinga was reluctant and returned to its base where it is fed and taken care of by the forest officials, Patnaik said.

On Saturday, Kalinga had ‘lactogen’ for lunch and what followed was nothing short of milestone in wildlife management.

But sanctuary officials are worried about Kalinga’s diet as it was on lactogen for last 41 days and could face difficulty in taking milk from its mother.

Following is a picture of Kalinga with a mature elephant trying to take it back. This did not work out. The picture is from Kalinga Times photo gallery and the photo was taken by DFO Akshaya Patnaik. But the next attempt succeeded. (CNN-IBN also has a nice video.)

There are several other charming stories associated with the Chandaka Sanctuary. Decades ago a royal Bengal tiger from the sanctuary jumped into the enclosure of another tiger in the adjoining Nandan Kanan zoo. More about this another day.

Business standard reports that the Orissa government is after Accenture and other big IT consulting companies. There is nothing concerete here except that its a policy decisions to go after these biggies with an attractive package. Following are excerpts from that report.

The Orissa government is rolling out the red carpet to get the management consulting, technology services and outsourcing firm Accenture to set up facilities in the state. …

Orissa IT minister Surya Narayan Patro said, “We have initiated discussions with Accenture.”

A top official of the Orissa IT department said, “The government would leave no stone unturned in bringing in big companies like IBM, Cognizant and Accenture to the state. Discussion were on and the government would contact Accenture.”

The Orissa government was working out a package offering excellent infrastructure to companies keen to invest in the state.

Accenture currently had 1.5 lakh employees in 49 countries with global revenues of around $18 billion, and was one of the largest computer services and software companies.

India was an integral part of Accenture’s global delivery centre (GDC) and its second largest country of operation, with branches at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi employing 15,000 professionals in India.

The Orissa government recently allotted 1074 acres of prime land for three IT zones labelled Infocity 1 to 3. While Infocity-1 was functional, Infocity-2 and Infocity-3 were
under planning and development. TCS, Infosys and Satyam had units here while Wipro, MindTree and Hexaware were expected to decide on facilities in Bhubaneswar soon and Genpact had committed to invest at Infocity-1.

Orissa expected software exports to cross Rs 1000 crore from the 2006-07 export figure of Rs 734 crore.

IT small and medium enterprises (ITSMEs) in Orissa were working on a plan to take up software exports. Currently there were about 135 IT firms registered with the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) in Orissa.

Following is a roundup on HRD related postings at orissawatch.org.

• Foundation For Excellence (FFE) gave 264 scholarships to students from Orissa
• Orissa engineering colleges in Outlook India ranking
• NISER deadline for submitting application form is extended till June 15 2007
• Chennai B-school in Bhubaneswar and Plan for Insurance University in BBSR
• Specialized government management institutions of Orissa
• Branch changes allowed after first year at NIT Rourkela
• Status of private Medical Colleges in the State
• M.Tech and M.Arch programs in Orissa
• KIIT has approval for 100 Medical (MBBS) and 100 Dentistry (BDS) seats.
• Institutions with Nontraditional programs – a dated list
• Biju Patnaik Film and TV institute advertises for admission into its programs
• Apparently Orissa students are doing well in medical entrance exams
• Tathya: Please no politics over IIT
• Pursuing M. Ed in Orissa
• Ranking of Engineering Colleges in Orissa based on student preferences
• Nursing Schools catch on in Orissa
• TCS recruits 1100 students from Orissa engineering colleges

The planned Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Choudwar metroplex will have a ring road with NH-5 consisting one part of it with the other part to be constructed. The other part will start from south of Khurda and go through Haladia, Athagarh and Nergundi (a bit south of Tangi). A detailed map of this new road is here. Inside this proposed metroplex will be the Chadaka-Dampara sanctuary. Below I give maps of Bhubaneswar area and Mumbai area to show the relative size of the Chandaka-Dampara sanctuary and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park that is part of the Mumbai metroplex. Both maps have the same resolution. Recently, there is plan to popularize the Chandaka-Dampara sanctuary among the local people. Following is an excerpt from a report in the New Indian Express.

According to divisional forest officer (DFO) and wildlife warden Akshaya Kumar Pattnaik, there are plans to popularise the various spots of the sanctuary among the nature lovers as many in the Twin City are still not aware.

The nice bamboo hut and watch tower near Deras Dam with one and two suites available respectively overlook the channels and drainage system of the water source which provides lifeline to the Mendhasal agriculture farm.

The Kumar Khunti and Ambilo watch towers also have got accommodation facility.

“Plans are on to have small wooden restsheds to accommodate the nature lovers who will come on bicycle rides and can stay overnight as practised in in the West and some well managed reserves in several parts of the country,” Pattnaik reveals.

A visitor can also have the panoramic view of Mahanadi from Mantu Hill Top and enjoy the small fall near Godabhanga Tangara in the rainy season. The caves below the fall are home to hyaenas, he adds.

Apart from wildlife, the ancient forts at Bualigarh and Chudanga can be explored which have great archaeological value, the DFO says adding an interpretation centre is on cards with a fodder demonstration centre, small herbal garden, souvenir stall and snacks parlour at Godibari entrance of the sanctuary.

Though more than 10,000 visitors visit in a year, the DFO feels the number should go up considering the charm of the jungles, especially when one can enjoy the coastal sal range from Kochila Berena watch tower.

Mumbai

Times of India reports that the newly floated MDLR airlines which just launched its Kolkata operations plans to fly Kolkata – Bhubaneswar in couple of months.

New Indian Express reports Vasant Scribes coming to Bhubaneswar to provide training and employment opportunities. Following are excerpts from that report.

Leading medical transcription company in India, Vasant Scribes is set to provide training to the unemployed youth of the State to join the field even as it has commenced commercial operations from its Bhubaneswar facility at STPI here.
The company which, at present, has 35 medical transcriptionists intends to expand the facility to over 300 within one and half years. And the bulk of the staffers would be the youths who successfully complete the training.

… The company has applied for one acre of land in the Infocity and has submitted the building plans and layout to the Government.

… But in a stark departure from prevailing practices, the training would not only be imparted free of cost but the trainees would also be given a handsome stipend.
Eligibility would be Plus II pass, preferably with a science background.

… Headquartered at Hyderabad, the company employs over 500 personnel in the city.

Business Standard in an article in April listed several infrastructure related projects that Orissa is planning using PPP. Following are excerpts from that article.

… the Orissa government has lined up 18 new projects in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode entailing an investment of over Rs 6000 crore.

Of the 18 projects, 12, mostly large and medium, have already been consolidated with investments of Rs 3500 crore.

Another six projects, fairly bigger in respect to the previous ones, are under active consideration and would cover an investment of around Rs 2500 crore, according to government sources.

Source said, till date, an around Rs 5300 crore investments have already been lined up and are under implementation in the PPP module in 12 odd projects across the state.

In all the Orissa government plans to develop 30 odd projects in different sectors in the PPP module over the next two years covering an investment of over Rs 11,300 crore. …

The PPP modules currently under implementation and those under consideration cover a wide range of activities starting from port cuilding, railway line construction, road development and erection of urban clusters. …

The new projects being considered under the PPP module included development of road links in the Capital Region Ring Road, the Bhubaneswar-Paradip Road, the Suakati-Dubuna Road and the Tensa-Barsuan-Lahunipada Road.

These would entail a primary investment of Rs 1547 crore for the development of 279 kilometres of road, including a four-laning of the first one.

Other than this there would World Bank identified projects where four laning would be done of the Sambalpur-Rourkela road from the existing two-lane road.

The long pending Joda-Bamebari Road and Koira-Rajamunda Road covering 229 kilometres would also be taken up.

The PPP module would be used for two vital rail links. The first was the Angul-Duburi-Sukinda rail link and the second the Gunupur-Theruvali link. In both cases, the Special Purpose Vehicle ( SPV) route was being proposed. The investment for the rail links was estimated to be in the region of Rs 570 crore. The Angul-Sukinda rail link would be of 90 kilometres and the Gunupur-Theruvali link would be 79 kilometres.

PPP’s for setting up Bio-tech parks, SEZ for IT/ITES companies and integrated commercial and residential complex, an enclave at Shahidnagar are were also part of the city building endeavour of the Orissa government.

This apart, a commercial shopping complex and an A.C.Market complex at Unit IV are also being contemplated in the PPP mode as part of city development plan.

Till date, investment for the SEZ for IT/ITES companies had been identified and were estimated to be in the region of Rs 35.67 crore. As for the other residential and commercial complexes, project details and cost were being worked out on a war footing.

Coupled with these, a multi-product SEZ at Paradeep had been suggested by the government for development using the PPP route. It was expected to entail an investment of Rs 712 crore.

Land of around 1093 hectares would be needed for the SEZ in the Marshagahi Tehsil of Kendrapara under Paradeep.

This article is probably based on a presentation available from the Orissa govt. website. That file seems to be corrupt but its google cache shows part of the information.

Economic Times reports that Pentasoft plans a multiplex in Bhubaneswar and other cities. Following is an excerpt from that report.

As part of its expansion plans, the company has chosen Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar and Mysore for the projects, which would have resorts, theme parks, children games and go-carting, Pentasoft CEO Hariharan told reporters here.

The multiplexes would be ‘replicas’ of the one in Chennai, ‘Mayajal’, he said.

A review of Mayajal in Chennai is at this site.

New Indian express reported that the vision document for twin cities has been completed.

The Vision for the planning area perceived around the following core ideas:

1. Cuttack and Bhubaneswar as twin cities in COMPLEMENTARY role.
2. Transformation of the Bhubaneswar – Cuttack Urban Complex to a world class urban centre as an important gate way for national and international investments.
3. Promotion of cultural, built and natural heritage in a sustainable manner.

I will update the roadmap in the next post..

Deepikaglobal reports that Hilton plans to open a Hilton Hotel and a Homewood Suites in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar already has a Trident Hilton. Following is an excerpt from that report.

Speaking to mediapersons here today, DLF Home Developers Ltd Chief Financial Officer Surojit (Babu) Basak said, ”We plan to open two hotels under Hilton brands–Hilton Garden Inn, amid market segment hotel, and Homewood Suites, which are service apartments, entailing an investment of around Rs 500 crore. The hotels would have 600 rooms altogether. … The hotels would be operational in three years, he added.

The US-based Hilton Hotels is looking at ten-fold increase in the number of hotel property in India. Hilton Hotels would also open hotels in Delhi, Mysore, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa and Kolkata. Homewood Suites, the longstay brand in Hilton’s portfolio, would debut at Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad.

A 3 week old Business standard article talks about the mall, multiplex and real estate scenario of Bhubaneswar. Following are some excerpts from that article.

Abhijit Das, regional director at property consultants Trammell Crow Meghraj, informs that there are 4-5 malls being planned in the city, most of them in the newly developing Chandrashekharpur area. ….

Looking at the maturing consumer, Saraf is planning a 5,00,000 sq ft mall on 5.5 acres of land which in all probability will include the city’s first multiplex, a large plaza and a 100-room, three-star hotel on top. …

Another retail mall project, also on the larger side, is the 6,00,000 sq ft Junction Mall from Bengal Shrachi Housing Development (another Kolkata-based company), coming up in the Jaidev Vihar area en route to Infosys City.

The company’s MD, Rahul Todi, says this will be the city’s first organised retail destination. Set to cost around Rs 120 crore, it will launch later this year (October-November). South Africa’s Bentel will be the architects on this project, and it will boast of a two-level car parking in the basement. …

There is quite a bit of short supply in the quality residential segment in Bhubaneswar, according to Anup Mohapatra, president, Real Estate Developers Association (REDA).

He points out that over the last two years, rates in the city have increased at least four-fold. There is demand for high-end residential property in the city, most of which is coming up towards the new IT developments taking place near Chandrashekharpur. If, for instance, the demand today is for 100 homes, the supply is lagging far behind at only 10-12 at the moment, he says.

For some Kolkata-based companies, Bhubaneswar is almost like an extension of their home ground and makes an attractive investment alternative. No wonder that apart from just malls, Todi is also planning to launch a high-rise, high-end residential project with 550-600 apartments spread over 14 acres. Situated on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar National Highway, Neo City will have a club, swimming pool, and other lifestyle amenities.

The Sureka Group, which bought a 10-acre plot in Bhubaneswar recently, is also looking at a high-end residential development. Its MD, Pradeep Surekha, informs that the company is trying to procure more land at the same place.

We are looking at a total of 20 acres for the Rs 400 crore residential project, he confirms. He is also eyeing the growing organised retail demand in the city. The Surekha Group is planning a 5,00,000-6,00,000 sq ft mall but if it gets suitable land at the right place (at least 10 acres), a mall might be developed on 1 million sq ft space. Such is the scope for retail in the city, he explains.

Many may not know that to the west of Bhubaneswar lies the Chandaka widlife sanctuary with varieties of flora and fauna. This sanctuary is considered as the lungs of Bhubaneswar. Today’s New Indian Express has an article about this. Following are some excerpts.

The sanctuary is perhaps among the few in the country which boasts of a treasure trove of flora and fauna excepting the royal Bengal tiger. The coastal range of sal forests also end here with an intimate mix of evergreen and deciduous elements.

According to divisional forest officer (DFO) Akshaya Kumar Pattanaik, though elephant is the flagship species, two types of monkeys, three deer species and three other herbivores, nine types of carnivores including the panther, two types of civets, tree shrew and pangolins are spotted.

Also the sanctuary is home to 21 types of snakes, 16 lizards, one species of turtle and marsh crocodile. The avian types include 174 with 10 species of water fowl and waders, seven ground nesters, seven raptors and 17 song birds.

The elephant population (65 in 2006 census) is seen in group sizes of 18, 13, 8, 7, 5 and 4. Even joining of three or four family groups were also observed aggregating to a herd size of 38 at Bharatpur in the past.

Orissa tourism has a nice page on Chandaka. Following is a map of Chandaka from that site.

• Balasore and Baripada lobbying for medical colleges
• One year P.G. Diploma in Banking and Insurance Management: From Utkal University in collaboration with ICICI bank
• Careerpoint claims that 21 out of 55 succeeded in IIT JEE
• A pre-advertisement from Sri Sri University
• Chennai Business School forays into Bhubaneswar
• Sri Sri University project: a powerpoint presentation
• Latest status of WODC related private medical college in Rourkela
• Ads for IIT JEE, AIEEE, Orissa JEE and Medical coaching classes
• Plus two options in Berhampur
• Telegraph writes about progress and obstacles in making the Capital Hospital a medical college
• PM: Each state will have a central university
• Bhubaneswar based Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital get nod for MBBS programme from 2007-08
• Tathya.in has a hard hitting article on the IIT issue that blames the Congress leaders for their ineptitude
• Cabinet approves new scholarship scheme for tribals

Various newspapers (Telegraph, Financial Express) report that the Cabana group has announced a hotel and a management institute in Bhubaneswar and plans to open many hotels in various locations in Orissa. Following is an excerpt from Telegraph.

Co-chairman of Cabana Hotel Management Private Limited and venture capitalist, Prabhu Goel, said the institute will be the group’s first training venture anywhere in the world. “Since the industry demand is huge, we hope that all students will be absorbed after training,” Goel added.

The institute, for which the government has allotted a seven-acre plot near Dumduma, will have hostels for 1,500 students, classrooms, labs, kitchens, along with a an attached 200-bed hotel. The group will represent Best Western brand in India, provide hotel management services and consultancy, he said.

Over the next 10 years, the group intends to add more than 100 hotels and 10,000 rooms to the growing Indian hospitality market. “We have visited places like Chilika, Puri, Konark and Paradip. We are interested to set up hotels there. We have plans to invest around Rs 350 crores in developing properties in the state,” said Goel.

Orissawatch.org is where we started from and focused on human resource development and education. We continue to be active that site. Once in a while we will do a round-up of important postings in that site here. Following is the first such round up.

• RFPs for the AIIMS like institute in Bhubaneswar and other places
• Tenders related to NISER Bhubaneswar
• NISER Bhubaneswar brochure and application form
• List of engineering colleges in Orissa
• List of management institutions in Orissa
• List of universities in Orissa
• List of research institutions in Orissa
• Coaching Schools in Bhubaneswar
• XIM plans to roll out new courses in econometrics, financial modelling and regulatory finance.
• Post Class X ads (junior colleges; plus 2 science; plus 2 commerce)

Tyre and Accessories reports the Applo Tyres group plans to invest Rs 4,000 million in expanding health care venture. At present the company is looking at a number of prospective cities including locations in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Vadodara, Coimbatore, and Bhubaneswar.

Samaja has a beautiful editorial page article by Ramachandra Pattanayak. In it the the author explains that if we continue opposing Posco, Tisco and Mittal what will happen is that steel plants will be made in other states, our mines will be assigned by the central government to these steel plants in other states and we will lose out on many fronts including infrastructure development that comes with steel plants, ancillaries, etc. Similarly, he says it does not make sense that we are so vocal about IIT etc. and yet we oppose Vedanta University.

I agree with the author. The assignment of mines is not fully under state govt. control. We can not sit on requests and delay assigning mines. If we do that currently the central govt. has the right to assign the mines to others. Losing out on the mines, we lose out on the related infrastructure developments such as townships, railways, roads, and to some degree ports. We also lose out on the ancillaries. In this regard one may note cities with big steel plants such as Rourkela or Jamshedpur. They all have lots of ancillary units around that area. So even if the main steel plant does not employ as many people as in the past, there are more opportunities for ancillaries these days as the state is keen on going after auto factories, bicycle factories etc. These ancillaries will hire a lot of people. But, of course, we should not force people out of their land; they should be enticed with good compensation (R&R). On the other hand we need to be very careful and wary of some of the neighboring states who are trying to spread their ideology to our state and in the process trying to steal some of these upcoming developments in Orissa. In this regard it is amazing that politicians and MPs from a neighboring state are able to come to Orissa and say that their party opposes such and such project in Orissa. At the same time the party of these politicians support industry in their state so much that they or their allies have sent in cadres dressed up as policemen to kill and rape people opposed to industrialization in their state. What gull these politicians from the neighboring state have and how stupid we Oriyas are to invite them, give them a platform and listen to them.

Slowly more news about this is coming out. [Financial Express, Kalinga Times, Tathya.in 1,2,3 ]. Following are some salient points culled from various news articles. (More will be added as more news report come in.)

• Financial Express: The hub, which will come up on a built-up area of 1.5 million sqft n the Chandaka Industrial Estate of the city, will act as a centre or convergence of the bank’s activities, like call centre, ack-office operations for banking & insurance as well as sales and administration.
• Financial Express: The proposed hub would accommodate approximately 10,000 people in a phased manner and have the capacity to scale up the operations in future to a potential of 15,000 manpower.
• Fiancial Express: “ICICI Bank selected Bhubaneswar for its eastern regioanal hub after choosing Hyderabad and Ahmedabad for the southern and western hubs, respectively, because of the initiative taken by the Orissa government,” said Kamath. He said the first phase of the hub would be fully operational in two years and the second phase will be completed in the next three years.
• Kalinga Times: In order to ensure availability of skilled local manpower, the bank has already started working in a partnership model with two universities in Orissa. In this regard, a separate MoU was signed between the bank and Utkal niversity on the occasion for offering various skill enabling and vocational courses in the domains of banking, finance and insurance. … Later in the day, the bank signed another MoU with KIIT University for running of an e-Learning Centre like the one to be run by Utkal University.
• Tathya.in: Naveen also asked Kamath to facilitate the Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED) into a national level Centre of Excellence.ICICI has played a crucial role in developing EDI at Ahemadabad to a national level institute.Kamath promised to look into the matter, said sources.

Tathya reports that ICICI Bank will collaborate with Utkal University to start courses in banking and insurance. I guess this will be mutually beneficial to both Utkal University and ICICI Bank. The later will get a good pool to hire its employees.

Tathya reports that ICICI Bank will sign an MOU with Orissa government to set up a call center and back office operation for banking and insurance. This center to be located in Infocity will eventually hire 15,000 graduates from normal colleges. In terms of the number of people they will hire, this is a big deal; much bigger than the overhyped POSCO or Mittal deals. ICICI Bank will not use our mines; will not pollute our atmosphere; will not displace people; and will only need 12 acres and yet will hire 15,000 people. Orissa should be going after more such companies and less of the metal and mining kind.

Notes:

• Earlier in April this year ICICI Bank made a similar announcement with respect to Hyderabad.
• In 2005 ICICI Bank had planned for the eastern hub to be in Kolkata.
• ICICI Bank is different from the BPO company ICICI Onsesource which is now renamed as First Source.
• ICICI bank recently launched the ICICI Knowledge Park in Hyderabad.

Telegraph reports that there is a plan to establish a Rs 3 crore observatory with latest equipment such as  cassagerial optical telescope, Schimidt Cassergain, IR and UV sensors and a well-furnished chemical laboratory in or near Bhubaneswar. The possible spots are Sikharchandi Hill near Infocity or a hill near Naraj Barrage. Since NISER plans to eventually have a course in astronomy this observatory may come in handy for its students and faculty.

Tathya reports that an IT SEZ has been approved that covers major part of Infocity. Following is an excerpt from that article.

The IT nerve center of Orissa is centered at Infocity, a sprawling 300 acres of Export Promotion Industrial Park developed by IDCO north of Bhubaneswar.

Infosys and ESSPL have set up their development centers.

TCS, Wipro and MindTree have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) and have taken land in Infocity.

Other prominent IT companies including Genpact, Hexaware Technologies, Ramtech Software Solutions and Contiloe Films have also applied for land.