___________

Following is an excerpt from an IANS report.

JSL Ltd, formerly Jindal Stainless Ltd, signed an agreement with the Orissa government Wednesday to set up a stainless steel park in the state on an investment of Rs.704 crore.

The park would be set up adjacent to its 1.6 million tonne per annum integrated steel project coming up at Kalinga Nagar industrial complex in Jajpur district, …

… The project, to be built on 300 acres, will have 71 units, including a service centre.

More details are in an article in Orissadiary. Following are some excerpts.

JSL Vice – Chairman Jindal said the proposed park would generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 3800 and1200 persons, respectively. He added that the project would ensure high tax receipts of around Rs 140 crore for the state government in the first five years in terms of excise and income tax value added products. As per the MoU, JSL will develop the park and provide all infrastructures like boundary wall, roads, drains, research and development centre, power and water supply, railway network, township, school and hospital.

Architectural products, surgical and hospital equipment, hardware, stamping and forging, cold rolling, and re-rolling mills, tube and pipes, heat exchangers, heavy machinery capital goods, kitchenware, lifestyle products and stainless steel composite panel manufacturing units will come up in the park. To mark on the occasion, five companies Empowertrans Private Limited, Jagadamba Exports, Jupitor India, Kraftsware Limited and Kitechen Essentials signed MoUs with the JSL Limited government to set up down stream industries.

Following is an excerpt from an IANS report.

Orissa got its first private software technology park Tuesday. Built on the outskirts of state capital Bhubaneswar by city-based JSS Group, the venture was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The JSS Software Technology Park has a built-up area of about 55,000 square feet and can accommodate about 1,000 IT (Information Technology) professionals, Bijoy K. Sahoo, Chairman of the JSS group told IANS.

The eight-floor building constructed with an investment of Rs.10 crore in the first phase has ready-to-move-in facilities, Sahoo said, adding that two companies have already allotted space and they have begun their operations from today (Tuesday).

JSS has planned to invest Rs.70 crore (Rs.700 million) in the second phase that is scheduled to complete in the next 24 months. The total built up area of the project after second phase expansion would be two lakh square feet, he said.

Following is from JSS’s web page.

Keeping to long standing demands from the Information Techenology (IT)
Companies in the Small and Medium Enterprise (ITSME) Sector, the InterMinisterial standing Committee (IMSC) of Goverment of India has approved the First Private Software Technology Park (STP) of Orissa.The IMSC felt it imprerative to setup a micro,small and madium enterprise(MSME) software park to broaden the export base of the state. The park will enble IT professionals to walk in and to state their business instantly.
The news STP has been christened as JSS software Technology park.The private STP is locted at Infocity in Chandaka ,Bhubaneswar with a view to provide incubation and infrastructure faclities to new ans young entrepreneurs in the MSME sector .Infocity is considered as the biggestITpark in estern India spread over an area of 350 acres, currently housing IT giants like Infosy, Wipro, TCS, Mind Tree ect.

The intelligent building of the JSS STP is spread in sprawing three acre campus and housses state-of-art technology to fulfil the growing demands of highly competent IT professionals.

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

The Nandankanan Zoological Park here will have the largest Orchid House of Orissa soon.

Spread over 5,000 sq ft, the garden will be home to some exotic species which are found in Orissa as well as outside.

… The Nanadankanan Zoo authorities have collected over 156 varieties of orchids belonging to 35 species for the Orchid House which is now awaiting to be thrown open. Altogether, the specially-designed garden will be home to 1,000 plants, Director of Nandankanan Zoological Park Sudarshan Panda said. All the three different types of orchidaceae – epiphytic, subaerial and those growing on the soil are part of the collection.

(Thanks to futureberhampur for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Hrushikesh Mohanty.

Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation has evinced interest in setting up a processing plant for rare earth chloride, one of the intermediate products of monazite.

The auto major is in advanced stage of negotiations with Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of Indian Rare Earths Ltd, for setting up the plant near OSCOM’s site at Matikahal, near Chhatrapur, about 30 km from here. …

The rare earth metals used in manufacturing several electronics items, magnet and automobile tools are in high demand in the international markets.The officials of IREL have anticipated several other companies to come forward to set up their plants to process the individual rare earths in the area.

It may be noted that OSCOM is setting up a 10 million tonne per annum monazite processing plant within its existing unit in Orissa.

…  The monazite processing plant is expected to start production from next year. Presently the Mining and Mineral Separation (MMS) plant of OSCOM is producing ilmenite and associated minerals by processing the rare earth minerals which are abundant in the Ganjam coast. The present capacity of the MMS plant of OSCOM is 2,20,000 tonnes per annum and the capacity utilization of the plant is almost 100 per cent.

The Greater Rourkela Forum at http://www.rourkelacity.com/rdf/index.php is gaining momentum. There are vibrant discussions happening there in many subjects. Some of the hot topics there are:

• Higher Education in Rourkela
• Development of Rail connectivity and Infrastructure in Sundergarh and Rourkela
• Healthcare and medical facilities in Rourkela

I like the way discussions are going on there focusing on how to develop the greater Rourkela area. Hope more people will join that forum and work together towards Rourkela’s development. 

With this forum there are now four regional forums and Blogs that I know of and that are regularly updated. 

1. Rourkela Development Forum – in a discussion group format visible to all
2. Future Berhampur – a blog
3. Kalahandia – a blog
4. Western Odisha discussion and development forum – a blog

Hope soon there will more regional forums/blogs watching over the development and interest of other areas of Odisha such as Northern Odisha (Balasore-Baripada), Koraput-Jeypore area, Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area and Angul-Talcher area.

Following are excerpts from Suchismita Sahoo’s report in orissadiary.com.

… the idea to set up a state of art hospital at Bhubanheswar has recently been discussed between Chief Minster Mr Navin Patttanik and Mr Anil Agarwal, Chairman of the Vedanta Group in his last meeting, and off late the Vedanta management reviewed it seriously and Government has agreed to extend their support to make the best in class .

Realising the need of proper provision to handle the ever-increasing trauma cases, Vedanta has come forward to set up a 100-bed Level I, state-of-the-art Trauma Care Centre in Bhubaneswar. Revealing Vedanta’s plans regarding this novel initiative, the Vice President of Vedanta Group, Ajit Kumar Samal said, "This centre will be established on 10 acres of land involving a proposed investment of Rs 75 crore. As a Level I trauma care centre, it will have facilities that will cater to patients of all income groups at any point of time. We have handed over the responsibility of designing and construction to HOSMAC, an internationally reputed professional group involved in hospital making and research." Informing about the facilities that will be available at this centre, Mr. Vivek Desai, Head of HOSMAC Consultancy Services said, "The centre will have facilities like highest level of surgical care, specialists and equipment available 24 hours, education programme, preventive and outreach programs, program of research in trauma education and injury prevention. This will become a referral resource for communities in nearby regions. Both the clinical and non-clinical facilities will be of international standard. Besides the integrated trauma care facilities including General Medicine, General Surgery, Reconstructive surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Neurosurgery, Vascular surgery, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Nephrology, ENT and Radiology and Imaging diagnostic services, this centre will also have Emergency Care Services, Ambulatory Care Services and blood bank. The proposed centre is expected to come out as an unmatched proposition in trauma and burns which will include bone bank and skin bank facility. Currently there is no same line dedicated trauma hospital in Orissa or even neighboring state like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh." "The institute is the first level-I trauma and burns facility in Orissa and will act as leading trauma centre in the country. The bone bank and skin bank is an unparallel facility in the country which will be available here. The centre will be backed by an integrated life saving road and air ambulance service. The hospital will ensure maximum patient safety and quality of care and will operate in line of NABH / JCI standard," he adds. 

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

Odisha’s Power sector gets a relief as the first Unit of 2400 Independent Power Plant (IPP) at Jharsuguda would be commissioned in coming Summer’, he said to the media after meeting the Chief Minister.

This will add 600 MW to the state’s power production capacity and can help the State Government in facing the current power crisis. 

Mr. Agarwal revealed that construction work of world class Vedanta University near Puri has already started. 

At the first stage, the University will have a 1000 bed super specialty hospital and Medical College, also academic building. 

Vedanta Boss also informed the meeting that Lanjigarh refinery is fully operational by sourcing bauxite from other states, incurring a huge opportunity loss for both states as well as company. 

State Government has assured to look into the issue seriously and try to work out for an immediate solution. 

Construction activities for a specialized burn and trauma care centre at Bhubaneswar would begin very soon.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After committing an investment of Rs 60,000 crore on various projects in Orissa including an aluminium smelter plant, an alumina refinery unit and a mega university project, London-based Vedanta Resources Plc has now evinced interest in setting up a steel plant in the state.

Vedanta plans to set up the steel plant in collaboration with engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

… However, he did not provide details like capacity of the proposed steel plant, location and investment. It may be noted that in October 2004, Sterlite Iron and Steel Company, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government for setting up a five million tonne per annum steel plant. The steel plant was to set up at Palasponga in the state’s Keonjhar district at an investment of Rs 12,502 crore. However, the project is yet to take off.

On bauxite supplies, Agarwal said, he has informed the state chief minister that Vedanta’s alumina refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district is operational and the company is sourcing bauxite from other states to run this refinery.

The chief minister has assured that us that bauxite supplies would not be a problem in Orissa which has the fourth largest deposits of the mineral ore in the country, Agarwal informed.

He further said the company is adhering to the environmental norms in running the Lanjigarh refinery, adding, “Our refinery at Lanjigarh is a world class refinery and it is a zero discharge and zero waste unit. …"

He pointed out that the company would commence mining operations at Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district after getting the environmental clearance.

Agarwal said, Vedanta has already invested Rs 39,000 crore on various projects in Orissa and these projects have generated direct and indirect employment for about two lakh people.

Vedanta Aluminium has also decided to set aside five per cent of its net profit or Rs 10 crore every year on welfare activities of the tribals of Lanjigarh. The amount will be spent on meeting the needs of the tribals in areas like education, livelihood and health.

The company will also build the hostel for the proposed engineering college of the state government at Bhawanipatna.

On the 2400 MW (6×400) power plant at Jharsuguda, Agarwal said, the first unit of the independent power project (600 MW) will be operational from the ensuing summer.

Talking on the company’s proposed university project, he said, “We have huge local support for our university project and at first we will set up a 1000 bed state-of-the-art hospital as a part of the project.” Apart from the 1000 bed hospital, Vedanta has also firmed up plans to set up a 100-bed burn and trauma care centre at Gangapada on the outskirts of the city. Construction work on this centre wold take off very soon, Agarwal stated.

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

The Army is proposing to set up a full-fledged military hospital at Gopalpur in Ganjam district and upgrade Kalinga School in Bhubaneswar, which is up to Class V, to an Army Public School from next session. The proposal to set up six polyclinics has been agreed in principle by the Government of India and they are going to be functional shortly at Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Puri, Koraput and Ganjam districts. All veterans should get their registration done through respective station headquarters to avail of the diagnostic facilities.

… Orissa will be the first state to have two Sainik Schools after opening of the Sainik School at Sambalpur for the people of Western Orissa. He said 70 acres of land has been identified for the school along the Goshal-Chiplima road and Sainik School Board will visit the place soon. This apart Sainik School, Bhubaneswar, has been given enhanced financial assistance for its upkeep and all existing scholarships have been doubled.

… Revealing that process of identification of 700 acres of land in Jharsuguda or Sundargarh district is on for location of an Army unit keeping in view rail and air connectivity, Jha said ad hoc Station Headquarters to meet the administrative requirements of the veterans in Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Balasore and Gopalpur have been upgraded into fullfledged Station Headquarters.A transit home in Bhubaneswar and a holiday home in Puri for serving soldiers as well as veterans are also on the cards, he added.

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.

Following was obtained from a pdf file at the IDCO web site.

Following is from Samaja.

Following ad is from Orissa Business Blog.

Update: Following are some additional details from a report in Pioneer.

• Amtech Auto Engineering would set up the complex at an investment of Rs 15,820 crore near Tangi- Choudwar. It would set up a two million tonne steel plant and 500 MW captive power plant in the complex. With this about 33,000 people will get both direct and indirect employment.

  It may be mentioned here that Jamsedpur-based RSB Trasmissions (I) Ltd, one of India’s leading auto components manufacturers, is coming up with an auto complex at Mania in Cuttack. RSB Transmission will invest Rs 430 crore in the project.

• The committee also approved JK Cement‘s one million tonne capacity plant on the road between Athagrah and Choudwar.
• BOC would set up an air separation plant at an investment of Rs 434 crore in Rourkela. It would produce oxygen, nitrogen and argons.
• Bijaya Ferro Power Private Limited would set up a power plant at Keshinga in Kalahandi with an investment of Rs 550 crore. It would take water from Tel river to produce 120 MW power.
• Ind-Bharat’s proposal to enhance its power production capacity has also got the nod of the committee. It would set up its plant at Jharsuguda with an investment of Rs 3,300 crore.
• Facor would set up its captive power plant at Rahandia near Bhadrak.
• Due to shortage of water, few plants have also changed their sites. Odisha Cement Power Plant (OCL) has shifted its plant site from Mania to Rajgangpur.
• Jinadal Stainless Steel would set up its plant in Luni instead of Gajatara in Dhenkanal.
• Kalinga Energy Power Limited would set up its plant at Jharsuguda instead of Sambalpur.
• Scwal Brewage would set up its plant at Baranga instead of Choudwar at a cost of Rs 193 crore.
• The Rs 1,320 crore Sahara Power project has shifted its plant to Ghantabahal from Turul.
• German-based Gaunteman Pipery would set up its plant beneficiation plant and pelatisation plant. The beneficiation plant would come up at Barbil and the pelatisation plant at Dhamra. Around 1,605 crore would be invested in the project.
• Aditya Alumina’s proposal to enhance its production from one million tonne to 1.5 million tonne. It would also enhance its power plant from 650 MW to 900 MW.

Following is an excerpt from Orissadiary.

The projects of Adhunic Metalics and Jindal Stainless Steel at Sundargarh and Kalinganagar, respectively have been approved. The SWCLC has also given its green signal for an air-separation plant. Projects, involving Vijay Ferrochorme and Power Pvt Ltd and Adhunic Power plant have been cleared.

Amtech Metals would establish the integrated auto-complex, first of its kind in the state. Moreover, an auto-park, steel and power plant would also be established in the complex. The cost of the entire project has been pegged at Rs 15,820 crore. All the projects are expected to provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to nearly 47,000 and 1.5 lakh people, respectively apart from bolstering the socio-economic conditions in those regions where the proposed projects would come up, state Industries Secretary, Sourabh Garg said.

Tathya has some details on the Adhunik group’s project. Following are some excerpts:

Adhunik Power & Natural Resources Limited (APNRL) has proposed to invest Rs.3883.40 crore for the 4×250 MW power plant in Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district.

… Adhunik Metaliks Limited (AML), another member of the Group has proposed to set up Down Stream Park for stainless and special products with an investment of Rs.286 crore.  … downstream industries in hot-rolling, cold-rolling utensils, kitchen and hardware.  AML has also proposed for stainless steel pipes and alloys, which received the nod.
The park will be set up at Kumarmunda in a 300 acre area in Sundargarh district.

AML is setting up steel plant at Kumarmunda with a capacity of 0.41 million ton per annum (MTPA).

Tathya has also some details on the JSL project. Following are some excerpts.

JSL Limited posed a proposal to set up a Super Critical Thermal Power Station of 1320 (660X2) megawatt capacity, which has been cleared in the meeting. The Rs.4090 crore Greenfield project will be set up at Luni in Dhenkanal district.

Most importantly JSL, which is setting up a 3.20 million ton per annum (MTPA) capacity stainless steel plant at Kalinga Nagar has proposed to set up Stainless Steel Park (SEZ) with an investment of Rs.740 crore.  … The park will promote auto components, kitchen & life style, light engineering, white goods, cold rolling, pipes and tubes, and service centre. 300 acres of land for the park is needed for the park, which will have man power requirement of more than 2000, said sources. JSL plant is likely to produce stainless steel by end of 2010 and the park is also to be completed by the same time reveal the SLSWCA Report.

The above two downstream park proposals are most likely due to the recent government focus on those aspects, before giving mining leases. The govt. needs to make sure that the down stream parks indeed materialize as proposed.

Following are some excerpts from a report in Business Standard.

… The Infocity-II region is being developed by the Orissa government on over 600 acres of land at Janla between Bhubaneswar and Khurda. Infosys is set to be the anchor tenant of the region. Infosys has committed an investment of Rs 300 crore in the first phase of the project which is scheduled to be operational within 14 months of commencement of construction work.

Infosys has a headcount of around 3,500 at its existing city centre spread over 45 acres and would add 3,000 more people in the first phase of its expansion project. The second campus would have a pool of 5,000 employees in all.

“Infosys has sought 100 acres of land for their second campus in the city. In the first phase, we will allot 50 acres of land to the IT firm in the Infociy-II area”, Pradipta K Mohapatra, the state IT secretary told Business Standard. He hinted that the total investment of Infosys for its second campus may exceed Rs 500 crore. …

The state government has assured to provide water and uninterrupted power supply to Infosys for its second campus in the city. In 2008-09, Orissa recorded software exports worth Rs 1168 crore and Infosys had the lion’s share, accounting for more than 70 per cent of exports.

As per the estimates of the state IT department, the Infocity-II project would be fully operational by the end of 2012. The state government has already sanctioned Rs 150 crore for developing external infrastructure for the project like approach road, electricity and water.

The Infocity-II project would attract many IT firms and it would have a total manpower pool of 1,20,000, Mohaptra said.

The project is set to attract investments worth Rs 4,000 crore from IT ad ITes (IT enabled services) companies.

It would generate direct and indirect employment for about four lakh people in the information technology (IT) and ITes sectors. Presently, more than 18,000 professionals were engaged in the IT sector in the state while the ITes sector had a workforce of over 15,000.

The operationalization of Infocity II would also be a big boon for BIT (Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology) which is adjacent to that.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.

Infosys will start its second project in the city soon. An investment of Rs 300 cr will be made in this project. Its Director (Human Resources) Mohandas Pai informed this to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here today.

About 5,000 IT professionals will work in the first phase of project-II while some 3,000 are already working in its Infocity campus here. Export of software from the Bhubaneswar campus has reached Rs 850 crore per year, Pai said.’

Land will be provided to the second project in the proposed Info-valley near the Bhubaneswar- Khurda national highway. The Government has assured infrastructural support for the project.

(This is another in the series of articles about future urban agglomerations and hubs in Orissa. Earlier we wrote about Berhampur area, Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area and Rourkela area. Now lets turn our focus to North Orissa.)

The more I think about the Rasgovindpur airport the more it seems that this area has a high potential of becoming a fine urban agglomeration. Following are some of the things that are going for this area.

• Population Base: Baripada has a population of 143,355 and Balasore has a population of 126,179. Jaleswar has a population of 22,000. My guess is that the triangular area covering them would have a population of 400-500K.
• Ports: As shown in the above map, five ports are being planned near this area. They are Chudamani, Inchudi, Bahabalpur, Kirtania and Talsari. Aditya Birla group signed MOU for Chudamani, IL&FS is interested in Inchudi, Bahabalpur is iffy as it needs DOD approval, Creative ports has signed an MOU for Kirtania and JSW is interested in Talsari.
  • An important aspect of ports is that they bring in additional infrastructure such as roads and railways and thus a whole bunch of jobs.
• Expressways: The GQ part of the expressways will pass through this area and the Howrah-Mumbai expressway will pass 20-30 kms to the North. Once the ports are operational there would be plan for a connecting expressway between the above two and it will pass through the heart of this area.
• Railways (Rupsa-Baripada-Buramara-Chakulia): Balasore is a major stop in the Howrah-Chennai line. Jaleswar is a smaller stop in that line. Baripada now has rail connectivity which is going to improve further with the starting of the Baripada-Buramara-Chakulia line and also the broad gauge conversion of Baripada-Bangiriposi.
• Railways (Jaleswar-Digha): Survey has been done before for Jaleswar – Digha. Moreover, with proposed ports at Talsari and Kirtania a railway line connecting Jaleswar to all those is going to happen soon.
• Name Recognition via Chandipur: Chandipur has world wide name recognition for the ITR missile testing range there.
• Similipal national forest and Biosphere: It was recently named as a UNESCO biosphere.
• Beautiful beaches: Chandipur and Talsari are beautiful beaches close to this area. Digha in West Bengal is also close by.
• Proximity to IIT Kharagpur: Kharagpur will be an hour away on the expressway.
• Universities and Colleges; private initiatives: Balasore and Baripada each have a university in FMU and NOU and they both have good general colleges in FM College and MPC College. There are 5 private engineering colleges in Balasore area, 1 more near Baripada and 1 more in nearby Bhadrak.
• Plan for an airport: The planned airport in Rasgovindpur will bring all these areas together. Besides serving the immediate area this airport will be convenient for IIT Kharagpur. If IIT Kharagpur starts using it as its gateway airport then it can be persuaded to invest near the airport in perhaps making an extension center.
• Plastic cluster in Balasore: The central government has approved a plastic cluster in Balasore.
• Local leadership: The only central minister from Orissa, Srikant Jena is an MP from Balasore. He also happens to be an extremely intelligent person and a smart politician (in a good way). He has already pushed for a plastic cluster in Balasore. His presence in the central government, gives this area a huge plus for at least the next 4 years.

The above are some of the points that are going  in favor of this area. The local people are also very active in demanding things for the area. Currently people from both Balasore and Baripada are demanding a medical college for the area. That is definitely a need. The following news item from today’s Samaja highlights the demand of the Baripada people. Few months back several thousand people from Balasore had demonstrated in Bhubaneswar for a medical college in Balasore.

Update: Expressbuzz also reports on this.

Following is from today’s Dharitri.

From the above, and its actions in the past, it seems that Orissa government’s future plan in terms of airports are:

• Make an international airport in Bhubaneswar. (Shifting to the new location will take another 10 years.)
• Make an airport in Jharsuguda to cater for Bargarh-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela belt: Will take 2-3 yrs to be operational.
• Plan for an airport in Jeypore: Will take 8-10 years to be operational
• Plan for an airport in Rasgovindpur (near Jaleswar, close to Balasore and Baripada): Will take 8-10 years to be operational

Couple of implications of the above are: Berhampur and Rourkela may not get functional airports in the near future (say next 10 years) as they are close to airports at Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda respectively. The overall airport situation in Orissa in 10 years will be as follows:

Now lets analyze how feasible the airports at Jeypore and Rasgovindpur will be.

• Jeypore: It is 258 kms from Visakhapatnam by Rail and 224 kms by road. It is 378 kms from Raipur; 450 kms from Jharsuguda and 520 kms from Bhubaneswar. It will be at the junction of two expressways and thus would be able to serve a large population in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.
• Rasgovindpur: It will be 30-40 kms from Balasore and Baripada; 70-80 kms from Digha; 80-90 kms from Kharagpur mostly on the expressway; 90-100 kms from Bhadrak mostly on the expressway, close to two expressways; 200kms from Kolkata airport;  210-220 kms from Tatanagar and 260-270 kms from Bhubaneswar. (Tatanagar being only 170 kms from Ranchi may not have a viable commercial airport for some time. Kharagpur being 120 kms from Kolkata will not have a viable commercial airport for a long time.) Thus it is far enough to the nearest airports in Bhubaneswar and DumDum (Kolkata), but at the same time there are enough population centers (Balasore, Baripada, Bhadrak, Digha, Kharagpur, Medinipur, Jhargram, Ghatsila) that will be close to this airport than the existing airports. So this aiport could serve a significant population in Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Update2: Picture of the Bhubaneswar airport upgradation plan. Courtsey: tathya.in.

Update: Excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

… the Chief Minister talked to the Chairman AAI at length and reportedly acceded to the demand of the AAI to bear the cost of Rs.25 crore needed for both land and infrastructure.

815 acres of land is needed for the purpose.

Secondly power, water and road infrastructure is required to be provided free of cost.

So the financial implications will be coming around Rs.25 crore, which will be borne by the State Government, said sources.

State Government and AAI will sign a MOU for development of the airport.

 

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

Airports Authority of India (AAI) seeks 800 acres of land to set up airport in Orissa’s Jharsguda. This was said by AAI chairman, VP Agarwal at Bhubaneswar.

… He also informed that AAI likely to invest Rs 150 crores in Biju Patnaik airport for the establishment of a new terminal building at Bhubaneswar.  … Moreover, work for the proposed terminal building start from April next year he added. The new terminal building would be designed to accommodate 1000 passengers and it would be centrally air-conditioned.

I was going through the report "ASSOCHAM Placement pattern study" and in that report it categorizes cities into various tiers. I wonder how it does that. It does not seem like it is done based on population. Following are some excerpts from that report.

SAMPLE SIZE
The study has covered employment trends across 33 prominent sectors located in 6 tier-I, 17 tier-II cities and 33 tier-III cities.

…

Tier I cities:
Among the tier I cities Delhi NCR and Mumbai recorded highest share in job creation with 34.06 per cent and 13.48 per cent share in total job creation respectively, during April to October 2009-10. But as compared to the April to October 2008-09, Delhi NCR registered 23.42 per cent decline in job creation whereas Mumbai registered 3.28 per cent
growth in job creation.

Employment scenario in Tier I cities (April – October 2009-10)
Tier I cities Share in %age Growth in %age as compare to the 2008-09
Delhi NCR 34.06 -23.42
Mumbai 13.48 3.28
Bangalore 10.70 -18.48
Chennai 5.59 -11.25
Hyderabad 5.36 19.33
Kolkata 4.27 64.82

Other tier I cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata registered 10.07 per cent, 5.59 per cent, 5.36 per cent and 4.27 per cent share in total job creation respectively, during April to October, 2009-10. But as compared to the April to October 2008-09, Kolkata and Hyderabad registered 64.82 per cent and 19.33 per cent growth in job creation, whereas Bangalore and Chennai registered 18.48 per cent and 11.25 per cent decline in job creation respectively.

…

Tier II cities
As per the analysis, 17 major tier II cities recorded 18.82 per cent share in total employment generation during April to October 2009-10. Among the tier II cities, Pune and Ahmedabad recorded 5.46 per cent and 5.01 per cent share in total job creation respectively, and registered 6.29 per cent and 21.50 per cent growth in job creation as compared to same period of last year.

Top five Tier II job creating cities (April – October 2009-10)
Tier II cities Share in %age Growth in %age as compare to the 2008-09
Pune 5.46 6.29
Ahmedabad 5.01 21.50
Chandigarh 1.95 21.58
Surat 1.13 137.02
Lucknow 0.82 0.82

Among the other major tier II cities Chandigarh, Surat, Lucknow and Gandhi Nagar recorded 1.95 per cent, 1.13 per cent, 0.82 per cent and 0.80 per cent share in total job creation during April to October 2009-10 and registered 21.58 per cent, 137.02 per cent, 92.66 per cent and 38.48 per cent growth in employment generation over the same period of last year.

Other tier II cities which had major share in employment generation during April to October 2009-10 were Jaipur (0.68 per cent), Vishakapatnam (0.50 per cent), Patna (0.41 per cent), Indore (0.33 per cent), Nagpur (0.32 per cent), Cochin (0.32 per cent), Ludhiana (0.28 per cent), Bhubaneswar (0.25 per cent), Bhopal (0.21 per cent), Amritsar (0.18 per cent) and Gwalior (0.17 per cent).

Tier II cities, which registered major growth in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compare to the same period of 2008-09 were Vishakapatnam (115.21 per cent), Indore (60.00 per cent), Bhubaneswar (49.49 per cent), Jaipur (28.74 per cent) and Patna (20.52 per cent) whereas Bhopal, Amritsar, Gwalior and Ludhiana were among the cities which registered decline in job creation by 26.68 per cent, 9.60 per cent, 6.27 per cent and 3.94 per cent respectively.

Tier III cities
The impact of stimulus package provided by the government during the economic downturn generated majority of jobs in tier I and tier II cities, but the tier III cities were largely untouched, this would increase the migration of the unemployed people from small towns to cities. The analysis of the tier III cities shows that 21 cities out of 33 cities registered decline in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compared to the same period of the last year. The 33 major tier III cities accounted for 7.70 per cent share in total employment generation during the period.

Top ten Tier III job creating cities (April – October 2009-10)
Tier III cities Share in %age Growth in %age as compare to the 2008-09
Vadodra 1.02 14.55
Pondicherry 0.58 -27.16
Ankleshwar 0.56 1.31
Vijayawada 0.46 -8.3
Guwahati 0.37 22.6
Dehradun 0.32 51.07
Aurangabad 0.31 -2.38
Coimbatore 0.31 -56.30
Kanpur 0.31 -75.78
Raipur 0.29 2.22

Among the tier III cities, Vadodra, Pondicherry and Ankleshwar recorded highest share with 1.02 per cent, 0.58 per cent and 0.56 per cent during the period respectively. As compared to the same period of last year, Ankleshwar and Vadodra registered 14.55 per cent and 1.31 per cent growth, whereas Pondicherry registered 27.18 per cent decline in job creation.

Other tier III cities, which registered major growth in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compared to the same period of 2008-09 were Cuttack (99.05 per cent), Ranchi (54.86 per cent), Mysore (38.31 per cent), Calicut (26.92 per cent), Allahabad (1.58 per cent), Vellore (1.33 per cent) and Panjim (0.52 per cent).

If Tiers are based on population, then some of the anomalies in the above are Kanpur being labeled as a Tier III, Gandhi Nagar (separate from Ahmedabad) being labeled as a Tier II city, and having Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh in the same tier as Pune and Ahmedabad.

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

From the irresistible Hyderabadi biryani to Pather ka Gosht. From Mutton Pasinda to Mirchi ka Salan. Denizens of the city would now not have to travel to the land of Charminar for a taste of the delicacies.

For, Hyderabad House has opened at Xavier’s Square bringing with it a wide array of culinary delights exclusive to the kitchens of the Nizams.

The reputed restaurant chain has laid a platter full of Nizami and Nawabi vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare. The lavish spread of rich and aromatic Hyderabadi cuisine that has gained popularity world over would be offered at prices that would suit most sections. A whole course meal including the biryani would be available for a couple at prices as low as Rs 300, CEO of the Bhubaneswar restaurant Jeet Singh said.

… “We do have home delivery services but plan to open at least seven take away outlets across the city for ease of the food loving public soon,” Singh said.

This is a good restaurant and very popular in Hyderabad which can be judged from the fact that it has 22 outlets in Hyderabad. It has good inexpensive food.

(Thanks to Future Berhampur blog for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Centre has approved the development of four different sectors in Orissa including granite through the cluster approach under the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS).

These clusters include the Ganjam Granite cluster at Berhampur, the handicrafts cluster of the Khurda-based Trishakti Self Help Group (SHG), Sponge Iron cluster at Bonai near Rourkela and plastic cluster at Balasore.

New Delhi-based National Productivity Council (NPC) has been chosen as the nodal agency for the implementation of these cluster units. The formation of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) is necessary for the formal declaration of these cluster units.

“We have already taken steps to form the SPV for the granite cluster at Berhampur”, said Santosh Kumar Bebarta, secretary, Ganjam Granite Cluster. Once all the formalities are completed, the granite cluster will be launched, said B B Dhal, general manager, District Industry Centre (DIC), Ganjam. The deadline for the functioning of the proposed granite cluster is December 31 this year. The SPV of the particular cluster could get a funding up to Rs 10 crore from the Centre for setting up of the Common Service Centre (CSC).

The web page for the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS) is http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/schemes/lean-manufact.htm. In the pilot phase 100 mini-clusters have been proposed.

I hope the above pointers will be useful for readers to approach people and officials in their local area to pursue mini-clusters under the above scheme.