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Following are excerpts from a report in newpostindia.com on this:

… Talking on the prospects of shopping tourism, Soni said initially the government had identified four places across India – Noida, Hyderabad, Aurangabad and Bhubaneswar – to develop as shopping tourism destinations.

‘This new concept of shopping tourism will help local artisans get a good market for selling their traditional artefacts. Subsequently, it will create tremendous amount of job opportunities in different rural pockets and will also promote the cultural heritage of our country. The union ministry is also looking at some other places, including West Bengal, to develop as shopping tourism destinations,’ she said. …

This PTI report in Hindu elaborates on one point.

Noida in Uttar Pradesh with world-class facilities, Shilpagram near Hyderabad, permanent art and crafts fair at Bhubaneswar and another at Aurangabad near Ajanta-Ellora in Maharashtra are the shopping tourism destinations coming up.

Following are excerpts from an Economic Times report.

Siemens Ltd on Friday said it has bagged an order from Jindal Stainless (JSL) to carry out installation related work for latter’s greenfield plant in Orissa.

The company has bagged the order along with Siemens VAI, a division of the Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S), Siemens Ltd said in a communique to the BSE. However, it did not divulge any financial details.

“It (the order) was bagged on the basis of our ability to come up with a fully integrated solution and our track record in executing project in the metals sector,” Siemens Ltd Executive Vice-President (Industrial Services and Solutions Division) N Sivasubramanian said.

As per the contract, Siemens would undertake plant layout for the hot-strip mill and equip it with latest tools. Production is scheduled to start in 2009.

JSL already has an operating plant at Hisar in Haryana and the new plant would be set up at Kainganagar Durubi Duburi in Orissa as part of its expansion plans.

Siemens would also provide customer training, monitor installation of all the components and systems as well as commission the installation, including fine adjustment of the technological models and control systems. The plant would be designed to produce 1.6 million tons of stainless steel strips in the first phase, Siemens added.

The plan for this was mentioned earlier. Following are excerpts from an Economic Times report.

Visa Steel on Friday inked a joint venture agreement with China’s Baosteel Trading and VISA Comtrade of Switzerland for setting up a 1 lakh tonne-per-annum ferro chrome plant in Orissa at a capital outlay of Rs 260 crore.

The JV company, VISA BAO, will be a subsidiary of VISA Steel which will hold a 51% stake. Baosteel Trading and VISA Comtrade will hold 35% and 14% stakes, respectively.  …

Following is from this PIB release.

The total number of land oustees for National Aluminium Company Limited(NALCO)’s Mines & Refinery Complex, Damanjodi is 600 and for its Smelter & Power Complex, Angul is 35. As a part of rehabilitation policy, NALCO at its initial stage, had formulated a policy for providing employment to one able bodied member of each oustee family subject to suitability of candidate and availability of vacancy. Out of 600 land oustees at Damanjodi, one member each from 591 land oustees has been provided employment and out of 35 at Angul, 34 have been given employment in the Company.

NALCO has intimated that the Company stands committed to provide employment to at least one member of each land oustee family. However, the Company has not been able to provide employment in respect of the remaining oustees as on date due to reasons like non-determination of bonafide nominees, lack of response from the families, etc.

Above information was given by the Minister of State for Mines Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Following are excerpts from an Economics Times report.

…  he RSB Group already has a technology agreement with Gunther Albert GmbH of Germany for trailer designs and a strategic alliance with Germany-based BPW Axle for axle technology with anti-breaking system, disc brake, etc.

RSB Transmission would invest Rs 430 crore in the next four years to set up a major auto component manufacturing plant near Cuttack in Orissa, Behra said adding Orissa Chief Ministger Navin Patnaik would lay the foundation stone of the casting and forging plant on August 30.

“Orissa government has assured us to provide 270 acres of land while we have acquired 90 acres land,” he said.

Following are excerpts from an azom.com report.

Outotec has been awarded a contract by Tata Steel for the design and basic engineering of an iron ore sinter plant, supply of proprietary equipment and provision of supervisory services for Tata Steel’s new Kalinganagar steel plant project in India. The contract value is around EUR 35 million.

… Outotec’s delivery is part of the first phase of the project and it will be the largest iron ore sinter plant in India to date.

The local portion of the sinter plant project will be executed by Larsen & Toubro Ltd, …

Following are excerpts from a Sambada report.

New York Times Travel Section of Sept 22, 1991 had a nice article titled “The great temples of Bhubaneswar.” Thanks to Deba Nayak for pointing it out.

Hindu has a short report and a nice picture of the road near Fortune towers. (Thanks to Deba Nayak for the pointer.)

Following is Dharitri’s report on this.

Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), Bhubaneswar ( See bottom part of page 4; National museum and other 2 regional museums) was established in 2004. This is the third regional museum of natural history in India, besides the national one in Delhi; the other two regional ones are in Mysore and Bhopal. Following is the special program of RMNH Bhubaneswar for celebrating its 3rd annual day.

The project will use water from the Ib river. Following is Samaja’s article on this.

Following is Samaja’s report on this plan and what Orissa is asking in return.

Following is Dharitri’s article on this.

Pioneer reports on some ambitious and expensive plans in this regard. Following are some excerpts.

… the Government is working on a proposal to construct the longest flyover of the State to overcome the increasing traffic jam.

The project named as Integrated Solution For All Junctions (ISFAJ) envisages building a flyover from Master Canteen Square to Sishu Bhawan Square – an estimated length of 1,100 metre.

Under the ISFAJ project, five major junctions such as Master Canteen Square, Raj Mahal Square, Kalpana Square, Sishu Bhawan Square and Airport Square will have integrated management to control traffic.

According to official sources, the detailed project report would be completed within four months. The PWD has estimated Rs 120 crore for the project, which would be completed within three years.

As per the proposal, Kalpana Square and Airport Square would have large rotary shape traffic points, which would provide commuters tension-free time to drive around. Moreover, the total road network between all the five junctions would have features such as parking space, cycle tracks and footpath.

The Works Department would also embark on converting the road stretch from Airport Square to Damna Square to six-lane road for which Rs 80 crore had been earmarked.

The Khandagiri road connecting Chandaka road would be closed for archeological reasons and periphery road development programme around the Khandagiri hill as an alternative arrangement for blocking of road.

Besides, construction of three more flyovers on railway junctions besides an ongoing project Poonama Gate.

Following is Pioneer’s short report on this.

Wipro will give employment to 15,000 in its Bhubanewar centre. In this connection, CIO of Wipro met the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat.

Wipro also agreed to set up a Global Training Centre here. Wipro will set up its second campus in Infocity II.

New Indian Express has a slightly more elaborate report. Following are excerpts from that.

… Wipro has decided to open a global training centre in Orissa.

The issue was discussed at a meeting between Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Laxman Badiga …

Badiga informed that about 15,000 IT specialists would be recruited in the development centre of Wipro to be set up here.

Besides, the company would also open its second campus in Infocity II near Janla.

Smart city concept of Infocity II was also discussed. Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Bijay Kumar Patnaik, Secretary in the Information and Technology Department Surendranath Tripathy, Director, Information and Technology Vishal Dev, Chief Technology Officer of Wipro Rajesh Ram Mishra and Bhubaneswar chief of Wipro Surjya Mohanty also attended.

Telegraph’s report on this has some more information. Following are some excerpts.

Information and technology giant Wipro will soon set up the state’s biggest software development centre, where 15,000 IT engineers would be employed.

Chief information officer of Wipro … said the company would open a global training centre, too, in Orissa.

… The proposed hub, to be constructed on the Puri-Konark Marine Drive, would have facilities to train about 3,000 persons, said the state’s information and technology director Vishal Dev.

Wipro, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, had signed a MoU with the state government in 2004 to set up its software development centre with a proposed investment of about Rs 200 crore. It was allotted 27 acres of land in Infocity, opposite to the Infosys centre. The construction work has begun and the work is expected to be complete by 2008.

Wipro is among the four major IT firms for whom a 130-acre special economic zone is being carved out of the 350-acre Infocity-I. The other three companies are Hexaware, MindTree and TCS.

Significantly, Orissa has witnessed a spurt in its export earnings from the information technology sector in 2006-07. In 2005-06, the earnings were Rs 465 crore but it shot up to Rs 732 crore in the next fiscal.

Samaja reports on several rules that have been set with respect to the various Kalinganagar industries.

• Industries can not use underground water; they must use the river water supplied by IDCO through pipes.
•  While recruiting ITI and Diploma holders they must give preference to local Oriyas.
• For fourth class employees and daily laborers they must hire local Kalinganagar people.
• This year they must plant 100,000 trees.
• For rehabilitation, they must pay the housing cost in two installments instead of three.

Following is Samaja’s report.

Hindu reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

A sum of Rs. 2 crores has been sanctioned for the development and modernisation of the Berhampur railway station, Divisional Manager of the East Coast Railways P.K. Srivastav has said. Keeping its colonial architecture intact, work is on to add structures
to the existing station and to beautify it.

Speaking to newsmen, Mr. Srivastav said to expand the station premises, the goods shed by the side of platform number three was shifted to Jagannathpur. A fourth platform would be added in place of the goods shed. The new platform and the continuing work on the second foot overbridge at the railway station were expected to be completed by2008. As per the new plans, the Berhampur railway station would have two entry gates in a bid to reduce rush at the main gate.

Following is a picture of the station that appeared in Today’s Samaja.

Following are excerpts from a Telegraph report on this.

The government will develop 100 heritage circuits for tourists by the end of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. Of these, 25 are expected to be of international standard.

The government plans to build world-class infrastructure at Hampi, Agra, Konark, Khajuraho, Orccha and Datia along with the Buddhist and Jain circuit tourist centres. Moreover, 10 new heritage circuits are expected to be identified every year. To develop cultural tourism, the government has identified six museums — one each in Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Cochin. These will be upgraded so that they can compete with global rivals.

Important religious pilgrimage sites will also be developed. The tourism ministry has identified 11 sites. These are the four dhams of Uttaranchal — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri — Sabrimala in Kerala, Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, Dwarakadhish in Gujarat, Puri in Orissa, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Kanchi Kamkioti and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. …

Rakesh Mathur, president of ITC Welcome Heritage, said, “Heritage sites in India need to be looked after well. A combination of dining, storytelling and live entertainment can do wonders and create a lot of interest in travellers.”

This is part of Bhubaneswar’s proposal for JNNURM. Following is Samaja’s report on it.

The Hindu reports that environmental clearance has been granted to POSCO steel plant. POSCO has earmarked 1,525 crores for environmental pollution control as per the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as well as the state government conditions. Excerpts:

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests has given the environmental clearance for Posco’s mega steel project at Kujang near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa,” highly-placed official sources said.The Korean steel giant had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government in June 2005 pledging an investment of Rs 52,000 crore for setting up the plant.

“The project authorities shall utilise Rs 1,525 crore earmarked for environmental pollution control measures judiciously to implement the conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as well as the state government. The funds so provided shall not be diverted for any other purpose,” a source quoted the Environment and Forests Ministry as saying, while granting clearance.

The clearance has been granted to the world’s third largest steel manufacturer for installing furnaces using FINEX technology only and on the condition that gaseous emissions from its various units should strictly conform to load/mass based standards notified by the government.

Earlier in April, the MOEF had granted its approval under Coastal Regulation Zone to the Korean steel giant’s proposal to set up a captive port at Jatadhari at a cost of Rs 17,113 crore.”

Following are excerpts from televisionpoint.com’s report.

 Mumbai based Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS) is looking at its child care division, Kidzcare, as a major growth-driver in the years to come. …

Arun Khetan, CEO, ZILS said, “The franchised childcare centres, Kidzcare, are geared to meet the gap in proper existing childcare programmes. We will be setting up a total of 35 Kidzcare centres in this financial year.”

According to Khetan, the demand for these centres is mostly from the IT and BPO crowd. “Thus, the Kidzcare centres will mostly come up in places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.”

ZILS has plans to add another 70-75 centres in the next fiscal, while the target by 2011-12 has been set at 500 centres. The company expects Kidzcare to contribute about 25% to its turnover within the next five years. The Kidzcare concept operates on the franchisee model. The cost of setting up each centre ranges between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, not including the premises.

Following is an excerpt from Deepika Global’s report on this.

(UNI) The National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), …, has achieved a net profit of Rs 446.66 crore for the first quarter ended June 2007.

According to the unaudited financial results for the 3-month period of the financial year 2007-08 taken on record in the Board of Directors meeting held in New Delhi today, the company achieved a net profit of Rs 446.66 crore, with a sales turnover of Rs.1287.12 crore.

However, during the first quarter of previous fiscal, the figures were up at Rs 622.30 crore and Rs 1620.82 crore respectively.

The company also achieved higher alumina production of 3,87,800 tonne compared to 3,58,100 tonne in the first quarter of the previous year.