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Earlier it was reported that 20 stations (its started with 16 then became 17, tehn 19 and now 20) in India will be made world class. The 20 stations as reported here are: Agra, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Anand Vihar (Delhi), Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Bijwasan (Delhi), Chandigarh, Chennai, Mumbai CST, Howrah, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mathura, Patna, Pune, Secunderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Varanasi.

In case of Bhubaneswar, due to lack of land adjacent to the existing Bhubaneswar station, there was speculation and bits of news regarding a new world class station being built in Barang. The following news report from Sambada confirms it.

Following is an article written by B. K. Mishra, Chief Public Relation Officer of ECOR. It appeared in the May 1-15 issue of Pratisruti Plus.

The Statesman reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

The railway ministry continues to show its step-motherly attitude towards the Talcher – Bimlagarh railway line, which is one of the most important and vital railway links in the state. This is one of the most controversial railway projects, having been undertaken about forty years ago and is yet to witness completion. Every year money is put on this 200 kilometre project, for the purpose of keeping it alive.

Answering to a question raised by Mr Juel Oram, the MP, Sundergarh, Mr Velluraman the minister of state for railways, informed that the department has sanctioned an amount of Rs 15 crore for this railway link. The minister added that the amount has been allotted for expansion, survey and other such works needed before laying the railway track. 

“The ministry is not very serious about it, for which it has been neglected for years. This little amount is meant to keep the project alive,” the official said. This vital link will certainly go a long way in improving the economic condition of the state, besides increasing the connectivity between western and coastal Orissa. This railway link will also provide an easy approach for goods to reach the Paradip port and it will earn more profit.

Financial Express has a nice comprehensive report on Orissa’s road master plan. Following are excerpts from that report.

The plan will require an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore in the next five years.

We have decided to develop road infrastructure required for facilitating investments in mineral-based industries, IT and tourism, state works minister, AU Singhdeo, said. Roads are essential for efficient and cost-effective movement of commodities… and the government is working towards development of road sectors with specific focus on certain roads, he added.

The government has given top priority to three roads in the state. It proposes to upgrade the 91-km Naranpur-Brahmanipal-Dubri single lane into double lane with an investment of Rs.302 crore. This road is important as it will connect the mineral-rich Keonjhar district with the biggest industrial hub at Dubri in Jajpur district.

Then improvement of the 82-km Cuttack-Paradeep road will be undertaken with an investment of Rs 218 crore. This road will provide round ribbon transport network to the Posco India’s 12 million tonne mega steel project.

The 165-km Rourkela-Sambalpur road will be upscaled to four-lane under public-private- partnership (PPP).

The government has almost finalised a Rs 2,121 crore loan negotiation with the World Bank to undertake the Orissa State Road Project in the next five years from this fiscal. A total of 906 km of important corridors with high-density traffic have been identified under the Project. For development of road connectivity to places of tourism importance, the government has taken up seven projects with an investment of Rs 46 crore this fiscal. The Puri bypass road, Dhenkanal-Kapilash, and Padampur-Paikmal are been included in the list.

Finding some of the high-density traffic carrying important roads in industrial belt commercially viable for development under PPP, the government has lined up at least seven projects for development under BOT (built, operate and transfer) scheme. It has also floated the idea of connecting the industrially-active port town of Paradip with the state capital Bhubaneswar by laying a direct road of 93.5 km with an investment of Rs 562 crore.

The Ring Road will provide an alternative corridor to Natioanal Highway 60 for unhindered movement of vehicular traffic and decongest the township of Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda. Also in the list of BOT scheme are Joda-Bamebari, Koira-Rajamunda, Suakati- Dubuna in Keonjhar district and Sambalpur-Rourkela road projects. …

Water power magazine reports on a plan by a French company to build hydro electric projects on the Baitarani river. (This is the river where there is flooding now which has cut off the district HQ town of Jajpur from the rest of Orissa.) Following are excerpts from the magazine report.

French energy group Velcan was recently granted two 30-year concessions to develop projects with a combined capacity of 50MW in Orissa state.

Velcan Energy said it planned to develop a pair of 25MW projects on the same river for the ‘Baitarani’ project and although they would be built 5km apart they will be operated as a single scheme.

The company is proceeding with applications for the necessary authorisations and hopes to start construction in the second quarter of 2009 for commissioning and operations by the end of 2011.

The ‘Baitarani’ scheme will consist of two dams – Bhimkund and Tarini. It is planned that the hydro plants should be able to generate up to 200GWh per year, and secure 210,000 Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits per annum. …

Swaminathan Aiyer has a nice column in Times of India on what India should do as it forges ahead. I completely agree with the following sentences of his column.

What, then should we do in the future? We need to focus on connectivity and deregulation, rather than specific industrial policies. Deregulation and connectivity have enabled Indian cities to take off, often in unanticipated new businesses. But 70% of people still live in rural areas. India needs to provide connectivity to every village. Every village should have an all-weather road, electricity and telecom. Every village also needs a functioning school, not absentee teachers.

Provide decent education and connectivity, and the villages will turn into high-productivity towns. I’m not sure this approach is grand enough to be called strategy. But it is what India needs.

New Indian Express reports the Orissa minister’s statement on this regard in the assembly. Following are some excerpts:

Refuting Opposition charges that the State Government has paid no attention to flood control measures, Planning and Coordination Minister Padmanabha Behera said a master plan is being prepared in this regard for Tel river basin.

The State Government has also decided to construct a barrage at Barmul on river Mahanadi as a part of flood control measure. Only seven villages would be submerged because of the project, he said.

He reiterated the State Government’s commitment to irrigate 35 percent agriculture land in all the blocks in the State. … the minister said out of the 314 blocks, 194 blocks have less than 35 percent irrigated agriculture land.

More than 60 percent of these blocks are in KBK and backward areas, … and … steps have been initiated under different programmes to increase the land under irrigation in these blocks.

Stating that the project to link Bansadhara with Rushikulya river would not be economically viable, the Minister said the State Government was contemplating to implement Lower Bansadhara project which can irrigate 31,000 hectares.

… Leader of Opposition J B Patnaik said 40,000 hectare agriculture land can be brought under irrigation if a dam is constructed on the upper basin of Mahendra Tanaya river.

…, JB said 30 lakh acres could be brought under irrigation within the next five years by spending Rs 8,000 crore. He said pani panchayats should be scrapped.

Livemint reports that Paradip port has floated tenders for coal and iron ore berths. Following are some excerpts:

Paradip port plans to build a Rs387 crore 10mt capacity berth for handling imported coking coal used for firing steel plants and another Rs505 crore 10mt capacity berth for handling iron ore export from India. When fully operational, the two berths will have deep drafts of 16 metres capable of handling ships of 125,000 tonnes initially and later 185,000 tonnes. …

Paradip port currently operates a 4mt capacity iron ore berth that handled 6.5mt of iron ore in the 12 months to March 2007. “Customers who take coal through Paradip port are allotted only 10mt by the coal ministry. Unless, we are given more, we cannot handle more,” says Raghuramaiah. The coal linkages for each customer are allocated by the coal ministry. Coal is shipped from Paradip to Ennore and Tuticorin ports for customers such as Tam.

A Hindustan Times news report on Dhamara port mentions the following:

A new railway track to Dhamra will be built for movement of cargo to the port. “Out of 62-km of railway track, land acquisition for 52-km of track has already been completed. After the monsoon, construction will gather pace”

Financial express carried a short interview of POSCO India Chairman and MD with journalist Dilip Bisoi. This interview gives a good idea of the status of the POSCO India project. Following are some excerpts:

• How you are going to accelerate the project’s implementation? We have chalked out a strategy to implement the project. We are preparing to start the ground preparation work by October 2007. Out of the 4,004 acre of land, 3,566 acre is government land and 438 acre is private land. Out of the private land, only 30 acre is fertile land as it yields double crops. We are willing to exclude the 30-acre fertile land from the project site. We are also willing to differ use of the 438 acre private land until the villagers were willing to sell.
• Anti-Posco activists have set up checkpoints and are not allowing anybody to enter the site. How do you plan to enter the area and start work? It is not true that we don’t have access to the site. We do have some access to the site. Villagers in Gadakujanga grampanchayat are supporting the project, while people in Nuagoan area are starting to change their mind in favour of the project. Only a small area of Dhinkia grampanchayat is not accessible. We will shed that portion from the project site for the time being. Access to the site and starting civil work will not be difficult.
• Have you prepared your R&R package?  We are preparing a special R&R package for the displaced people. The Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, has been engaged in conducting a survey to understand the needs of the people. The package will be announced once it gets the approval of the Rehabilitation & Peripheral Development Authority. I promise, I will make their lives better than before. Rehabilitating 450 displaced families is not a big job. We want to provide them with a sustainable livelihood.
• How confident you are that the project work will start by October 2007? The next two to three months are very crucial. The prospecting licence for the Khandahar iron ore mines and forest clearance for the project site are expected in the next few months. Once these issues are settled, we will go ahead with the land preparation. If everything goes according to plan, we will procure equipment for the steel plant by the second half of next year. We will shop in the Indian market before going to Asian countries like China and Vietnam. The main plant, however, will be imported from Posco in South Korea. However, starting of the peripheral work at the site by October is very essential.

Recently there were some reports on Greenpeace’s opposition to the Dhamara port. Following are some excerpts of a news report that talks about Tata Steel’s response.

India’s Tata Steel Ltd said it will go ahead with its 24.6 bln rupee joint venture with Larsen & Toubro to set up an all-weather port at Dhamra, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

Tata Steel spokesperson Yogesh Joshi said the company had no intention of abandoning the project and said work will continue as usual. …

Dhamra port is crucial for India as traffic is projected to grow to 2 bln tonnes by the year 2016, and all the ports of the country put together are presently handling only 760 mln tonnes.

Sheltered between the mainland and the Kanika Sands Island on the eastern coast, Dhamra port will be the deepest all-weather port of its kind in India, with a draught of 18.5 metres. It will be able to accommodate super cape-size vessels of up to 180,000 dead weight tonnes.

The following article from Sambada suggests connecting Bimlagarh with Nayagarh (near Keonjhar) for a shorter Bhubaneswar-Rourkela route. It talks about the delay in constructing the Talcher – Bimlagarh line and proposes this alternative.

If Bimlagarh is connected to Nayagarh then the route between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela will consist of the following segments: Bhubaneswar – Jakhapura (92kms), Jakhapura – Tomka (24kms), Tomka – Nayagarh (130kms), Nayagarh – Bimlagarh (30?kms), Bimlagarh – Bondamunda HLT (46.5kms), Bondamunda HLT – Rourkela Jn (12 kms).

Update: Other links

• http://indiarailinfo.com/
• http://www.90di.com/travel/

• erail.in
• Rediff’s rail booking site
• http://bharatrail.net/
• trainyatra.com (does not work any more)
• indiagrove.com (does not work anymore)
• http://www.cleartrip.com/trains
• indianrail.gov.in
• TAAG 2007 July
• http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/TAG0809/Index.htm
• Site made by an IIT Kanpur summer student
• Shortest path between two stations

New Indian Express reports on a response given in the assembly regrading the status of the Ranch-Vijaywada highway. Following are some excerpts:

Work on the Orissa part of the Visakhapatnam-Ranchi Highway would be started after the detailed project report (DPR) is cleared by the Centre, Works Minister AU Singhdeo informed the Assembly on Friday. … the Minister said that 1,219 km of the highway would pass through Orissa. The road would connect Motu, Malkangiri, Koraput, Aska, Boudh, Keonjhar and Tiring. Singhdeo said that 237 km of the road will be national highway, 106 km would be under the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and 215 km would be constructed with World Bank funding adding DPR is being prepared for 610 km. … the Minister said that 167 km of the road would pass through Malkangiri, 138 km through Koraput and 127 km through Rayagada districts respectively. It would pass through tribal and backward districts in which the Naxalites have spread their base. Tenders have been floated for 64.3 km long Malkangiri-Jeypore road. Besides, work has already been started for 80 km-long Phulbani-Bhanjanagar road with Rs 20 crore estimate. SMEC International Private Limited has been entrusted the survey work for by-pass to Koraput town.

Telegraph describes the route as follows:

Vijayawada- Kodar- Khammam- Motu- Malkangiri- Jeypore- Koraput- Rayagada- Digapahandi- Aska- Phulbani- Boudhi- Deogarh- Keonjhar- Tiring- Hata- Chaibasa- Chakradharpur- Khunti- Ranchi.

Telegraph has reported on it. Following are some excerpts.

… the Union rural development ministry has released in one go Rs 466 crore towards Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), …

He told the media that Rs 1,684 crore had been sanctioned for Orissa under PMGSY, out of which Rs 466 crore has now been released.

“Under PMGSY scheme, roads for 12,539 km have been approved by the Centre for Orissa, of which construction on 6,656 km has been completed,” he added. …

Singh said the Sampurna Gramin Rozgar Yojana would be implemented in those districts not covered under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

A sum of Rs 46.91 crore had been sanctioned for Orissa under the SGRY for the current fiscal, of which Rs 34.25 crore had been released and Rs 3.60 crore utilised so far, he said. …

The minister also informed that the “below poverty line (BPL)” census for 2002 was over but clarifications have been sought from the planning commission on the number of BPL families in “adjusted share”.

The state government had requested the Centre that selection of Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) beneficiaries for 2007-08 be allowed from the permanent IAY waitlist prepared by the state on the basis of BPL census 1997 as, the state administration feels, the 2002 census is incomplete.

Singh said he has accepted the request.

Various news reports mention the following time changes in the ECOR schedule starting from July 1 2007. Following is based on the Statesman’s report.

• One pair of tri-weekly Garib Rath Super Fast train between Bhubaneswar and Ranchi and a new Weekly Express train between Bhubaneswar and Rameswaram will be introduced shortly.
  
• Khurda Road-Angul-Khurda Road Fast Passenger will be extended to Puri.
• 2843/2844 Puri-Ahmedabad-Puri Tri-weekly Express will run four times a week instead of thrice a week.
  
• Bhubaneswar-Koraput–Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will have new stoppages at Sikripoi and Boiguda.
• Kharagpur-Bhubaneswar-Kharagpur Fast Passenger will have new stoppages at Baitarani Road.
• Bhubaneswar-Bolangir–Bhubaneswar Inter-city Express will have new stoppages at Hirakud.
• 5CP & 7CP/6CP & 8CP Cuttack-Paradeep-Cuttack Passenger train will have new stoppages at Badabandha.
  
• As part of the modernisation works being undertaken in Sambalpur, East Coast Railway has decided to close down Sambalpur Road flag station from 1 July.
  
• The running days of Bhubaneswar–Chennai–Bhubaneswar Weekly Super Fast Express will be changed in the new time table from 1 July. Bhubaneswar-Chennai Weekly Super Fast Express will leave Bhubaneswar on every Thursday instead of Fridays. Similarly, Chennai-Bhubaneswar Weekly Super Fast Express leaving Chennai on Saturdays will now leave on Fridays.
  
• 2421 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express leaving Bhubaneswar at 11.10 am will leave at 11.25 am.
  
• Bhubaneswar-Baripada Express will leave Bhubaneswar at 05.30 pm instead of its earlier departure time and will reach Baripada at 10.30 pm.
  
• Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express will leave Puri at 10.00 pm from 1 July instead of its earlier departure time at 9.45 pm.
  
• Puri-Howrah weekly Super Fast Express will leave Puri at 9.45 pm instead of 10.00 pm.
  
• The arrival and departure timings of Bhubaneswar- Howrah Dhauli Express at Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Balasore and Kharagpur has changed.
  
• The arrival timings for New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express in Bhubaneswar is changed to 5.35 pm instead of 5.50 pm.
  
• Howrah-Chennai Mail, which is leaving Howrah at 11.30 pm, will leave Howrah at 11.45 pm.
  
• New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Orissa Sampark Kranti Express will arrive Bhubaneswar one-hour-and-ten minutes earlier than its scheduled arrival.
  
• Howrah–Puri Weekly Super Fast Express train now leaving Howrah at 9.35 pm will leave Howrah 40 minutes earlier ~ that is ~ at 08.55 pm.
  
• Howrah-Vascodagama Amaravati Express, which is leaving Howrah at 11.45 pm, will leave Howrah 15 minutes earlier ~ that is ~ 11.30 pm.
  
• Howrah-Bhubaneswar Dhauli Express will arrive Bhubaneswar 10 minutes earlier from its scheduled timing.
  
• Bhubaneswar-Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Konark Express and Bhubaneswar-Chennai-Bhubaneswar Weekly Super Fast Train will be augmented with one AC-3 tier and one sleeper coach each from 1 July 2007.

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The site trainyatra.com is a nice site to find train schedules. For example, to find all trains that pass through Bhubaneswar click here and for Puri click here. Looking at both schedule one notices that 35 different trains start from either Bhubaneswar or Puri.

New Indian express reports that a road master plan with focus on backward regions is in being finalized for Orissa.

Some projects which are worth mentioning are Motu- Jeypore road in the Viayawada-Ranchi corridor which will connect to the Vijayawada Ranchi corridor. Another project is the 82- km Cuttack-Paradip road estimated to cost Rs 218 crore.

Tender has been floated for the Khurda-Balangir road for which the Centre has provided Rs 76 crore.

Excerpts:

The Works Department will prepare the master plan jointly with the Rural Development and the Panchayati Raj departments, Works Minister AU Singhdeo informed the Assembly while replying to discussion on his department’s budget on Tuesday.More projects will be taken up under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode as huge investment is required for developing road connectivity and the State Government is unable to generate funds for all the projects. A PPP policy has been formulated which will placed before Cabinet for approval, he added.

Since economic growth of a State largely depends on the road infrastructure, the Government has to reach beyond budgetary support and go for alternative funding of road projects. The PPP mode is the best possible model to arrange private funds for investment in road sector, he said.

Economic Times reports  road development related to POSCO’s proposed operations. Following are excerpts from that report.

… the government has decided to develop 600 km of highways, to be called Posco roads, to provide connectivity for the 12 million-tonne capacity steel plant in Orissa. The Rs 4,000-crore highway would be constructed on built-operate-transfer (BOT) model and would be completed by 2010. 

The projects are part of phase-III of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). The Posco package consists of seven road stretches, including Panikholi-Keonjhar-Rimoli on national highway (NH)-215 and Chandikhole-Duburi on NH-200. The Cuttack-Paradip state road, jointly funded by the Orissa government, Paradip Port Trust and the roads ministry, will also help serve the transport of goods to and from Posco’s steel plant.

“NH-215 and NH-200 will be specifically geared to carry iron-ore traffic,” the official said. “The roads will serve Orissa’s industrial requirements for upcoming projects in the state, but Posco will be the biggest beneficiary,” he added.  …

Apart from road connectivity being provided by the Centre and the state government, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to link Haridaspur and Paradip by railways has been formed by Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) in which Posco has 10% equity,” a Posco spokesperson said.  …

Posco-India will also build a captive port at Jatadhari, 10 km from Paradip and a captive power plant with a capacity of 1300 mw.  …

The company will also lay pipelines for industrial water utilisation from Jobra barrage.

The Hindu has a nice short travelogue on driving on the GQ from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar in 5 hours.

(Thanks to Jibanendra babu for noticing the article and mentioning it in the Orissa Today group.)

There are plans to connect the Pravat cinema area to Samrat Cinema area in Cuttack by a flyover. For people who are new in Cuttack ‘Pravat Cinema’ is close to two big landmarks. Rajatarangini Cinema Hall and Buxi Bazaar. Buxi Bazaar is the central point in Cuttack. Following are excerpts from a Pioneer report.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday held a review meeting on the progress of the upcoming over-bridge that would connect Pravat Cinema to Samrat Cinema. The projected cost of the bridge is estimated at Rs 144 crore.Later speaking to reporters, Cuttack MLA and Minister Sameer Dey said Finance department would release Rs 1.50 crore to the RITES organisation to prepare the detailed project report of the project.

It has not yet been decided whether the bridge that starts from Pravat cinema will touch the Malgodam area or not. The DPR of the project will be completed within five months.

As a byline I might add that there is a huge drain which runs from Pravat cinema till Samrat cinema. It would be a good idea to have a flyover over that. This will eliminate the need for land acquisition and improve sanitation in CMC.

Dharitri has a nice overview (page1, page2, page3) of the status of the various ports that Orissa plans to have. Following are some highlights from that report.

• Aditya Birla group S.L. Mining has expressed interest in developing the Chudamani port in Bhadrakh district. IIT Madras has done the technical evaluation of this project. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Navajuga engineering of Hyderabad has proposed developing Astaranga port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Puri ports limited has proposed developing the Baliharchandi port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Good earth maritime of Madras has proposed developing the port in Bahuda muhana of Ganjam district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Gopalpur: Being developed by Orissa Stevedores. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Dhamara:TISCO and L & T are devloping this port. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Jatadhari: Being developed by POSCO. Page 3 of the article has more details.
• Paradip: Existing major port. We discussed its expansion plans recently.
• Palur, Ganjam: no proposals yet
• Barunei, Kendarpara: no proposals yet
• Inchudi, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Chandipur, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Bahabalpur, Balasore: no proposals yet

The article says that the Balasore district ports face problems from the Dept. of Defense because of the missile testing range nearby. The article does not mention the following plan:

• Creative ports, Chennai plans to develop the Kirtania port on the mouth of Subarnarekha in Balasore district.

Pioneer reports the inauguration of Goudia Setu in Brahmagir in remote part of Puri district. Following is a quote from that report.

Brahmagiri Congress MLA Laletendu Bidyadhar Mahapatra on Wednesday inaugurated the Goudia Setu under Rahadmalla panchayat. Built at a cost of about Rs 3 crore with NABARD assistance, the bridge is expected to improve the communication network in this remote part of Puri district.

Bhubaneswar, May 30, 2007

For the convenience of travelling public and keeping in view the demands of passengers, East Coast Railway has decided to run two pairs of Passenger Train between Cuttack & Paradeep from 1st June’07 replacing Rail Bus service except Sundays.

5 CP Cuttack-Paradeep Fast Passenger will leave Cuttack at 07.45a.m, Kandarpur at 08.03a.m, Raghunathpur at 08.22a.m, Gorakhnath at 08.44a.m, Rahama at 09.03a.m, Badabandha at 09.15a.m and will arrive Paradeep at 09.45a.m.

In the return direction, 6 CP Paradeep-Cuttack Fast Passenger will leave Paradeep at 10.15a.m, Badabandha at 10.31a.m, Rahama at 10.44a.m, Gorakhnath at 11.03a.m, Raghunathpur at 11.23a.m, Kandarpur at 11.43a.m and will arrive Cuttack at 12.15p.m.

Similarly, 7 CP Cuttack-Paradeep Fast Passenger will leave Cuttack at 03.00p.m, Kandarpur at 03.18p.m, Raghunathpur at 03.37p.m, Gorakhnath at 03.59p.m, Rahama at 04.19p.m, Badabandha at 04.30p.m and will arrive Paradeep at 05.00p.m.

In the return direction, 8 CP Paradeep-Cuttack Fast Passenger will leave Paradeep at 06.00p.m, Badabandha at 06.16p.m, Rahama at 06.29p.m, Gorakhnath at 06.49.m, Raghunathpur at 07.09p.m, Kandarpur at 07.29p.m and will arrive Cuttack at 08.00p.m.