Following is from Dharitri:
Following is from a report in Pioneer.
East Coast Railway (ECoR) GM Arvind Kumar Vohra …
He informed about the achievements made by the ECoR during the last three quarters both at the freight and passenger fronts. During the period, ECoR has earned `6140.72 crore, 19.77 per cent more than the corresponding period of last year.
It has carried 79.98 MT of freight traffic, 4.91 per cent more as compared to the corresponding period of last year while 59.13 million passengers have been carried which is 12.03 per cent more than the corresponding period of last year.
The above is only about the earnings and not about profits. There is no data on that yet. However, Indian Railways as a whole has reduced earnings and may make a loss the last year. Following is from a report in Indian Express.
The Indian Railways’ great “turnaround story”, which was making waves in business schools till a few months back, now appears headed towards an ignominious end. A sharp decline in earnings and a serious escalation in expenditures are threatening to push India’s transport behemoth to near-bankruptcy.
… the Railways now has a net deficit of around Rs 2,500 crore. “While our expenditure has gone up by almost Rs 1,330 crore, our earnings are down by Rs 1,142 crore,” says a Railway Board official.
Jagmohan Swain has been talking about this in facebook for a long time. I agree with him. If and when the Kra canal opens it will have a huge huge positive effect on Odisha as Odisha ports will be the closest way to reach India for ships coming from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, etc. That may be the part of the reason there is so much clamoring for making new ports in coastal Odisha. Following is a picture from Jagmohan’s facebook page.
Following is from a report on the current status of the proposed Kra canal. (Thanks again to Jagmohan for the pointer.)
The Kra Canal Project, which would link the South China Sea directly to the Indian Ocean by cutting across the Thai isthmus, has shown recent signs of being reactivated given the economic benefits it would bring to the region as well as the continuing problems with piracy in the Straits of Malacca and the current route for trade to and from India and South–East Asia to China.
The canal, which was first recognized as a potential for boosting trade in 1677, would have the same impact on South-East Asia as the Panama and Suez Canals have had elsewhere. The canal would need to traverse a length of only 44 kilometers at the narrowest point of the Thai peninsula, however with rocky land of up to 75 meters above sea level; the engineering and labor requirements would be huge.
China, not surprisingly, has offered to lend considerable assistance to the development of the project, which was tentatively approved by the Thai Senate in 2007. The project is currently stalled due to “environmental concerns”, however, this is largely interpreted as meaning political wrangling over the project, which has plenty of detractors. Two major voices of dissent are the Singapore Government, who would stand to lose their preeminent position as a shipping hub for South-East Asia, and the previous Bush administration in the United States, who’s then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld showed concern about the plan amidst growing concern of developing Chinese influence in the region.
The cost of the project is estimated at US$20 billion, and would take ten years to complete, with some 30,000 workers being involved. The project would also compliment the Highway 44 overland route, which links the West and East coasts of Thailand, and has currently been stalled with some 50 kilometers to go at either end – a victim of the recent political turmoil in Thailand. However, with domestic politics apparently heading for smoother waters and the previous Bush regime now out of the way, the Kra Canal project is certain to come back into public view, and with South-East nations keen to develop trade with China, the project looks certain to come back to the drawing board.
Note that in ten years the proposed national waterway 5 — passing through Odisha connecting coastal Odisha to Kolkata and up north through national waterway 1 — would also be ready making it possible to connect a huge part of India to the above mentioned asian countries through waterways.
Following is from a report in Business Standard.
In the run up to the Railway Budget for 2011-12, the Orissa government has requested the Ministry of Railways to sanction Rs 2085 crore for the state in the current financial year …
The state government has sought Rs 350 crore for the Khurda Road-Bolangir rail link (289 km), Rs 250 crore for the Paradeep-Haridaspur rail link (82 km), Rs 150 crore each for the Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road rail line (90 km) and Talcher-Bimalagarh (154 km) rail line and Rs 60 crore for the Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh rail link (56 km).
For gauge conversion, the state has sought Rs 20 crore for the 89-km Rupsa-Bangriposi and Rs 30 crore for the 90-km Nuapada-Gunupur.
Similarly, for doubling projects, the state government has requested the Ministry of Railways to allot Rs 760 crore. Presently, 20 doubling projects are under execution in order to further augment line capacity. Allocation of funds for the second bridge on Kathajori and Kauakhai and Haridaspur-Jakhapura (third line) needs to be sharply increased.
The proposals for new doubling include Rayagada-Koraput rail link and patch doubling of Kottavalasa-Kirandul line. The state government has requested the Ministry of Railways to sanction doubling of this rail link which connects the port city of Visakhapatanam with the iron ore rich area of Kirandul.
For undertaking new electrification works, the state has sought Rs 100 crore from the Ministry of Railways in 2011-12. It has also requested the ministry to sanction funds for the development of multi modal logistics parks and container freight stations at Kalinga Nagar, Angul, Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Choudwar.
The Railways ministry has been requested to sanction some new rail links in 2011-12. These include Rupsa-Burhamura-Chakulia (35 km), Nuapada-Gunupur-Theruvali (79 km), Banspani-Barbil (15 km), Bhadrachalam Raod-Malkangiri-Jeypore-Junagarh-Lanjigarh Road-Talcher-Bimlagarh, Bargarh-Nuapada via Padampur (120 km), Talcher-Gopalpur (245 km), Puri-Konark (35 km), Rupsa-Bangriposi-Gorumahisani (35 km), Badampahar-Keonjhar (70 km), Berhampur-Phulbani (169.8 km) and Khurda Road-Rajathgarh (59 km).
The Orissa government has proposed to set up a dedicated industrial corridor in the Meramandali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt linking the coal mines, power generating units and steel plants.
This proposed corridor, to be co-habited by multiple users, is estimated to cost Rs 2192 crore. The state government has requested the Railways ministry to finalize the policy to construct such dedicated rail corridors in coal and mineral bearing areas.
The state has also given proposal for introduction of 16 new trains. This includes Duronto type super fast trains between Bhubaneswar-Mumbai, Puri-jaipur, Bhubaneswar-Pune, Bhubaneswar-Bangalore and Puri-Surat. It has also presented proposal for introduction of a super fast express between Visakhapatanam and Allahabad, express train between Koraput and Visakhapatanam, express train from Titlagarh to Bhubaneswar via Rayagada, express train from Keonjhar to Howrah, express train from Barbil to Visakhaptanam, super fast express from Rourkela to New Delhi, inter-city express between Puri and Tata via Keonjhar, express train between Berhampur and Rourkela, direct train between Bhubaneswar and Kalka, express train service between Jagdalpur and Kolkata, inter-city express between Berhampur and Puri and passenger train services between Barbil and Puri as well as from Rayagada to Bolangir.
Moreover, the state has sought Rs 25 crore for five new coaching terminals and Rs 50 crore for seven ‘Adarsh’ stations (model stations) and two multi-functional complexes.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
The work on five major National Highway (NH) projects in the state- Bhubaneswar-Puri, Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole, Sambalpur-Bargarh and Remudi-Rajamunda (NH-215) will begin in February 2011. While work on four-laning of the Bhubaneswar-Puri NH is expected to be completed soon, the remaining projects will be commissioned within three years."The work on these NH projects will commence in February 2011 and the projects are expected to be commissioned within three years. The work is being taken up on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and the cost assessment will be made by NHAI. …
While work will be taken up for four-laning of Bhubaneswar-Puri (60 km) and Sambalpur-Bargarh (88-km) NHs, the Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole (62 km) highways will be six laned. As per the thumb rule Rs 4 crore will be spent per km on building these highways.
Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.
How justified is the demand to carve out a separate railway division at Rourkela under the East Coast Railway (ECoR)? Given the continuing neglect towards the infrastructure and passenger amenities over decades, the demand is gaining momentum.
With apolitical and political outfits jumping on the bandwagon to seek separation of Rourkela from the Chakradharpur division of the South Eastern Railway (SER), the Railway Ministry is likely to feel the heat ahead.
Train Passenger Steering Committee convener and Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Subrat Patnaik in tandem with the members of the Rourkela Development Forum (RDF) and Rourkela Railfanning Association (RRA) are vociferous in their demand. The local BJD unit has gone a step ahead to threaten disruption of mineral transportation by rail if the issue was not sorted out.
Locals feel, in the changed scenario, the triangular districts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda and Keonjhar – high on industrial and mining activities – would no longer tolerate further neglect as Sundargarh alone annually contributes ` 800 crore to SER.
… Inadequate train services and infrastructure apart, the lingering of the proposed Bimlagarh-Talcher rail link is a stark pointer of neglect, they stated.
Even 10 per cent of the revenue generated from the regions is not spent to benefit a population of over 50 lakh.
RDF and RRA members Dilip Mohanty, Mahendra Mishra, Mihir Swain and Supratik Mishra sent a memorandum to the Railway Ministry over the demand claiming the combined revenue share from these three districts is anything over ` 2,200 crore. …
The fact that there is an ECOR division in Sambalpur (147 kms from Rourkela) and Chakradharpur (101 kms from Rourkela) should not be a concern as there are many railway divisions that are much closer. In http://www.rourkelacity.com/top-news/rourkelare-rela-division/ it is mentioned that there are separate rail divisions in Varanasi and Mughalsarai that are only 17 kms apart, Guntur and Vijaywada that are 34 kms apart and so on.
The petition at http://www.petitionodisha.in/transportation/creating-a-new-east-coast-railway-division-at-rourkela/ lists various reasons why a ECOR rail division in Rourkela is needed. Please visit it and sign it.
There is also a similar need for a railway division in Rayagada or Kesinga/Lanjigarh Rd/Bhawanipatna to cater to existing lines and to the many new lines that are coming up there. The new lines include Naupada-Gunupur and its extension to Therubali and Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh and its extension to Nabarangpur and Jeypore. With many people in Viskhapatnam demanding that the VSKP division be split from ECOR, if that happens the Odisha part of the current VSKP division as well the above mentioned new lines should be moved to the proposed division at Rayagada or Kesinga/Lanjigarh Rd/Bhawanipatna.
In North Odisha with several new lines coming up (Bhadrakk – Dhamara, Chakulia – Buramara, Jaleswar – Digha, ) and with the commencement of broad gauge service in the Rupsa-Baripada-Bangiriposi line a new division in Balasore or Bhadrak is warranted. SER greatly meshed up the Rupsa-Baripada-Bangiriposi line costing Indian Railways significantly. See page 8-9 of 2006-may-CAG report. These parts should also be taken away from SER.
Following are excerpts from a report in Business Standard.
"The Government of India has announced a major policy initiative to offer Viability Gap Finding (VGF) for providing road and rail connectivity to the minor ports. As per this policy, the Government of India will bear 50 per cent of the cost for the road and rail infrastructure, the state government will provide 30 per cent while the remaining 20 per cent will be borne by the port developers”, G K Dhal, principal secretary (commerce & transport) said.
For the proposed port at Bichitrapur in Balasore district, the road connectivity would be between Jaleshwar and Bichitrapur while the rail connectivity would be from Digha to Bichitrapur.Similarly, for the port proposed at Subarnarekha mouth, also in Balasore district, the road connectivity is proposed between Basta and Choumukha whereas the rail connectivity would be from Haldipada to Choumukha.
The road connectivity for the Dhamara port in Bhadrak district has been envisaged from Jamujhadi on NH-5 to the port site. The rail link is being developed between Bhadrak and Dhamara.
… "The Orissa government has also proposed an industrial corridor on the Meramandali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt linking the coal mines, power plants and steel plants. Rail India Technical & Economic Services (Rites), the consultancy arm of Indian Railways, has submitted a draft feasibility report in this regard which is under the scrutiny of the state government. The Orissa government intends to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the purpose. This common corridor will be co-habited by multiple players and can be financed by participative funding”, he added.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
The new routes on which the bus service started are KIIT to Uttara, Phulanakhara to Nuagaon and Sai temple to Khandagiri. People have been demanding bus service on these routes for the last two months. The chairman of Dream Team Sahara (DTS), Nishikant Mishra said six buses will ply on each of the new routes. The number of buses plying on the routes would be raised to 10 later, he said.
The city bus service had so far been operational on just two routes —Nandan Kanan to Airport and Dumuduma to VSS Nagar. Officials said the buses would start plying on another route — Master Catneen to Khurda — by the end of this year.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Orissadiary.
217 Puri-Palasa passenger which is leaving Puri at 07.50a.m and arriving Palasa at 03.25p.m will leave Palasa at 04.30p.m and will arrive at Paralakhemundi at 06.45p.m in the extended portion. In the return direction, 218 Paralakhemundi-Puri Passenger will leave Paralakhemundi at 07.45a.m and will arrive at Puri at 09.05p.m.
This train will stop at Pundi, Rauthpuram, Naupada, Tekkali, Pedasana, Temburu, Ganguvada, and Pathapatnam between Palasa and Paralakhemundi. The timings of 217/218 Puri-Paralakhemundi-Puri passenger will remain unchanged between Puri & Palasa. The train will run as a special train on the flagging off day of the extended portion and the regular run will be from Puri w.e.f 19th December and from Paralakhemundi w.e.f 20th Dec’2010.
…
8447 Bhubaneswar-Koraput Hirakhand Express, which is leaving Bhubaneswar at 07.35p.m and arriving Koraput at 09.45a.m on the next day, will leave Koraput at 10.05a.m and will arrive at Jagadalpur at 12.40p.m in the extended portion. In the return direction, 8448 Jagadalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will leave Jagadalpur at 03.30p.m and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 08.25a.m on the next day.
This train will stop at Jeypore and Jagadalpur in the extended portion. The timings of 8447/8448 Bhubaneswar-Jagadalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will remain unchanged between Bhubaneswar and Koraput. The train will run as a special train on the day of flagging off of the extended portion and the regular run will be from Bhubaneswar on 18th December and from Jagadalpur from 19th Dec’2010.
Following is an excerpt from http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=22808.
As announced in the last Railway Budget, Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce three new trains in East Coast Railway jurisdiction. Puri-Howrah-Puri daily Duronto Express will be introduced from 7th December 2010; Sambalpur-Howrah-Sambalpur weekly Express from 10th December & Puri-Digha-Puri weekly express will be introduced from 11th December 2010.
2278 Puri-Horah Duronto Super Fast Express will leave Puri at 06.45a.m and will arrive at Howrah at 01.45p.m. In the return direction, 2277 Howrah-Puri Duronto Super Fast Express will leave Howrah at 02.25p.m and will arrive at Puri at 09.40p.m. This train has One AC Chair Car, 11 Second Class Chair Car and Two Guard vans having no intermediate stoppage.
2586 Sambalpur-Howrah weekly Super Fast express via Angul & Bhadrak will leave Sambalpur at 07.55p.m. on Fridays and will arrive at Howrah at 07.05a.m. on the next days. Similarly, in the return direction, 2585 Howrah-Sambalpur weekly Super Fast express via Bhadrak and Angul will leave Howrah at 08.55p.m on Saturdays and will arrive at Sambalpur at 08.10a.m. on the following days. This train has One AC-2 tier, One AC-3 tier, Six Sleeper Classes, Six General Second Class Coaches and Two Guard cum Luggage vans in its composition having stoppages at Rairakhol, Boinda, Angul, Talcher Road, Dhenkanal, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Bhadrak, Balasore and Kharagpur between Sambalpur and Howrah.
2580 Puri-Digha weekly Super Fast express will leave Puri at 11.35p.m on Saturdays and will arrive at Digha at 09.30a.m on the next days. In the return direction, 2579 Digha Puri weekly Super Fast express will leave Digha at 05.15p.m. on Sundays and will arrive Puri at 03.20a.m. on the following days. This train has One AC-2 tier, One AC-3 tier, Eight Sleeper Classes, Six General Second Class Coaches and Two Guard cum Luggage vans in its composition having stoppages at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Bhadrak, Balasore, Kharagpur, Panskura, Tamluk and Kanthi between Puri & Digha. But presently this train will have One AC-2 tier, One AC-3 tier, Five Sleeper Classes, Three General Second Class Coaches and Two Guard cum Luggage vans in its composition.
I am expecting the Sambalpur-Howrah via Angul weekly express to be made daily in the coming years as it newly connects Sambalpur, Angul,Talcher and Dhenkanal to Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Bhadrak, Balasore and Kharagpur and Angul,Talcher and Dhenkanal to Howrah.
Following is from a report in Business Standard.
The on-going developmental work at the Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar, which aims to upgrade the airport as an International airport, is likely to be completed by November, 2011.
The expansion work, being implemented by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), envisages construction of new domestic terminal building complex with all modern amenities, which includes two aerobridges at a cost of Rs 145.54 crore.
On completion of these works, the final capacity of the Bhubaneswar airport would be 970 domestic passengers and 348 international passengers during peak hours as per IMG norms, says Union minister of state for civil aviation, Praful Patel.
Funds earmarked for construction of new terminal building and extension of apron was Rs 160.45 crore. Out of this, Rs 24.59 crore has been spent by September, this year, Patel said in response to a query from Rajya Sabha MP, Renubala Pradhan.
The average number of passengers handled by the Bhubaneswar airport daily varies from 2500 to 3150. The average daily passengers handled by the airport was 2637 in April, 2506 in May, 3150 in June, 2657 in July, 2848 in August and 2517 in September this year.
Patel said, the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) operates daily flights in Delhi-Bhubaneswar-Delhi and Mumbai-Raipur-Bhubanswar-Mumabi sectors and five flights per week in Chennai-Bhubaneswar-Chennai sector.
Similarly, the Jet Airways operates daily flights in Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Kolkata sector, while Kingfisher Airlines operates Mumbai-Bhubaneswar-Mumbai and Bangalore-Bhubaneswar-Bangalore and Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Kolkata sector (twice daily) flights.
Indigo operates Delhi-Bhubaneswar-Delhi (twice daily) and Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar-Hyderabad flights.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
The traffic woes of the people commuting between Rasulgarh and Samantarapur are likely to come to an end with the construction of the proposed 11km bypass road from Bhuasuni temple to Daya bridge.
Part of the 67.25km NH-203 project, the bypass road will not only provide better and faster communication facilities to the people of 11 villages from Pandra to the Daya bridge near Lingipur, but also help commuters between Cuttack and Puri avoid the congested capital. The project will be undertaken by the Bhubaneswar Expressway Pvt. Ltd, for which tenders have been finalised.
Project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Aditya Kumar Ray said the bypass road has been proposed specifically to address the traffic problem on the stretch from Rasulgarh and Samntarapur. …
… Ray said though the work is supposed to start from January 30, land acquisition problems were likely to cause some delay and ultimately the project may kick off in the first week of February.
… The project is likely to be over in two and a half years. To be executed in the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) mode, the road would be handed over to the NHAI by the operators after 29 years.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
A private airline today submitted a proposal to the state government to start a daily air service between Rourkela and Calcutta. The company initially proposes to operate an 18-seater aircraft.
The company, which has done a preliminary survey, intends to use the airstrip of Rourkela steel plant but it has urged the government to provide another 64 acres to develop the airstrip. In the second phase, it plans to start anther flight from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar via Jharsuguda. The proposal is under consideration, said sources. Representatives of the airline met the chief secretary Bijay Patnaik and submitted their proposal today.
Following is from http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=4742.
… The Managing Director of the Construction Major, Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL) after signing the Concession Agreement said that “the dynamics of the areas in the vicinity of 80 Kilometres of Astaranga in Puri will be energized”.
… “A Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared by NECL within a year”, said he.
Mr.Sridhar signed the CA on behalf of NECL with the Government of Odisha to set up a port with a capacity of 25 Million Tonne Per Annum (MTPA) at an investment of Rs 6,500 crore in Puri district.
Gagan Kumar Dhal, Principal Secretary of the Department of commerce & Transport (DOCT) singed CA on behalf of Government of Odisha.
… Mr.Dhal said “All out support will be extended to the promoter of the deep water port being developed with ultimate capacity of 60 MTPA, which will be operational within four years of land acquisition”.
Astaranga Port would be full-fledged all weather multi-user port on BOOST (build, own, operate, share and transfer) basis, Mr.Dhal added.
The port would carter to ultimate vessel size of 1.75 lakh DWT Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT), he said.
The company would share with the State Government its gross income with 5 per cent share in the first five years, 8 per cent in 6th-10th year and 10 per cent in 10th-15th year.
It would share 12 per cent of share from income on 16th year when lease period ended, Dhal said.
Astaranga Port project, which would generate a large number of direct and indirect employment.
As per the stipulated policy of the Government of Odisha,90 per cent of the total requirement of unskilled and semi skilled manpower would come from locals.
The Developer would take 60 per cent of local people in skilled category, said Mr.Dhal
Similarly, a minimum of 30 per cent of supervisory and managerial level would be drawn from locals and it was allowed to hire senior executives from open market, Mr. Dhal added.
The port will have a Service Corridor of 90-km long rail and road connectivity.
While for road connectivity, it will be connected to the nearest National Highway and connectivity for rail will be taking off from Barang Railway Station, revealed P A Venkateswaran, Resident Director NECL.
In order to promote private ports the State Government has already signed Concession Agreements with three other companies to develop port facilities at Gopalpur in Ganjam district, Dhamra in Bhadrakh district and Chaumukh in Balasore district.
Following is from a Business Standard report.
Chennai-based Creative Port Development Ltd, which proposes to set up an all-weather port at Subarnarekha Muhan in Orissa’s Balasore district, aims to achieve financial closure for the Rs 2187-crore project by June 2011.
The land acquisition process for the proposed port project is set to take off soon with notification under Section 4 (1). "The project needs 1215.43 acres of land for the port area and 1565.93 acres for the rail corridor. Notification under Section 4 (1) will be issued soon for land acquisition”, Sanjeev Sahoo, minister for commerce and transport, Orissa told reporters.
Out of the 1215.43 acres of land needed for the port area, 158 acres constitute Gochar land, 193 acres Bhudan land, 138 acres encroached land and the remaining 724 acres are free land. A high-level meeting chaired by the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the status of ports proposed to be set up at Gopalpur and Subarnarekha.
Creative Port Development Ltd had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government on December 18, 2006, for setting up a port with an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) which would be scaled up to 40 mtpa in 10 years.
The port developer had entered into a concession agreement with the state government on January 11, 2008. As per this agreement, the port developer would share revenue with the state government at the rate of five per cent from first to fifth year, eight per cent from sixth to 10th year, 10 per cent from 11th to 15th year and 12 per cent for the remaining 15 years.
Creative Port Development had submitted the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) application to the Orissa State Pollution Control Board on October 19 this year which has been forwarded to the Balasore district collector for conducting public hearing.
The Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) package for the project is under finalisation. The proposed port is set to create direct and indirect employment for around 3,000 people.
Thanks to Kalahandia.blogspot.com for the pointers. Following is an excerpt from a report in sify.com.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said the railways will usher in an industrial boom in the country as her ministry is to set up 20 new industries in the next one year.
‘We will set up 20 more heavy industries like wagon factories in underdeveloped areas of the country like Kalahandi in Orrisa, in Telangana (in Andhra Pradesh) and in Junglemahal (Maoists affected area),’ said Banerjee, while addressing a function to commence the work for the Dedicated Eastern freight Corridor at Dankuni.
Following is an excerpt from a blog entry in kalahandia.
To a local proposal through Vision Kalahandi 2020, Sri Sri Ravishankar ji has also agreed for a branch of his University in Kalahandi …
As per their 2010 placement brochure, NIT Rourkela has 675 acres and following some high court order would be expanding by adding another 400 acres. The following Samaja article talks about that expansion.
It is great that this discussion came up at the Chief Secretary level. With stability at that position for next several years pursuing a comprehensive development agenda for Rourkela with him could work well. Some of the issues that should be pursued with him include:
Please suggest more.
We discussed this earlier in greater length at http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3480. See also http://www.orissa2020.org/home/area-wise-plan.
With more and more BPUT operations moving to Rourkela (thanks to http://rourkelacity.com for the pointer) there could be some huge positives, but not one that people normally think as BPUT’s academic programs in Rourkela will not be better than the programs at NIT Rourkela. But there would be definitely more seats; so that would be good. But the biggest positives would be with respect to connectivity.
In particular, the connectivity between Rourkela and the rest of Odisha, especially the Bhubaneswar area, would improve. Currently not enough attention is being paid to that.
For example, the Talcher-Bimlagarh line will significantly shorten the distance between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. The distance between them will become 308 kms: BBS-Talcher (114) + Talcher-Bimlagarh(154) + Bimlagarh-Rourkela(40). Currently the shortest distance is 419 kms. Once Talcher-Bimlagarh line is completed one could travel between BBS and ROU in about 5 hours. That would mean one could take a train from one place at 6 and reach the other at 11. Currently the BBS-ROU intercity takes 7hrs 30 minutes one way and 7hs 55 minutes the other way. On the other hand the BBS-SBP takes between 4:40 to 4:50 minutes in the two intercities (BBS-BLGR and SBP-Puri).
So lets hope that the inconvenience caused by having many BPUT operations from Rourkela will lead to people demanding speeding up of the completion of the Talcher-Bimlagarh line and perhaps even the start of shuttle flights between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
Another positive would be that more private colleges (not now but in few years when the demand picks up again) may come up close to Rourkela and the frequent travel by college heads to Rourkela could give them ideas to develop the travel corridor in many ways.
So although the convenience argument is often used by many (including me) to support some BPUT operations in Bhubaneswar, where most of the BPUT colleges are, perhaps for the greater and longer term good some inconvenience in the short term can be accepted.
Bringing Rourkela and Bhubaneswar closer (in travel time as well as in people’s mind) would be a big plus for Odisha.
Lets work on operationalizing Talcher-Bimlagarh line in 3-5 years!
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