The above is a good idea.

• A plan over a larger area will avoid congestion and slums that are typical of densly packed areas.
• Another big benefit will be that the term "Capital Area" will make it easier for institutions, companies and other entities to come to the gretaer area rather than coming to "Bhubaneswar". For example, many institutions that are looking for land in Bhubaneswar are hesitant to locate in Kendrapada or Jagatsinghpur; even though the political leadership is very welcoming.  But once the term "Capital Area" encompasses Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur, these institutions will be less hesitant to come there.

So while the current Bhubaneswar and Cuttack planned areas will sever as the core urban area, the larger Capital Area development region will morph to a sub-urban area which down the road will touch the metropolitan areas around Angul in the west and Berhampur in the south.

We wrote about this in http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3637.

A similar term needs to be coined for the greater Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela area. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3660 , http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3672 and http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3668.

Perhaps it can be called the "Western Odisha Development Region".

Following is from a report by Bibhuti Barik in Telegraph.

The state government is planning to build a new road from Lingaraj Temple to Kotiteertheswar Temple at a cost of around Rs 2 crore, to ease traffic pressure in the area. The 410-metre two-lane road will come with a three-acre parking area.

The project, which is to be taken up jointly by the tourism department and the roads and building division of the public works department (PWD), will also help provide a clearer view of the 11th century Lingaraj temple as shops and roadside vendors in front of the shrine will be relocated along the new road.

… the dilapidated Lingaraj Market Complex … will be demolished to clear the area for the laying of the road which will run along the Devi Padahara pond, behind Ananta Vasudev Temple and the farm lands on the side of natural drainage channel No. 7 near Kotiteertheswar Lane. The private land near the temple, which is owned by businessmen and the Lingaraj Temple Trust, will also be acquired to speed up the road project.

… “The state tourism department has already given Rs 30 lakh to the PWD and the rest — Rs 1.69 crore — will be provided by them from their plan budget. All the displaced traders and vendors will be rehabilitated.”

… the two-lane road would have facilities such as footpath and accompanying drains. However, the parking lot would be built by the tourism department, as it is not included in the road project.

The road would later be extended up to Taleswar Mahadev to improve the communication between Kedar Gouri and Lingaraj Temple.

Tourism department sources added that Old Town would soon have a mega tourist circuit, for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 8.14 crore. The proposed circuit envisages, among others things, renovation of two major roads, construction of a “parikrama” around Lingaraj Temple, soft lighting for eight protected monuments and two tourism interpretation centres.

While the tourism department is trying to revive Ekamreswar, the miniature temple of Lord Lingaraj near Lingaraj police station, a dedicated road corridor will be constructed to link Puri, Old Town and Khandagiri via Dhauli. An amphitheatre will also be built opposite Madhusudan Park at Pokhariput with a capacity to accommodate 3,000 people.

Update: See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110714/jsp/orissa/story_14234760.jsp for a recent news on the CDP for Sambalpur. Thanks to Jitu for the pointer.

Following is from Samaja.

Related past postings:

• Cuttack Development Plan links – draft proposal 2030
• Bhubaneswar CDP.
• Population of Bhubaneswar – Cuttack urban complex is 1.9 million in 2008.

Following is from Dharitri.

The routes that are mentioned above are:

1. Khandagiri, Vanivihar, Rasulgarh, Phulnakhara, Link Road, Badambadi, Khan Nagar Kali Mandira Chhack, High Court, Gundicha Mandira, CDA.
2. Biju Patnaik Park, Chahata, Ram Mandir, Deer Park, Biju Patnaik Chhack, Kanika Chhack, Chandi Mandira, Barabati Stadium, Howrah Motor Chhack, Mata Matha, SCB Medical, Jobra barrage, College Chhack, OMP Chhack, Link Road, Phulnakhara, Rasulgarh, Vaniviahr, Khandagiri.
3. SCB Medical, Jobra Barrage, Jagatpur, OMP Chhack, Link Road, Gopalpur, Phulnakhara, Rasulgarh, Vanivihar, Master Canteen, Rajmahal chhack, Forest Chhack, Ganganagar, Capital Hospital, AG Chhack, Rajbhavan, Siripur, Fire Station.
4. CRRI to Lingaraj temple.

The links are at http://as1.ori.nic.in/cdacuttack/draft_proposal.html.

The links for the various maps are at http://as1.ori.nic.in/cdacuttack/map.html.

The links for the Mouza-wise maps are at http://as1.ori.nic.in/cdacuttack/mouza.html.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

…, the state government has decided to expand the development area of the capital from 419sqkm to over 1,000sqkm.

According to a notification issued by the housing and urban development department, the expanded area would include 367 revenue villages.

With the two-fold increase in its development zone, the capital’s area will now come to be known as the Bhubaneswar Development Plan Area (BDPA), comprising the districts of Cuttack, Khurda and Puri. The new expansion plan would perhaps be the biggest in the history of the city.

The expanded area will have 263 villages from the district of Khurda, 88 from Puri and 16 from Cuttack. With this new proposal, there will be 572 revenue villages under the development zone.

When the capital city area was planned under BDA in 1983, it had only 93 villages from the undivided Puri district. After two decades, the number of revenue villages went up to 205, and now, with the latest move, it would finally be touching a figure of 572.

Sources in the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) said the development of the capital, instead of remaining restricted along the Phulanakhara-Khurda line, would now be spread in all directions stretching from villages in Cuttack district to Delang in Puri.

…“Earlier, the urban expansion focus was restricted. But now with state secretariat as the central point, the entire region will be developed under the BDPA within a 20 to 25km radius so that there is enough scope for land development, effective road connectivity and special housing zones,” said a senior BDA official.

Just to get an idea of how big 1000 sq km is, the area of the NCT (National Capital Territory) of Delhi is 1483 sq km. The National Capital Region is much larger at 33,578 sq km.

The following map is from a report in Telegraph.

Following are excerpts from that report.

… The buses, procured by the state government with financial assistance from the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), …

The newly constituted government authority Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) today signed an agreement with local transport agency Dream Team Shahara Services to run the services in the two cities.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation, the Puri-Konark Development Authority and the Puri Municipality are the stakeholders in BPTSL.

While 100 buses are scheduled to ply on six different routes in Bhubaneswar, 25 buses will travel on three routes in Puri.

Of the 100 buses, 50 standard buses with 38 seats each and 50 mini-buses with a seating capacity of 30 passengers will ply between Khurda-Master Canteen; Nandan Kanan-Airport, KIIT-Uttara Chhaka, Dumduma–VSS Nagar, Nuagaon-Phulnakahara and Khandagiri-Sai Temple in Bhubaneswar.

Five standard buses and 20 mini-buses will ply between Beach Road-Konark, Jagannath Temple-Master Canteen, and Jagannath Temple to Konark. The frequency of the buses will vary from 7 to 15 minutes during peak hours and 15 to 30 minutes during non-peak hours. The bus services will be available from 6am to 6pm.

“As per the memorandum of understanding, the state government will provide the BPTSL with infrastructure such as bus terminals at the origin and destination of every route. Planning of bus stops will also be done in a phased manner. Autorickshaw services in Bhubaneswar will not be affected. We have already consulted with the autorickshaw unions of the city in this regard,” housing and urban development secretary Arun Panda said.

Panda said: “The fare slab proposed is on the higher side. The actual fare cannot be more than the slab. We will revise the fare based on the automatic fare revision formula, which is linked to the hike in fuel prices.”

… “Today, we have given BPTSL a cheque for Rs 85 lakh. Another, Rs 2.55 crore will be paid this year. We will also pay BPTSL Rs 2.5 lakh every month towards route charges,” said Nishikanta Mishra, chairman of Dream Team Shahara Services.

Panda said that the buses had been purchased for Rs 17.5 crore. “The state government engaged the Urban Mass Transit Company, which is a government of India undertaking, as the transaction advisor. The Urban Mass Transit Company has prepared the route plan and stoppages after making a comprehensive study on the road network,” he added.

The state’s special secretary, commerce and transport department, has been designated as the chief executive officer of the BPTSL, BMC mayor is the chairman and the chairperson of the Puri Municipality has been made the vice-chairperson.

Following are couple of maps extracted from wikimapia.

Cuttack people are unhappy that there are no connections to Cuttack. I think the state has not been able to convince the appropriate authorities in Delhi that Bhubaneswar-Cuttack is a single metropolitan area. In any case this is a start and hopefully soon there will be additional routes, especially connecting to Cuttack. Two routes that need to be added as soon as possible are:

• Nandankanan to Vidyadharpur via Bidanasi, Barabati, Buxi Bazar, Mangalabag, Ravenshaw
• Phulnakhara to Bidanasi via Badambadi and Alisha Bazar

Following is from a report in Pioneer:

The six-laning work of the Bhubaneswar–Chandikhol portion of the National Highway-5 will begin from September, after this rainy season. A sum of Rs 1,047 crore will be invested for the project under the NHDP Phase-5. A consortium has been formed with three private companies, and the contract awarded, an official of NHAI said.

The consortium of Srei, Gulfar and Simplex Infrastructure would undertake the project, which is scheduled to be completed in two and a half years’ period. This would be done on the BOT basis. After completion of the work, the consortium would maintain the road and collect toll for a period of 26 years.

After the four-laning work of the NH-5, this is the first stretch within Odisha to have six lanes. The distance from Bhubaneswar to Chandikhol is 67 km, which would have seven flyovers and four major bridges over the river Kathjodi, Kuakhai, Mahanadi and Birupa. Out of the seven flyovers, four would be built over the CRP, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh squares along the highway in Bhubaneswar.

(Thanks to Dilip for pointing to this scheme.)

Following is a one year old PIB on this.

Rajya Sabha

Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) was launched on 3.12.2005 as a sub-component of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) covering all towns and cities as per Census 2001 excepting 63 cities covered under JNNURM. Water supply is one of the admissible component of UIDSSMT. State of Orissa has been provided Rs.181.79 crore for the Mission Period of 7 years (2005-12) under UIDSSMT. So far, 9 projects (7 projects on water supply, 1 on road and 1 on sanitation) in 6 towns namely Behrampur, Koraput, Paralakhemundi, Angul, Cuttack and Sambalpur have been sanctioned at an approved cost of Rs.112.52 croreinvolving total Central commitment of Rs. 91.70 crore under the scheme and Rs. 46.70 crore has been released to the State as 1st instalment of Additional Central Assistance (ACA) during 2006-07 and 2007-08. Details of the projects sanctioned so far to Orissa under UIDSSMT have been given in the Annexure.

This information was given by Shri Ajay Maken, MOS Urban Development in reply to a question by Shri B.J. Panda in Rajya Sabha today.

******

TFK/MT

Click here for a Annex

The guidelines for this scheme is at http://www.cmao.nic.in/Resources/JNNURM/Guidelines/UIDSSMT-%20GUIDELINES.pdf.

I would request some of our readers to push for their contacts in Orissa to make sure (and if necessary offer help so that) their town takes advantage of this scheme. Hope our readers from Hinjlicut, Bhawanipatna, Balangir, etc. are listening.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

A Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for greater Berhampur is expected to be ready in next six months.

It was declared by Berhampur Development Authority Chairperson Sarat Ranjan Patnaik at a workshop organised in the city on Saturday to elicit views from corporators and councillors of the local urban bodies under the BDA.

 The technical team that attended the workshop was led by chief planner of the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), J.B. Khirsagar. The TCPO, which happens to be the technical advisory body of Central Ministry of Urban Development, is preparing the CDP for greater Berhampur.

Mr. Patnaik said earlier the TCPO decided to prepare the master plan in 18 months. But due to requests of the BDA, the TCPO authorities have agreed to expedite the process and complete the process in one year.

He expected the master plan to be ready in another six months.

… The Orissa government is bearing the cost of the CDP preparation, which would cost around Rs. 1.08 crores. Mr. Khirsagar said the TCPO was providing the technical collaboration without taking any consultancy fee.

… The present CDP is being prepared keeping in view the development of greater Berhampur till the year 1931 2031.

The area under greater Berhampur will include the urban centres of Berhampur, Gopalpur and Chatrapur and 139 villages between them.

The CDP will comprise a total area of 317 sq. km. having a population of around 12 lakhs.

Similar CDPs for other areas need to be prepared at the earliest.

A search in the web leads to the call for tenders for CDP for Berhampur area as well as Rourkela area. Some numbers from that document is as follows:

Abstract of area and population on Berhampur Development authority

Abstract of area and population on Rourkela Development authority

The greater Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area has the potential to become a major metropolitan area of Orissa. The following maps give some idea of this area.

The population numbers from 2001 obtained from this map are as follows:

More up-to-date numbers from the World Gazetteer is as follows:

Sambalpur District:

Jharsuguda District:

Baragarh District:

Sundergarh District:

Some of the recent notable developments of this area are:

• An airport is being developed in Jharsuguda (This needs to be speeded up.)
• UCE Burla has now become Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology
• Several major industries are coming up (for example; Vedanta Aluminum in Jharsuguda)
• There are 6 engineering colleges in the area: 2 in Bargarh, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Sundergarh, VSSUT in Burla and Silicon in Sassan.
• Sambalpur-Jharsuguda as a whole has excellent Railway connectivity.

However, a more planned approach is needed. In particular, a core metro area consisting of Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Brajarajnagar needs to be formally formed and a CDP (Comprehensive Development Plan) must be developed at the earliest. In addition if local participation in developing more private HRD institutions is enhanced and local  handing of industrialization is done in a smarter way (not just blind knee-jerk opposition) then that will propel this area to a Tier II metro area of India.

(A draft of the Bhubaneswar part of the CDP is at http://www.orissalinks.com/bigfiles/Draft%20Proposal_CDP%20BDPA-2008/).

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business standard.

The implementation of the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) of Bhubaneswar prepared by the department of architecture and urban planning of IIT-Kharagpur would involve an investment of Rs 31,450 crore on different sectors by 2030.

Out of the total investment of Rs 31,450 crore, the public investment would be Rs 15,000 crore which is to be raised through a specially created fund called Bhubaneswar Cuttack Urban Complex Infrastructure Fund.

The balance requirement would be met through long-term loans, capital finance through devolution of funds, user charges and improved collection of taxes.

KC Satpathy, planning member, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) said, “Out of the total investment of Rs 31,450 crore for the CDP, the amount spent on traffic and transportation would be Rs 9,990 crore while Rs 7,500 crore would be invested in building 4.31 lakh dwelling units spread over 9,286 acres by 2030.”

The draft CDP of Bhubaneswar is expected to be finalised by the end of October this year, he added. It may be noted that the last CDP for Bhubaneswar was prepared in 1994.

…  Speaking on the occasion, Vishal Dev, commissioner, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, “There is scope for developing projects like affordable housing, city transportation, solid waste management and preservation of heritage structures on the public private partnership mode.”

The traffic and transportation plan of the CDP includes among other things the construction of a regional rail passenger terminal facility near Barang at a cost of Rs 400 crore and the setting up of a regional bus passenger terminal facility near Barang at an investment of Rs 100 crore.

Besides, Rs 250 crore would be invested in construction of a multi-modal logistic hub at Jatni while a wholesale trading and truck terminal facility would be set up near Pahala at a cost of Rs 150 crore.

As per the CDP, 4.31 dwelling units would be built in areas like Chandrasekharpur, east Kuakhai, Aigania, Tamando, Gangapada, Bhubaneswar New Town, Khurda and Jatni to help accommodate the projected population of 30 lakh in and around the city by 2030.

The CDP says that the water requirement would reach 88 million gallons per day by 2030 and the plan has envisaged an investment of Rs 1,125 crore to ensure 100 per cent water supply.

The creation of additional social infrastructure facilities including schools, colleges, hospitals, telecommunications facilities, postal services, recreation halls, commercial banks, parks and playgrounds, community halls and electricity substations by 2030 would involve an investment of Rs 3,310 crore.

The CDP has also emphasised on development of tourism projects. According to the CDP, 316 hectares of land in and around the city would be earmarked for various tourism projects at a cost of Rs 580 crore.

Moreover, Rs 300 crore would be invested on preservation and promotion of heritage structures in Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

An excellent blog on Berhampur’s growth is at http://futureberhampur.blogspot.com/.

(Thanks to reader Abhisek for the pointers.)

The following is from Orissa gazette of December 30 2008 making the declaration.

 

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 2382, CUTTACK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2008/PAUSA 9, 1930

HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

The 29th December 2008

S.R.O. No. 641/2008

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of article 243 Q of the Constitution of India the Governor of Orissa hereby specifies the local area comprising the whole of the Berhampur Municipal Council in the district of Ganjam with the boundaries described in the Schedule given below as a larger urban area.

SCHEDULE

North : Chandaniapahada, Ambagada, Ratnapur, Jagadalpur, Nimakhandi, Luchapada, Bhavinipur, Bada Gumula, Pali Gumula, Sana Kausasthali and Narendrapur.

South : Aruva pali, Ganja, Brahmapali, Khajuria, Phulata, Haladiapadar.

East : Raghunathpur, Pathura, Dura, Mandiapalli, Aruvapali.

West : Bendalia Lathi, Sukunda, Chandania pahada, Ambagada.

[No. 33010-Ele(Con)6/2008/HUD.]

By order of the Governor

Dr. A.K.PANDA

Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government

Following are some excerpts from a report in Hindu.

The Berhampur Development Authority (BDA) organised a launching workshop on Saturday on the preparations of Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for a greater Berhampur. The CDP is to be prepared by the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), the technical advisory body of Central Ministry of Urban Development. The new master plan would be Geographical Information System (GIS)-based. It would depend on remote sensing data provided by satellites as well as the ground level data collected through surveys. …

The preparation of the CDP would cost around Rs. 1,09,75,000. The State Government, which would bear the cost, has provided Rs. 35.50 lakhs for it in the first phase.

It may be noted that Berhampur, a major trading and cultural centre had its last master plan way back in 1969. This master plan envisioned the urban growth and required basic amenities for a population of over two lakh persons by the year 1986. The present CDP however would provide urban development plan for the area now under the BDA which includes areas of urban bodies like Berhampur, Gopalpur and Chatrapur and 139 villages. This would be part of the greater Berhampur with a vision of development for next 30 years. The CDP would comprise a total area of 317 square km having a population of 5,13,760 persons. It is expected that the CDP would be ready in 18 months.

The whole speech is at http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp040609.html. Following are excerpts. The underlining and other emphasis is mine.

18. The flagship programmes which my Government introduced have moved the country towards inclusive development. It would be our endeavour to consolidate these programmes in the next five years. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has proved to be what it promised-an effective social protection measure and the largest programme in the world for rural reconstruction. Its transformational potential is unfolding before our eyes. My Government would enlarge the scope of works permitted under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act presently limited to unskilled manual work. The opportunity for improving land productivity through the NREGA will be maximized through better convergence of NREGA with other programmes. To ensure transparency and public accountability, independent monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms will be set up at the district level.

19. The National Rural Health Mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The Mission would be consolidated to make perceptible reduction in infant mortality and maternal mortality in the next five years. Vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunization programme. My Government will expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years. Malnutrition has emerged as a major health challenge needing urgent response. Hence the nutrition delivery programme will be comprehensively revamped to bring it under the watch of panchayat institutions and move to provision of hot cooked meals in anganwadis.

20. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been able to provide access to children to elementary schools and retention has increased on account of the universal mid-day meal programme. The focus will be on making quality education a right through the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill now under consideration of Parliament. The Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will universalize access to secondary education. The massive expansion in higher education through new institutions under implementation in the Eleventh Plan will enable the country to meet the challenge of education in full measure. In the last five years, a wide range of scholarships and educational loans was introduced for the needy and deserving students. This effort will be reviewed and further strengthened. Government’s strategy for higher education will be formulated around a three-fold objective of expansion, inclusion and excellence. The suggestions given by the National Knowledge Commission will guide the formulation and implementation of the strategy.

21. While male literacy went up to over 75 percent in the last census and is expected to be higher now, female literacy was only 54 percent in 2001. My Government will recast the National Literacy Mission as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years. Increased female literacy is expected to become a force multiplier for all our social development programmes.

22. My Government launched Bharat Nirman five years ago as a time-bound business plan for rural infrastructure. It has succeeded in reaching basic infrastructure of roads, electricity and telephone to a large number of villages. It has also achieved most of the targets of rural water supply, rural housing and has increased irrigation potential. The remaining tasks will be completed in the second phase of Bharat Nirman. It is also proposed to set enhanced targets for Bharat Nirman in the second phase.

– The Indira Awas Yojana, which exceeded the original target of sixty lakh houses for the period 2004-2009, will now take up double the target of rural housing to one crore twenty lakh houses to be completed in the next five years.

– Rural Water supply programme will be completed by 2011 and handed over to be managed by panchayats in the next Plan.

– The rural telecommunication target will be set at reaching 40% rural teledensity in the next five years and expanding broadband coverage to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in three years. The scheme for Common Service Centres or e-kiosks will be suitably repositioned to be a network of panchayat-level Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres to provide government services to citizens in rural areas.

– New targets would be set for rural electrification, irrigation and road connectivity.

23. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with approval of projects of nearly Rs. 50,000 crore in the last four years is reshaping our cities and has been widely welcomed. It will continue to focus on infrastructure, basic services and governance reform and increase support to cities to upgrade public transport. Over 15 lakh houses are under construction for the urban poor. There is a need to focus urban housing programmes on the poor living in slums. My Government proposes to introduce a Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The schemes for affordable housing through partnership and the scheme for interest subsidy for urban housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv Awas Yojana which would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property rights to people living in slum areas. My Government’s effort would be to create a slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.

24. My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kilograms of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kilogram. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.

26. Over 50 percent of our population is below 25 years of age and their creative energy is our greatest strategic resource. The challenge is to invest in their education, employability and employment. India has the capacity to contribute to a fourth of the global work force if it invests in skill development of its youth. Education which provides employable skills holds the key for equal opportunities for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities. My Government has in the last five years brought in legal changes and investment in this direction. These would be consolidated. Besides making massive investment in education, government will focus on the national skill development initiative that has commenced operation with the very ambitious goal of creation of 500 million skilled people by 2022 so that we realize the demographic dividend.

27. The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009.

29. The Amendment Bill to the Land Acquisition Act and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill prepared to protect farmers and others dependent on farming from unfair displacement and which was placed before Parliament could not be carried through. It will be our endeavour to have these bills reintroduced and enacted in the budget session of Parliament.

30. My Government considerably enhanced provisions for social security through old age pension for all people below the poverty line and above 65 years of age, all handicapped people and all widows above the age of forty. It will examine extending social protection to other persons at special risk. Social security schemes for other occupations like landless labour, weavers, fisherfolk, toddy tappers, leather workers, plantation labour, construction labour, mine workers and beedi workers will be appropriately expanded.

32. My Government will initiate steps within the next hundred days on the following measures:

…

– Restructuring the Backward Regions Grant Fund, which overlaps with other development investment, to focus on decentralized planning and capacity building of elected panchayat representatives. The next three years would be devoted to training panchayat raj functionaries in administering flagship programmes;

– A public data policy to place all information covering non-strategic areas in the public domain. It would help citizens to challenge the data and engage directly in governance reform;

– Increasing transparency and public accountability of NREGA by enforcing social audit and ensuring grievance redressal by setting up district level ombudsman;

– Strengthening Right to Information by suitably amending the law to provide for disclosure by government in all non-strategic areas;

– Strengthening public accountability of flagship programmes by the creation of an Independent Evaluation Office at an arm’s distance from the government catalysed by the Planning Commission. It would work on a network model by collaborating with leading social science research organizations and concurrently evaluate the impact of flagship programmes and place it in the public domain;

– Establishing mechanisms for performance monitoring and performance evaluation in government on a regular basis;

– Five Annual Reports to be presented by government as Reports to the People on Education, Health, Employment, Environment and Infrastructure to generate a national debate;

– Facilitating a Voluntary Technical Corps of professionals in all urban areas through JNNURM to support city development activities;

– Enabling non government organisations in the area of development action seeking government support through a web-based transaction on a government portal in which the status of the application will be transparently monitorable;

– Provision of scholarships and social security schemes through accounts in post offices and banks and phased transition to smart cards;

– Revamping of banks and post offices to become outreach units for financial inclusion complemented by business correspondents aided by technology;

– Electronic governance through Bharat Nirman common service centres in all panchayats in the next three years;

– A model Public Services Law, that covers functionaries providing important social services like education, health, rural development etc. and commits them to their duties, will be drawn up in consultation with states;

– A National Council for Human Resources in Health as an overarching regulatory body for the health sector to reform the current regulatory framework and enhance supply of skilled personnel;

– A National Council for Higher Education as recommended by the Yashpal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission to bring in reform of regulatory institutions;

– Develop a "brain gain" policy to attract talent from all over the world into the 14 universities proposed in the 11th plan to position them as "Innovation Universities";

– A roadmap for judicial reform to be outlined in six months and implemented in a time-bound manner;

– Targeted identification cards would subsume and replace omnibus Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. NREGA has a job card and the proposed Food Security Act would also create a new card. Identification of beneficiaries for other programmes which currently use the omnibus BPL list would improve identification based on programme objectives with the common underlying principle that all identification of beneficiaries will be done through gram sabhas and urban local bodies and the list placed in the public domain to be open to challenge;

– A Delivery Monitoring Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor flagship programmes and iconic projects and report on their status publicly;

– Suitably institutionalized quarterly reporting on Flagship programmes as "Bharat Nirman Quarterly Reports" where Ministers would publicly report on progress through the media.

33. Infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for a modern economy and infrastructure development will be a key focus area for the next five years. Public investment in infrastructure is of paramount importance. Bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom will be systematically removed. Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are a key element of the strategy. A large number of PPP projects in different areas currently awaiting government approval would be cleared expeditiously. The regulatory and legal framework for PPPs would be made more investment friendly. My Government will continue its special emphasis on infrastructure development in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir and enhance connectivity to these regions.

34. Our fellow citizens have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies while the government retains majority shareholding and control. My Government will develop a roadmap for listing and people-ownership of public sector undertakings while ensuring that government equity does not fall below 51 %.

35. My Government is firmly committed to maintaining high growth with low inflation, particularly in relation to prices of essential agricultural and industrial commodities. It will steadfastly observe fiscal responsibility so that the ability of the Centre to invest in essential social and economic infrastructure is continuously enhanced. This will require that all subsidies reach only the truly needy and poor sections of our society. A national consensus will be created on this issue and necessary policy changes implemented.

36. My Government has been able to significantly increase realization of direct taxes as a result of improved and simplified tax administration and this process will continue. The roadmap for moving towards a Goods and Services Tax will be vigorously pursued. My Government is fully seized of the issue of illegal money of Indian citizens outside the country in secret bank accounts. It will vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned.

37. Coordinated action for energy would be guided by the integrated energy policy. The effort would be to see that at least 13,000 MW of generating capacity is added each year through a mix of sources -coal, hydel, nuclear and renewables. Village and rural household electrification and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses will continue to be given the highest priority. Competitiveness and efficiency in the power sector will be enhanced through time-bound measures, including operationalising the provision of open access.

38. The pace of oil and gas exploration will be intensified and India’s oil diplomacy aggressively pursued. Reforms in the coal sector, for which a detailed blueprint has been prepared, will be pursued with urgency. The international civil nuclear agreements will be operationalised with various countries even as domestic sources of uranium are exploited and work continues on the indigenously designed fast breeder and thorium reactors.

39. My Government will ensure that our space programme which has achieved wide recognition continues to bring rich dividends to society in agriculture, tele-medicine, tele-education and by providing information to rural knowledge centres, besides contributing to telecommunication, television broadcasting and weather forecasting. Several innovative initiatives commenced by government in the science and technology sector in the last five years and now under implementation will be further strengthened.

40. My Government is proactively addressing issues of climate change through eight national missions. Of these the National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission, the National Mission on Energy Efficiency, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat will be launched by the end of this year. The National Ganga River Basin Authority, set up recently will evolve a new action plan for cleaning and beautifying the river in partnership with the basin states.

Following are some of the items mentioned in the article below:

• The 2.5 km from Vani Vihar to Master Canteen will be made 8 lanes. (Janpath from NH 5 to Mahatma Gandhi marg) This will be the second 8 lane segment in Bhubaneswar after the Sainik School to Acharya Vihar segment. (Sachivalaya marg from NH 5 to Sainik School)
• The six lane road from airport to KIIT will be extended all the way up to Nandan Kanan.
• A flyover from Lingaraj station to Pokhariput is planned.
• Another flyover from Rasulgarh to Sainiki School via Mancheswar Railway workshop and VSS Nagar is planned.
• A road from Nandan Kanan Lake to Trishulia through Barang bypass
• Fourlaning from Siripur to Fire station (Azad marg)

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

Minister of State (independent charge) for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sarada Prasad Nayak today outlined his plans for all-round development of his home city Rourkela by including it in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP).

Addressing mediapersons here, Nayak spoke about formation of greater Rourkela by including suburban pockets like Kalunga, Vedvyas and Fertiliser Township under the Central Government funded CDP. He said if everything goes as expected, in three years the Steel City would get a facelift with a fresh sewerage system, solid waste management project and rehabilitation of slum-dwellers on a 30-acre land. …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business standard.

The World Bank is likely to fund the Rs 303 crore drinking water project for Berhampur in South Orissa. The scheme envisages bringing water from Surada reservoir, located about 100-km from here.

The detailed project report (DPR) was submitted to the World Bank team which had visited the city recently to study the feasibility of the project.

… With a population of over 3.5 lakh, the city needs 45 million litres of water daily. However, the city gets only 33 million litres per day, which goes down to 20-24 million litres during the peak summer, sources said.

The water to the city is being supplied from the Rushikulya water supply system at Madhapur, about 30 km from here and the Dakhinapur Impounding Reservoir located on the outskirts of the city.

…  Meanwhile the government is mulling to tackle the situation with assistance from the World Bank by bringing water from the Surada reservoir through pipes. At present, the water supply is through the canal.

"We feel that sufficient water can be drawn from Surada reservoir when it comes through the pipe", sources said.

This apart, the government is also planning to implement the Ghatakeswar medium irrigation project with an investment of Rs 24 crore. National Bank for Agriculture and rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned the project.

Following the completion of this project, about 8 million litres of water would be supplied to the city every day.

Meanwhile, a project for water treatment at the Dakhinapur reservoir is underway, involving an investment of Rs 5.20 crore. The project is being executed under the Urban Infrastructure Development for Samll and Medium Towns (UIDSMT) to treat about 20 million litres of water daily.

As per this page in the document prepared by IIT Kharagpur the population of the above complex in 2008 is 1.9 million.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

Laying the foundation stone for the Integrated Sewerage System for Bhubaneswar city at a grand function on Tuesday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said that all measures were taken by the state government to improve infrastructure of the city in an effort to provide basic amenities to people.

Speaking on the occasion, housing and urban development minister KV Singhdeo said that the detailed project report (DPR) of the project was presented to the ministry of urban development, Government of India, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and 12th Finance Commission of Government of India for funding.

Finally, after due approval by the H&UD Department, the project got the financial assistance from different sources, he said, adding, the sewerage system would be developed with the technical assistance from IIT, Roorkee at an estimated cost of Rs 754.23 crore.

… The sewerage system of Bhubaneswar envisages laying of 412 km underground gravity sewer for collection of sewage of each household and establishment throughout the city in uncovered area, replacement and renovation of all existing old sewers, construction of main, intermediate and lift pumping stations, construction of sewage treatment plants and construction of low cost sanitation units in the city area.

The new sewerage system has been planned by diving the city are into six sewerage districts that shall be provided with an independent sewerage network, pumping system, sewage treatment and disposal system.

The sewerage system has been designed for a projected city population of 22 lakh upto 2041.

The project area of 145 sq km includes all wards of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (except wards beyond river Kuakhai) and fringe areas covered under city master plan.

The project will ensure proper treatment of generated sewage in the city area with provision of modern treatment technology like Standard Activates Sludge Process.

The project will provide good and effective sewerage services to the urban population and will reduce non-point sources of pollution. Overall sanitation condition of the city will be improved.

The project has been planned to be implemented by 2011.

The sewer laying work of three districts via sewerage district- I, II and III has been awarded to the East Coast Construction and Industries Ltd, Engineers and Contractors, Chennai through a transparent system.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Planning Commission today suggested the Orissa government to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for three projects for availing of assistance under the viability gap funding (VGF) of the Centre.

These three projects are Rs 3200 crore Samuka Special Tourism Project, Rs 1500 crore Sambalpur-Rourkela road project and the Rs 1500 crore worth Bhubaneswar Solid Waste Management Project.These projects worth about Rs 6200 crore will be implemented on a pilot basis.

"A new format has been developed for availing of the assistance from VGF and the Orissa government will have to prepare a DPR keeping in view the new format and submit it to the Planning Commission", Subash Pani, secretary, Planning Commission said.

After reviewing the projects taken up in the Public-Private-Partnership ( PPP) mode by the Orissa government, Pani told media persons that the Centre can provide upto 20 percent of the project cost under the VGF. So the state government can take advantage of it.

He said, the Centre introduced the VGF last fiscal and no state has availed of the assistance from this fund created with the objective of bridging the gap in funding viable projects taken up in PPP mode.

Pani said, the Orissa government plans to execute 35 important infrastructure projects in PPP mode. While 25 projects are in the pipeline, 10 projects are on going.

The on-going projects include Rs 68 crore Palasapanga- Bamberi road, Gopalpur port, Dhamra Port, Rs 480 crore international convention centre, Rs 146 crore IT and Corporate Tower (Bhubaneswar), Rs 500 crore Info Park(Bhubaneswar), Rs 35.67 crore Knowledge park, Rs 352 crore SEZ-BPO at Mancheswar, Rs 76 crore Commercial and IT Complex at Rourkela.

The following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37272.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has approved 15 projects under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and 5 projects under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) in Orissa so far. These projects have been approved by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee and Central Sanctioning Committee.  The details of the projects approved under IHSDP  are given below: 

INTEGRATED HOUSING AND SLUM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (IHSDP)

Under the IHSDP, 4884 new dwelling units have been approved for construction at the total project cost of Rs. 83.63 crore.  Out of this, the Central share of Rs. 59.13 crore and State share of Rs.  24.50 crore have been approved.  The Total Additional Central Assistance of Rs 14.92 crore has been released by Ministry of Finance.

The details of the projects approved under BSUP are given below:

BASIC SERVICES TO THE URBAN POOR (BSUP)

            Under the BSUP, the projects worth amounting to Rs. 67.17 crore have been approved to construct  2316 dwelling units in the two mission cities in the State.  The Central share of Rs. 48.77 crore and State share of Rs. 18.40 crore have been approved. The total Additional Central Assistance of  Rs. 12.19  crore has also been released by the Ministry of Finance . 

            The Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme was launched by the Prime Minister in December 2005 with a view to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum dwellers who are residing in dilapidated conditions.  The existing Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) and the discontinued National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) are subsumed in the IHSDP, to strive for holistic slum development with a healthy and enabling urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the urban slum dwellers.  The programme covers all the towns except the 63 mission towns/cities covered under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). 

The Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP)  was launched by the Prime Minister in December 2005 with a view to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum dwellers who are residing in dilapidated conditions in the identified 63 mission cities.  The basic objective of the scheme is to strive for holistic slum development with a healthy and enabling urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the urban slum dwellers.