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 FAX: PMO at 23016857 , 23015603 (Delhi STD code is 11), CMO at 674 2590 833 (home) 674 2535 100 (office) and Planning Commission at 23096699

To:

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister of India

Cc: Mr. Naveen Patniak, Chief Minister of Orissa

Cc: Shri Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, Governor of Orissa

 
Subject: Solving the greater Kandhamala problem – going after the root cause in a war footing

Dear Dr. Singh: 

While the civil society in Orissa, the nation and the world is disturbed by the  communal violence in Kandhamala, I would urge you to take steps to eradicate the root cause of the violence in Kandhamala and the nearby tribal, hilly, forested, awfully connected, poor and backward districts of Orissa (and its neighboring states). In this regard, please note that the violence did not spread to the major towns and cities of Orissa (such as Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Balasore etc.)  that are well connected (by Rail and roads), decently developed and have a civil society. 

While the violence involving the murder of Swami Laxmanananda on August 23^rd 2008 and the subsequent communal violence that has taken about 40 lives is most deplorable and is in the forefront of the media, please also recall the following events that also took place within the last year in these areas:

1. February 15 2008:  400 to 500 armed Naxals raided the Nayagarh armory and killed 15 people including 13 policemen.
2. June 29 2008: 30 elite anti-insurgency policemen were killed by Maoists near Malkangiri.
3. July 16 2008:  21 Orissa policemen were killed in a land mine explosion and firing by the ultras in Malkangiri.
4. Dec 27 2007: Eleven churches were ransacked and torched in several areas of Kandhamal district.

Please note that these events happened in places in Orissa (Nayagarh, Malkangiri and Kandhamal) that are badly connected, near or within forests, have a large tribal population, and are among the most backward districts of India. The following map shows these districts are surrounded by large tracts of dense and open forested areas, and partly explains why the naxalites and Maoists are able to make them their base and why it has been difficult to deploy adequate police there in a timely manner.

Sir: As an economist and a world leader you must know that lack of connectivity, lack of development, lack of a civil society, entrenched forest and mountainous areas together with a different population base is a recipe for the sprouting of troubled areas. This is true all across the world; from J& K and North eastern areas of India to caucuses in Asia. While one cannot and should not get rid of the mountains or the people, the problem can be solved by making the areas well connected and bringing development. The Indian government is doing that in J & K and in the northeast; but has mostly forgotten about the similar areas in Orissa, Chhatisgrah, and Andhra Pradesh, which are the favorite bases of the Naxals and Maoists.

Sir: We would like you to pay the same attention to these areas in terms of connectivity, development, and creation of civil societies, as you do to the North east and J & K. In particular we would request that following be done in a war footing during the 11^th plan.

(i)                  The Vijaywada-Ranchi highway that passes through many of these areas be completed.

(ii)                Broadband connectivity be brought to these districts with adequate access locations.

(iii)                Two Railway lines, parts of which have already been sanctioned by the Railways but are progressing slowly, are completed and made operational. Those lines are:

a.       Khurda Rd – Balangir (passes through Nayagarh and Boudh) – This line was sanctioned in 1994-95 is progressing very slowly.

b.      Bhadrachalam Rd (Andhra Pradesh) – Malkangiri – Jeypore – Nabarangpur – Junagarh – Lanjigarh Rd – passing through Kandhamala – Boudh – Angul – Talcher – Bimlagarh: Several segments of these lines are approved but progressing slowly. Those segments are Junagarh – Lanjigarh Rd and Talcher – Bimlagarh. Angul – Talcher is operational.

(iv)              With the above lines operational, development should be brought into Kandhamal, Boudh, Gajapati, and KBK districts (including Kalahandi and Malkangiri) through 1-2 Rail factories and public sector units that can use the steel and aluminum and power produced in abundance in Orissa.

(v)                Orissa govt. should be encouraged and aided to establish a university in Kandhamala and another in Kalahandi.

(vi)              A branch of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University be established in one of these districts.

(vii)             Orissa govt. should be encouraged and aided to establish a government medical college and nursing college in Kandhamala or Boudha district.

Sir:  In regards to the cost of establishing the Railway lines, please note that as per the calculation in  http://kbkrail.orissalinks.com/ Indian Railways is scheduled to make a profit of 2679.72 crores/year from its operations in Orissa. If 1500 crores of this money (the rest may go to Indian Railway’s current plans for Orissa) is put into Orissa, in just 2-3 years the above mentioned lines could be completed.

Sir: We sincerely hope that you will translate the great concern you have shown towards the recent violent events to the above mentioned action items that address the key issues of lack of connectivity and development in these areas and thus provide a long term and real solution.

Sincerely

Appendix:

1. Estimated profit Indian Railways will make from Orissa in 2008-09:

2.  One of the earlier planning commissions has noted in http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_orissa/sdr_orich2.doc

“Railways have always played an important role in economic development and rapid social transformation in all parts of the globe. It is one of the key economic infrastructures. However, it is most unfortunate that in a poor and backward state like Orissa, development of rail networks has received much less attention of the Central Government in the post-independence period. There are as many as seven districts like Boudh, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur out of the 30 districts of the state, which do not have any railway line passing through them. In the year 1998-99, the density of railway route length per 1000 sq. km of area in Orissa was only 15.03 km as against 42.66 km in West Bengal and 19.11 km. at all-India level”.

3. The tribal population percentage of the KBK districts are as follows:  Malkangiri  58.36% ST  (+19.96% SC),  Rayagada 56.04% ST  (+14.28% SC),  Nabarangpur 55.27% ST (+15.09% SC), Koraput 50.67% ST (+13.41% SC), Nuapada 35.95%  ST(+13.09% SC), Kalahandi 28.88% ST (+17.01% SC), Sonepur 22.11% ST (+9.5% SC), Balangir 22.06% ST (+15.39% SC). Two adjacent districts also have high tribal population. They are Kandhamala 51.51% ST (+18.21% SC) and Gajapati 47.88%  ST(+8.77% SC). 

4. The literacy rates in the KBK districts are abysmally low. Malkangiri 31.26%, Nabarangpur 34.26%, Rayagada 35.61%, Koraput 36.2%, Nuapada 42.29%, Kalahandi 46.2%, Balangir 54.93%, Sonepur 64.07%. Two adjacent districts also have low literacy: Gajapati 41.73% and Kandhamala 52.95%. The state average is 63.1%.

5. Population below the poverty line in southern Orissa (of which KBK is a part) is reported to be 89.17% of the people according to the 1999-2000 NSS data and 72% of the families according to the 1997 census.

This has been reported in Tathya.in, Kalinga Times, and Odisha.in so far. Odisha. in has the two letters.

• Letter to the PM
• Letter to the CM

We appeal to the readers with interest in Orissa to contact their local organization (Outside Orissa, the local Orissa/Oriya/Kalinga organization) and through them send a similar letter to the PM and CM at the earliest. The planning commission has been asked by the PM on September 14th to make the location decisions in two months. So time is running out on this.

Following is the letter I sent to the PM with copy to Orissa CM, MPs, planning commission and chairman of the railway board. Please consider sending a similar letter to them. If possible please fax the letter to the PMO rather than emailing him.

PM’s fax numbers are 23016857 , 23015603 (Delhi STD code is 11)
Lalu’s fax number is 23387333

To: Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

India

Cc: Mr. Arjun Singh, Minister of HRD, Government of India

Cc: Mr. Lalu Yadav, Minister of Railways, Government of India

Cc: Mr. Chandrasekhar Sahu, Union Minister of State, Government of India

Cc: Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa

Cc: Members of Parliament from Orissa

Cc: Media

Subject: KBK and other adivasi areas of Orissa and India can not be left behind while rest of India marches forward with high speed rail; metro rail and freight corridors

Dear Dr. Singh:

First we would like to convey our heartfelt thanks for your recent higher education initiatives that you outlined in the last Independence Day speech; in particular, the announcement regarding 8 new IITs, 7 new IIMs, and 30 new central Universities with 16 of them going to states that do not have any central university. We sincerely hope that in picking the locations for these institutions you will keep in mind that for 60 years no IIT, IIM or central university have been established in Orissa. As a rapidly industrializing state, our highest priority is a new IIT. Following that, since there already exists 23 central universities, and you plan to have 30 more, and Orissa has none yet, our next priority is to have two new central universities in Orissa. We also request that the central university that is proposed to be in the KBK region should have multiple campuses so that it can cover the vast and tribal areas of KBK and because of the very high tribal and backward population in that area this university should be treated at par with the central universities in the north east. Again, we thank you from our heart for your initiatives and thank the HRD minister Mr. Arjun Singh for his role in this.

The above initiatives have restored in us some of the faith that we had earlier lost in your government. Now we would like to point out another burning issue with respect to Orissa that needs to be urgently addressed.

That issue is Rail connectivity to the hinterlands of Orissa, such as the KBK and other tribal districts of Orissa. As you are very well aware these areas are the most backward and poor areas of India; they have a very high tribal population; and are also infested with extremists. One of the important steps in uplifting these areas is making them well connected to the rest of India. That is where Rail Connectivity comes to picture.

As one of the earlier planning commissions has noted

in http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_orissa/sdr_orich2.doc

“Railways have always played an important role in economic development and rapid social transformation in all parts of the globe. It is one of the key economic infrastructures. However, it is most unfortunate that in a poor and backward state like Orissa, development of rail networks has received much less attention of the Central Government in the post-independence period. There are as many as seven districts like Boudh, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur out of the 30 districts of the state, which do not have any railway line passing through them. In the year 1998-99, the density of railway route length per 1000 sq. km of area in Orissa was only 15.03 km as against 42.66 km in West Bengal and 19.11 km. at all-India level”.

The Railway ministry has grand plans for the 11^th plan period that includes two freight corridors, high speed rail, and metro rail in several areas and it has a budget of Rs 251,000 crores. While none of these high flying plans (2 freight corridors, high speed rail segments and metro rails) are in Orissa, we are not in a position to rue over that; rather we request that while the rest of India marches forward with 2 freight corridors, high speed rail segments and metro rails during the 11^th plan, KBK and other adivasi areas of Orissa and India be not left behind. The particular lines we are referring to are:

1) Khurda - Balangir

2) Gunupur-Theruvali

3) Lanjigarh Rd – Bhawanipatna – Junagarh – Nabarangpur- Jeypore – Malkangiri – Bhadrachalam Rd (Andhra Pradesh)

4) Talcher – Bimlagarh

5) Bangiriposi -Gurumahishasini and/or Buramara-Chakulia.

6) Badampahar-Keonjhar

Often the Railway ministry and Railway board has labeled some of the pending lines in these areas as unprofitable and has given them such a low priority that at the current rate of funding (annual allocation less than the inflation) these lines may never be completed.

While the railways calculation may show these lines as unprofitable; they are not unprofitable if one considers how much Indian Railways earns from these areas. For example, the ECOR GM Shri Surendra Singh Khurana in his Independence Day address (available at http://eastcoastrailway.gov.in/custom/press_release/index.php) while talking about ECOR, said: “With only 4% of the track of Indian Railways, we cater for about 12% of total loading of Indian railway and about 7% of total earning of IR.” In regards to profitability, for the 2003-2004 and 2004-05 the working expense as part of gross earnings of the ECOR zone is the second best at 66.64% and 61.75% respectively. The profit making zones in those years were South east central (62.8% and 56.1%), ECOR (66.64% and 61.75%), North central (76.33% and 66.71%), Central (80.29% and 82.48%), South eastern (81.24% and 83.51%), South Central (85.72% and 83.62%), West Central (80.99% and 84.08%), South Western (91.35% and 86.15%), Western (93.21% and 90.85%), Northern (91.08% and 92.89%) and East Central (93.65% and 98.9%). The loss making zones were: metro Kolkata (247% and 264.38%), North Eastern (151.93% and 160.88%), Northeast Frontier (147.98% and 159.45%), Eastern (161.3% and 152.84%), Southern (118.55% and 120.79%) and North Western ( 106.26% and 104.98%).

So, if the Indian Railway is making 7% of its earning from ECOR and a much higher percent of its profit from ECOR is not it unfair to give only 4% of its track to ECOR? This means profit and revenue from ECOR is being ploughed into rest of India. Nothing wrong with that per se, except that the part of ECOR that is neglected is the most backward part of India, and has a high tribal percentage. Some of these tribals, without proper connectivity, risk their lives and travel on the roof of freight trains. Does India and Indian Railways want to take money and investment away from the tribal and backward areas to enrich its metro residents?

Dr. Singh: Is that the India of your dreams? Is that the equality and inclusiveness that you talk about in your speeches?

We don’t think so!

Perhaps this has not come to your notice. Perhaps your current planning commission has not brought this to your notice. It is our sincere request that you look at this issue and include in the 11^th plan the completion of the earlier mentioned lines and the establishment of a few rail factories in the backward and tribal areas of India, possible 1-2 in the KBK districts.

(Additional data points are in the attached document.)

Sincerely,

Chitta Baral

Welcome to oDishA (or Orissa) infrastructure and Resource Development Blog. This blog will focus on issues and news related to Orissa’s infrastructure. In particular, it will focus on issues such as Railways, Roads, Airports, Ports, Waterways, Industries, Agriculture and Education. For the education aspects, we will often link to the companion blog orissawatch.org.