Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

… Mr.Agarwal impressed upon the Chief Minister that his group is eager to expand the .50 million ton smelter in Jharsuguda to a 1.6 million ton per annum (MTPA). 

Naveen Patnaik, asked the Chief Secretary to look into the matter finalize the expansion program, said sources. 

Mr.Agarwal updated the Chief Minister about the status of Vedanta’s ongoing projects in the state here on 3 January..

The Alumina Project at Lanjigarh, Smelter and Power Projects at Jharsuguda and the University project at Puri is being implemented by the Vedanta group.

On Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) front, adoption of 400 anganwadis, providing education for 14000 children at Kalahandi are being implemented, briefed Mr.Agarwal.

Mr. Agarwal agreed to extend the coverage to 40000 children and agreed to introduce the Mid Day Meal scheme for 30000 primary and the secondary level school student in the state through Nandi and Sterlite Foundation as the Chief Minister requested him.

He also announced a 100 bedded state-of-the-art multi-speciality hospital at Jharsuguda will provide medical facility to the local people.

Chairman Vedanta group reiterated his earlier commitment to build a 1000 bedded super-specialty hospital at Puri.

It was also informed that the design and the engineering has been completed and construction is to begin soon.

In addition Mr Agarwal put forth his plans of setting up of a downstream Aluminium Park in collaboration with the government to promote as many as 600 small and medium scale industries at Jharsuguda. 

The project will generate large scale employment opportunities and additional economic activities in the region.

Currently the Vedanta Group’s investment commitments are in excess of Rs 50,000 crores, half of which has already been invested in various projects of Orissa.

Vedanta is presently generating a huge number of direct and indirect employment for approximately 25000 people, eighty percent of which belong to the state of Orissa.

After the meeting the CM, Mr Agarwal told reporters that all the ongoing projects of Vedanta would continue as per schedule in spite of the recent global recession.

He also assured that in his personal capacity he would make all possible efforts to complete the Vedanta University Project, a world class University at par with the Havard and Stanford University of U,S.A.

He has already committed personal contribution of Rs 5000 crore towards this project.

Following is a one year old report from Steelguru on Gopalplur SEZ which I had missed.

TATA Steel has announced setting up of up a galvanizing and color coating line with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes at an investment of INR 250 crore at the special economic zone proposed by TATA Steel and notified by the Union government at Gopalpur.

Mr B Muthuraman MD of TATA Steel told media that “It would be a multi product SEZ and as a first step, TATA Steel had decided to set up the galvanizing line. TATA Steel was looking to rope in partners to develop the infrastructure for the project.”

He said “We are looking for partners who will promote infrastructure within the SEZ. It will be a multi product SEZ, and the project should take about 24 months to be implemented.”

Following is from a report in Steelguru.

BS reported that cargo handling capacity is projected to be 14 million tonne per annum from the 0.55 million tonne envisaged for the first phase. It will have 5 berths including one exclusive berth for aluminium by 2011 and 10 berths by 2016. Similarly, the number of ship calls per day is projected to increase to 1,451 by 2016 from about 333 likely to be achieved by 2011.

According to official sources, the company submitted the detailed project report for developing an all weather port at Gopalpur having direct berthing facility to the Orissa government recently. Though INR 20 crore was proposed to be invested by GPL in the first phase, it has already spent about INR 78 crore on making the port functional.

During the second phase, the port will have facilities to handle export cargo of ilmenite sand, iron ore, thermal coal, bauxite, granite, steel coil, aluminium ingots and import cargo of fertilisers, aluminium powder, coal, coke, rock phosphate and foodgrain.

As per report, cargo handling capacity is projected to be 5.6 million tonne in the first year of operations and increase to 8.9 million tonne in the second year. Similarly, it is projected to have a cargo handling capacity of 9.3 million tonne in the third year and 13.5 million tonne in the fourth year. The final cargo handling capacity of 14 million tonne is likely to be achieved by the fifth year of the commissioning of the port.

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

The State-level single window clearance authority (SWCA) today gave approval to nine project proposals worth over Rs 13,000 crore.

The Ashapura Minechem Limited, the largest multi-mineral solution provider in the country and the flagship of Ashapura Group, has evinced interest to set up mineral separation plant in Puri district with an investment of Rs 910 crore. The plant will separate minerals from beach sand and it will produce titanium dioxide, widely used in paints. The project will create employment opportunities for 300 persons, Industries Secretary Ashok Dalwai told mediapersons.

The other new proposal cleared by the SWCA was a 1.2 million tonnes iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation plant by Jaiswal Nicco Industries at Harmote near Barbil in Keonjhar district. The company planned to invest Rs 452 crore and the proposed project would generate employment opportunities to 500 persons.

The proposal of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) for capacity addition to its existing steel plant from two million tonnes to six million tonne was also approved. The steel production of the plant will be 3 million tonne through DRI (sponge iron) route and another 3 million tonnes through blast furnace route. The company has also proposed to increase the capacity of its thermal power plant from 900 mega watt to 1080 MW. The total investment of the company will increase from Rs 13,135 crore to Rs 22,440 crore.

The authority also cleared the expansion plan of International Mineral Trading Company having a pelletisation plant at Barbil in Keonjhar district. The company proposed to set up an iron ore beneficiation plant of 1.5 million tonne capacity with an investment of Rs 175 crore.

The BRG Iron and Steel Company at Khurunti in Dhenkanal district proposed to increase its steel production capacity from 0.257 MTA to 1.2 MTA with an investment of Rs 960 crore. The project has received environmental clearance.

Shree Metallics also proposed to increase its steel plant capacity from 0.25 MTA to 0.98 MTA with an investment of Rs 709 crore. The other expansion projects include Grewal Associates sponge iron plant at Barbil to 0.25 MTA steel plant and a 15 MW power plant, Dinabandhu Steel and Power for a 0.26 MTA steel plant with 25 MW power plant and Ganesh Metallics for 0.25 MTA steel plant with 16 MW captive power plant.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… the proposed software development centre of IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be inaugurated on January 5 next year. The first tower of TCS which will be inaugurated in the city’s Infocity campus will have a capacity to accommodate around 1,500 employees.

“… Wipro’s second campus in the city is also scheduled to be inaugurated within a month”, said Vishal Dev, director, IT department of the Orissa government at an International Conference on IT, held at the Xavier Institute of Management.

TCS is developing its software centre in the city on a 54-acre plot in the Infocity campus. While the first tower of TCS is scheduled to be inaugurated early next month, the company is expected to add two to three towers within three months.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The combined area required by these units has now been assessed at 33,268.5 acres, 16.48 per cent less than the 37,750 acres envisaged in the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between these companies and the state government.

The state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (Ipicol) had appointed MN Dastur & Co as consultant to prepare a report on the land requirement of various industries after receiving complains about companies demanding more land than they needed for the projects.

Ipicol, based on the report, has reassessed the land needs of the projects. The mega units that have been affected include Posco India, Jindal Steel and Power, Mittal Steel (India), Uttam Galva Steels, Sterlite Iron and Steel, and Bhushan Steel.

On the other hand, there has been no reduction in the land requirement of four mega units — Essar Steel Orissa (2,500 acres), SSL Energy (2,000 acres), Tata Steel (3,500 acres) and Welspun Power and Steel (2,200 acres). Out of the total land requirement, these steel companies have already applied for allotment of 32,034.9 acres, sources say.

Posco India, a subsidiary of South Korean steel major Posco, had sought 6,000 acres in the MoU signed with the state government in 2005 for its proposed 12-million-tonne per annum project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district. Ipicol, based on the Dastur & Co report, has reassessed the land requirement at 5,525 acres. The company has so far applied for 5,151 acres. While the state government has allotted 516 acres of its land to Posco, the company has already invested Rs 175.5 crore.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, which is setting up a six-million-tonne per annum steel project at Kerajang, needed about 5,750 acres. This has been cut to 3,843.5 acres by Ipicol. The company has applied to the Orissa government for 4,027 acres and has been allotted 1,719 acres. This includes 687.93 acres of government land and 1,031.85 acres private land. It has invested about Rs 765.46 crore in the project so far.

The land requirement of ArcelorMittal, which is planning to set up a 12-million-tonne greenfield steel project at Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district, has been reassessed at 7,750 acres. The company had sought 8,000 acres in the MoU. It has applied for 7,770 acres and has invested about Rs 50 crore for the project.

Similarly, the land requirement of Uttam Galva Steels, which is setting up a three-million-tonne steel project at Bistapal, has been reduced by 250 acres. While the MoU provided for allotment of 2,400 acres, Ipicol has reassessed this at 2,150 acres. The company applied for 2,146 acres and has been allotted 27.81 acres so far. The company has invested about Rs 35 crore for the project.

The three-million-tonne steel project planned by Sterlite Iron and Steel at Palasponga will have to manage with 1,000 acres less land than what was provided in the MoU. The company’s land requirement has been re-assessed at 2,400 acres. The company had applied for 3,378 acres, though has not been allotted any land so far.

The estimate of land needed by Bhushan Steel for its six-million-tonne per annum steel project at Meramundali in Dhenkanal district has been reduced by 600 acres. Though the company was to be provided 2,000 acres according to the MoU, Ipicol has reassessed the requirement at 1,400 acres. Bhushan Steel had applied for 1,994 acres and has been allotted 1,620 acres. It has invested Rs 5,000 crore in the project.

Following is  from a report in Economic Times.

MUMBAI: Larsen & Toubro shares edged higher Tuesday after it won orders worth Rs 1372 crore from aluminium and steel makers.

The orders were received from Vedanta Aluminium, a part of Vedanta group, Utkal Alumina International and Bhushan Steel, it said in a statement.

The Rs 516 crore order from Vedanta Aluminum was for setting up of a 3 million tonne per annum alumina refinery at its Lanjigarh plant in Orissa. Utkal Alumina’s order was worth Rs 455 crore in which the engineering and construction firm would set up a 1.5 MTPA green field alumina refinery at Doraduga in Orissa.

Furthermore, L&T has secured an order worth Rs 401 crore from Bhushan Steel for civil, structural, equipment, erecting and piping works at Angul in Orissa.

From their descriptions these outlets sound similar to the Home Depot, Lowes kind of stores in the US. Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

Eyeing the fast growing construction market, leading cement company Ultratech is planning to open 400 new unique retail outlets across the country, including many more in Orissa soon.

…  Ultratech Cement Ltd (UCL), a part of India’s global conglomerate Aditya Birla group, has opened five UBS retail outlets in Orissa’s Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack.

This was the first ever entry of UBS retail outlets in the growing construction markets of Orissa and the company plans to open many more such outlets in the state.

Its 89 existing outlets are currently operational in states like Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and plans are afoot to add six more states due to the success obtained in the existing ones, according to UCL’s chief marketing officer O P Puranmalka.

As many as 400 such outlets are planned to be opened across the country in 2009 offering a wide spectrum of end-to-end home-building solutions, high quality construction materials and allied value-added services, he said.

Describing UBS as a unique concept, he said in a release it was being launched in a big way in Orissa, a fast growing construction market in the eastern region.

Advocating our ‘plan, build and support’ philosophy, it seeks to enhance the shopping experience of the customers as well as to strengthen existing trade partnership by upgrading the service proposition, he said.

At UBS outlets, visitors can get reputed brands of all construction materials including cement, aggregates, bricks, tiles, sanitary fittings, paints, water-proofing compounds and white cement, the release said.

The outlets also provide value added services including mobile concrete testing vans for conducting quality tests as well as architects, contractors, vaastu consultants and other construction personne.

They have technical teams which train masons and contractors besides offering advice on legal formalities and plan approval procedures.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

With Orissa witnessing a rush of investment proposals in the iron and steel sector, the domestic and overseas steel majors are exploring the possibilities of developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the large units proposed by them.

Tata Steel is developing a six-million tonne greenfield steel project at Kalinga Nagar, the emerging steel hub of the country. The firm has identified business opportunities worth Rs 12,000 crore in the ancillary and downstream units.

“The opportunities for ancillary and downstream units exist in the areas of operations and maintenance, core specialised services, support specialised services, processing and township management, to name a few. There can be different working models for development of local SMEs as ancillaries and downstream units. One such model includes Tata Steel and other steel majors working together with their ancillary partners in Orissa,” said K Shankar Marar, assistant general manager, (steel technology, at Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar project.

…  Another steel major, JSL, (formerly Jindal Stainless Limited), is keen on developing an industrial park based on downstream stainless steel industries, spread over an area of 300 acres as a part of its SEZ (special economic zone) in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

The SEZ is being developed at an investment of around Rs 700 crore. JSL has engaged US-based consultant CB Richard Ellis for developing a business plan for the project wherein opportunities for downstream industries will be explored.

The SEZ is set to provide direct employment to 3,800 workers besides generating indirect employment for 1,200 others.

Posco which has announced an investment of about Rs 52,000 crore for a 12 million tonne steel plant near Paradeep is also committed to development of ancillary and downstream units and the steel giant has engaged IIT-Kharagpur for a study on the opportunities that exist in this area.

According to a study conducted by IIT-Kharagpur for Posco India, opportunities for SME entrepreneurs exist in the areas of structural steel, ready mixed concrete, refractory, steel and concrete piles, pipes, propeller shafts and furnace building to name a few.

According to the study, opportunities also exist in other operational areas like steel probes, mould flux, thermos materials, manufacture and fabrication of structures, conveyor belts and electrical equipment repairs.

The study adds that business opportunities worth Rs 320 crore exist in the area of refractory, Rs 44 crore for cement, Rs 2.5 crore in hydraulic hoses and Rs 4 crore in wire rods. The first phase of Posco India’s project would generate 35,728 labour intensive jobs and another 30,420 technology intensive jobs.

… Aarti Steel has already started its efforts for developing SMEs as ancillaries for its steel plant in the state.

“We have sourced items and spare parts worth Rs 37 crore from 47 local partners till March 2008. Aarti Steel plans to develop two forging units adjacent to its steel plant for the benefit of the local entrepreneurs and we have approached IDCO to provide land for these units”, said a senior official of Aarti Steel.

On its part, the Orissa government plans to incorporate a clause at the MoU (memorandum of understanding) level with the private steel players to ensure that the mother industries will make necessary efforts for development of ancillary and downstream units.

The efforts made by the steel units to develop the ancillary units will be monitored by officials like district collectors and revenue district commissioners.

Steelguru.com gives some specifics of the SME/MSE impact with respect to Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar plant.

BS reported that the 6million tonne per annum greenfield steel project proposed by TATA Steel in Kalinganagar will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore when fully commissioned. These services will be outsourced by the company and are expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises in Orissa.

The services to be outsourced include warehousing, machine shop, electrical repairing shop, fabrication shops, electrodes and lubricant suppliers, waste management, mechanized material handling and hospitality among others. Since the maintenance cost is about 4% of the total investment in steel industry, this is expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises.

Mr B K Singh VP Orissa project of TATA Steel said that "We will invest about INR 30,000 crore in the Kalinganagar project in phases and will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore.”

He added that the group will work towards developing the local entrepreneurs and will provide assistance to anyone who wants to be a partner in TATA Steel’s business. He added that TATA Steel will give the first right of refusal to local industries in the maintenance support services.

Following is from a report in Steelguru.com.

BS reported that Orissa will set up a captive port at Chudamani in Bhadrakh district and an all weather multi user port at Ashtaranga in Puri district. It will sign MoUs with Essel Mining and Industries and Navyug Engineering, respectively for them.

Hyderabad based Navyug plans to invest INR 1,900 crore in the first phase for setting up the port at the mouth of the Devi river. While INR 1,500 crore will be invested for the port, INR 400 crore will be spent on railway connectivity. It will have a cargo handling capacity of 20 million tonnes per annum in the first phase.

Essel Mining will invest INR 1,500 crore to develop a port under a consortium of Aditya Birla Group companies for movement of cement, iron ore, thermal coal, limestone, gypsum, clinker, copper.

According to sources, it will have a cargo handling capacity of 2 million tonnes initially, to be enhanced to 10 million tonnes over a period of time.

A senior official of the state commerce & transport department said that "The chief minister has approved the proposal to sign MoUs with these two companies."

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta group has made substantial headway in land acquisition for its three projects in Orissa which entail a combined investment of over Rs 30,000 crore.

The group needed 11,700 acres for its university at Puri, an alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, and its smelter and power project at Bharkhamunda near Jharsuguda. It has already acquired about 7,515 acres.

The total land needed for the Rs 15,000-crore university is 6,000 acres. The company has to date acquired 3,155 acres and taken possession of 2256.49 acres, which includes 385.15 acres of government land and 1871.34 acres of private land.

… Vedanta Aluminium has acquired the 2,000 acres it needed in Lanjigarh in the economically-backward Kalahandi district for its one-million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA), Rs 4,000-crore alumina refinery. Besides, it has got 80 per cent of the 200 acres needed for a rail corridor for the project.

“About 80 per cent of the 200 acres needed for the railway link has been acquired. We hope to complete the process very soon”, said Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer, Vedanta Aluminium.

In a relief to the company, the Supreme Court recently cleared the diversion of 660.749 hectares of forest land for mining bauxite in Niyamgiri hills in the Kalahandi district.

While the mining plan has been approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines, the company hopes to start operating the mine in the next four-six months. However, it will have to get clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is optimistic about commissioning the first phase of the proposed six MTPA steel mill in Orissa’s Angul district by October 2010.

… Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Jindal said that the work for the first phase of the project was progressing well.

The company had already spent Rs 4,000 crore so far for it and has placed an order for equipment for the purpose.

Of its total project cost of Rs 13,135 crore, JSPL had also spent a lot on land, construction, equipment and other activities, he said.

Jindal said JSPL has a small iron ore mine at Tensa in Keonjhar district and is hopeful of getting raw material linkage to its Angul project. 

We have been allotted coal block for the requirement of our captive power plant and the steel plant, he added.

He said that the company apprised the chief minister about the progress and made a presentation before him, while seeking the state government’s help in availing new raw material linkage early.

The JSPL which signed an MoU with the state government for setting up a beneficiation plant at Deojhar in Keonjhar district and the Angul steel plant on November 11, 2005, had progressed well besides tackling local problems, he said.

Following is from a report in steelguru.

TATA Power Company & Indian Oil Corporation have decided to float a new company for jointly developing a 1,000 MW coal based power project at Paradip in Orissa. The shareholding pattern of the JV would be 74-26 for TPC and IOC, respectively.

As per report, the proposed project is essentially being set up as a captive project to meet the power requirements of IOC’s 15 million tonnes per annum integrated refinery cum petrochemicals complex at Paradip. The plant may also supply power to the proposed steel plant of the TATA group in Orissa as also other industries in and around the Paradip complex.

Under the JV agreement, Indian Oil is committed to source at least 51% power and the surplus generation can be traded by the JV company. The authorized share capital of JVC will be INR.1,200 crore and the capital will be increased to meet the requirement of further investment as and when called for.

Based on a feasibility study carried out by TPC & IOC the tariff for power supply to the Paradip complex has been estimated on annual levelised basis for 25 years operation at INR 2.46 per unit. The levelised power tariff on similar basis for captive generation within Paradip complex has also been assessed jointly with Foster Wheeler which indicates a significantly higher value of over INR 5 per unit.

Following is  from a report in New Indian Express.

The State Government will lease out unused land of Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) at Cuttack, Baripada and here to the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for commercial purpose.

The OSRTC has prime land at Master Canteen, Pala Mandap in Cuttack and Baripada town. The corporation will lease out the Master Canteen land to RIL for 33 years for Rs 20 crore. Reliance has proposed to open retail outlets and has agreed to pay a monthly rental of Rs 15 lakh.

The company has reportedly deposited Rs 6 crore with the Government for the OSRTC land at Baripada town. However, OSRTC will collect monthly rent from RIL for all the leased out plots. Rent will be revised every five years.

The proceeds from leased out land will be invested for procurement of more buses and modernisation of the Government bus stands.

In the first phase, five bus stands at Angul, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Sambalpur will be modernised under the public-private partnership.

While the bus stands of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Sambalpur will be renovated, two new bus stands will be developed at Angul and Dhenkanal.

The public utility has 230 on road buses and plans are afoot to add another 50 to its fleet. The corporation has submitted a proposal to the Government for pay revision of the employees, official sources said.

Following is from Sambada.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.

Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) offers the best rehabilitation package in the state, claimed company sources here recently. The company aims to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment, wherever feasible. The majority of the sites are certified by the international environmental management systems standard ISO 14001. This includes the requirement that environmental impacts are identified. There are ongoing programmes for improvement across key impact areas, they said.

Responding to the critics of its bauxite mining project at Kalahandi, Vedanta officials said that all 120 families that were displaced for the project have got pucca houses with round-the-clock electricity and water supply. Besides one youth from each displaced family has been trained and given a job in the refinery, adding that a total of 2,500 local people have found employment in the refinery project till date. “While about 2000 people had got direct employment at the refinery in Lanjigarh, over 2000 others were getting indirect income generating opportunities,” company sources said.

Vedanta has also started the ‘Sasya Silpa Abhijan’ an initiative of vegetable cultivation, run in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Sustainable Development to give a boost to agriculture in the area. “On an area of 550 acres of land, nearly 500 farmers are participating in the project as partners,” said a senior official. “Although we bear the expenses for irrigation through a diesel pump set by us, yet the training and support provided by Vedanta through this programme has helped us a lot,” said Mr Dinanath Pangi, a farmer.

Vedanta also offers various self-employment schemes for residents of the villages nearby and especially for the womenfolk. Women self-help-groups have been started under public-private partnership in collaboration with the district health department on the Swastha Parivar project. In a bid to widen its corporate social responsibility, the Vedanta group has also adopted 400 Anganwadi centres in Kalahandi district and will look after more than 40,000 children in some of the state’s most backward areas.

“Vedanta has signed an MoU with the state government and the Sterlite Foundation for the adoptions,” said Vedanta group spokesman Mr CV Krishnan. “As a part of the arrangement, every pre-school child aged between three and six years will be provided a cooked meal of 300 calories at noon. The company will also look after the health of the children through regular check ups and medicines,” he added.

He further said that the company is also undertaking the beautification of the Anganwadis by erecting green boundaries, whitewashing buildings and providing see-saws and slides for the children. Furthermore incentives are being provided to Anganwadi workers. While Anganwadi workers receive Rs 250 per month, each helper is given Rs 150 extra by the company. “The same exercise will also be replicated in Jharsuguda,” Mr Krishnan said. The total expenditure on child welfare activities in the two districts will be over Rs 15 crore, company officials revealed In order to ensure that everything goes as per plan, the process will be reviewed by a committee headed by the district collector, the local MLA and the chairman of panchayat samity, they said.

Mr Krishnan said that Vedanta further aims to improve the electricity network, construct roads and develop better educational and healthcare facilities.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The rural BPO centre will be established by the Tata Business Support Services (TBSS) — the BPO wing and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons — in partnership with Tata Steel Rural Development Society — a corporate NGO managed by the Tata Group for the last 60 years. To start with, it is expected to employ around 200 people.

Sources close to the development said the company has already recruited the first batch of the executives for the BPO unit, who are expected to undergo two months of training at TBSS’ headquarters in Hyderabad. TBSS has developed a specialised training programme in view the fact that most of the new recruits are not computer literate. It currently operates three rural BPO units that employ around 500 people in all.

A spokesperson from Hyderabad-headquartered TBSS confirmed the move. A senior official of the Tata group said the company was looking for graduates and under-graduates with some knowledge of English.

The centre aims at handling the Orissa region front-end and customer support works of group companies including Tata Teleservices and Tata Sky. The BPO unit will also provide services to other firms who have substantial operations in Orissa.

“Opening the BPO unit in Kalinganagar will provide us access to many educated but unemployed youths in semi-urban areas like Jajpur Road and Duburi which have a number of colleges and educational institutions in and around. The education level among the masses in these areas is comparatively high and the aspirations level of the local people is also very high,”said a Tata group executive in charge of human resources development.

“Although most youths in these areas are interested in higher-end and computer-related jobs, there were no opportunity in these places,” the executive added.

The group will initially run the BPO unit in the transit houses and rehabilitation set-up established by the company in Kalinganagar, before moving into a dedicated building in next few months. The centre will start as a voice-based BPO with focus on Bengali, Hindi and English languages other than Oriya.

See details at http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1866. Following is an excerpt.

The meeting with the Chief Minister of Orissa on Thursday turned sour, when his company Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) was blamed for the delay.

A senior mandarin in charge of a crucial regulatory department charged Mr.Birla of creating hurdle for him self.

“I take strong exception to it”, retorted Mr.Kumar Mmangalam.

But the no nonsense officer was clearly in no mood to relent.

He said that "the fact is fact and some body should call spade a spade".

The senior mandarin charged UAIL of turning pro-industry people as anti-industry in the area.

He said after 2004, UAIL take over by A V Birla Group, it has only erected a boundary wall and now asking for moon without doing any thing.

A V Birla Group is asking for more bauxite mines and coal linkage for their group.

… UAIL’s Managing Director Debu Bhattacharya was seen fuming over the allegations hurled against them in front of the Chief Minister.

But they were undone and agreed to go for value addition by setting up a smelter plant to use the alumina.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

Essar Group has acquired 1300 acres, out of the required 1960 acres, for its six million tonne steel project in Orissa. The company had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2005 with the state government to set up a steel plant along with facilities for making iron ore pellet and transporting iron ore slurry through dedicated pipeline from Barbil sector to Paradip.

Essar is investing Rs 15000 crore for the project. It includes an iron ore pellet plant and setting up of a slurry pipeline. The company’s Bailadilla-Vizag slurry pipleline also passes through the state.

Essar Group chairman SK Ruia expressed his satisfaction over the progress of the project.

… Mehera told reporters the work for the slurry pipeline and the pellet project has been started. Equipment supply orders for the projects have been placed with South Korean and German Companies. 

This project does not seem to be much beneficial to Orissa as making pellets, transporting them and selling them is almost like exporting ores.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest business houses of the country having interests in sectors like aluminium, telecom, cement, textiles, fertiliser, mining, retail, finance and insurance plans to invest about Rs 75,000 - 80,000 crore in Orissa.

The proposed amount will be invested in sectors like aluminium,cement, telecom and retail sectors in the state over next few years.

… Birla, who was here to discuss some project related issues with the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, the company also intends to launch its retail business in Orissa as part of its national roll out plan. It will be launched within the next 6 months.

… Stating that the projects are proceeding well, he said, the company is committed to a lot of social work like setting up ITIs and health centres at the project sites.

… Regarding the resistance of the local people to the alumina refinery project Utkal Alumina at Raygada, the group chairman said, a lot of projects are facing the same problem. The company has sought the state government’s intervention in resolving the issue.

He said, ABG took over the company four years ago from Alcan Inc and the company has complied with the rehabilitation and resettlemnet (R& R) package given to it. He, however, was non-commital about any additional package for the project affected people.

" We can not commit on the new package. As long as there is reasonable settlement we will be happy", he pointed out.

Regarding the possibility of investing in the port sector of the state, Birla said, the company is persuing the matter with the Orissa government and is expecting a positive outcome.

It may be noted, Essel Mining, a group company of the ABG had earlier proposed the state government to set up a port at Chudamani. However, the state government had not accepted its proposal.

The major projects of the group in Orissa include Utkal Alumina refinery at Raygada, Hindalco’s alumina smelter and power plant at Sambalpur and 3.5 million tonne per annum cement plant in Sundergarh district.

Following is an excerpt from a report in sify.com. (This report is reasonable; the tall claims about making Naraj like Jamshedpur is reported in Sambada, which is given at the end of the excerpt.)

Optimistic about completion of land acquisition for its 1,000 MW power plant near Cuttack in five months, Tata Power has allayed fears that it may cause air, water and noise pollution and said the thermal unit would adopt latest environmental safety technology.

"We expect the whole process of land acquisition for the Naraj Marthapur coal-based power project to be completed by October, this year," Project Director (eastern region) of Tata Power, Praveer Sinha said.

Maintaining that the company was for fair and just compensation for land, structures and trees, Sinha, who visited the proposed plant site with other company officials, said price for land would be settled through ‘direct win-win negotiations with sellers’.

Rates offered would be higher than benchmark rates fixed by Orissa government, Sinha and other company officials pointed out, adding most advanced technologies would be used in the Rs 5,000-crore project to minimise plant emission.

… Ruling out any adverse impact on the air quality of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar due to the plant, he said water spraying would be undertaken in coal yard area to suppress the dust, while high efficiency electrostatic precipitator would be installed for removal of fly as from the flue gas.

"All these measures would keep emission of ash and coal dust to well below the statutory norms," a senior official at Tata Power’s Jamshedpur plant said, adding flue gas would be released through 275 metre tall stack, three times taller than Qutub Minar.

Explaining the steps to check water pollution, Sinha said fly ash generated from the plant would be stored within the plant premises and it would not be dumped into Mahanadi river or Puri canal.

Fly ash, said another senior executive, would be directly utilised by the cement industry, brick manufacturing, road and pavement construction, fertilisers and for bund preparation in farms. "Therefore, the quality of water in Puri canal or Mahanadi river or Puri canal will not be affected and will not impact marine life at all," he said.

Similarly, he said waste water generated from the plant would be reused within the plant and discharge, if any, was likely to take place only during rainy season when excess water is available.

"Such water will be discharged only after treatment of effluents and its quality will comply with the applicable effluents standards," he said.

Sinha said steps would be taken to ensure that no pollutant material is discharged into the river. Ash would not pollute ground water due to impervious lining of the ash pond into which the ash would be disposed.

Ruling out noise pollution due to the power unit, company officials also made it clear that the machinery and equipment would meet all the national standards of noise limits.

Further, thick green belt would be developed around the project site to minimise the impacts of noise created by transport of coal by railways. Around two lakh trees would be planted in the green belt to absorb dust and noise.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pioneer.

Vedanta Aluminium Limited signed an MoU with the Apollo Health & Life Style Limited on Tuesday to open two units of The Apollo Clinics at Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda.

The MoU was signed at the Vedanta office in Bhubaneswar by M Siddiqi, Director and CEO, Aluminium Sector, Vedanta Group, and Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health & Life Style Ltd, in the presence of Vedanta Aluminium CFO Virendra Agrawal, GM and Head, PR & CSR, Prashanta Hota and other officials form both sides.

The MoU deals with the establishment and management of the two well-equipped Apollo Clinics, which would be fully supported by Vedanta Aluminium. Funded fully by Vedanta, the two units have accepted the responsibility of recruiting doctors, providing all kinds of diagnostic facilities, specialist treatment, extending other modern healthcare facilities and running the clinics at both locations.

Involving a total investment of about Rs 5 crore, the day-to-day operations would also be fully funded by Vedanta.

Besides rendering quality healthcare services to the project-impacted people and employees of Vedanta Aluminium and their dependents, the clinics would be running a Sick Bay Unit in the plant premises and regularly conduct Outreach Programmes in the periphery villages.

Following is excerpted from a report in tathya.in. The various projects that were cleared are:

• A 12 MTPA Greenfield steel mill at Astaranga in Puri district by Navayug Steels Limited with an investment of Rs.34,000 crore. Linkage for iron ore has not been covered in the proposed mega project. The Navayug Group is setting up a port in Astaranga with an investment of Rs.6000 crore and a 2640 mw mega thermal power plant with an investment of Rs.11200 crore in Astaranga.
• Bhusan Steels Limited (BSL), which is setting up a 3.10 MTPA steel mill in Meramundali in Dhenkanal was allowed to expand it’s capacity to produce 9 mtpa with an additional investment of Rs.20,804 crore.
• Reliable Sponge’s proposal to set up a 0.25 MTPA steel plant along with a 24 mw captive power plant having a total investment of Rs.227.13 crore was cleared by the Authority.
• Emami Paper Mills Limited (EPML) proposal for a 1.32 lakh ton per annum Newsprint unit along with a co-generation power plant for an investment of Rs.500 crore was cleared.  EPML has established a paper mill at Balasore in 1982 and the new plant will come up in the same area. 
• Purvi Bharat Paper & Power (PBPP) has proposed for a 33,000 TPA writing & printing paper mill at Choudwar in Cuttack district with an investment of Rs.90.50 crore.
• The proposal to set up 5 mw solar park near Bhubaneswar with an investment of Rs.125 crore by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) received clearance of the Authority.
• In total, the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) on 17 March cleared the proposed investment of Rs.55,650 crore in 6 projects.