Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Only Gajapati in Orissa among the 127 centrally declared minority districts: they get 16 crores per year

Gajapati, Minority district program, RURAL & SPECIAL PROGRAMS, Uncategorized Comments Off on Only Gajapati in Orissa among the 127 centrally declared minority districts: they get 16 crores per year

Samaja reports on this is as follows. Central government should, if they don’t have one yet, have a similar scheme for tribal districts.

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Orissa may get largest nuclear power plant in the country

INDUSTRY and INFRASTRUCTURE, Nuclear, POWER: generation, distribution, and management, Uncategorized Comments Off on Orissa may get largest nuclear power plant in the country

Hindustan Times reported that,

the Orissa government is examining a proposal from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a 4,000 to 6,000-megawatt capacity nuclear power plant, which could be the largest in the country, which today has a total nuclear power generation capacity of only 4,120 MW.

The project is being proposed in the wake of the US government’s offer of technology under the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

“The NPCIL made their initial selection of the site based on satellite images,” Orissa Energy Minister Suryanarayan Patro told Hindustan Times on Monday.

A nine-member committee of NPCIL had visited Bhadrak and Ganjam districts for site selection and had finally selected Pati Sonapur in Chikiti Block of Ganjam,he said “They have asked the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation to drill six deep borewells as part of their investigations,” he said.     

Some updates on Road projects using PPP

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The daily pioneer reports that some more road projects have been finalised.
They are as follows.

  • Sambalpur-Rourkela – 165 km
  • Joda-Bamebari – 18 km
  • Koira-Rajamunda – 46 km
  • Nirgundi-Kurundamal (Kaipadar) – 98 km – This is expected to act as a decongestor for the regular Cuttack Bhubaneswar line. I find this as a sign of good planning.
  • It has been conceptualised to link Paradip Port directly from Bhubaneswar with a 93.5-km road at an estimated cost of Rs 562 crore
  • Suakati to Dubuna in Keonjhar district comprising 56 km is to be upgraded using PPP.
  • Palaspanga -Bamebari SH road – 28 km under the Keonjhar Infrastructure Development Company for 48 crores
  • Nayagarh- Khandapara road
  • Nayagarh-Odagaon-Nalubhal
  • Circular road in Angul town
  • Gania- Kantilo road
  • Saintala- Tikarapada – Kantabanjhi road
  • The Centre has approved the improvement of Naranpur-Pandapara-Harichandanpur-Brahmanipal-Duburi road under EIS at a cost of Rs 302 crore during 2007-08.
  • Jagatpur-Kendrapara-Chandbali-Bhadrak-Anandpur-Karanjia- ashipur
  • Berhmapur-JK Pur
  • Kerada-Rayagada-Muniguda- Bhawanipata-Khariar
  • Aska-Bhanjanagar-Daspalla
  • Daspalla-Banarpal

Some news on Vijayawada-Ranchi NH

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New Indian express reports that the CM wants assistance from the Rural development ministry for this project. It maybe noted the Mr. Subhas Pani who was the chief secretary in Orissa earlier has joined the rural development ministry as a secretary now.

Tathya had reported this news some time back.

Excerpts :

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sought financial assistance from the Rural Development Ministry for construction of the proposed Vijayawada-Ranchi road.

Naveen met Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday before returning here. According to a release issued here, the Union Minister promised all support for the project.

The Chief Minister also requested the Minister that selection of Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) beneficiaries should be done on the basis of the 1997 below poverty line (BPL) list as the new list is yet to be finalised.

Filing RTI in the USA

Uncategorized Comments Off on Filing RTI in the USA

The news item mentions that one can now file RTI in the US. The exact steps are given in the site http://rti.aidindia.org/content/view/263/78/ which we reproduce below.

1. Make the application:

All you need is one plain sheet of paper. You can type or hand-write your application with all the questions you want to ask, Address it to the PIO and sign underneath [yeah, that is all]. You can ask multiple question in same application. Please look at some sample applications

Few things to note:

Mention that you are exercising your right under RTI 2005
Frame the questions to best of your understanding as “precise” answers depend on precise questions.

2. Attach personal check for 24 Cents [equivalent to Rs. 10] and mention in your application that you have attached it. Checks should be made in favor of ” Embassy of India, Washington DC”.

3. Attach your passport first page copy(this is proof that you’re an Indian Citizen)

4. In the application give your return address where they can respond (including email)

5. Send the application and the check attached to:

The Public Information Officer,
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
USA – 20008
Contact: Mr. George Kutty – georgek@indiagov.org

New Flyover at Cuttack

Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Roads, highways and Bus stands, Uncategorized 1 Comment »

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

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

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

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

Progress on the Ranchi-Vijaywada highway zig-zagging through 1219 kms of Orissa

Angul, Balangir, Bouda, BRGF: Backward districts program, Central grants, Deogarh, Extremist infested districts program, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamala, KBK Plus district cluster, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Uncategorized, Vijaywada-Ranchi highway 2 Comments »

Anubhuti Bishnoi in Indian Express reports on the progress towards making a 2-lane Ranchi-Vijaywada highway zig-zagging through 1219 kms of Orissa and passing though most of its tribal districts, many of which are naxalite infested. The article has a nice map showing which towns the road will pass through in Orissa. Following are some excerpts from that article. (Thanks to Manoj Sahu in Africa for mentioning this article in Agami Orissa.)

At a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways was asked to expedite finalisation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor cutting through Orissa, and take it up on a priority basis. … Around 1,219 km of the 1,729-km corridor planned between Vijayawada and Ranchi will fall in Orissa, and the state government had requested that its state highways, district and rural roads be incorporated in the corridor. Now 235.8 km of national highway sections, 878 km of state high ways and 104.5 km of rural roads will be a part of the corridor. The road from Vijayawada enters Orissa at Motu in Malkangiri district and leaves at Tiring in Mayurbhanj district on the north. … While the Ministry may not call the stretch NH as yet, with the Prime Minister taking a keen interest, it is set to be developed as per national highway standards. What that means is that tribal areas of Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Anugul, Sambalpur, Deograh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Boudh, currently insurgency hotbeds, may emerge out of the hinterlands. Confirming that the project had been put on the fast track, a senior Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways official said: “The DPR of the corridor is underway and should be ready in six-seven months.”

Note: As mentioned by Digambara a map of the route is at http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=592. I removed the faulty map that Indian Express printed.

The Bhubaneswar metropolitan area and its lungs

Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Bhubaneswar-Berhampur, Cuttack, Khordha, National Parks and Sanctuaries, TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT and SHOPPING, Uncategorized 2 Comments »

Many may not know that to the west of Bhubaneswar lies the Chandaka widlife sanctuary with varieties of flora and fauna. This sanctuary is considered as the lungs of Bhubaneswar. Today’s New Indian Express has an article about this. Following are some excerpts.

The sanctuary is perhaps among the few in the country which boasts of a treasure trove of flora and fauna excepting the royal Bengal tiger. The coastal range of sal forests also end here with an intimate mix of evergreen and deciduous elements.

According to divisional forest officer (DFO) Akshaya Kumar Pattanaik, though elephant is the flagship species, two types of monkeys, three deer species and three other herbivores, nine types of carnivores including the panther, two types of civets, tree shrew and pangolins are spotted.

Also the sanctuary is home to 21 types of snakes, 16 lizards, one species of turtle and marsh crocodile. The avian types include 174 with 10 species of water fowl and waders, seven ground nesters, seven raptors and 17 song birds.

The elephant population (65 in 2006 census) is seen in group sizes of 18, 13, 8, 7, 5 and 4. Even joining of three or four family groups were also observed aggregating to a herd size of 38 at Bharatpur in the past.

Orissa tourism has a nice page on Chandaka. Following is a map of Chandaka from that site.

ICICI Bank Regional hub in Bhubaneswar: to employ 15,000 eventually

Banks, Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, ICICI, Khordha, Uncategorized 1 Comment »

Tathya reports that ICICI Bank will sign an MOU with Orissa government to set up a call center and back office operation for banking and insurance. This center to be located in Infocity will eventually hire 15,000 graduates from normal colleges. In terms of the number of people they will hire, this is a big deal; much bigger than the overhyped POSCO or Mittal deals. ICICI Bank will not use our mines; will not pollute our atmosphere; will not displace people; and will only need 12 acres and yet will hire 15,000 people. Orissa should be going after more such companies and less of the metal and mining kind.

Notes: