___________

As per their 2010 placement brochure, NIT Rourkela has 675 acres and following some high court order would be expanding by adding another 400 acres. The following Samaja article talks about that expansion.

It is great that this discussion came up at the Chief Secretary level. With stability at that position for next several years pursuing a comprehensive development agenda for Rourkela with him could work well. Some of the issues that should be pursued with him include:

• Medical Colleges (ESIC, SAIL)
• University (a comprehensive metropolitan university with all branches)
• A national level sports or physical education institute or university (upgrade existing sports academies)
• Airport
• Raiway issues (world class station, Division HQ, Talcher-Bimlagarh line; more trains)
• Declaring greater Rourkela as a municipal corporation
• Public transport inside Rourkela
• Enticing IT/BPO industries to take advantage of the cosmopolitan demography to set shop there; Development of IT parks.
• Encouraging various companies in RKL to further contribute with respect to HRD (SAIL medical and Engineering College, etc.)

Please suggest more.

We discussed this earlier in greater length at http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3480. See also http://www.orissa2020.org/home/area-wise-plan.

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

The Empowered Committee on Infrastructure (ECI), chaired by Chief Secretary has decided to run water sports facilities at Rambha, Barkul and Satapada in Chilka lake and in Ramchandi, Nua Nai, Tampara, Jhumuka, Naraj, Hirakud, Deras, Derjang, Bhanjnagar, Upper Kolab, Upper Jonk and Pitamahal.

… To start cruise, house boat and other water sports facilities in the above locations, it was decided to rope in private players on PPP Mode.

Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) will be implementing the project and Department of Tourism will provide onsite infrastructure.

The developer will provide boats and other sporting equipments and operate and manage the facilities.

… The ECI has decided to invite bidders for development of water sports in the above places.

Recently the leading Seashore Group has started water sports facilities in Mahanadi, which has attracted great attention of the tourists.

Tourists are flocking to avail the facilities, said Prashant K Dash, Chairman of Seashore Group.

Experts feel that to start with two main places for the dare-devils of the water are Chilka and Dhabaleswar.

Barkul, Rambha, Balugaon and Satpada are the bases for visiting Chilika, where water sports can be developed in a big way.

Similarly Dhabaleswar in Cuttack also provide an excellent opportunity to enjoy water sports, feel experts.

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

The meeting decided to hand over 9 properties of the State Tourism for renovation by the private players and it was decided that these properties would be offered to these highest bidding private players on a long-term lease of 30 years.

… These properties at Kapilas, Daringibadi, Dhabaleswar, Patharajpur, Sunabeda, Rameswar, Jaipur, Ramachandi and Aradi are to be handed over to highest bidders, ECI decided.

DOT will go for fresh tender for Ratnagiri, Nrusinghnath, Bangiriposi and Sohela, where offers were found less attractive.

The Government will also go for fresh tenders for 17 properties which failed to attract any bidder in the tendering process held earlier.

Another 10 properties will be included in the new bidding process to attract private players, said sources.

These properties include Panthashala, Panthika and Wayside Amenities Centre (WAC) in various tourist centres of the state.

With the help of these private players the properties will be given a face lift which has been rendered decrepit due to want of maintenance.

While the State Government will continue to hold the ownership of such properties, the onus will be on the private players to refurbish and maintain them.

The renovation of the properties is being done on the public private partnership (PPP) mode.

The private players, who will refurbish and maintain the properties, will give us an upfront payment besides paying the usual annual royalty”, said Mr.Tripathy.

A 3-Star hotel and a Convention Centre will be developed at Puri on PPP mode, where the DOT has 2 acres of land as Puri is the most important destination of the state.

And Puri has the potential to be developed to a Meeting Incentive Convention Exhibition Destination (MICE), said Principal Secretary Mr.Tripathy.

With more and more BPUT operations moving to Rourkela (thanks to http://rourkelacity.com for the pointer) there could be some huge positives, but not one that people normally think as BPUT’s academic programs in Rourkela will not be better than the programs at NIT Rourkela. But there would be definitely more seats; so that would be good. But the biggest positives would be with respect to connectivity.

In particular, the connectivity between Rourkela and the rest of Odisha, especially the Bhubaneswar area, would improve. Currently not enough attention is being paid to that.

For example, the Talcher-Bimlagarh line will significantly shorten the distance between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. The distance between them will become 308 kms: BBS-Talcher (114) + Talcher-Bimlagarh(154) + Bimlagarh-Rourkela(40). Currently the shortest distance is 419 kms. Once Talcher-Bimlagarh line is completed one could travel between BBS and ROU in about 5 hours. That would mean one could take a train from one place at 6 and reach the other at 11. Currently the BBS-ROU intercity takes 7hrs 30 minutes one way and 7hs 55 minutes the other way. On the other hand the BBS-SBP takes between 4:40 to 4:50 minutes in the two intercities (BBS-BLGR and SBP-Puri).

So lets hope that the inconvenience caused by having many BPUT operations from Rourkela will lead to people demanding speeding up of the completion of the Talcher-Bimlagarh line and perhaps even the start of shuttle flights between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

Another positive would be that more private colleges (not now but in few years when the demand picks up again) may come up close to Rourkela and the frequent travel by college heads to Rourkela could give them ideas to develop the travel corridor in many ways.

So although the convenience argument is often used by many (including me) to support some BPUT operations in Bhubaneswar, where most of the BPUT colleges are, perhaps for the greater and longer term good some inconvenience in the short term can be accepted.

Bringing Rourkela and Bhubaneswar closer (in travel time as well as in people’s mind) would be a big plus for Odisha.

Lets work on operationalizing Talcher-Bimlagarh line in 3-5 years!

Following is an excerpt from a report in mainichi.jp.

Toyota Tsusho Corp. will set up a refining plant in India for rare earth minerals used in hybrid car motors in a bid to diversify supply sources, company officials said Friday.

The Nagoya-based trading house will start building the plant in India’s eastern state of Orissa possibly by the end of this year.

The refinery is expected to go on line next autumn with an annual capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 tons of mineral ores, including neodymium, for export to Japan, they said.

… Rare earths consist of 17 elements such as neodymium, dysprosium and cerium, and are used in the production of high-tech products such as cellphones, digital cameras, flat-panel televisions and hybrid vehicles.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

India’s first low-cost hospital will be up and running in Mysore early next year.

These state-of-the art hospitals will be built at a cost of Rs 16 crore, about one-fifth the cost of constructing a 300-bed super-speciality hospital.

The brainchild of renowned cardio-surgeon Dr Devi Shetty, this unique hospital will be piloted in Mysore and then in Siliguri (West Bengal) and Bhubaneswar (Orissa). The Union health ministry has evinced interest in the project.

… Narayana Hrudayalaya has tied up with Larsen & Toubro to execute the Mysore project which uses pre-fabricated material transported from Puducherry. The general wards will receive daylight to the desired levels. Only the OT complex and pre/post operation and ICU areas will have a conventional concrete structure.

"Most hospitals today have huge vertical structures with heavy airconditioning. The best sanitiser for hospital is sunlight and fresh air. We don’t want patients to feel intimidated by the hospital. Besides having the best medical facilities, we’ll allow one family member to provide moral support to patients," Dr Shetty said.

In this chain of hospitals, heart surgeries will be performed for Rs 50,000 (compared to Rs 2 lakh or more depending on degree of complications) and other surgeries like gall bladder and hernia will cost between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000.

While hospitals in Mysore, Bhubaneshwar and Siliguri will come up on land given at subsidized rates by the respective state governments, other hospitals will come up on the public private partnership model. "We haven’t come up with a name yet of these hospitals," Dr Shetty said

Following is an excerpt from http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=9394&sid=1.

Bhubaneswar-based BRM Group plans to open more boutique hotels in Orissa including Bhubaneswar and Puri. The Group will spend Rs 100 crore for both the properties, which are scheduled to open by the end of this year. The hotel in Bhubaneswar will have 35 rooms, while the Puri hotel will have 40 rooms. Recently, the Group has launched their first hotel in Cuttack named as Hotel Triple C.

According to Dr Biswajit Mohanty, Chairman, BRM Group, the Group will become a 120-key hotel chain by the end of 2011. … The Group also plans to go out of Orissa to destinations like Darjeeling, Goa, in future.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.

… the government has approved the creation of two new forward naval bases at Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) and Paradip (Orissa), and has accorded priority to the creation of operational infrastructure on the islands of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep.

The decision was announced by Defence Minister A K Antony at the Naval Commanders’ Conference here on Wednesday.

The two new bases, which will have facilities to refuel and service naval vessels as well as stocking of ammunition, will be created over the next two years. The Navy will use them for operating smaller vessels. While a decision has not yet been taken to permanently deploy warships at the new bases, with several new vessels on order, the ports will be used for future operations of the expanded fleet.

Communication stations will also be set up at the two bases.

Update: Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

Source said, the centre may come up at Baliapal, nearly 30 km from Balasore, where government buildings built at the cost of Rs 4.5 crore during the late 80s are lying unutilised. Last year an experts’ team from CIPET had visited the spot and submited a report to the government. The infrastructure has been built on around 150 acres of land under the rehabilitation package during the proposed National Test Range (NTR) which was stalled in 1992 due to vehement opposition.

Following is from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66602.

Plastics have become the key drivers of innovation and application development. Plastics processing or product manufacturing industries is evincing increased competition worldwide due to globalization of the plastics trade. In the prevailing scenario of liberalization, an obvious preference goes to global supplier, who can deliver the qualitative products at any location within stipulated time frame across the globe. Due to globalization of trade and cost pressure, plastics industry in Indian context is looking forward to exploit the opportunities available in the export as well as domestic market. This would facilitate establishment of large-scale production facilities and processing plants to cater to the requirements of user industry.

Around 70% of the plastics industries of Orissa are situated in and around Balasore. It is also envisioned that during the end of XI Five Year Plan, around 100 more plastics processing industries are expected to be established. Establishment of Plastic Park and the upcoming Plastics Processing Industries in and around Balasore will boost the requirement of well trained technical manpower for the Plastics Industry. 

The raw materials availability for the plastic industries in Balasore can further be increased to ensure sustainable development as one petrochemical complex is coming up at Paradeep (to be developed by IOC). 

Balasore is also an industrially developed district, two sea ports are coming up near Dhamra and Chudamani. With the constant efforts of the local Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Srikant Kumar Jena, it has been decided to set up an Advanced Plastic Processing Technology Centre (APPTC) at Balasore to meet the increasing requirements of the trained technical manpower for the plastic industry. Establishing APPTC – a Unit of CIPET Bhubaneswar will not only result in fulfilling the requirement of additional skilled Technical Manpower in the area of Plastics Processing but also will facilitate in rendering the Technology Support Services. 

APPTC will fill up the demand & supply gap of skilled manpower of the processing industry in the Eastern region of the country by conducting long-term & short-term training programs in the areas of Plastics Processing Technologies. 

The Planning Commission has approved the establishment of APPTC in Balasore at a total project cost of Rs.1500 lacs. CIPET Corporate at Chennai would be the Apex Body directing and controlling the project activities as per the directives of Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Government of India. The State Government of Odisha has also agreed to share 50% of its cost and provide land for setting up of APPTC at Balasore. 

Benefits of Establishing the APPTC at Balasore: 

• During the first year of its establishment, the centre is expected to train & develop around 150 students in the field of plastic processing through long-term academic programmes and around 100 participants through short duration training programmes in the areas of plastic processing technology. 

• Once the APPTC become full-fledged, the total intake of the students for long term courses will be 480 for three long term courses. In addition, the APPTC will also train 250 technical personnel from plastic industry every year through short term technology upgradation programmes. 

• The APPTC centre at Balasore will also play a catalytic role in providing technology support services to the plastic & allied industries in around Balasore where a Plastic Park is being planned. Further, it is expected that more than 150 plastics processing / allied industries are likely to be started. This will boost the skilled manpower requirement in the area of plastics processing. In addition, as Balasore is well connected with other parts of the State and also the neighbouring States, the industries located at these places will also utilize the services of Balasore Plastics Park. 

The dream of establishing a dedicated specialized centre on “Advanced Plastic Processing Technology Centre – (APPTC)” at Balasore, Orissa – a unit of CIPET, Bhubaneswar at Balasore has become a reality mainly on account of constant persuasion and sustained efforts made by Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers. 

DNM/PKM

This is good. But the publicity is somewhat disproportional with respect to only a 15 crore project out of which the state is responsible for 50%. Other central ministers get much more for their states. Some recent examples are:

• Mamata Banerjee’s gifts to W. Bengal with respect to Railways and metro.

• W. Bengal minister’s support to get approval of 500+ crores for converting BESU to IIEST.
• Recent attempts by Pranab Mukherjee to get 500 crores for IIT Kharagpur expansion.

Earlier we posted the author’s article in English. This is for the benefit of Odia readers.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) today said its Rs 29,777-crore Paradip refinery in Orissa will be commissioned by March 2012 and will cater to domestic market rather than exports as previous thought, due to rise in fuel demand at home.

…The refinery will produce 5.97 million tons of diesel, 3.4 million tons of petrol, 1.45 million tons of kerosene/ATF, 536,000 tons of LPG, 124,000 tons of naphtha and 335,000 tons of sulphur, all of which will be for sale in domestic market.

Some of 200,000 tons of propylene to be produced by the unit may be exported, he said.

Bankapur said the refinery will start producing fuel by March 2012 when it will commission the primary units like Crude Distillation Unit. Secondary units will be commissioned by July, 2012, and operations stabilised by November, 2012.

Besides the Rs 29,777 crore cost of refinery, the Paradip project also includes a Rs 1,793 crore pipeline to Raipur and Ranchi. The 1,100 km pipeline will carry fuel produced in the unit to consumers in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Besides, a marketing terminal at the cost of Rs 414 crore is also being built.

IOC may take companies like Saudi Aramco and Kuwait Petroleum as equity partner in the Paradip refinery if they agree to supply most of the crude oil requirement of the 15 million tons unit.

The company wants someone who can commit long-term crude supply as equity partner but so far nothing has materalised.

IOC had last year signed a loan agreement with a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India for term loan of Rs 14,900 crore for the project.

Bankapur said the company had some time back split the refinery-cum-petrochemical complex into two, deciding to complete the refinery first and follow with the chemical unit.

The feasibility of setting up the petrochem complex will be studied in next 3-4 months, he said.

The Paradip refinery is being configured to process the toughest, heaviest and the dirtiest crudes which are cheaper than the cleaner and easier varieties.

The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 13, the highest in the world.

Following is from a PTI report in http://www.smartinvestor.in/market/Marketnews-45973-Marketnewsdet-Tata_Steel_project_to_come_upinOrissaby_2014.htm.

Tata Steel is optimistic about operating its proposed industrial park project at Gopalpur in Orissa’s Ganjam district and commissioning the steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district by 2014.

The company gave this assurance to the state government today when Tata Steel’s Managing Director H M Nerurkar met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a review meeting on the proposed industrial park at Gopalpur.

"We will be able to operate the industrial park at Gopalpur by March 2013 and commission first phase (3 mtpa) of the steel plant at Kalinga Nagar by March 2014," Nerurkar told reporters after meeting the chief minister.

Stating that work on both the projects is going on smoothly, the Tata Steel MD said that a peaceful industrial environment was gradually being established at Kalinga Nagar where the company’s proposed 6mtpa steel plant was being set up.

Though the company had signed MoU to set up a 6mtpa greenfield steel factory at an investment of Rs 15,600 crore in 2004, the project could not meet the deadline of 2010 due to opposition from the local people.

However, now the new commissioning target was March 2014, Nerurkar said, adding that the company had so far invested Rs 1,500 crore in the steel plant project. Tata Steel has also placed equipment orders worth Rs 6,300 crore and some machinery had reached the project site.

About 60 per cent of the land at Kalinga Nagar industrial complex had been acquired so far, Nerurkar said.

Referring to the Industrial Park, the foundation stone of which was laid by the Chief Minister on August 20 earlier, Nerurkar said that construction of the boundary wall work was going on smoothly.

The industrial park is expected to attract investment of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore and generate employment for about 10,000 people, company sources said, adding Tata Steel would invest Rs 1,000 crore in the project.

The proposed Industrial Park includes a 50,000-TPA ferro chrome plant and 400,000-TPA rebar steel mill. Both the units were expected to generate employment opportunities for more than 1,000 people.

The park will primarily attract investments in steel and allied downstream industries, engineering, chemicals and other emerging sectors.

The company which had initially acquired land for setting up a steel plant in mid 90s, however, scrapped the project due to non-availability of water for the purpose.

Tata Steel would use techniques to use sea water by desaliation besides designing rainwater harvesting and 100 per cent recycling.

Tata Steel group is investing Rs 35,000 crore in the steel, ferro alloys, port, power and other sectors in Orissa.

Following is from http://dailypioneer.com/290501/Why-I-would-prefer-a-captive-port-for-Posco-steel-project.html.

Getting into the port town of Paradip after the ordeal of a tiring long journey from Cuttack on the State Highway is refreshing; sweeter than reaching an oasis after a long wandering in a vast desert depicting inertia and obscurantism. The experience of the musical fountain in a well-nurtured garden, the sight of a modest golf course, the neat avenues and bountiful hospitality linger on for long. The port has been expanding. Whereas the port handled 30 million tonnes (MT) of cargo in 2004-05, it handled an impressive 57 MT in 2009-10. This is the port I had served as chairman for five years, many years ago.

Many incidents surface in my memory — the removal of the two sunken dredgers close to the entrance channel of the port; the visit of the chairman of Indian Oil Corporation for setting up a refinery. Then, the Posco team’s visit for setting up a steel plant at the port town and Chief Minister Biju Patnaik’s long discussion on the issue with the visiting Koreans at the port guesthouse. At the guesthouse, one finds the foundation stone for the port with the prophetic description of the birth of the port ‘as yet another national adventure’ by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

History is perhaps going to repeat itself. We are likely to see yet another national adventure on the coast, about 10 km south of the Paradip lighthouse. Should this happen, India’s east coast would have the most modern captive port at Jatadhari that would handle vessels of 170,000—220,000 DWT. The port would have facilities for handling smaller vessels as well. This port would be coming up at a time when the country is in great need to increase port capacity to bridge a huge anticipated capacity-gap of around 250 MT for dry cargo by 2013. On any given day, about 150 ships are waiting at anchorage in Indian waters. This amounts to an annual loss of `2,400 crore. Kandla Port handled the highest traffic in 2009-10 with 79.52 MT, and all the Major Ports handled 561 MT during the year. Share of traffic of the non-major ports has been increasing. It has risen to 206 MT in 2009-10 representing 37.5 per cent of the traffic of Major Ports.

The port sector, however, has to do much more. India’s Shipping Minister recently announced plans to triple capacity in the next 10 years so that India’s total capacity is boosted to 3,200 MT. Therefore, pace of entry of private players into the port sector has to gain momentum. Pipavav, Mundra, Krishnapatnam and Dahija are successful ports developed though private investment. Private developers would also be creating new ports at Dighi and Rewas (Maharashtra), Vizhinjam (Kerala), Kalpi (West Bengal), Gopalpur and Dhamra (Odisha). Private investments have also been made in different terminals of Major Ports like JNPT, Cochin, Haldia, Vizag, Tuticorin and Chennai. More private investments would only make our port sector viable and competitive.

The location of the proposed port at Jatadhari, south of the existing Paradip Port, would create immense opportunities for development of infrastructure facilities. Most promising opportunity for the people could be in the eight-lane expressway to connect the new port with Bhubaneswar.

One would only wish that the planners for the highway do not succumb to pressure for a zigzag alignment for the road so that it runs close to thick habitations .A straight line alignment, on the other hand, would induce planned development of the area. The proposed 12-km six-lane road along the coast would connect Paradip and the new port and make this stretch of the shore extremely popular with tourists. Besides, the new port would have connectivity with the NH-5A and the State Highway connecting Cuttack. At least two rail connections, one with Cuttack-Paradip line and the other with the proposed Haridaspur-Paradip line, would provide access to the steel plant and the new port. Plans are afoot for a dedicated rail-line from the mines to the new port. Though linking Jakhapura (on Kolkata-Chennai trunk route) with Banspani (in the mining belt) would be helpful, this line would not provide convenient access to many rich iron ore deposits of Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts. A new line should therefore connect Barsuan with the Banspani-Keojhar section and Barsuan should be connected with Talcher. The new port should be connected by a new rail-line with either Barang or Bhubaneswar by avoiding Cuttack. Such a comprehensive rail network only would ensure complete integration of the existing and the new ports with the hinterland.

Some view that the proposed port would have adverse effect on Paradip Port. People connected with Paradip are aware of the littoral drift of sand along the coast from south to north; the gradual accretion of land south of the southern breakwater of Paradip Port and erosion of land north of the northern breakwater. To contain the erosion, a seawall has been constructed north of the northern breakwater that runs up to the point of confluence of the Mahanadi with the sea. The northern breakwater of the proposed port is sometimes perceived as a feature, which could induce similar erosion of land towards Paradip. This apprehension however is unfounded, as this problem would surely be tackled through suitable engineering measures. The embankment form is expected to have in the middle portion quarry-run materials like boulders of different sizes; the seaside of the embankment is likely to be protected with acropodes and the landside with a concrete surface. The embankment is likely to be 7.5 metres high from the mean sea level and there is to be a wide road on top of it. The northern portion of the north breakwater of the new port is to be more effectively protected through better engineering measures. The southern breakwater of the port would arrest good quantity of north-moving sand and this would in fact help Paradip Port where the annual dredging would be less.

The other area of concern relates to the possible adverse impact on the business of Paradip Port. The cargo for the new port, it is pointed out, could be easily handled by Paradip Port. Actually, there is greater advantage in having two ports. The new port is expected to handle ultimately around 40 MT of cargo, but the development of the port has to go in tandem with the development of the steel plant. A port captive to the mother industry alone would be in a position to develop in conjunction with the development of the mother industry whereas such coordination may not always be possible if the port is a public port. A public port is meant to meet the requirement of many users in the hinterland.

Landlocked States in the hinterland of Paradip Port, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, are poised for rapid industrial development and their industries along with those in Odisha would depend on Paradip Port. Paradip Port would not be in a position to handle an additional cargo of around 40 MT of Posco plant. It is therefore only appropriate that the existing and future capacity of Paradip Port is taken advantage of by a large number of users and the Posco cargo handled by a captive port.

The new port should not therefore cause any concern; it is only a logical and welcome part of Posco-India’s project that is surely going to bring in an integrated development of the hinterland.

— The writer, a former IAS officer, can be reached at punarbashu@gmail.com

(Thanks to Purna Mohanty for the pointer.)

Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66381.

Development and promotion of tourism is undertaken primarily by the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, extends financial assistance to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for tourism related projects which are identified in consultation with them, under various tourism schemes of the Ministry. In the year 2008-09 a mega circuit project named development of tourist circuit “Bhubaneswar-Puri-Chilka” in the State of Orissa was sanctioned for an amount of Rs. 30.23 crore.

The Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar has been taken up for development and upgradation to international standards, with a new terminal building with all modern facilities including two aerobridges and expansion of apron.

****

AD/DB

Following are some pictures of the planned new terminal for Bhubaneswar. One of them appears in the web page of http://auroraconsultingengineers.com/reference.html. Thanks to Devasis Sarangi, Rajeswar and others for the pictures.

Tourism is only one aspect of Bhubaneswar. The others include: capital city, metropolitan area of 1.9 million, educational and knowledge hub (e..g., 70+ engineering colleges) and surrounded by emerging industrial and business centers (Berahmpur, Angul, Kalinganagar, Paradeep) and existing and emerging ports (Paradeep, Dhamara, Gopalpur and many new ones in pipeline).

Following is from http://www.indianexpress.com/news/end-of-a-dance-odyssey/698852/0.

Had it not been for his parents, Gangadhar Pradhan, renowned exponent of Odissi, who died at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar last Monday, would perhaps never have chosen the dance form. Moments after he was born at Parikul, a remote village of Puri district in 1948, Gangadhar did not cry, leading to fears that he may be stillborn. Gangadhar’s peasant father, Muralidhar Pradhan, and mother, Dwitika Devi, had already lost their three sons and two daughters earlier. Muralidhar vowed that if this child survived, he would serve the presiding deity, Lord Balunkeshwar, at Dimirisena village in Puri district, for five years.

Gangadhar survived, and at the age of six years he was sent to the temple at Dimirisena, where he went through a rigorous training in Gotipua (literally meaning one boy) dance, under the direct guidance of Pandit Chandrasekhar Pattnaik.

If the late Kelucharan Mohapatra made Odissi popular to the outside world, Gangadhar, one of his first disciples, was instrumental in carrying the dance form forward and giving it institutional support. A purist to the core like his guru, Gangadhar honed his skill at playing the mardal (a percussion instrument) by learning from Singhari Shyama Sundar Kar and Guru Banamali Maharana. He learnt the text of Odissi dance from well-known scholar Dhirendra Nath Patnaik. His alma mater, Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, also played a significant role in shaping Gangadhar, who matured into a dancer-choreographer of great sensitivity and skill.

Gangadhar was the proverbial sculptor, hammering away day and night to keep the dance form robust and popular. “As a teacher, he never ran away from Odissi’s pure traditions. He was always grammatically correct and would not do anything that messed up the basic fabric of the dance form,” said noted danseuse Kumkum Mohanty.

While Kelucharan crafted his own style, Gangadhar did not follow any particular style. But it was his vision to establish Odissi as a strong art form that distinguished him from other Odissi legends.

In the late ’70s, the life of a performing artist, particularly that of a dancer, was difficult to say the least. But instead of giving up, Gangadhar came up with the idea of starting an institution. In 1975, he started the Odissi Dance Academy, later re-christened as the Orissa Dance Academy (ODA).

The academy in Bhubaneswar is the single biggest repository of Odissi dance talent, having produced over 1,000 renowned dancers so far. “In the world of Odissi, you pick any known dancer today and chances are that he/she would be a product of the ODA,” says dance critic Shyamahari Chakra. Not surprisingly, there are 35 Odissi dance schools in the world affiliated to the ODA. But his unceremonious exit a few years ago hurt him badly.

Always on the lookout for ways to popularise Odissi, Gangadhar hit upon the idea of expanding its reach through festivals. One thing that always bothered him was that Odissi dancers in Orissa did not have a platform in their own state. So, in 1986, he started the first Konark Dance & Music Festival at the Konark Sun Temple and formed the Konark Natya Mandap. The Konark Natya Mandap is now an international centre where training in Odissi, Gotipua, Chhou, Pala, vocal and instrumental music are imparted to youngsters. Several years ago, Gangadhar started the Dhauli Dance Festival. Besides these, he also started several small dance festivals such as Nimapara Dance Festival, Chilika Dance Festival, Kalinga Kala Utsav, Basanta Utsav, Boita Bandana Utsav, Bhaunri Utsav, etc. The annual Chitralekha Dance Academy Festival in Canada was also held under his stewardship.

Danseuse Aruna Mohanty, one of his first disciples, says Gangadhar was a visionary. “He found teaching Odissi his true calling,” said Mohanty.

(Thanks to Saumya Mohapatra for the pointer.)

However the 2010 map at http://203.176.113.182/ECOR/website/home.jsp still shows Rajsunakhala station as part of the Khurda-Balangir line.The article below also mentions that land acquisition is over in most places.