___________

Update: See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=1231 for a few more trains announced later.

This is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=35592.

New Trains:

• Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur-Mumbai (twice a week)
• Varanasi-Rameshwaram express (weekly)
• Puri -Darbhanga express (weekly)
• Paradeep – Bhubaneswar Express (daily – in lieu of one of the passenger trains between Paradeep and Cuttack)
• Keonjhargarh – Puri express (daily)
• Gaya-Chennai express (weekly)
• New Dibrugarh Town-Yesvantpur Express (Weekly) via Moranhat

Extension:

• 8611/8612 Varanasi-Ranchi to Sambalpur via Rourkela (Bi weekly)

Frequency increase:

• 2891/2892 Baripada-Bhubaneswar Express from tri-weekly to six days a week
• 2421/2422 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express from bi-weekly to tri-weekly

Update: It could n’t come up on the 26th (item 17) as the Lok Sabha was adjourned after the Railway budget. It was scheduled to come up on the 27th (page 4), but  the Lok Sabha was again adjourned following protests by NDA and others raising the issue of the farmer’s plight.  Its scheduled to come up again on the 28th. But again the house was adjourned till the next day just about when this item was supposed to come.

The following is from http://164.100.24.207/lobtext/14/XIII/RLOB26.2.2008.pdf. (Our earlier coverage of this was in http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=445)

Following is extracted from a report in sify.com.

Maytas Infra Ltd (MIL) is an infrastructure development, construction and project management company with more than two decades of experience in execution of complex & challenging landmark projects across the country. The company recently forayed into segments such as airports, seaports, oil and gas pipelines. MIL plans to diversify into new verticals like mining and related activities, manufacture of construction material and providing advisory & consultancy services.

… MIL’s new projects include railway siding project for Vedanta Industries in Orissa, Chennai MT Project & Hyderabad MRTS project.

… Its current projects include Vedanta Aluminium’s, Residential Township in Orissa worth Rs. 232.7 crore …

… MIL in JV with other firms is currently working on setting up 464MW Gas based Gautami Power project in AP, 100MW Sorang Hydro Power Project in Himachal Pradesh, 300MW KVK Nilachal thermal power project in Orissa and 56MW coal washery reject based SV Power project.

 

Some land acquisition numbers:

• Total: 61,769.527 acres
• Coastal: 15,536.153 acres
  • Ganjam: 3229.815 acres (top)
  • Baleswar: 347.643 acres (bottom)
• Naupada: 11,816.27 acres since 2000 (top)
• Kalahandi: 6,163.77 acres (2nd)
• Mayurbhanj: 6113.78 acres (3rd)
• Malkangiri: 3.65 acres (bottom)
• IDCO indsutrial land acquistion in last 3 years for 58 industries
  • 4778 acres govt. land
  • 6532 acres private land

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The NSC has transformed itself from the usual non-profit-earning PSU into a vibrant entity.

Private sector seed companies have, till now, had a virtual monopoly over the production and sale of seeds, mostly hybrid seeds, of high-value crops. This was chiefly because the public sector seed producers, besides being fewer in number, remained focused right from the beginning on the production of seeds of low-value but high-volume crops (basically cereals), where profits were low though the quantities to be handled were large. Besides, public sector units (PSUs) made little attempt to keep pace with time.

However, the much-needed change in the public seed sector is coming about now with the largest player, the National Seeds Corporation (NSC), adopting a corporate culture and deploying state-of-the-art technology to produce seeds even of high-value crops and hybrids.

Indeed, as could be expected, this change in the work culture has transformed the NSC from the usual non-profit-earning PSU into a vibrant entity striving to find a place among the mini-Ratnas, if not the Navratnas. The headquarters of the NSC and four of its regional units in Bhopal, Jaipur, Secunderabad and Bangalore, have already acquired the ISO 9001-2000 certificate and the remaining regional units are in the process of doing so.

… Indeed, the man behind this incredible transformation is the present chairman and managing director B B Pattanaik." I would be able to declare a much higher dividend for the current year, "asserts an enthusiastic Pattanaik. He has not only motivated the aging employees of this 45-year-old corporation for better performance but has also taken several new initiatives to be in a position to rub shoulders with the well-run private sector seed companies, many of which now have business tie-ups with the NSC.

… The NSC’s tissue culture unit with a capacity to churn out annually about two lakh test tube-raised plantlets for propagation of the banana is coming up in Bhubaneswar and may become operational by the next month. For research and development back-up, the NSC gets support from the vast agricultural research network of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the state agriculture universities. This helps the NSC to add, on an average, around 20 new varieties and hybrids to its product range every year.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

IT consulting firm MindTree Consulting Ltd would the start construction of its proposed development centre here from April, official sources said.

MindTree Consulting is one of the four major firms which had proposed investment in Orissa’s IT sector, the others being Genpact Limited, ICICI Eastern Regional Hub and Wipro Limited.

According to Orissa’s Information Technology Minister S N Patro, MindTree Consulting Limited had proposed to invest nearly Rs 200 crore in its project here.

"While Wipro will invest Rs 100 crore in its project, ICICI Eastern Regional Hub proposes to spend Rs 500 crore here," the Minister said, adding that Genpact had proposed to invest Rs 200 crore.

Following is from http://www.byofilmfestival.com/index.htm:

Bring Your Own Film Festival (BYOFF) is an annual event held during February every year on Puri beach. To call it just a film festival is to limit its unique magical quality. It’s a festival without hierarchy, competition, juries and awards where not only filmmakers but also artists from other fields like music, theatre, painting, sculpture, dance, literature and photography are encouraged to participate and show their work.

In short, BYOFF can be best described as an informal and intimate gathering of artists with films in the backdrop where screenings go on early into the morning hours- first, inside makeshift tents and then in the open air after sun down.

For filmmakers, it has been an alternative platform ever since its first edition in the year 2004. The idea is to have a festival away from the oppressive atmosphere of bureaucratic control of big cities and where just about anybody – with or without films – could participate. The participants of BYOFF themselves are the volunteers and the organizers of its future editions. And the mood of the festival is that of a no holds barred carnival where the sea and its sand provide the right ambience to lift the spirits of every one present. Yeah, for five days and five nights.

The following is from http://jcdl.in/about.htm.

JCDL is a unique public-private partnership between IDCO and Industries supported by Government of India & Government of Orissa. JCDL has been formed with the objective of undertaking infrastructure development of Steel & Metallurgical Cluster, Jajpur under Industrial Infrastructure Up-gradation Scheme of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India.

JCDL was incorporated on 9.3.2004 as 100% IDCO owned. Pursuant to the restructuring proposal approved by the Industries Department, Government of Orissa vide their letter vide No. 22474 dated 24.12.2004, Kalinganagar Industries Association (KIA), an Association of industries in the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex. Jajpur has subscribed to the equity capital of JCDL. Now, KIA holds 51% equity capital in JCDL whereas the equity held by IDCO is 49%.

Current approved sub-projects (from http://jcdl.in/app_proj.htm):

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India had approved Steel & Metallurgical Cluster development project with outlay of Rs.62.50 crores vide their letter No. 5/23/2004/DBA-1 dated 4.8.2004, which was further revised to Rs.80.60 crores vide their letter No. 5/23/1/2004/DBA-I dated 3.4.2006. 

The source of funding includes GOI grant of Rs. 47 crores, Rs. 15.50 crores to be contributed by the stakeholders, and Rs.18.10 crores by IDCO.

The sub-projects sanctioned for implementation with;

Sl. No.	Project	Project Cost (Rs. in crores)
1.	Augmentation of water supply scheme	14.00
2.	Strengthening and up-gradation of Old Military road	26.00
3 .	Road development in Utility corridors	30.60
4 .	Setting up of Central Tool Room	3.00
5.	Up-gradation of power distribution infrastructure	4.50
6.	Development of common facilities centre including Information & Communication infrastructure	2.50
	TOTAL	80.60

 

Following is an excerpt from Statesman on this.

State tourism and excise minister Mr Debi Prasad Mishra today declared that Talasari beach, one of the most famous tourist spots of Balasore district will be developed as a special tourism zone.  ..

… The infrastructure will be developed for the middle and high-middle class tourists in mind, the official sources maintained.

The minister informed that a ‘Sea Festival’ will be organized in third week of April for publicity and creation of awareness on the tourist spot. For the maiden year, the festival will be organized for about three or five days, the minister said adding that tourism and excise department will support it. The sports and youth affairs department will organize a beach sports competition on the occasion.

See also the article and the pictures in tathya.in.

Ecotourism plan for Balianta and Balipatna near Bhubaneswar:

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard on this.

The Tatas were provided 3,088 acres at Gopalpur in Ganjam district to set up a mega steel plant in the mid 1990s.

However, the company later shelved the project. The stretch included 2,295.95 acres of private land and 792.65 acres of government land.

The minister, however, pointed out that the company has deposited the revenue for the allotted land for 25 years at the rate fixed for the concerned villages.

Replying to questions in the state assembly, the minister said, "Out of the leased land, the company has set up a technical training centre over 10.2 acres. The surplus land, which was acquired for setting up of the steel plant, is lying vacant since 1997.

Similarly, the Tatas were provided 252.17 acres in Keonjhar district by the former king of Keonjhar.

It was given for the purpose of setting up a workshop (3 acres), rent-free houses (90 acres), roads (10 acres), tram ways (11.25 acres), temple or church (3 acres) and a malaria prevention programme (134.92 acres).

This lease was renewed till 31st March 1997 and the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (northern range) sent the proposal for the second renewal to the revenue department on 19th September 2007.

Out of the land leased Keonjhar, the company is using 48.772 acres for buildings, 85.415 acres for a ferro-manganese complex, 10.874 acres for roads, 1.074 acres for a tramline, 11.539 acres for a temple, church, mosque and hospital.

There is 69.689 acres of vacant land. Samal stated that the use of 85.415 acres by the company for the ferro-manganese industry violates the objectives of the original lease.

The Top 7 in its list are:

1. Bangalore (population: 6.37 million )
2. Hyderabad (population: 6.2 million)
3. Chennai (population: 7.2 million)
4. Pune (population: 5.07 million)
5. Kolkata (population: 15.18 million)
6. Delhi (population: 18.36 million)
7. Bhubaneswar (population: 1.636 million)

About Bhubaneswar, it says:

Once famed for its Sun Temple, the capital of Orissa is fast emerging as a major player in the outsourcing industry. The city accounts for almost all of the IT revenue of Orissa and is one of the fastest growing regions in India in this sector.

The city is home to more than 30 engineering colleges. Although Orissa has a planned investment of $90 billion for the IT sector, the road to success is fraught with hindrances. Land acquisitions for some of these projects have been opposed by the local people as well as by environmentalists.

From Today’s TOI Editorial:

Along with policing, however, other arms of the state machinery need to act and reach out to India’s tribal areas where Maoist insurgents are based. That means schools, roads, health care, easy credit, market access and other social welfare measures needed to mainstream India’s tribals and poor.

There’s a misguided belief that a hands-off policy is best when it comes to tribals. It becomes a handy excuse for not undertaking concerted efforts to bring them within the ambit of modernity and an Indian common market. The problem is that if government institutions don’t make serious efforts to get to India’s 84 million tribals then others will: Christian missionaries, Hindu activists, Maoist proselytisers. And that will end up strengthening the forces of both ideological extremism and regional chauvinism. Instead of ad hoc, panicky responses whenever incidents like Nayagarh happen, a long-term strategy comprising both security and welfare elements needs to be put in place to tackle the Naxalites and tone up governance in the areas that are their strongholds.