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Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) on Tuesday announced that it has planned to cultivate Jatropha over 2 million hectares of wasteland in the KBK region.

… Science and Technology Minister Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo said the need of the time is to go for an alternative of fossil fuels. Therefore, the production of bio-fuel from non-edible vegetable oils, particularly Jatropha curcas, is a much talked-about subject in the world. Orissa is among the first five States in the country that have come forward for bio-fuel production. The objective of the plan is to get substitution of fossil fuels, generation of employment and utilisation of wastelands, he said.

Secretary, Science and Technology, NC Vasudevan, said the Indian Oil Corporation has agreed to take the responsibility of bio-fuel marketing through its already existing network in the country. Director, OREDA, Ajit Bharthuar, said the oilseeds would be produced by the farmers and OREDA would buy the seeds from them to support them.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Under the PPT mode, the State Government has decided to build a Capital Region Ring Road. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Empowered Committee on Infrastructure (ECI) chaired by the Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy on Tuesday.

The proposed ring road will constructed with an aim to lessen pressure on the vehicular traffic movement on Bhubaneswar-Cuttack road. The road will start from Khurda and pass through Bhubaneswar via bypass and touch Nirgundi near Cuttack. The survey work for the project will commence soon.

Keeping the growing industrialisation in view, another road under PPT will be built connecting directly Bhubaneswar to Paradip. It will also help the smooth movement of traffic from Capital to Port City. ILFS will do the necessary survey work.

In order to strengthen the PPT mode, Government has constituted seven cells in different departments like Fisheries and Animal Development, Energy, Panchayat Raj and Information and Technology.

The committee approved five proposals under PPT. In a bid to develop the infrastructure of Berhampur city, Government has decided to build an integrated commercial and residential complex under the banner Gajapati Plaza. Rs 10 crore will be spent to build this project. Government will provide five acre of land for this purpose. All the modern amenities including swimming poll facilities will also be available in the complex. The project work would be entrusted to Forum Project Private Limited. Work on the project would commence in the next 15 days. The ECI also gave its nod to set up a bio-tech farm in an area of 64.86 acres of land near Andharua on the outskirt of Bhubaneswar city. A bio-tech incubation centre will be set up in another 10 acres of land in Andharua also. Five major state-of-the-art infrastructure in the form of modular laboratories, loaded wet laboratories, common equipment facilities and amenities, pilot plant facilities and training centre would be provided in the park.

These facilities in the Biotechnology Research Platform will help to multiply the number of users on free-for -use basis. Selected private developers will be allowed to operate, manage, maintain and market the park in Bio-Tech Pharma and Bio-Informatics -IT related issues.

The Orissa government has already involved itself in preparing the master plan for greater Bhubaneswar area. Now there is news regarding its intention to make master plans for 8 more areas. These areas are: Puri-Konark, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Kalinganagar, Paradeep, Jharsuguda, and Talcher-Angul. The govt. is missing a few other areas which it should take up soon. Those are: Baripada, Balasore, Dahamara, Rayagada-Therubali and Koraput-Jeypore. Following are excerpts from a report in Statesman on Orissa govt.’s recent thoughts on this.

In a bid to give major facelift to the upcoming urban areas of the state and for their integrated development, the government will prepare a master plan, within one and half years. The localities include Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Puri-Konark, Talcher-Angul, Paradip, Kalinga Nagar and Jharsuguda. … Mr Patnaik underscored the need of adequately trained personnel to successfully handle the technical problems of under-ground sewerage and solid waste management,…. He also stressed on better sanitation, drinking water, housing and slum development. It may be mentioned here that while Rs 950 crore from the funds of JBIC has been sanctioned for sewerage of Cuttack; the capital city has been allotted Rs 499 crore for the same under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Rs 88 crore has been sanctioned for drinking water in Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur. Rs 3.65 crore has also been allotted for slum development in Bhubaneswar.

Telegraph also writes about this.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Zee News.

… the Nandankanan Zoo authorities are all set to launch a novel scheme that will ensure a tax rebate on adoption of an animal by the income tax department.

The scheme is being made possible in collaboration with the State�s income tax department to bring individuals closer to birds and animals apart from bringing transparency in the administrative activities.

"The basic objective is to bring people closer to the captive animals and birds��one is that of course it generates some earnings which give you an option and space for better management. At the same time, it gives a kind of insight on how the animals are reared," said Ajit Kumar Patnaik, Director, Nandankanan Zoo.

Though the novel scheme is a first of its kind in Orissa, the credit for initiating the novel scheme goes to the authorities at Mysore and Lucknow zoos where even schoolchildren are encouraged to adopt animals.

The scheme, which has motivated many individuals, will commence with the new financial year starting April 1, 2008.

… The interested individuals are required to fill up an application form and pay for an annual maintenance on which one can claim the tax rebates.

Names of the people adopting the animals would be displayed on enclosures of the adopted animals.

Nandankanan Zoo authorities are the waiting State government�s approval for starting the scheme.

Currently, the State government spends nine million rupees (0.22 million dollars) on feeding the animals while around Rs. 3 million (0.57 million dollars) are spent on the maintenance of the Nandankanan Zoo.

Nandankanan Zoo, 25 kilometres from Bhubaneshwar, lies in the splendid environs of the Chandaka forest, along the rippling waters of the Kanjia Lake. It also contains a Botanical Garden and part of it has been declared a sanctuary.

Famed for its white tiger population, Nandankanan, or the ‘Garden of Gods’, has become a hot family favourite, with visitors getting an excellent opportunity to enjoy seeing these regal animals in their natural glory.

Over 67 kinds of mammals, 18 varieties of reptiles and 81 species of birds co-exist in the deeply forested boundaries.

The zoo enjoys an excellent reputation internationally, for successfully breeding black panthers, Gharial, crocodiles and white tigers in captivity.

Baazar Kolkata has already opened and is in the process of opening stores in various Orissa locations: 2 in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur. Following is a news item on this in Samaja. (Note: Baazar Kolkata is different from the Big Bazar Chain.)

The ECOR time table is at http://eastcoastrailway.gov.in/File/ECoR_Time_Table.pdf. As of today the time table there is the one from 1st Dec 2006 – 30th Jun 2007.

(See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=96 for other expansion plans of Paradeep port.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

The State Government will open 159 more tehsils in a bid to take administration to the doorstep of the people.

This was decided at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The new tehsils will be opened in a phased manner over the next three years.

… Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal said 45 additional tehsils will be upgraded to full-fledged ones within the current fiscal while three new ones will be opened in each of the revenue divisions.

This will cost an additional Rs 1 cr to the State ex-chequer for opening a new tehsil. While 60 new tehsils will be opened in the first phase, 50 and 49 new ones will come up in the second and third phase.

Samal said more than one tehsils will be opened in urban areas having heavy population. The number of tehsils in the State will increase to 330 with the new additions.

The Chief Minister advised the officials to expedite the selection of employees and location of infrastructure for office purposes for the new tehsils.

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

The Tourism Department plans to make the place more vibrant and lively.

To begin with, it has already handed over a patch of land � measuring about 22 acres � adjoining the temple to Archaeological Survey of India for landscaping.

Work has already begun on the project. The Indian Cultural Trust Fund under Indian Oil Corporation has already committed Rs 22 crore for peripheral development.

The Department is also planning to shift the approach road and widen it. Plans are afoot to redo several landmarks in the town.

… ASI has also been requested to reopen its museum during the Konark Dance Festival starting Saturday and keep it open during the night.

Similarly, the Chandrabhaga beach is being made more attractive with the establishment of an eco camp.

It would house 20 luxury camps. The State Government would fund Rs 5 crore for the venture and development of the beach.

The four-day festival, would see a number of eminent artistes from Orissa and outside perform. They include Madhavi Mudgal and her troupe from New Delhi.

… over the years there has been a steady rise in the number of tourists visiting Konark to exclusively witness the festival.

In 2006, as many as 8,090 domestic and 473 foreign tourists attended it. In 2005, about 7,860 domestic and 452 foreign tourists had witnessed the festival.

Since shipyards employ a lot of people, Orissa should pursue some more shipyards. The following article in Samaja mentions some shipyard companies in India.

Following is an excerpt from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33463.

Under the National Programme for promoting conservation of medicinal plants and traditional knowledge, the facilitating agencies at the local level involved in preparation and updating such a register include:

(i)                   Swami Ramananda Tirtha Regional Institute, Hyderabad, Andhra      

            Pradesh

(ii)         Rural Communes, Mumbai, Maharashtra

(iii)        SAMBANDH, Bhubaneswar, Orissa

(iv)        Jagran Jan Vikas Samithi, Udaipur, Rajasthan

(v)         Tagore Society for Rural Development, Kolkata, West Bengal

The following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33421. (Based on this Orissa will fall behind quite a bit: Only 2000kms of new lines
 none of the major new lines in Orissa, such as Khurda-Balangir, will get completed during the 11th plan. The states where the freight corridor will run and the states with a lot of narrow gauge lines will surge forward.)

In order to carry additional freight and passenger traffic in future, Railways have on hand 272 track capacity works, which on completion would add 20,852 kilometers to the Broad Gauge system.  The estimated throwforward cost of these works is approximately Rs. 55,000 crore.

A substantial amount of traffic moves on the High density routes viz. the ones which connect the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkatta, and the Delhi – Gaulhati route.  Railways have already announced construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors between JNPT-Tughlakabad (1483 kms) and Sonenagar-Ludhiana, (to be later extended to the deep sea port of Kolkatta) (1279 kms) at a cost of more than Rs. 28,000 crores to give relief to two of the densely saturated routes viz. Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata routes.  In addition, feasibility studies have been ordered on four other corridors – (i) North – South (Delhi-Chennai); (ii) East – West (Mumbair – Kolkotta); (iii) South – East (Vijayawada – Kharagpur ) and (iv) South – South (Chennai – Goa).

In addition, Railway proposes to augment its track capacity in XI Plan by 15,500 kilometers, including 2000 kilometer of new lines, 3500 kilometers of doubling and 10,000 kilometers of gauge conversion.

The revenue earning freight traffic in the XI Five Year Plan period is expected to increase from 728 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 1100 million tonnes in 2011-12.  The corresponding freight output is expected to increase from 475 billion ton kilometers in 2006-07 (prov.) to 707 billion ton kilometers in 2011-12.  In order to cater to the projected freight traffic, it is expected that 62000 wagons would be required during the XI Plan.  Railways will also require to induct 1800 electric and 1800 diesel locomotives for carrying the projected traffic in the XI plan.  In addition to enhance the capacity of the existing diesel and electric locomotive manufacturing units, Railways are also going in for setting up a diesel locomotive factory at Marhowra and electric loco factory at Madhepura which will produce 150 and 120 locos per year respectively.

Since capacity augmentation takes time, Railways have taken immediate steps to enhance the throughput by increasing the carrying capacity of wagons by 6 tonnes on most of the routes and by 8 tonnes on selected routes and also strengthen the track, bridges and allied structures.  In addition, 28 heavy mineral routes with over 6900 route kilometers have been further identified for implementation of 25 tonne Axle load.  Also on selected routes, double stack containers trains have been permitted to further enhance the throughput per train.

Railways also plan to induct wagons of better design, higher capacity, longer life and low on maintenance.

The passenger traffic in the XI Five Year Plan is expected to increase from 6242 million passengers in 2006-07 (RE) to 8400 million in 2011-12.  The correspondence passenger output is expected to increase from 700 billion passenger kilometers to 880 billion passenger kilometers.

In order to cater to this increase in traffic, it is expected that 22500 coaches would be required  during the XI Five Year Plan,  implying a yearly requirement of 4500 coaches.  In order to meet this requirement , the production capacities of the existing units –integral Coach Factory, Prembur  and Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthanla – are being enhanced to 1500 and 1400 coaches per annum respectively from the  present capacity of 1000 coaches per annum each.  Further, a new coach factory is also being planned to be set up at Rai Bareily to bridge the shortfall in requirement and production capacities.

Railways have constructed a total of 4084 kilometers of track in the last three years.  The details are as under :–

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri R.Velu in written reply to a question in the Lok  Sabha today.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in New Indian Express.

Giving safety and passenger comfort the utmost priority, the regional office of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has rolled out well-knit packages for pilgrims and holiday-makers for the first time to major tourist places in the country.

… The new packages, however, do not include ghat sections. Nonetheless IRCTC has left no room for complaints. ‘‘We have even posted a manager who would look into the wellbeing of the people round the clock,’’ he said.

The packages include a week-long tour to North covering New Delhi, Jammu, Haridwar and Risikesh. The cost per adult has been fixed at Rs 11,800. Similarly, the ‘explore Rajasthan’ tour package, taking travellers to all known places, has been priced at Rs 17,050. They include expenses like on and off board catering, board and travelling.

Optimum return of the money spent would be the USP of the plans. The third package called ‘ Southern Splendours I and II — covering places like Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty and Hassan among others — would cost between Rs 10,250 and Rs 10,650.

In the ensuing months, IRCTC would also offer travel plans to Madurai , Rameswaram and Kanyakumari. Likewise, tour packages to Darjelling , Gangtok and Peling are also on the cards. It is also contemplating to offer customised packages.

Meanwhile, IRCTC’s budget hotel project in Bhubaneswar would start soon, having received nod from the State Government. It will come up in front of the Railway station. IRCTC has also acquired about five acres at Bhabakundaleswar near Satapada at Chilika Lake for a similar project.

Mohanty said, plans for the budget hotels in Cuttack, Puri and Visakhapatnam are awaiting the Railway Board’s clearance.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the New Indian Express.

The State Government will seek Central assistance of Rs 45 crore under the Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) for the current fiscal.

The Centre has introduced the new additional Central assistance scheme to incentivise the State which exceed plan expenditure consecutively in the last three years.

… The committee approved the proposals of the Agriculture Department, which has sought an assistance of Rs 10.10 crore for managing acid soil to boost agriculture production, Rs 8.8 crore for popularisation of farm mechanisation and Rs 2.52 crore for systematic rice intensification in areas having low rice production.

Under the rice intensification programme, field demonstration will be taken up where farmers will be educated on how to get higher yield with less use of seeds, water and fertilisers, official sources said.

The department has asked an assistance of Rs 2 crore for strengthening soil testing service, Rs 1.06 crore for bio-fertiliser application for pulses and oilseeds and Rs 55.55 lakh for promotion of organic farming through vermi hatchery and blue green algae.

It has also proposed to set up seed processing plant in Gajapati, Kendrapara and Jharsuguda districts and modernise the agriculture information wing in the city and at Sambalpur with an investment of Rs 1.80 crore and Rs 1.18 crore respectively.

Since the Centre will provide the additional assistance in two streams, the total estimate for 12 projects in the first stream is Rs 28.83 crore. Seventy-five percent of the additional Central assistance is for programme implementation while the remaining 25 percent is to bridge resource gap in the State plan.

The Government will ask Rs 15.94-crore Central assistance under the stream-II out of which Rs 4 crore will be for strengthening its implement factory at Satyanagar, Rs 2.45 crore for infrastructure development and strengthening the training centres (gram sevak kendras), Rs 7 crore for construction of 17 seed storage godowns and Rs 2 crore for establishment of agro-service centres at gram panchayat level.