___________

Pioneer reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

… general manager Surendra Singh Khurana said that with only four per cent of the track of Indian Railways, ECoR caters about 12 per cent of total loading of the Indian Railways and about seven per cent of its total earnings.

He said, “As far as loading is concerned, we have loaded 29.49 MT up to July in comparison to 26.87 MT done the last year with a growth of 9.75 per cent. In originating passengers, we have carried 19.46 million passengers compared to 17.01 million carried last year with an improvement of 14.42 per cent.”

“Our originating passenger earnings to the end of July 2007 have been Rs 17.91 crore, which is 20.17 per cent higher than last year’s. Similarly, our originating goods earnings to the end of July amount to Rs 1, 524.92 crore, which is 17.96 per cent more compared the last year’s.”

Khurana also stated that in 2007-08, the new project of doubling of Titlagarh-Raipur track has been sanctioned. Similarly, the survey for Sambalpur-Talcher and Khurda Road doublings has been sanctioned in the 2007-08 budget.

Following is a from a PIB based on a Rajya Sabha answer.

Thirty railway stations have been identified for modernization under modernication scheme on the ECOR during 2006-07 and 2007-08.  These are:

g)                   Improved seating arrangements, etc.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri R.Velu in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

Following are excerpts from the Kalinga Times report.

… The Chief Minister said his government was focussing on growth of agriculture, irrigation, infrastructure development, rural roads, drinking water, and growth in the IT sector, education and healthcare. Improvement in the people’s quality of life was the main objective of his government, Patnaik observed.He said that a special package, comprising a series of schemes, had been finalised by the State government for ensuring development of agriculture.

While a target had been fixed to bring 35 per cent of cultivable area in all the 314 blocks under irrigation cover, contract farming had been introduced in several areas for the benefit of the farmers, Patnaik said.

Stating that rural development was also a priority area for his government, Patnaik said efforts were on to improve rural road connectivity and ensure availability of safe drinking water in villages. The Jaldhara scheme was being implemented to provide piped water facility to 1000 villages in the first phase.

The government had also launched new schemes such as the Biju KBK Yojana, Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana and Biju Gramjyoti Yojana for rural development.

Mentioning about the excellent performance of tribal schools in this year’s High School Certificate examination, Patnaik said that priority was being accorded to education of tribal children. A total of 1000 hostels for tribal girls were being established in the State, he added.

As regards growth in the information technology sector, the Chief Minister said Bhubaneswar was fast growing as a major IT hub in the country. Companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Genpact and Satyam had already started their operation and very soon many companies were going to begin BPO business, he said.

The State’s software export was likely to cross Rs 700 crore during the current financial year, the Chief Minister said.

Patnaik said the government was also taking measures for proper utilisation of the rich mineral resources for the development of the State and its people. A total of 25 steel industries had already started production, he added. …

The Statesman reported that

Priority will now be given on modernisation of stations and other passenger amenities, said Mr. Surendra Singh Khurana, general manager, East Coast Railway.

During his recent visit to stations like Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Berhampur, Mr. Khurana informed that the air-conditioning of booking office and PRS complex in Berhampur station will be completed soon and added that necessary development to the second class waiting hall will be taken up. A second two wheeler stand shall be constructed to free congestion in the existing stand and a proposal was underway for the construction of a washable apron at Berhampur station, along with development of platform no. 4 with foot over bridge (FOB) and second entry.

Proposals shall be processed for the frontage of Khurda Road including circulating area, more numbers of retiring rooms, VIP room on the second floor of the existing station building, stated Mr. Khurana. Lingaraj temple road station will be updated as a modern sub-urban station. Balugaon station will also be taken up for modernization this year.

An amount of Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned for Khurda Road division for undertaking various developmental works, which includes Rs 12.1 crore for traffic facility works, Rs. 10.4 crore for level crossing and Rs 7.5 crore for passenger amenities, informed Mr. Khurana.

Following is a short report from Telegraph.

Indian Railways has proposed a whopping Rs 251,000 crore investment in the 11th Five Year plan. The draft proposal to this effect has been submitted to the Planning Commission.

V. N. Mathur, member traffic of the Railway Board, said Rs 90,000 crore would come from internal accruals while about 29 per cent would be borrowed, including ECB.

Following is a relevant part from an interview in Hindu Businessline.

What about funding the plans?

We’ve submitted to the Planning Commission a Rs 251,000-crore proposal for implementation by the end of the Eleventh Plan. We’ve indicated mobilisation of Rs 90,000 crore from within and 29 per cent of the projected estimate by way of market borrowing. For the balance, we may have to approach the government for support. But then nothing has yet been finalised.

If the Indian government is going to pay such a huge portion it should insist that IR does not forget the backward areas of India.

Following is Dharitri’s report on this.

Following is from this PIB release.

The total number of land oustees for National Aluminium Company Limited(NALCO)’s Mines & Refinery Complex, Damanjodi is 600 and for its Smelter & Power Complex, Angul is 35. As a part of rehabilitation policy, NALCO at its initial stage, had formulated a policy for providing employment to one able bodied member of each oustee family subject to suitability of candidate and availability of vacancy. Out of 600 land oustees at Damanjodi, one member each from 591 land oustees has been provided employment and out of 35 at Angul, 34 have been given employment in the Company.

NALCO has intimated that the Company stands committed to provide employment to at least one member of each land oustee family. However, the Company has not been able to provide employment in respect of the remaining oustees as on date due to reasons like non-determination of bonafide nominees, lack of response from the families, etc.

Above information was given by the Minister of State for Mines Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

The Emami group has recently diversified into Jatropha cultivation. Following is a recent news item on it.

The State Bank of Hyderabad, …

Meanwhile, the bank approved a loan proposal of the Emami group’s jatropha cultivation project in Orissa.

Following is an excerpt from a Hindu report.

The Central Government has given a coal block in Naini area of Orissa to the Union Territory of Puducherry to mine coal and produce electricity.

… the coal block approximately had 250 million tonnes of coal, which would last for 40 years.

New Indian Express has a status report as well as suggestions. Following are some excerpts.

… As per Central Silk Board, the nodal agency looking at silk production in India, Orissa’s strength lies in its lustrous ‘Vanya’ variety that can even give China, the largest producer of silk in the world, a run for its money.

Currently, Vanya silk’s share is 11 percent of the total production in the country and Orissa is a major growing region. But the State has been doing it half-heartedly.

It is also the third largest producer of Tasar silk in the country. Widely used as furnishings and interiors, Tasar has very high demand in the US and European Union.

Tasar’s USP of colour-variety provides a blooming high value market but for Orissa’s inability to tap potential, it loses a good amount of foreign exchange. Nationally, sericulture provides employment to over 60 lakh people involving over seven lakh farmers in 59,000 villages.

In comparison, Orissa looks quite pallid as the production of raw silk naturally accounts for a measly 0.1 percent of the country’s production at 22 tonne.

The number of silk farmers is a mere 0.8 percent of the national figure. Raw silk production in Jharkhand is nearly 13 times and in Chhattisgarh nearly 9-10 times more than that of Orissa.

What is of more concern is that vital parameters like area under silk cultivation, raw silk production and a number of farmers engaged, are seeing a continuous decline.

The textile futures see a bright prospect for silk in the coming years. China is at present realising a price value of over USD 31 a kg, a rise from USD 29 a kg in 2005, riding on rising demand in the Western countries.

… The State needs to seize the initiative soon as the international demand is accompanied by growth in domestic consumption of silk, due to rise in the middle class population. And, India is the largest consumer of silk in the world.

Following are excerpts from an Economics Times report.

…  he RSB Group already has a technology agreement with Gunther Albert GmbH of Germany for trailer designs and a strategic alliance with Germany-based BPW Axle for axle technology with anti-breaking system, disc brake, etc.

RSB Transmission would invest Rs 430 crore in the next four years to set up a major auto component manufacturing plant near Cuttack in Orissa, Behra said adding Orissa Chief Ministger Navin Patnaik would lay the foundation stone of the casting and forging plant on August 30.

“Orissa government has assured us to provide 270 acres of land while we have acquired 90 acres land,” he said.

Following are excerpts from an azom.com report.

Outotec has been awarded a contract by Tata Steel for the design and basic engineering of an iron ore sinter plant, supply of proprietary equipment and provision of supervisory services for Tata Steel’s new Kalinganagar steel plant project in India. The contract value is around EUR 35 million.

… Outotec’s delivery is part of the first phase of the project and it will be the largest iron ore sinter plant in India to date.

The local portion of the sinter plant project will be executed by Larsen & Toubro Ltd, …

Following is an excerpt from an Economic Times report.

Vodafone Essar has silently kicked off the groundwork in the run-up to launching greenfield cellular networks in six new circles – Orissa, Bihar, Assam, North East, Himachal Pradesh and J&K – where the licences are held through its wholly-owned subsidiary Vodafone Essar Spacetel (formerly, Essar Spacetel). For starters, the company’s project offices in Bhubaneswar, Patna and Guwahati are abuzz with activity these days.

Though Vodafone Essar Spacetel’s staff strength in these locations is skeletal, team leaders are trying to assess the appetite for cellular services in these eastern markets that are currently serviced by four GSM service providers – Bharti Airtel, BSNL-CellOne, Reliance Telecom and Dishnet Wireless.

Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report on it.

… Omfed has started supplying grass seed, seedlings and mini cuts to over two lakh dairy farmers.

The farmers would be required to grow grass in their lands and thereby reduce expenses incurred on feeding to a large extent. With quality grass included in the diet, milk production would not only increase but also be of superior quality.

The seed, seedlings and mini cuts would be supplied through 3,000 milk societies in the State.

Times of India mentioned that 

Orissa government has asked the Arcelor-Mittal group to reassess the land requirement for its proposed greenfield steel project in Keonjhar district.

A similar report was also published in Business Standard saying that

Worried over the resistance of the people to land acquisition and allegations of land grabbing by industrial houses in the name of setting up industries, the Orissa government intends to make realistic assessment of the land requirement of various industries interested in setting up manufacturing facilities in the state. In the process, the government has decided to take a re-look at Arcelor-Mittal’s land requirement for its proposed 12 million-tonne-per-annum steel plant in Keonjhar district’s Patna Tehsil. This follows a presentation by the company to the state industry department officials on the project.

The company has sought 8,000 acres for the project, which includes land for construction of a 750MW captive power plant and a civil township. However, all indications are that only a ‘reasonable’ piece of land will be given to the company.

Nandankanan Zoological garden has many birds in enclosed aviaries. But besides that, the nearby lakes and water bodies and the forest like environment also attracts large number of free birds and many nest in those areas. Tathya has a nice article and couple of nice pictures on it. Following is Samjaja’s take on it, which Samaja attributes to Tathya.

ZeeNews also has a report on this. Following is an excerpt.

Visitors are happy watching storks, herons and grey cranes and many other species that have added to every one’s joy.

Ajit Kumar Patnaik, Director, Nandankanan zoo, said “Storks, herons and others birds have migrated to Nandankanan Zoo for nesting. But ninety per cent of them are open billed storks, locally called “Gendallia”.

Following are excerpts from a Sambada report.

Hindustan Times has a report on this. Following are some excerpts.

All 2,000 residents of Gop village in Kendrapada district, some 150 km from Bhubaneswar, in eastern India have been protecting the birds that fly in to nest from July to October. This has been going on for five years.

“Earlier, their eggs would be stolen and children would stone the birds for fun. Even locals ate some of them. Now the villagers are protecting them, seeing them as assets,” Mahendra Dash, a farmer, told IANS.

“We are protecting them because we have realised that the birds add colour to our hectic lives and make our village a rare place in the state.

“Every year we form a bird protection committee. It takes care of the birds,” he said.

“If anybody knowingly or unknowingly kills a bird or damages the nests or eggs, we summon him and impose a fine on him,” said another villager, Premanada Pradhan.

Officials are full of praise for the villagers.

“About 5,000 birds have landed on the three banyan trees in the village near the national highway for nesting this season,” said divisional forest officer Ajaya Kumar Jena. “They started their nesting activities in the last week of July.

“I recently visited the village. I was happy to see the care the villagers are taking to protect the birds.

“Watching these birds make and mend nests, collect green branches for building and repairing the nests, lay, incubate, hatch eggs, feed fledglings, guard them from predators, cover them with outspread wings to protect them from scorching sunrays and heavy downpour is a sight to behold,” Jena added.

According to him, thousands of egrets, herons, storks, cormorants, darters, spoonbills and ibises are now breeding on the trees in the village and nearby areas.

Not an inch of space is available on the trees. “Any fresh bird trying to nest has to wait,” one villager said.

Following are excerpts from a New Kerala report on this.

Three power distribution companies have made a project outlay of Rs 50 crore to upgrade their infrastructure to supply quality power … to their customers.

The companies– Wesco, Nesco and Southco had submitted a detail plan of expenditure to the Electricity Regulatory Commission in this regard.

According to sources, the companies have geared up their machinery to supply uninterrupted power to high tension and extra high tension consumers.

A team comprising members from Grid Corporation of Orissa, the three distribution companies and OPTCL had been chalking out plans to provide power to upcoming industries and new consumers on demand.

A plan to reduce the transmission and distribution loss by 15 per cent was being finalised and would soon be submitted to the GRIDCO, sources said.

The companies also urged the power ministry to complete the existing projects under the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme.

A Statesman report, gives additional context to this. Following are some excerpts.

… three private distribution companies run by Reliance Energy has finally detailed its proposed funding and achievements.

In a situation where tariff has remained stagnant over 7 years , the company has maintained the system infrastructure with minimum spending. It has provided uninterrupted power and electricity to 1500 villages. The three distribution companies- Wesco, Southco and Nesco have also been regular in paying bulk supply bills to Gridco, salaries to employees etc noted Reliance Energy.

It is important to note that the energy minister, … had expressed his dissatisfaction with the company due to their lack of investment and the litigation over payment of dues. The chief minister had directed the energy department to prepare a detailed note and call the top brass of Reliance Energy for discussions.

Apparently jolted to action, the Reliance Energy has circulated a release stating that it has taken up up-rating and upgradation of the distribution infrastructure with an immediate outlay of Rs 50 crore.

It also claimed that in view of the growing ancillary, medium and large industries that were coming up in the state, a multidisciplinary team with members from Gridco, the three distribution companies and the power trading corporation has been formed to work out a strategy for quality power supply to such units. The distribution companies are also persuading the Ministry of Power to complete the existing APDRP works while the state government has also initiated a process to obtain a sanction of Rs 800 crore for the second phase, under APDRP, for the companies.

The distribution companies are also implementing the Biju Gramin Jyoti Yojana , while also finalizing their performance targets and Action Plan that will help reduce the transmission and distribution loss to the extent of 15 per cent as envisaged earlier.