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Financial express reports that Orissa growth rate for the current year is better than national growth rate. National Industrial growth rate increased at 6.93% for the 11th plan period while in Orissa the growth rate was 11.34%. Simultaneously, while agricultural growth rate in the National context was 1.03% , in Orissa the growth rate was 3% across the 10th 5 year plan period. The overall growth rate was 7.3% for orissa as opposed to National growth rate of 6.5%. Excerpts from the article are as follows:

‘‘The growth rate of Orissa ws 7.3 % during the 10th plan period against the national average of 6.5%,’’ state finance minister Prafulla Ghadei said while replying to the discussion on Appropriation Bill in the state assembly.

Ghadei said the state was on growth path due to the strict fiscal discipline maintained by the government after Patnaik took over the reigns. ‘‘While the growth rate during the previous Congress regime was below the national average in 9th plan period, it increased in the 10th plan period,’’ he said.

Seeking to justify his argument, the finance minister pointed out that while national growth rate in agriculture was 1.03% during the 10th plan period, it was 3% in Orissa which was higher than many other states in the country.

While the national growth rate in industrial sector was confined to 6.96% in the 10th plan period, it was 11.34 % in Orissa, he said quoting what he claimed data obtained from the national sample survey. ‘‘Isn’t it an achievement of the Orissa government,’’ Ghadei asked the opposition, which earlier described the government as ‘non-performing’’. Referring to poverty, Ghadei said Orissa was ahead of neighbouring states like Jharkhand and Bihar in controlling poverty.”

The above reports prove a point that the state has gone beyond signing MOUs and creation of fruitful economic activity in the state, since that is reflected in the survey results.

We just need fruition of the big ticket investments which will result in even greater growth in the next 5 year plan. A note of caution though, current agricultural productivity is still below National average. A plan needs to be formulated to change the per hectare output in the state.

Following are some pointers:

• SteelGuru: Orissa gets 220 proposals for 15 coal blocks (27th June 2007)
• SteelGuru: Utkal coalblock (20th June 2007)
• PIB: Orissa gets coal linkages for 10200 MW (15th May 2007)
• Coal allocation profile from Coal India Limited
  • Allocation of coal for core and noncore sector organization
  • Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Sambalpur
  • Eastern Coalfield Limited, Sanctoria
  • Central Coalfields Limited, Ranchi
  • South Eastern Coalfields Limited, Bilaspur
  • Western Coalfields Limited, Nagpur
• Government of India, Ministry of Coal
  • Captive mining blocks
    • Details of Blocks identified for allocation to Govt. companies / permissible end users
    • Blocks (Fully explored & some partly explored) identified for allocation to Govt. companies / permissible end users
  • Coal Reserves
  • Coal related statistics

Following are some tables from the May 1-15th issue of Pratisruti Plus. (The Sept 2006 Hindu report also lists various power related MOUs.)

Following are some tables from the May 1-15th issue of Pratisruti Plus. The Government of Orissa Steel and Mines department website on MOUs also lists the current MOUs, but does not tell there exact up-to-date status.

Following is an article written by B. K. Mishra, Chief Public Relation Officer of ECOR. It appeared in the May 1-15 issue of Pratisruti Plus.

Financial express reports on this. Following are some excerpts:

• ‘‘The growth rate of Orissa ws 7.3 % during the 10th plan period against the national average of 6.5%,’’
  
• ‘‘While the growth rate during the previous Congress regime was below the national average in 9th plan period, it increased in the 10th plan period,’’
• while national growth rate in agriculture was 1.03% during the 10th plan period, it was 3% in Orissa which was higher than many other states in the country.
• While the national growth rate in industrial sector was confined to 6.96% in the 10th plan period, it was 11.34 % in Orissa.

From the Ministry of Mines mineral concession web page we have the following data regarding various mining lease requests and what requests have been granted, what are under process, and what have been rejected:

Following are some of the objections raised by CM Naveen Patnaik on the Hoda committee recommendations on national mines policy. These are excerpts from a Statesman article.

• The recommendations of the committee treat the nation as a unit instead of the state, as far as value-addition is concerned. This means that ore from Orissa can go to any other part of the country to feed the industries of that particular state.
  If this is the case, what would happen to the jobs and the revenue that ought to have developed in Orissa, and why would a Posco or a Mittal come to Orissa to set up industries, the CM remarked.
  
• The Hoda Committee has also recommended that the export of ore should be freely allowed, at least for the next 10 years. This is again contrary to the principle that the export of ore should be phased out. Moreover, the export duty goes to the coffers of the centre and the royalty earned by the state is a pittance, Mr Patnaik observed.
  
• It seeks to abolish the provision, which empowers the state to recommend the cases of applicants who want to set up industries, without sticking to the first come first serve principle. The Centre has to be vested with powers to allot the mines to anybody, without value additional within the state as is the policy in Orissa now. The state governments are the custodians of the minerals located within their boundary and therefore any attempt to take away this right by the centre is unconstitutional, the CM charged.
  
• Another objectionable recommendation is that there should be seamless transition from reconnaissance permit to prospecting licence and further to the grant of mining lease.

Following are the various rural development schemes channeled through Panchayati Raj obtained from the central government web page.

The Panchayati Raj department has a National Social Assistance Program (NSAP) which presently consists of three separate schemes: NOAPS (National Old age pension scheme), NFBS (National Family Benefeit Scheme) and NMBS (National Maternity Benefit Scheme). Following are some details about these programs from the NSAP web page.

• National Old Age Pension Scheme(NOAPS):
  • Age of the applicant (male or female) should be 65 years or above.
  • The applicant must be a destitute in the sense of having little or no regular means of subsistence from his /her own sources of income or through financial support from family members or other sources.
  • The amount of pension is Rs.75/- Rs 200 per month per beneficiary. The State Government may add to this amount from their own sources.
  • Upper ceiling on the number of beneficiaries for a State/UT is prescribed by the Central Government.
• National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)
  • Central assistance for a lumpsum family benefit is available for the households below the poverty line on the death of the primary breadwinner in the bereaved family.
  • The amount of assistance is Rs. 10000/-.
  • The primary breadwinner is a member of the family whose earnings contribute substantially to the total household income.
  • The death of the primary breadwinner due to natural or accidental causes should have occurred while he or she is in the age group of 18 to 6″2″ i.e. more than 18 years of age but less than 65 years of age.
  • The maximum limit of the total number of beneficiaries of a State/UT is prescribed by the Central Government.
  • The family benefit is paid to such surviving members of the households of the deceased who, after local enquiry, is determined to be the head of the household.
• National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NFBS)
  • A lumpsum cash assistance of Rs. 500 to the pregnant woman of the household living below the poverty line is given provided she is 19 years of age or above.
  • The benefit is available upto the first two live births.
  • The benefit is disbursed several weeks prior to the delivery. In case of delay, the benefit may be given even after the birth of the child.

Following are tables from Pratisruti Plus May 1-15th issue on cement and auto MOUs and their status.

Following are some tables from Pratisruti Plus May 1-15th issue.

Pratisruti Plus is a bimonthly newspaper/magazine published in Orissa. Its May 1-15th issue has a lot of data on Orissa industries. I disagree with a lot of the articles in that edition, but the data compilation there is very handy.

Statesman reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

Badamba-based Balaji Sugar is all set to start its sugar refinery unit by November this year with an investment of Rs 40 crore. The company has also planned to set up an ethanol plant with a capacity of 40000 litre.

… he said that the company through a special programme would lend soft loans at six per cent interest through banks to farmers as well as fertilizers and supply seeds at subsidized rates to more than 10,000 sugarcane farmers in all command areas of Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and undivided Cuttack district.

The company has announced a special plan for the farmers named Swarna Varsha in which farmers can get fabulous prizes against the number of sugarcane trucks they supply.

The new refinery will be of 2000 TCD with 100 per cent EOU (export-oriented unit) which will be manufactured from imported raw sugar from Brazil and Malaysia and will be exported to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Besides this, the company is also installing 40,000 litres per day extra neutral alcohol to be used as base product for all the distillery units in Orissa as well as neighbouring states. They are also having the plan to manufacture ethanol keeping in mind the global warming, which is an environment-friendly substitute of petrol, which is 5–10 per cent as per government directives.

On the other hand, the company has decided to set up a 20 MW power plant using crushed cane instead of coal. The factory at Badamba was sold by the state co-operative department with zero liability as well as to select the co-operative staff as per choice and head of the company without any compulsion to recruit them in the management by Balaji Sugar.

Financial Express reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) has prescribed the terms of reference (ToR) for preparation of the draft environment impact assessment (EIA) report pertaining to five power projects with the total generation capacity of 2,685 mw.

The project list includes Tata Power Company’s (TPC) Jojobera project in Jharkhand (120-mw), MahaGenco’s Bhusawal thermal project in Maharashtra (300-mw), KvK Nilachal’s 600-mw project in Orissa, CESC’s 660-mw project in Purba Medinipur (West Bengal) and Monnet Ispat’s project in Orissa.

Pioneer reports on this grant to Puri under JNNRUM. (Additional site 1, site 2, site 3) Following are some excerpts from that report.

… sanctions were accorded to 10 new development projects in Puri under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission entailing an estimated expenditure of Rs 186 crore. … The project includes construction of a new lodging house for tourists at a cost of Rs 20 crore, a renovation project for old mutts costing Rs 100 crore, construction of a new multistoreyed parking place for vehicles worth Rs10 crore, a new conference hall specially for holy discourses valuing Rs10 crore, a cultural heritage site for the Jagannath Temple pegged at Rs10 crore, renovation and maintenance of old ponds in Puri for Rs 20 crore, establishment of a new heritage museum inside SriMandir at a cost of Rs 5 crore, construction of a heritage garden inside Sri Jagannath Ballava Math at a cost of Rs10 crore, construction of concrete road around the Meghanad Prachir (compound wall) with steel barricades costing Rs 50 lakh and construction of drains and other sanitary works valuing Rs 50 lakh in Puri town.

Telegraph reports the information on this given by the Science and Technology minister in the assembly. Following are some excerpts:

… Science and technology minister Sanjeev Sahoo today told the Assembly that the proposed Biotech-Pharma-IT park would be developed in an area of approximately 260 acre in two phases on a public-private partnership mode.

In the first phase, a park would be constructed over 63acre of land in Andharua Mouza on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The Biotech park at Andharua will have a BT corridor, an IT corridor and a commercial infrastructure. A biotech incubator would be set up there over 10 acre, he added.

Sahoo said the companies, which have expressed their interest for participating in the global bid process, are Akruti Nirman Ltd, Ambience Developers and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Bharat Biotech International Ltd, Bhubaneswar Entertainment World Developers Pvt Ltd, Eldeco Infrastructure and Properties Ltd, Ramkay Infrastructure Ltd, TCG Urban Infrastructure Holding Ltd and Unitech Ltd.

The private partner would play the role of the lead developer and would be responsible of the plan, design, construct, finance, market and operate the proposed park.

Once a private partner is selected, a Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) company in the form of a Joint Venture between the private partner and the State government will be created for the development and maintenance of the Park, Sahoo said.

For the biotech park at Andharua, IDCO has been given Rs 2 crore for construction of wall, land development, digging of borewells and setting up transformers.

The state-of-the-art Biotech Pharma-IT park will have modular R&D labs, a biotech incubator, and administration support infrastructure. The Park will stimulate and manage the knowledge flow and create linkages between universities, R&D institutions, companies and markets.

(Thanks to Deba Nayak for the pointer to this report.)

Telegraph reports that AMRI hospital plans to set up a state of the art hospital in Bhubaneswar. Following are excerpts of that report.

AMRI Hospitals today unveiled its ambitious expansion plan to set up four state-of-the-art hospitals in four state capitals — Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Raipur and Patna.

Each of the four hospitals will be set up with an initial investment of over Rs 110 crore, with room for future expansion. …

AMRI Hospitals, a joint venture between Emami and Shrachi group of industries, is venturing out of Calcutta for the first time.

… Aditya Agarwal, director, told The Telegraph that the first of the four hospitals will come up at Bhubaneswar.

The hospital will come up at Khandagiri Square, a prime location in Bhubaneswar and will have 300 beds initially.

“It will come up on 5 acres. Initially, it will be a five storey affair, but we have plans and enough room for further expansion,” Agarwal said and added that the hospital at Bhubaneswar is expected to start operation by 2009.

It will have, apart from facilities available at any multi-speciality hospital of international standard, super-speciality thrust on cardiology, orthopaedics and neurology, Agarwal claimed.

“Our hospital in Bhubaneswar will have emergency and outdoor facilities. We will deploy most sophisticated equipment and staff, including doctors, there. It will also have state-of-the-art ICCU, ITU and NITU and life-support systems,” the director informed.

Apart from giving people access to ‘healthcare facilities of international standard’, the hospital will also generate a lot of job opportunities, he claimed.

“The hospital in Bhubaneswar will initially have some 1,000 employees, including medical, para-medical and non-medical staff. The first preference will obviously be to recruit local people. …

Among other facilities, the hospital will have a parking bay, cafeterias and playground to mention only a few standard facilities available in any major hospital, he said.

“We have earmarked an estimated Rs 120 crore on this hospital. However, more investment will be made according to the requirement for future expansion.”

“The foundation laying ceremony at Bhubaneswar will be held on July 14. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, industry minister Biswabhusan Harichandan, minister of works and housing A.U. Singh Deo and health minister Duryodhan Majhi will be present on the occasion,” Agarwal informed. …

Agarwal added that AMRI Hospitals, a joint venture between Emami and Sharachi groups, has plans to establish at least one medical college in one of the four state capitals.

“Talks in that direction are on. We also plan to have some specialised medical and nursing training facilities. A decision on this matter will be taken soon,” he declared.

(Thanks to Jibanendra babu and Orissa Today google group for pointer to this report.)

The PIB release states that the Board of Approval of SEZ recommended grant of formal approval of an SEZ with developer Hindalco Industries Limited in Sambalpur for aluminum and aluminum products. The SEZ will come up in an area of 115.94 hectares.

Myiris reports on this. Following is an excerpt.

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) may be forced to go ahead with a Rs 35 billion coal-to-gas project at Talcher in Orissa to feed its plants, …

RCF has tied up with Reliance Industries and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for supplying gas. There may be delays due to the Reliance gas pricing issue yet to receive an approval from the centre.

The company is also in talks with Gail India for fuel supply. If the availability of gas become an issue, then it might think of setting up the Talcher project.

Talcher is the most viable site in terms of infrastructure, facilities and proximity to coal mines. The latest coal gassification technology will be utilised to allow the use of coal with high ash content of up to 30-35%.

Statesman reports on plans for non-conventional electrification of 70 villages in Kalahandi. Following are some excerpts.

After long wait of three years, 70 remote villages of Thuamul Rampur and Madanpur Rampur blocks of Kalahandi will at last get electrification benefit through non-conventional energy sources by coming December. The matter was reviewed here in the district level advisory committee of renewably energy, presided by the district collector Mr Pramod Kumar Patnaik.

It will be implemented by OREDA (Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency) under the Remote Village Electrification Programme of the ministry of new and renewable energy, govt. of India. The ministry has provided central assistance of about Rs.4.38 crore for this purpose.

The beneficiary families will only have to pay Rs.5 towards membership and Rs. 100 for connection charges. Under this programme 40 villages of Thuamul Rampur block and 30 villages of Madanpur Rampur block will be benefited. Out of the 70 villages, 58 villages will be provided power by connection of individual solar energy system, five villages will be electrified by bio-mass power plant and 7 villages through Solar Power Plants.

Besides this project, proposals for non-conventional Electrification of 380 more remote villages pending for long was mooted. This proposal is pending because it has not yet received clearance from Wesco. … It was decided in the Advisory Committee to set up an Energy Park in the Agriculture Farm of the horticulture department located in Raisinghpur on the outskirts of Bhawanipatna town.

Various equipment generating non-conventional energy will be installed and operated in this farm which will work as a demonstration field for the people to educate them about operation and the benefits of non-conventional energy sources.