Parab fest to begin on December 22

KORAPUT: One can have the taste of tribal food during this year's Parab festival at Koraput, according to district Collector Rajesh Pravakar Patil. Apart from the food festival, a tribal medicine centre, giving an exposure to the richness of indigenous know-how of the tribal community in treating diseases would be opened at the venue, he said at a press conference here on Thursday. The fortnight-long tribal festival, after getting launched on December 22, would be an educational venture even for researchers. While the national-level seminar on tribal culture, to be organised by the district council of culture in association with Central University of Orissa here would provide a platform for researchers and scholars from across the country to discuss the impact of the modernisation on the tribal way of life, presentation of cultural heritage by the tribal communities themselves could be of greater advantage, Mr. Patil added.

Source: The Hindu

PM confers best listed CPSE award to Orissa-based PSU NALCO

Bhubaneswar: National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) – a Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India, has received the Best Listed CPSE Award for its excellent performance in significant value addition to its shareholders. The award was received by Shri A.K. Srivastava, CMD, NALCO from Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh at the MoU Excellence Awards & SCOPE Excellence Awards ceremony held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

NALCO has received this award for achieving the highest growth in market capitalization during 2008-09, among 42 listed Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The MoU Excellence Awards, instituted by the Department of Public Enterprises under the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Govt. of India has recognized twelve Best-Performing CPSEs under the MoU scheme with the Government – one each from ten industrial sectors and the other two from among listed companies and turnaround enterprises. The company has recorded the highest ever production since inception with respect to Bauxite, Alumina, Cast Metal and Power. Mines, Refinery, Smelter and CPP have achieved 101.64%, 101.05%, 99.88% and 88.33% capacity utilization respectively during 2009-10. In 2009-10 NALCO marketing divisions achieved the highest ever sale of 4,35,979 MT metal as against sale of 3,53,589 MT metal during the previous financial year. This comprises 2,89,031 MT, the highest ever domestic sale of metal surpassing the previous best of 2,71,274 MT achieved in 2008-09 and the highest ever export sale of 1,46,948 MT against the previous best of 1,32,730 MT achieved in 2004-05. The company has recorded a higher export earning of Rs.2209 crore during the year 2009-10 against Rs.2071 crore achieved during the previous year.

It may be mentioned here that, NALCO has been on the growth path right from the beginning. Presently, the company has lined up various projects involving an investment of over Rs.45,000 crore. NALCO has drawn up ambitious plans to grow both organically as well as inorganically to be a reputed global company in the metals and energy sectors. The company also intends to enter into energy sector as an independent power producer and acquire new mineral resources especially coal, bauxite, copper etc.

As part of these plans, NALCO has signed MoU with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.(NPCIL) for establishment of a nuclear power plant in Joint Venture. Besides, NALCO has plans to venture into both upstream and downstream fields to leverage its strength in alumina and aluminium business in India and abroad. In this direction, the company is actively pursuing various proposals including a Greenfield Project in Indonesia.

Source: Orissa Diary

Hirakhand Express to stop at Jeypore

JEYPORE: Their nine years of fight has borne fruit with the East Coast Railways announcing extension of Hirakhand Express up to Jagdalpur via Jeypore from December 18. The people of South Odisha and KBK backed by several political parties, student organisations, social organisations of Koraput, Malkangiri, Ganjam and Nabarangpur districts have been demanding extension of Hirakhand Express from Koraput to Jeypore station.

They had even staged agitations in Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Delhi to press for their demand.

However, it was not possible to extend the train service to Jeypore station due to nonavailability of necessary facilities for arrival and departure of trains. Recently the locals of Jagdalpur also staged an agitation over the demand which was taken seriously by the Government, as Jagdalpur has all facilities to accommodate passenger trains.

Source: The New Indian Express 

South Orissa News

Olive Ridley turtles arrive on time near Rushikulya near Berhampur

Project Smile India

Rushikulya is one of the biggest mating grounds of Olive Ridleys in the world

Measures have been initiated to protect these mating Olive Ridleys

At present small number of mating pairs are visible which is expected to increase

Fishing has been banned in the area where these turtles are congregating

BERHAMPUR: Rare and endangered Olive Ridley turtles have started to arrive for mating near Rushikulya rookery (about 30km from Berhampur and 30km from the famous Tara Tarini hill Shrine) in Ganjam district is considered as one of the biggest mating grounds of Olive Ridleys in the world. According to officials of the forest department they are now gathering up at a distance of seven kilometres from the coast line. At present small number of mating pairs are visible. But a large number of turtles can be seen. Mating of Olive Ridleys picks up in this area in the last week of December and January. This year these endangered marine turtles have arrived in time.

The Olive Ridleys usually start their mating in the sea near their preferred nesting coast. According to experts these rare turtles have a single mating season in a year. After the end of the mating season most male turtles usually return back leaving behind the female turtles to lay their eggs. The nesting of Olive Ridleys starts from the end of January in sporadic manner which picks up in February.

Measures have been initiated to protect these mating Olive Ridleys in the sea. Fishing has been banned in the area where these turtles are congregating. This involves the stretch of sea up to a distance of ten kilometres from the coast line of Rushikulya rookery. Extension of fishing ban area extends to ten kilometres towards the north and ten kilometres towards south of the rookery.

Illegal entry of fishing trawlers to this region is being checked through regular patrolling at sea said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer. A team of forest officials is also monitoring the Rushikulya rookery coast line where the turtles would lay eggs after two months. They are also documenting the carcasses of turtles found on this coast to assess the number and cause of deaths of Olive Ridleys out here. DFO said this year deposition was quite good at Rushikulya river coast, which means the turtles would have a good stretch of beach to lay their eggs.

Source: The Hindu

Haldia-Chennai (new weekly superfast), Paralakhemundi-Puri (Earlier Palasa-Puri) and Bhubaneswar-Jagdalpur (Earlier Bhubaneswar-Koraput) trains pass through Berhampur city
BERHAMPUR: As announced in the last Railway Budget the 2755 Chennai-Haldia weekly Super Fast Express has started operation from December 9 from Chennai. The train will leave Chennai at 2.35p.m every Thursday and will arrive at Howrah at 06.10p.m on Friday. In the return direction, 2756 Haldia-Chennai weekly Super Fast Express will leave Haldia at 11.30 am every Saturday and will arrive at Chennai at 5 pm on Sunday. This train has one AC-2 tier, five Sleeper Class, six General Second Class and two guard cum luggage vans having stoppages at Ongole, Vijaywada, Rajahmundry, Vizianagaram, Berhampur, Khurda Road, Cuttack, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Kharagpur, Panskura and Tamluk between Chennai Central & Haldia.

Similarly, Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the services of Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Koraput Hirakhand Express upto Jagadalpur and Puri- Berhampur-Palasa passenger to Parlakhemundi w.e.f. 18th December 2010 in East Coast Railway jurisdiction. 217 Puri-Palasa passenger which is leaving Puri at 07.50a.m and arriving Palasa at 03.25p.m will leave Palasa at 04.30p.m and will arrive at Paralakhemundi at 06.45p.m in the extended portion. In the return direction, 218 Paralakhemundi-Puri Passenger will leave Paralakhemundi at 07.45a.m and will arrive at Puri at 09.05p.m. This train will stop at Pundi, Rauthpuram, Naupada, Tekkali, Pedasana, Temburu, Ganguvada, and Pathapatnam between Palasa and Paralakhemundi. The timings of 217/218 Puri-Paralakhemundi-Puri passenger will remain unchanged between Puri & Palasa. The train will run as a special train on the flagging off day of the extended portion and the regular run will be from Puri w.e.f 19th December and from Paralakhemundi w.e.f 20th Dec’2010. 8447 Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Koraput Hirakhand Express, which is leaving Bhubaneswar at 07.35p.m and arriving Koraput at 09.45a.m on the next day, will leave Koraput at 10.05a.m and will arrive at Jagadalpur at 12.40p.m in the extended portion. In the return direction, 8448 Jagadalpur-Berhampur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will leave Jagadalpur at 03.30p.m and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 08.25a.m on the next day. This train will stop at Jeypore and Jagadalpur in the extended portion. The timings of 8447/8448 Bhubaneswar-Jagadalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express will remain unchanged between Bhubaneswar and Koraput. The train will run as a special train on the day of flagging off of the extended portion and the regular run will be from Bhubaneswar on 18th December and from Jagadalpur from 19th Dec’2010.

BERHAMPUR: The department of journalism and mass communication has started the campus radio in Berhampur University. Vice-chancellor Jayanta Kumar Mohapatra officially inaugurated “Bhanjabani”. The vice-chancellor appreciated the efforts on part of the staff and students in this and also highlighted the decisive role of campus radio as to how it promotes one to be an effective communicator. He further encouraged the students to take part and gain much out of this opportunity. Third semester student Sulachana Nayak was the anchor of the day. Rajeev Lochan Rathan and Sangram Kesari Das Mohapatra, being at the desk, furnished news collected by the students. Mohapatra has also announced to set up a multimedia lab for the department by March 2011. Laxmi Narayana Rout, chairman of the post graduate council, encouraged the students to avail of the opportunity. Sunil Kant Behera, J.S. Giri Rao, Pradeep Mohapatra, Jaganmohan Mohapatra and Sanat Panda guided the students in running the campus radio.

Source: The Telegraph

Tele-monitoring of schools to prevent absenteeism in Koraput

In an effort to prevent absenteeism in schools, the Koraput district administration has launched 'tele-monitoring', using a database of mobile numbers of all teachers.

On each working day, teachers of at least 20 randomly-selected schools would be called up to find out their whereabouts, District Collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil said.

"There have been frequent complaints that teachers remain absent from schools and this programme aims at checking their non-attendance," he said.

Officials from the district headquarters would call these teachers on their mobile phone and ask questions on various school-related issues like number of teachers present, attendance of students and functioning of the mid-day meals.

The teacher would then be asked to give the phone to a student, who would be asked about facilities like lavatories, drinking water, hand-washing and attendance of teachers etc, Patil said.

The calls would be made between 10.30 am and 4 pm.

Official sources said the new programme would add teeth to the prevailing 'rapid monitoring system' in the district in which two officials randomly visit selected gram panchayats to find out if the schools and 'anganwadi' centres are open, if the people get essential commodities under PDS and work and wage under MGNREGA among other services.

Source : Press Trust of India

Khallikote Autonomous College to be elevated to Unitary University

In a significant decision the State Government has decided to elevate KhallikoteAutonomous College in Berhampur to unitary university status, said Higher Education Minister of Odisha Debi Prasad Mishra. A government appointed task force on higher education reforms had suggested upgrading the Khallikote autonomous colleges to university status, the Minister said while addressing a function of the Students’ Union of Khallikote College. Mishra however stressed the need to develop necessary infrastructure facilities before the second oldest college of the State was declared a unitary university. While at least 50 acre was required, Khallikote Autonomous College had only 16.74 acres of land in its possession. “There is a proposal to get another 2.50 acres from transport departments garage adjoining the college”, he said. The Minister asked the local MLAs to locate another 50 acres in the town for the college’s expansion. He also assured the students to fill up the vacant posts soon. Around 50 percent of the posts of teaching staff are vacant in the 132-year old college, where over 3,600 students are pursuing studies in 19 different departments, 15 of them having post-graduate departments. The proposal for a foot bridge from KKC to Junior college has just been approved and funds have been released for renovation of Jhansirani ladies hostel, Swami Vivekananda boys hostel of the college. Among others, Berhampur MP Sidhant Mohapatra, MLAs RC Choupatnaik, P Panigrahy, BMC Mayor SS Dash and BDA chairman Kailash Rana were present on the occasion.

Source: New Indian Express

Harihar Dash of Berhampur features in the new Airtel ad

Dancing from Orissa town to Prague

Things are moving fast for Harihar Dash, and they are taking him places. The 24-year-old dancer from Berhampur, a commercial town in coastal Orissa, thought he had had his most famous moment when he made it as a finalist in Colors channel’s India’s Got Talent- Khoj 2. But more was in store: he is now the face of Airtel’s latest ad, which is shot in Prague and expected to go on air on Monday.

The journey from Berhampur to Prague has been nothing short of an adventure, he says. “It all happened in such a rush, right from arranging a passport or getting a visa or the dance preparation, it was so sudden. The only thing I could say when I got to know (about selection) was ‘Wow! it’s just so unbelievable’,” says Harihar, a B Tech in electronics and communication.

For a moment, it seemed that he won’t be able to make the trip in a fortnight’s time. He had to reach Delhi for his visa but missed the flight from Bhubaneswar. Tickets for a flight via Kolkata were arranged. He was caught in traffic on way to airport and barely made it.

“It was truly an adventure but worth the effort. Harihar is fantastic,” says Rohit Ohri, managing partner at JWT, marketing communications brand working with Airtel for the ad. Agrees Airtel Head (Brand and Media) Mohit Beotra, “He didn’t have much time to prepare but did a commendable job.” The 60-second ad was shot in three days a couple of weeks ago.

There was a bit of luck involved in his selection too as, Beotra says, they were looking somewhere else when Harihar’s name cropped up. “We were looking for somebody who is a street entertainer, a juggler, fire-eater or a dancer. We were watching some tapes of a few people from London School of Dance and then Sanjay Kapoor, CEO of Bharti Airtel, suggested Harihar’s name and we saw his tapes. He was striking.”

They tracked him down but he didn’t have a passport, and they had to get a visa for him in a short time. But finally things fell in place. “My dancing style is popping and locking but the one I was required to do was a mix of popping and ballet for which I had to slow down in between and then pick pace. I was trained by some of the best,” says Harihar. “I had no plans of acting but after this ad, I would like to try my hand at it.” Also in his wishlist: travelling to Prague again — on vacation.

Source: Orissa Links, Indian Express

South Orissa Students’ Association (SOSA) demands greenfield domestic airport at Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: South Orissa Students’ Association (SOSA) through a letter to the Chief Minister of Orissa has demanded a green field domestic airport at Berhampur keeping in view the growing air traffic and need of people in the southern region comprising of ten districts of Orissa. The students’ body in its letter to the Chief Minister informed that spectacular growth in the aviation sector witnessed in India in recent years has completely by-passed the state of Orissa. Orissa has seen a spurt in private investment in the recent years and now it is being compared with some of the more advanced states like Maharashtra, Gujarat etc in terms of attracting investment. But, when it comes to air connectivity the state is considered a laggard with poor and inadequate aviation infrastructure. Moreover, most of the states have developed multiple functional airports; the state of Orissa still doesn’t have a second airport after Bhubaneswar. While the only airport of Orissa is still languishing as a domestic airport, prominent cities of the state like Berhampur are yet to be a part of the aviation map of the country. This is regrettable as Berhampur city caters to a vast population of South Orissa and is a major educational, healthcare and commercial hub of the state. As far as Southern Orissa is concerned, the demand for a green field domestic airport at Berhampur has been raised at various points of time but nothing concrete has happened as yet. It is needless to mention that Southern Orissa comprising of 10 revenue districts and Berhampur; the second biggest urban cluster of the state and the principal city of the region is not only the regional hub for business, transport, health and higher education, but it is also among the fastest growing cities of eastern India. Moreover, the region is having a great tourist potential with places like Gopalpur on sea, Chika Lake, Tampara Bay, Taratarini Hill Shrine, Taptapani hot stream and rich tribal culture. Besides, Berhampur is going to be a commercial hub of Orissa with the upcoming industrial corridor of the state. The Gopalpur Port, Tata Industrial Park and SEZ, Titanium SEZ, IREL, proposed Sonepur Energy and Oil City located in the area. The Student's body urged the Chief Minister to take urgent steps for a greenfield domestic airport at an appropriate location near Berhampur city in Orissa which would felicitate faster industrialisation and development of southern region of the state and would ensure faster connectivity for large number of people, the letter addred.

Deepavali wishes

Training programme on plant genetic resources begins in Jeypore

22 participants from different countries take part in it

Indian culture started from agriculture and Koraput region is proud of the people who were working hard to preserve the traditional varieties of seeds on the face of challenges of modern ones, Damodar Rout, Minister of Agriculture ,Orissa said while inaugurating the international training programme on plant genetic resources and seeds at Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plants Garden & Research Centre , Jeypore. 

Emphasising on the need of community-based management of bio-diversity , he said that Koraput had been recognised world over for its rich natural resources and this international event could add more value to it .

A total of 22 participants from Brazil, Ethiopia, France, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands, Sudan, Yemen, Zimbabwe and India , were taking part in the training programme, its overall objective was to enhance the participants' capabilities to deal with contemporary issues in the management of genetic resources and seeds, Walter de Boef , global training coordinator, Wageningen International, The Netherlands said. During the 13-day long training programme, the participants will share their own country's experience while interacting with the tribal communities in Kundura block on management of traditional varieties of rice, community seed bank and the way they had improved their local crop varieties, S.V.Ramana, Director, MSSRF said.

Source: The Hindu

Southco draws up plan to arrest power loss in South Orissa

After initiating measures to address low-voltage problem by commissioning new transformers as well as repairing old ones, Southco, a unit of Reliance Energy and one of the power distribution companies, has drawn up a ` 492-crore plan for next four years to reduce the aggregate transmission and commercial (ATC) loss by 21 per cent. The present ATC loss in Southco is estimated at 50 per cent.

With the fund, the company seeks to reduce the loss to three per cent in the current year.

Addressing mediapersons in Berhampur recently, vice-president of Southco, Tapan Mishra, said out of the total estimated cost, the State Government will provide ` 109.33 crore as a soft loan at four per cent interest and ` 136.67 crore without interest.

The rest 246 crore will be spent by the distribution company from its own resources as matching fund. Besides reducing the ATC loss, the fund will also be utilised for improvement of power distribution system and avoid low-voltage in some parts of the distribution area.

Southco has taken responsibility to distribute power in 10 southern Orissa districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangapur, Malkanagiri, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Kandhamal and Boudh.

Due to ATC loss, distribution companies Southco, Wesco, Nesco and Cesu are riddled with various problems and the State Government is also incurring huge revenue loss.  To arrest this, the Government took a policy decision to spend around 2,400 crore. Of which the Southco would get 492 crore, said Mishra and added a sum of 61.50 crore would be spent during the current year and ` 123 crore next year.  In 2012-13 and 2013-14, ` 133.25 crore and ` 174.25 crore would be spent respectively. Mishra said the power loss was mainly due to pilferage, tampering of meters and non-payment of electricity dues.  If one per cent of ATC loss can be curbed it would save around 200 crore, he said. Under the plan, pre-paid meters would be installed in some of the urban areas besides other measures like supply of power through insulated bunch cables and installation of 11/33 KV sub-stations to address the low-voltage problem.

Source: New Indian Express  

Postal dept to open raillway ticket counters in post offices of South Orissa

Berhampur: Encouraged by good revenue collection through booking of railway tickets at the head post office at Aska in Orissa's Ganjam district, the postal authorities have proposed to the Railways to provide such facilities in 10 more post offices in southern Orissa."The railway ticket booking at Aska post office is functioning very well. We have given a proposal to the Railways to open such centers in other places in southern Orissa," Post Master General (PMG), Berhampur Region, S K Kamila said here today.The proposed places were Berhampur, Bhanjanagar, Polasara and Gopalpur in Ganjam district, Phulabani in Kandhamal district, Boudh, Damanjodi in Koraput district, Khariar in Kalahandi district and Nabarangapur.The decision would be taken after discussion with the Railways and the department of post, he said.Railway ticket booking was now available in only two post offices in Orissa, the other being at Sundargarh.The revenue collection from the Aska Head Post Office from sale of railway tickets, which was opened on September 11 was 'very satisfactory', he said.The Department of Post provided the infrastructure and manpower while the railways gave the computer connecting to its server to run the center.Despite e-ticket booking system available, every month on an average 2500 tickets were sold fetching a revenue of about Rs 25,000."The e-ticket booking system is for the elite. The general public who cannot go to a railway booking counter to book a ticket prefer to get it from post office," he said.The postal department is getting a commission of Rs 15 and Rs 10 per ticket towards booking and cancellation charges respectively.

Source: PTI

Sporting sensation Ravi Kumar strikes Gold at the CWG Delhi 2010

Berhampur erupts in jubilation

Silk city Berhampur erupted in jubilation and people came on to the streets to celebrate with fire crackers as soon as news broke about the record breaking performance of city lad Ravi Kumar at the Common Wealth Games. Despite rains, the sports lovers and his friends thronged Ravi's house at Golapalli street immediately after the news about his victory spread to congratulate his family members. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Governor M C Bhandare congratulated Ravi, while the Indian Olympic Association announced a cash reward for him. Ravi has not only brought glory to the town, but entire state as well as the country, said Biswanath Patra, a former weightlifter in the town. India’s K. Ravi Kumar won the gold in the men’s 69 kg weightlifting event at the Commmonwealth Games in Delhi on wednesday, setting a new Games record in the process. Members of Veera Hanuman club of Berhampur, to which Ravi Kumar belongs, celebrated by distributing sweets and greeting the crowd. Ravi Kumar broke the Games record by lifting 321 kg (146+175) and surpassed Cameroon’s Venecelas Dabaya’s total of 310kg, achieved in the 2002 Manchester Games. It is also a new Commonwealth Championships record. The 22-year-old from Orissa was always the runaway favourite having lifted a combined 307kg to win the Commonwealth title in 2009, 22kg more than his closest rival in the field Mohammad Talib of Malaysia.

Harihar Das of Berhampur storms into the finals of India’s Got Talent-II

• To vote for Harihar, Type HD and send SMS to 56882
• Voting lines are open from 25th September till Friday1st October 2010

SMS fever is running high in the silk city with firecrackers going up in the skies as Oriya boy Harihar Das sailed into the final of reality show India’s Got Talent Khoj-II. Harihar Das hailing from Berhampur captivated the judges as well as the audience with his breathtaking performance. The popping and locking artist also stunned Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra with his unique form of dance. Reality show’s judge Sajid Khan showered praise on Harihar and predicted him to have all abilities and potential to represent India globally in this category.

Meanwhile, animation sand artist Manas Sahu and his group, made it to the grand finale through wild card entry. With two teams from the state making it to the finale, everyone is now hoping either of them to rewrite history after Prince Dance Group winning the finale of the reality show in the last edition. To see Harihar scrapping through the final, the entire City has started making wishes and prayers in temples and houses. Students, youth, eminent citizens, organizations and political leaders are busy reaching out the public seeking votes for Harihar to win the competition. 

Sanjay Bhosle wins Berhampur half-marathon

The event was organised by Rotary Club of Berhampur

---

This year theme was ‘Let us build a city of dreams'

It was flagged off from Khallikote autonomous stadium

---

Sanjay Bhosle won the half marathon organised in Berhampur city on September 26.

This half marathon had been organised by Rotary Club of Berhampur on the auspice of ‘World Heart Day'.

The theme of this half marathon this year was ‘Let us build a city of dreams', said president of the club Ranjit Panda.

The half marathon was flagged off from Khallikote Autonomous College stadium in the heart of the city. Berhampur Superintendent of Police (SP) Shefeen Ahmed K and Sub-Collector Ajit Mishra jointly flagged it off.

The participants included people of all age groups including women, children and aged. Defence and police personnel also took part in it.

The marathon traversed through different areas of the city to conclude at Rotary Centenary Hall.

More than 60 per cent of the participants managed to complete the marathon, which was a hint that the city was getting health conscious, said secretary of organizing club T.Sanat Patra. Mr Bhosle was the first one to complete the run. The second position in this half marathon was bagged by Ravindra Kumar Yuden.

The waiting crowd at the finishing line burst into cheers when around 70-year-old Prasant Kumar Patra completed the run to win the first prize in the veteran category. He was followed by Amiya Kumar Mahalik who bagged the second spot in this category. In the women's category young sportswoman Sukanti Patra was the winner and Sristi Nagwalia was the runners up.

Source: The Hindu 

Trauma care unit yet to be operational in MKCG, Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: The trauma care centre at MKCG Medical College and Hospital campus in Berhampur city of South Orissa is yet to be operational even after one-and-half year of its inauguration. The then Union minister of state for rural development, Chandrasekhar Sahu, inaugurated the centre on March 2, 2009 in haste just before the election code of conduct came into existence. Earlier, it had been planed to inaugurate it on February 11, 2009. But it was shelved as the then Union minister, Oscar Fernandes, did not turn up.

Stone-laying ceremony of the project was also held amidst much fanfare on December 23, 2006.

Although the building was inaugurated, it was reportedly not constructed as per guidelines of the Central government. Excess expenditure was made in the construction of the ground floor. Owing to it, construction of the first floor was not taken up till date.

The haste shown by the authorities to get the trauma care unit inaugurated was not repeated to get it functional. It is yet to get proper number of doctors to manage it. So, it remains defunct and its instruments remain unused.

Doctors' requirement

According to medical college authorities, the unit needs at least five doctors. The centre is supposed to take care of trauma patients, particularly those injured in road accidents, say hospital sources.

The Central government had provided Rs. 1.50 crore for the establishment of the unit. It has also provided Rs. 67 lakhs for its equipment. The medical college administration says the State government has been apprised of the situation and it will be functional soon.

The trauma care center, when starts functioning, will be of great use for the victims of accidents on NH5 and NH217.

Some 600 accidents occur every year near the city. It is felt some of these victims can be saved once this unit becomes functional.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Hundreds of people died of diarrhoea and dengue in South Orissa

State Government is yet to declare it as an epidemic

After much hue and cry Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the situation in the southern tribal districts of the State where diarrhoea and dengue have started taking their toll. Despite the assurance given by the Health Department Government of Orissa that the situation in South Orissa is under control, things seem to be far more serious. Even though close to 100 persons have died of diarrhoea and dengue in Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Malkangiri districts, the State Government is yet to declare it as an epidemic.

Large-scale vacancies in doctor posts, paramedics and other key officials in various hospitals in rural areas of South Orissa have exposed Orissa Government’s step motherly treatment to south Orissa and lack of preparedness in dealing with the situation of such seriousness.

After the death of more then 100 people the Orissa Government wakes up and the Chief Minister directed that besides health department employees, employees of other departments should also be deployed in the affected areas to assist the doctors and paramedics to deal with the situation. Besides, the officials have also been directed to ensure that every village has access to potable water and uncontaminated food.

Deaths due to diarrhoea and contaminated food have become an annual affair in the backward tribal districts where many villages do not have tube wells.

Source: The New Indian Express 

Koraput Central varsity plans big

Masters programme in tribal welfare and community development will soon been included in the list of new subjects and schools that have been approved by the executive council of Central University of Orissa which celebrated its first Foundation Day. While highlighting the progress achieved by the university over the period of last one year, its Vice-Chancellor Surabhi Banerjee said that various new schools, including school of education and education technology, school of health sciences, school of bio-diversity and conservation of natural resources, school of legal studies, school of basic sciences and information sciences and school of development studies, have been approved by the executive council and soon students would be enrolled in the respective streams.

The university was taking every initiative to provide quality teaching environment.

While a good number of guest lecturers in each subject were contacted, a pool of eminent visiting faculty was selected from across the country to teach in the university, the Vice-Chancellor said. The challenges of bridging the gap between students and eminent scholars of society would now be minimised by extending the facility of video-conferencing for the students of the university on its campus.

On the infrastructural growth front, work on the 450.9 acre land at Sunabeda which was allotted by the State government for constructing the main campus of the university was in progress.

Source: The Hindu

Astha International plans Rs 500-cr township at Berhampur

Construction boom in Berhampur

Astha International Limited, one of India's leading direct selling companies, expects to acquire 300 acres of land at the commercial capital of Odisha, Berhampur by January 2011 for its Rs 500-crore integrated township project called 'Astha City'. This would be the company's first residential cum commercial real estate project in Orissa which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of its overall turnover.

S S Kisan, Chairman and managing director, Astha International said, "We hope to take possession of 200 acres of land for our integrated township project at Berhampur by January 2011. Orissa is an important market for us and besides direct selling of the whole gamut of products, we would also like to invest in sectors like real estate and hospitality in the state.

Astha International, based out of Surat, Gujarat clocked revenue of 40 crore from its operations in the Orissa market in 2009-10 and its revenue is set to reach Rs 50 crore by the end of the current financial year.

To cater to its growing business needs, the company is planning to have ten offices in the state by this fiscal end. These offices would come up at locations like Balasore, Soro, Berhampur, Balugaon and Rourkela to name a few. The company has opened an office in Bhubaneswar and this would serve as the zonal office for the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.Astha International would also scale up its employee strength from 50 at present to over 500 in the next couple of years. The direct selling firm would ramp up its strength of distributors in the state from 1.3 lakh a present to 10 lakh by the end of 2012.

Besides its proposed township project, Astha International has also evinced interest in setting up a three-star hotel in the city but the details are yet to be finalized. The company also intends to build a mall in the city with a total built-up area of 15,000 sq ft.

Astha International, which has more than 10,000 products in 26 different segments, also plans to float a bank called Astha Bank by 2011-12. The company claims to have got the license from the Reserve bank of India and the bank is set to commence operations from 2011-12.

Berhampur Airport (Rangeilunda) progress updates from OTV

Click here to see the future plans for Berhampur Airport at Rangeilunda

The historic Berhampur Airport (Rangeilunda) is located at a distance of around 5km from the city and adjacent to Berhampur University. The Rangeilunda air base was built by the Britishers during the second world war period and it remained as an air strip since then. The runway is currently used by the defence establishment, state government, private companies and VIPs to reach Berhampur and other places in south Odisha. State's second flying training Institute is coming up at Berhampur Airport in Rangeilunda. The Air Traffic Control Tower (MSSR site) and AAI offices are located close to the Airport. Recently efforts are being made by the government to make it a full fledged domestic Airport. This news video on the history and progress of Berhampur Airport is from OTV.

Distance from Rangeilunda Airport- (Berhampur University- 0km, Berhampur city 5km, Gopalpur-On-Sea-5km, Chatrapur-10km , Taratarini Hill Shrine 30km, Taptapani-50km, Chilka- 40km, Bhairabi Temple- 15km).

CM lays foundation stone for Tata Industrial Park and inaugurates STPI in Berhampur

Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur near Berhampur city 

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur today. Tata Steel managing Director H.M. Nerukar was also present while laying the foundation. Tata Group will start the project by setting up a Ferrochrome plant and a bar mill as anchor industries for the Industrial Park. The project is likely to be completed in two years time and provide employment opportunity to about 1000 people.

Berhampur city in Orissa gets country's 51st STPI

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, along with the Union minister for Communication and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, inaugurated the country's 51st Software Technology Park of India (STPI) at Ambapua, on the outskirts of Berhampur city, about 165 km away from here, on August 20.

"The STPI has built an ultra-modern IT infrastructure having fully furnished 10,000 sq ft built up space over an area of 5 acres at a cost of Rs 5 crore to nurture the need of local enterpreneurs and professionals to explore global opportunities in IT and ITES exports," said state IT minister Ramesh Majhi.

Speaking on the occasion,Pilot said that the Centre has provided Rs 292 crore to the Orissa government for IT related initiatives. He said that two IT pilot projects on rural health are now on in Orissa's Ganjam and Mayurbhanj districts.

Berhampur STPI is the thrid such centre in Orissa after Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. In July 2005, an MoU was signed between the state government and the STPI for setting up the centre in southern Orissa. The chief minister had laid the foundation stone for the project on December 13, 2006.

Newly-formed DIG of Prisons south range office established in Berhampur

DIG of Prisons of the newly-formed south range Shri D.D. Das (centre) is being taken around the Circle Jail on his joining in Berhampur.

Source: The Hindu

Prof. Jayant Mohapatra appointed V-C of Berhampur University

Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare on July 24 appointed new Vice-Chancellor for Berhampur University. Professor Jayant Mohapatra, who is registrar of Berhampur University, would replace outgoing Vice-Chancellor Prof. B. K. Sahu whose tenure is ending on July 26. “Prof Mohapatra has been appointed for a period of three years. He is heading Department of Political Science of the university. Besides, he has assumed responsibilities in different capacities,” said a release issued by Raj Bhawan. It said the 52-year-old political science professor was an assessor of NAAC, Bangalore. According to the release, he had guided 13 scholars on various research projects producing 12 Ph.Ds. Transparency in administration will be my top priority. Emphasis will be given on quality education, said Prof. Mohapatra while speaking to mediapersons.

Students’ body battles for HC bench in Berhampur

Permanent bench of High court in Berhampur demanded

BERHAMPUR: South Orissa Students' Association (SOSA) has expressed its solidarity with the agitating lawyers of South Orissa and has demanded early establishment of a permanent bench of Orissa High court at Berhampur- the nerve centre of activities in southern part of the State. SOSA president RP Tripathy said southern Odisha has remained the forgotten frontier of the State with alarming levels of poverty and underdevelopment. While majority people of South Odisha are living under abject poverty and backwardness their genuine demands have been repeatedly overlooked by the state government. The students' body pointed out that lawyers had been demanding establishment of a High Court bench in the city for the past six decades. Both the lawyers and general public of south Orissa have resorted to agitations for this demand in the past. The SOSA activists urged the lawyers in Cuttack, especially the ones of the Orissa High Court, to get out of their insensitiveness towards the problems of people from far off areas to approach the High Court located in Cuttack. It may be noted that the Bar Association of the Orissa High Court and the Cuttack Bar Association boycotted courts on Monday to protest against the statement of Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily in favour of the establishment of High Court benches in Orissa during his visit to Sambalpur. The SOSA activists through a press release expressed surprise that how delivering justice at the doorstep of the poor through benches of the High Court could be opposed by them. They pointed out that former President of India V.V. Giri and former Chief Minister of Orissa Biju Patnaik had openly supported the demand for establishment of High Court bench in Berhampur. They alleged that delay in establishment of permanent benches of the High Court in parts of the state was depriving people of south Orissa their right to get justice at their doorstep.

While recommending a High Court Bench at Berhampur in 2007, the State government opined that there was an urgent need for this in view of the backwardness of the region, popular mood and large number of cases originating from here. As per SOSA, cases from south Orissa constitute more than 30 per cent of the total cases in the Orissa High Court. The geographical spread of south Orissa makes the need of a High Court bench in Berhampur an inevitable one. They said that Berhampur had all necessary infrastructure for the establishment of a permanent bench of the High Court and it was well connected to all parts of south Orissa. The SOSA urged the lawyers of the Orissa High Court to give up stubbornness and support the demand for the interest of the general public. They urged the Union Law Ministry and the State government to expedite the process of establishment of High Court benches in the State.

Sources: The Pioneer, The Hindu, OrissaDiary, KalingaTimes, OrissaBarta

Ganjam Bar decries Cuttack Highcourt lawyers’ move

Berhampur: The Ganjam Bar Association, Berhampur on July 18 after an emergency meeting condemned the action of Cuttack Highcourt bar following the statement of Union Law Minister regarding establishment of benches in the State other than the principal location.

Ganjam Bar, in the meeting, had welcomed the decision of Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily who had opined in favour of establishment of benches of High Court at places other than the principal seat. However, it was regretted as the Union Minister had forgotten the stand of Ganjam Bar Association that has been demanding a permanent HC bench at Berhampur for decades. Berhampur happens to be the most suitable place for the establishment of a permanent bench of the high court, stated former secretary of the Ganjam Bar, Manoj Patnaik.

Besides, it was also decided that the bar association would again gather all the office-bearers of the bar association across south Odisha for intensification of the movement in favour of HC bench at Berhampur. The bar association also condemned the action of the Cuttack bar that has taken the decision to oppose the Law Minister’s move.

Source: The Pioneer

Thousands of devotees witness Rath Yatra at Sabara Srikhetra Koraput

• Tribal band and dance add to the attraction
• Tribals are given priority in the Rath Yatra celebrations at Koraput

KORAPUT: More than 50,000 people, including tribals, gathered to celebrate this year's car festival at Sabara Srikhetra (Koraput) in South Orissa on July 13. Better known as Sabara Srikhetra, among the followers of Jagannath culture, Koraput has been attracting the tribals for its unique distinction in giving priority to tribals in its rituals and practices.

Beginning with the offering of service to Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra during Anasara, a period when the Lords are believed to be suffering from fever after a bath on Snaana Purnima, tribals have been in the forefront in taking responsibilities and enjoying the opportunities during the nine-day festival.

It is again the tribal band and dances that lent special attraction to the celebration. Tribal men and women had reached the temple from early morning to have a glimpse of Lord Jagannath. They were the most active participants in preparing the costumes including the tahia and other aids to add more beauty to the idols.

After the Lords reached the divine chariot, offerings from tribals were placed first. More than 50 tribal village heads were honoured by the district Collector and SP by tying turbans over their heads. Tribal village head Dasi Nayak from Janiguda near Koraput performed the divine sweeping on the chariot, a service that is offered by the king at Puri.

Source: The Hindu

Tradition lives on at Marda Jagannath temple near Berhampur in Ganjam

• Lord Jagannath, Balabhatra and Devi Subhadra of Puri were kept here for two years to protect them from Mughal invaders
• To this day, no deity has been kept at the Marda temple
• Devotees throng the temple though no Rath Yatra is organised here

Hundreds of devotees thronged the ‘Jagannath temple' at Marda near Berhampur city in Ganjam district although no Rath Yatra was held here.

The people who visited Marda on July 13 had reached there to spend a day with the history related to Lord Jagannath. The temple at Marda has no deity but it depicts an important chapter of Oriya history. The deities of Jagannath temple in Puri were concealed here for more than two years to avoid sacrilege at the hands of Mughal invaders in the 18th century. The then king of Athagadapatna, Jagannath Harichandan had built up this rock temple for the deities. Even after the deities returned to Puri in 1736, Harichandan had preferred to keep the temple without deity to preserve the memory of this great event.

The visitors included people from different parts of Orissa as well as from near by Patahara village. The ancestors of inhabitants of Pathara village had built up the temple at Marda in a few months. Till now some families of Pathara are involved in stone carving. Unlike other temples even on the day of Rath Yatra no traditional musical instruments are played in this temple.

During the sojourn of the deities at this temple sound of these instruments was avoided to keep the temple hidden from the eyes of Mughal spies. The tradition lives on.

Source : The Hindu