Jharsuguda to get airport by May 2018

Following is a report from http://pragativadi.com:

Bhubaneswar: Chairman of Airport Authority of India (AAI), Guru Prasad Mohapatra during a meeting on Tuesday said that the proposed plan of Jharsuguda airport in Odisha will be completed by May 2018. He said it is a joint project developed by AAI and the state government.

Earlier, the state government had signed an agreement with AAI to develop the airport with an estimated cost of Rs 210 crore by allotting a land of around 106.23 acres, out of which the government land proportion is 51.8 acres and that of private is 54.43 acres. As per sources, the government would fund Rs 75 crore while the rest would be funded by the AAI towards the development of the airport.

Further Mohapatra said, under the project, a modular designed passenger terminal would be made with handling capacity of 300 passengers including 150 for arrival and 150 for departure.

District Collector of Jharsuguda, Bibhuti Pattnaik said that tender has already been issued towards road construction to the airport.

The meeting chaired by the chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi along with other officials of AAI and the state government focused on various issues relating to road connectivity to the airport, land acquisition, strengthening of runway, taxi way, control tower and staff quarters.

Odisha approves a parboiled rice mill and co-generation biomass power plant at Kalahandi

Following report is from: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/odisha-approves-two-projects-worth-rs-470-crore_4996221.html#discontent_div

Odisha’s State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) accorded in-principle approval to two investment proposals worth Rs 470 crore. The SLSWCA meeting chaired by Chief Secretary A P Padhi approved a proposal of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to set up a common user facility (CUF) for storage of petroleum products at Meramunduli in Dhenkanal district at an investment of Rs 270 crore, said Kalyan Mohanty, General Manager of Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL).

It also approved a proposal of Starlight Energy Limited to set up an integrated grain based distillery unit along with a parboiled rice mill and co-generation biomass power plant at Goud Sariguda in Kalahandi district with a total investment of Rs 137 crore. The CUF project is a common arrangement of IOC L, BPCL and HPCL and will cater to receipt and storage of petroleum products like petrol, diesel, kerosene, fuel oil, light diesel and high performance petrol, he said.

Mohanty added that the project will require 90 acres of land, 3 KL/day water and 450 KW of power and provide direct and contractual employment to around 344 people. Starlight Energy’s project requires 195 acres and 1 MW power as stand by for start-up of the biomass power plant. It will use broken rice from rice mills, besides maize and other grains produced in Odisha for the distillery unit, while husk from the rice mills will be used as principal raw material for production of biomass power. It will produce neutral alcohol for medicine, ethanol for blending in petrol and anhydrous alcohol for industrial use and provide direct and contractual employment to 108 people, Mohanty added.

CM Naveen Patnaik flags off intra-state flight service

Odisha Sun Times Bureau Bhubaneswar, Jan 19:

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today flagged off the intra-state flight service offered by chartered carrier Air Odisha connecting three destinations in the state.

On its inaugural journey, the carrier took off to Sambalpur from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here and would return to Bhubaneswar via Jharsuguda. The inauguration ceremony was held at the hangar of the old terminal of the airport at 11.15 am.

Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd will begin flight service to Jeypore, Rourkela and Jharsuguda from Thursday, sources said.

It may be mentioned that the nine-seater plane has the capacity fly 11 passengers, including a pilot and co-pilot.

Earlier, the airlines had conducted trial runs to four cities – Sambalpur, Jeypore, Jharsuguda and Rourkela.

The service will be available six days a week except on Sundays. The Bhubaneswar-based private carrier is offering tickets as low as Rs 2,499 as inaurugal offer.

It may be mentioned that the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in December last year, had given a go-ahead to the air operator to fly intra-state commercial flights after clearing the on-board airworthiness tests.

OSPCB asks power plants to introduce high concentration slurry disposal system

Following report is from the TOI:

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has asked power plant industries in the Sambalpur-Jharsuguda region to introduce High Concentration Slurry Disposal ( HCSD) system in an attempt to check the spreading of fly ash to other areas.

The fly ash, according to the new system, will have less water, to prevent spilling and flying of the ash. The decision of the board came after the violation of fly ash disposal by Bhushan Energy Limited (BEL) came to light.

“The ash released from the power plants to the ash ponds used to contain 90 per cent water, which was taking more space of the pond. According to the new system, industries have been asked to use 40 per cent water. So, there will be less dilution of ash and more solidification,” said regional officer of the board Sitikantha Sahu. He said the concentrated ash would get dried up easily, preventing a spill over.

The power plants release ash through elector static precipitator to the designated pond in the form of slurry. “Power plants require a huge amount of water. The new system will not only conserve water, but will save nearby agricultural lands from getting damaged due to spilling of fly ash,” said senior scientist of the board D K Behera. There are six mega power plants in Sambalpur-Jharsuguda belt. A recent OSPCB survey revealed that only 54% of the total ash generated from industries in the state is being utilized. “Lack of proper use of fly ash is not only damaging lakhs of acres of farm lands in the state, it is posing danger to water and aquatic life,” said Behera.

Rail corridor in Jharsuguda district for evacuation of coal

Following is a report from the BS:

India is set to commission the first of its three ambitious inter-state rail corridor projects dedicated to coal evacuation in the Naxal-affected Jharsuguda district in Odisha in a little over a year. The project is part of a bigger, though much-delayed plan to invest Rs 7,000 crore in the three rail lines to free 300 million tonnes (mt) of coal supply, locked due to logistical constraints across three states.

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) has instructed the coal and the rail ministries to work with the Naveen Patnaik-led government to commission the Ib Valley corridor in Odisha first by December 2014, a senior official close to the development told Business Standard. “Both, land and forest clearances are underway for the Jharsuguda-Barpalli line. A special team under the Project Monitoring Group of the CCI is monitoring the lines now,” he said.

The 53-km corridor will help state-owned miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) scale production potential by an additional 132 mt a year. Only 15 per cent of this is utilised in the absence of evacuation facility. The total cost of setting up the three projects has escalated from Rs 2,000 crore when they were initially planned before the beginning of the Eleventh Plan period in 2007 to Rs 7,000 crore now.

The official also added the next of the three corridors to become a reality would be the 93-km Tori-Shivpur-Kathautia line connecting North Karanpura coalfield in Jharkhand, another Naxal-affected state. All the necessary clearances for the project are already in place now, after a series of meetings taken by the Railway Board Chairman with the state chief secretaries and the central ministries. The rail line is being set up at an estimated cost of Rs 1,095 crore and would help move 127 mt of coal annually out of the coalfields.

The third project, the longest of the three, would be a 180-kilometre stretch connecting the eastern and the western regions of the Mand-Raigarh coalfield in Chhattisgarh. The Bhupdeopur-Korba-Dharamjai corridor would free up production potential of 40 MT per annum for CIL. The miner would contribute Rs 2,880 crore of the overall project cost of Rs 4,500 crore while the rest would come from Indian railway arm IRCON and the state government.

Finance ministry approves four laning of Angul-Sambalpur section of NH 42

Following is a report from http://www.business-standard.com:

To be built under PPP in five states.

The finance ministry has approved six road proposals at an estimated cost of Rs 9773.85 crore under public-private partnership (PPP).

The Public Private Partnership Approval Committee (PPPAC), chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, had granted approval to the six proposals of the ministry of road transport and highways spread across five states, an official statement said.

The projects approved, include six laning of Kishangarh Udaipur Ahmedabad section of NH 79A, NH 79, NH 76 and NH 8 in Rajasthan andGujaratworth Rs 5,387.30 crore.

Also four laning of Lucknow-Sultanpur section of NH 56 in Uttar Pradesh worth Rs 1,013 crore and four laning of Angul-Sambalpur section of NH 42 in Orissa for Rs 1,220.32 crore.

The other projects are two/four laning of Birmitrapur to Barkote section in Orissa (Rs 778.15 crore), four laning with paved shoulder ofBhopalto Biaora section in Madhya Pradesh (Rs 704.26 crore) and four laning of Rewa to MP/UP Border of NH 7 (Rs 670.82 crore).

The other projects approved are in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. All the projects are related to expansion of national highways in the respective states.

The PPPAC has approved 226 projects with an estimated cost of Rs 224,464.51 crore since it was formed in 2006.

The projects include roads in national highways, ports, airports, housing, tourism infrastructure, Railways and sports stadia.

Move to shift rail wagon factory from Kalahandi sparks resentment among the locals

Following report is from The Pioneer:

Of late, the people of Kalahandi district are an apprehensive lot after getting the information that the proposed rail wagon industry promised by Railway Minister Mamata Banarjee is likely to be shifted from the district to Ganjam.

According to sources, the Railway Minister has assured local MP Bhakta Charan Das to set up rail wagon industry in the district in Parliament but other sources said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, meanwhile, has written a letter to Mamata Banerjee proposing to set up rail wagon industry in Ganjam district.

Kalahandi is one of the country’s most poverty-stricken districts. Huge funds pumped in for development of poor have not yielded fruitful results.

The political leadership as the past is now suspected again to fail to bring the rail wagon factory like the Central University was shifted from Kalahandi to Koraput.

The Chief Minister during his visit to Kalahandi recently was presented with a memorandum by the aggrieved political parties, intellectual forums, different organisations, demanding to recommend the Central Government to set up the proposed rail wagon industry in the district.

However, sources said the Chief Minister has not yet taken any steps on the demand of the locals and this has triggered resentment and a feeling that the district again will be betrayed.

Orissa has urged NALCO and SAIL to set up medical colleges

Following is from the Telegraph:

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 7: The Orissa government has urged the central public sector undertakings (PSUs) operating in the state to help it set up medical colleges in the state.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik today reviewed the progress of various proposed medical colleges in the state.

At present, the state has six medical colleges. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Mahanadi Coal Field Limited (MCL) have agreed to set up two medical colleges.

MCL has agreed to set up a medical college at Talcher. NTPC too has agreed in principle to the proposal. It is yet to decide the location of the new college.

The state government has also approached Nalco and SAIL to help develop the state in this regard.

Investment to the tune of Rs 150 crore is needed for a medical college with a capacity to enrol 100 students per annum.

The state currently has three government medical colleges— MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, SCB Medical College, Cuttack and VSS Medical College, Burla. Besides the government colleges, there are three private medical colleges.

The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIMS) is setting up its unit in the capital city. At the meeting today, it was decided that a regional paramedical training centre would be set up at Bhubaneswar at an estimated cost of Rs 75 crore to impart training to para-medical staff.

Health department sources said many organisations have submitted their proposals to set up medical colleges in backward districts like Kalahandi, Keonjhar and Balangir.

Of these, the Sahyog Health Care and Research Foundation (SHRF) has already inked an MoU with the state government to set up a multi-specialty medical college and hospital. The hospital-cum-college, at an estimated cost of Rs 210 crore, would be ready by 2012.

Orissa health minister Prasanna Acharya said: “The state government would encourage establishment of more and more medical colleges and hospital in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. A proposal has been sent to Centre for establishment of one medical college and hospital in PPP mode at Koraput.” The state government has granted a no objection certificate to Hi-Tech Hospital authority to establish one medical college in Rourkela.

Decks have been cleared for the setting up of another medical college in Balangir.

Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) will fund the project.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up medical and engineering colleges in Orissa

Following report is from the Pioneer:

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will set up a medical college and an engineering college in the State as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Informing about the proposed institutes, Energy Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the State Government has lauded the CSR proposal of NTPC. The location for the colleges are yet to be identified and talks are on, the Minister informed.

Following is another report from http://www.business-standard.com:

National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC), India’s largest power generation utility, has sought 15 acres of land from the Orissa government to set up a medical college. The company also intends to set up a power engineering institute in the state.

The locations and other specifics of these two institutes are yet to be finalized.

“NTPC has sought 15 acres of land for setting up a medical college in the state. It has also evinced interest in setting up a power engineering institute. The company has written to us, requesting for land allotment and we will hold an inter-departmental meeting soon to decide on the site for the medical college and the power engineering institute. The details of the medical college are yet to be finalized but as per the norms of Medical Council of India, they have to start with a 300-bed facility”, an official source told Business Standard.

NTPC which had proposed to set up two super thermal power plants to be set up at Gajamara in Dhenkanal district and Darlipalli in Sundergarh district and also add 1320 Mw to its thermal power station at Talcher, was keen to sign a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the state owned Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco).

The PPA was to be signed between NTPC and Gridco for a period of 25 years. NTPC is setting up a 3200 Mw power plant at Gajamara and 4800 Mw power plant at Darlipalli.

One of the conditions set by the state government for signing of the PPA was the setting up of a medical college and a power engineering institute. The second condition was allocation of 50 per cent power for the state from the two proposed super thermal power stations.”NTPC has claimed that it has got the approval of the Centre for allocation of 50 per cent of power for the host state. We have asked the company to produce a copy of the letter of approval of the Centre”, the source added.

The proposed super thermal power projects of NTPC at Gajamara and Darlipalli were scheduled to be operational by 2016-17. The Gajamara project needed 2900 acres of land and NTPC claimed to have conducted the gram sabha for this project in March this year.

 This is a good initiative by NTPC. The Orissa govt. must ask other industries to establish medical and engineering colleges in the industrial zones of western Orissa. In particular, such industry sponsered institutes need to be established in Sambalpur-Jharsuguda and Rourkela-Sudergarh belt.

Central govt.’s reply to Orissa govt. regarding Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda airport: The Sambad