Union Minister promises to expedite Berhampur bypass project

Naveen Patnaik urges Union Minister to approve Berhampur-Koraput National Highway

Chief Minister of Orissa, Naveen Patnaik met the Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Dr. C.P. Joshi, at New Delhi. He urged the Union Minister to approve five State Roads -Berhampur-Koraput; Madhapur-Rayagada; Phulnakhara-Konark;Kuakhia-Aradi-Bhadrak and Palasa-Khariar as National Highways. Union Minister was also requested to expedite sanction of estimates for land acquisition for enabling construction of 7 new Bypasses in Bolangir on NH-26; Titlagarh on NH-59; Berhampur on NH-59 (earlier NH 217); Nawarangpur on NH-26; Boriguma on NH-26; Jeypore on NH-26 and Koraput on NH-26 and to urgently allocate funds to the State for 2011-12 under the Central Road Fund.

Union Minister appreciated the concerns of Orissa and assured that his Ministry would extend necessary financial help for carrying out repair and restoration work on National Highways. He informed the Chief Minister that he will depute Chairman, NHAI to the State to assess the difficulties associated with National Highways and take appropriate action towards ensuring up-gradation of National Highways to 4 lane standards. On declaration of new  National Highways in Orissa, Union Minister informed that the proposed State Roads forming part of the National Grid would be upgraded to National Highways. 

Union Minister shared that his Ministry is committed to provide roads in Naxal affected districts and the proposal for 45 new roads forming part of the second phase will be approved during the current financial year. On construction of Bypasses, he assured that Berhampur Bypass on NH-59 (earlier NH 217) will be taken up immediately and the proposal of the State for other bypasses will be considered in due course. 

Source: Orissa Diary

Ganjam District included under Integrated Action Plan (IAP)

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and raised the issue of growing Maoist menace and sought strategic Central assistance to deal with the problem. Appreciating the issue raised by Patnaik, the Union Home Minister assured all possible assistance to combat the Maoists and said the Central Government had approved  Odisha's proposal for inclusion of four Maoist-prone districts under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme as well as decided to include three more districts under the Integrated Action Plan including Ganjam. The Chief Minister also sought from Chidambaram for waiver of charges amounting to `567.55 crore towards deployment of CPMF covering the period up to July 30, 2011 and reiterated his request to include five more districts — Bargarh, Ganjam, Nayagarh,Dhenkanal and Jajpur —, under the Integrated Action Plan (lAP) Scheme. Inclusion of Ganjam under IAP was being demanded by various sections since the Plan was unveiled last year. 

Source: Daily Pioneer 

Berhampur Silk City, Slideshow

Berhampur Silk City, Odisha Slideshow

Background paper on Berhampur City

Excerpts from the Background Paper on Berhampur city by the School of Habitat Studies, TISS for UIRF.........

(Click here to download the full text of the Paper)

Berhampur city is the fourth most populous urban area in the state of Orissa and 113th overall in India. It is mainly a trading centre for Southern Orissa having its influence over eight districts. It is the oldest city of Ganjam District. The purpose of this TLBN is to present sector-specific and broader development issues in the city of Berhampur. This is specifically in the context of the Berhampur Municipal  Corporation (BMC), the current status and possible impact of reforms on the overall functioning of the municipal corporation. The focus of interventions is to improve governance in towns and cities in the growing urbanization era. The extent of provision of public services by a government system has gained importance in the twenty first century. During the Keynesian days, the supremacy of the government in providing public services was not a matter of debate at all. Government was thought to be the omniscient provider of all public welfare activities. The turn of the century witnessed a sharp rise in critically examining the role of the government and a limit was placed on the governmental activities. With this backdrop the next paragraphs describe the background and history of the district as well as the town.

Old bus stand at Barracks to be shifted to the outskirts of Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: The Berhampur Municipal Corporation has decided to shift the bus stand of the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC), popularly known as old bus stand, from its existing location of Barracks in the heart of Berhampur city to the city outskirts. But the status-quo will be maintained for the time being till suitable location is found. It was decided at a meeting held on Wednesday that was chaired by Berhampur Sub-Collector Ajit Kumar Mishra. The meeting was attended by Berhampur Mayor S. Shankar Dash, local MLA RCC Patnaik, city sub-divisional police officer, authorities of the OSRTC and Berhampur Development Authority (BDA). Earlier administration and police wanted the OSRTC bus stand to be shifted to the new bus stand from where private buses operate. But OSRTC authorities were not ready for the proposal. The administration had decided to shift the old bus stand and use the space for public amenities. The OSRTC authorities were not ready to operate from new bus stand as they felt it would be hard for them to manage from there due to unholy rivalry of private bus operators. After the meeting, the Sub-Collector said they had decided to identify a new location for the OSRTC bus stand and after that the old bus stand would be shifted. As per him two locations have been thought of which would be surveyed for feasibility to let OSRTC operate with its separate identity. It may be noted that a legal tussle was also there regarding the continuation of lease of the old bus stand area to the OSRTC. It was leased to the OSRTC around 50 years ago. 

Source: The Hindu

Berhampur girl grabs gold in Commonwealth Youth championship at Cape Town

Following the footsteps of K Ravi Kumar, another weightlifter of Berhampur city, Minati Das, brought fame to the state. She won gold in the ongoing Commonwealth Youth Girls championship at Cape Town. Ravi, who had won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games-2010, had also won the medal in the Commonwealth (youth) championships earlier.

Fifteen-year-old Minati of Old Berhampur area won in the 44-kg category of Weightlifting, said vice-president of Indian Weightlifting Federation and general secretary of Berhampur-based Veer Hanuman Club Narayan Sahu. Seven girls from the country, including Das, were participating in the youth (girl) category. Though Minati has participated in many national events, the commonwealth (youth) championship is her first international participation. She had a rigorous practice session in Bangalore before this. We are proud that another youth from our club won the prestigious medal in the international event, Sahu said.

Minati is the second daughter of Pramod Das, a farmer and leader of Ganjam District Scheduled Caste Federation. Out of his four children, Minati was the one very keen on sports. At present, she is a Class X student of Government Girlsa High School, Berhampur.

Source: The Times of India  

Tara Tarini Development Board takes great pleasure in wishing you happiness and prosperity on the divine occasion of Dusshera,
the festival that symbolizes the Triumph of Good over Evil.

May the divine blessings of

Maa Tara Tarini be with you always!

Berhampur Book fair from November 05

The Fifteenth Berhampur Book Fair, one of the biggest Book fairs in Eastern India  would be held in the city from November 05 to 14. It was decided at a meeting of the Book Fair Committee that was chaired by Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Southern Division, Laxminarayan Nayak. Several competitions would be held among students during the book fair. Five students from rural schools of the district would be honoured during the book fair.

Source: The Hindu

Berhampur Municipal Corporation signs MoU for setting up solid waste management plant

Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to establish a solid waste processing plant on the outskirts of the city.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) an affiliate body of World Bank would be the transaction adviser of the project, said Sanjiv Mishra, Joint Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Department of the State government. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the purpose was signed between the BMC and the IFC in the city on Friday afternoon in the conference hall of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), southern division.

Commissioner of the BMC Bhim Manseth and adviser of the IFC Indramani Sen signed the MoU papers. Mayor of the BMC Sibashankar Dash, Berhampur MLA RCC Patnaik, Rajya Sabha MP Renubala Pradhan, corporators of the BMC and Mr. Msihra were present .

Mr. Manseth said the service fee of advisory services of the IFC for the solid waste management project would be around 75,000 dollars. Thirty per cent of it would be borne by the BMC while the rest would be contributed by the State government.

 The Mayor said signing of this MoU with the IFC is only the first step towards establishment of the solid waste processing plant project.

Ganjam Bar Association lawyers seek interim report on HC Benches

Through a protest rally in Berhampur city lawyers of Ganjam Bar Association (GBA) demanded that the State government impress upon the Justice C.R.Pal Commission the need to file an interim report. This motor cycle rally was led by president of the GBA Sisir Padhi and its secretary Jyoti Chhotray. Members of the Ganjam Bar Association also started boycott of court during last four days of a month for the demand of establishment of a permanent Bench of Orissa High Court in the city.

It may be noted that in February 2008 Orissa government had set up this single-member judicial commission to go into the demands for permanent benches of Orissa High Court in South and Western Orissa. For long lawyers in Berhampur and Sambalpur have been demanding setting up of permanent benches of the High Court in their areas.

Large-scale agitation by the lawyers at these places compelled the State government to set up this commission. Lawyers of the Ganjam Bar Association, Berhampur were critical of the delay in filing of report by the commission. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a statement in the Orissa Assembly had announced that the duration of the Justice Pal Commission would be six months. But it is yet to furnish its report although its tenure has got extended several times.

The GBA wanted the State government not to extend the tenure of the commission any more. ‘It is high time the Commission came up with an interim report,” Mr Chhotray said. Delay in filing of report was reducing faith of public in the real intention behind the setting of this Commission, the agitating lawyers said. This Commission had to collect information and data from Orissa High Court, different district offices, Bar Associations and different forums to come up with a report regarding the feasibility of demands for establishment of High Court Benches in Berhampur and Sambalpur.

Mr Chhotray alleged that delay in furnishing of report by the Justice pal Commission was leading to frustration among lawyers and general public. It also hints at lack of commitment of the Chief Minister, he added. A single-member commission was constituted in February 2008 to go into the demands for High Court Benches