Survey begins for setting up of solid waste treatment plant in Berhampur

A survey was initiated in Berhampur to assess the nature of solid waste generated in the city. This survey would help in the designing of the proposed solid waste management plant to be established by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC). International Financial Corporation (IFC), which is providing technological support for the project, conducted the survey. It may be noted that the site for the plant for the city has been already identified. It is to be established near Chandania hill on the outskirts of Berhampur.Recently the representatives of IFC, health officials of BMC and members of VEDIC an organisation devoted to protection of consumers and environment took part in the collection solid waste samples for the survey. Senior Manager of IFC, Ayon Majumdar, Narayan Babu, and Secretary General of Vedic Satish Panigrahi were present to monitor the collection of solid waste samples. For proper assessment of character of solid waste generated in the city, daily waste samples would be collected from families of High Income Group (HIG), Middle Income Group (MIG) and Low Income Group (LIG).

Source: The Hindu

South Odisha remains poorest in the state: Odisha Economic Survey 2011-12

Does South Odisha deserve this?
RP Tripathy

Source: The Sambad

Notwithstanding the tall claims of the State Government, its policies have failed comprehensively to dent poverty in the 10 Southern Districts of Odisha. And, this doesn't come as a surprise for the people barring the fact that, now the State Government's own Economic Survey reveals this ignominious fact. But, the politics of the state is such that the state government is still scratching the surface with Rs2 a kilo rice and other such schemes thinking that some invisible hand will address the development challenges of South Odisha. With more than half of its population living below the starvation line, there is very little that the state government can claim to have offered to this underdeveloped region. South Odisha is still grappling with challenges of malnutrition, education, health, rail & road connectivity, industrialization etc with little evidence that these public goods have shown any sign of improvement.  The rate of urbanization has been extremely slow in the region and lack of urbanization and absence of gainful industrial employment has led to large scale forced-migrations from South Odisha to the neighboring states. While Regional Development Councils have been formed elsewhere, the state government has been completely cold on the demand for formation of South Odisha Development Council. Similarly, there is hardly any sincerity shown over the years for harnessing the river-water potential of the region (Mahanadi-Rushikulya-Vamsadhara river linking project is gather dust) to overcome repeated droughts and improve agricultural productivity and this has allowed the neighboring states to come up with massive river dam projects in the boarder areas to divert this resource. While this picture can be reversed if the state government genuinely wishes so; the failure to address this would prove costlier. The Maoists are already well-entrenched in the region and the area under their influence is rising fast. Deprivation and underdevelopment have resulted in separate statehood demands in several states. If the state government continues with its business-as-usual approach, there are no dearth of examples to show that South Odisha will go the same way.
Related news  from The Pioneer

The extent of the poverty in southern and northern region of the State is still high and remains a matter of concern even as the poverty percentage points reduced to 29.69  per cent. According to the Odisha Economic Survey, 2011-12 report, even after sixty-four years of independence, the State witnesses wide regional and social disparities in development. All regions have not developed uniformly so far. The annual report, which was circulated in the State Assembly on Thursday on the eve of the Budget for the fiscal 2012-13 was to be presented by the Finance Minister on Friday, pointed out that the rural-urban gap remained larger than the all-India average. As per the 66th round of NSS, poverty declined in all NSS regions of the State. However, the coastal region has the lowest incidence of poverty while this time the incidence of poverty is the highest in the southern and the northern regions, the report said. Though poverty ratio has reduced in the State due to the development initiatives like Revised Long Term Action Plan, Biju KBK Plan, Biju Kandhamal O Gajapati Yojana, Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana, Backward Region Grant Fund and Western Odisha Development Council for faster development of backward regions, the State is yet to develop uniformly. As far as poverty is concerned, Odisha is still above national level but in declining trend according to NSS data of the 66th round, while the poverty percentage point was 39.90 in 2004-05, there was a further reduction of 10.21 percentage points from 39.90 per cent to 29.69 percent in 2009-10.

Revival plan for public parks in Berhampur

Berhampur: The Berhampur Municipal Corporation has initiated steps to renovate parks in the Silk City. “The Gandhi Park, situated on the Ramlingam Tank Road near the civic body office, was renovated about three months. We have arranged about 30 decorative lights with music system fitted in it,” said Sukant Sabat, junior electrical engineer of the corporation, who is in charge of the Gandhi Park. “A fountain system and play equipment for the children, including a merry-go-round, has also been provided to the park,” he said.

“The park remains open from 4pm to 9pm. Every morning, we trim the grass and clean the park for evening’s visitors. The park is open to all with a very meagre entry fee. The low-priced entry ticket is just a token to create awareness among visitors about maintaining cleanliness on the park premises,” he said.

The Nehru Park, situated on the Railway Station Road in Hillpatna, also wears a new look. The Nehru Park was made open to the public after renovation last year. Pratyush Majumdar, a student of De Paul School and a resident of Shanti Nagar, said: “I like the Gandhi Park a lot. I visit the park with my mother whenevr I get an opportunity. Earlier, the park was in very bad shape and there were no lights inside it. But, things have changed now as authorities have taken initiatives to renovate it.” K. Bhaskar Reddy, 70, a resident of BRIT Colony at Neelakantha Nagar, said the parks of the city were the only places where one could indulge in some leisurely activities. “The city is growing rapidly and there is no space for the elderly to spend a few hours amidst peace and tranquillity. I have witnessed the evolution of the Gandhi Park. These two parks have now become attractive options to spend leisure hours” he said.

However, M. Tejeswar Swamy, councillor of ward No. 13 of the corporation, asked for more steps to be taken by the Berhampur Development Authority to further develop the Biju Patnaik Park on the Corporation Road. “The lighting facilities in the Biju Patnaik Park are not adequate. Also, the authorities should initiate steps to deploy more security guards there,” said the councillor.

Source: The Telegraph

Canada woos Indian students; Centre for Canadian Studies, Berhampur University, organises two day conference

BERHAMPUR: Canada will welcome Indian students into higher education to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries. "Canadian universities not only provide scholarships but good infrastructure and teaching facilities. There is no problem for Indian students to get visa and go to Canada," deputy high commissioner of Canada in New Delhi Jim Nickel said on the sidelines of a conference at Berhampur University. Stating that Canada is one of the top destinations for Indian students in foreign countries, he said the number of Indian students have increased four times from only 3,000 two years ago. At least 50 Indian universities have already tied up with 35 Canadian universities for academic and research activities like exchange of faculty, he said. The two-day seminar on "Diplomacy, Defence and Development: Canadian and Indian Perspective", organized by the Centre for Canadian Studies, Berhampur University and sponsored by Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI), New Delhi and DFAIT, Canada, was inaugurated by vice-chancellor J K Mohapatra. "India has a large number of youths. They can play a major role in Information Technology, engineering, social sciences, etc," he said. He stressed on the relationship between India and Canada in trade and commerce, energy security, information and technology, food security, diplomacy and defence. Among others, Chintamani Mohapatra, professor in School of International Studies (SIS), JNU, PG council chairman of Berhampur University N K Tripathy and Prof B C Choudhury were present.

Source: Times of India

Berhampur gets three new weekly trains connecting Shalimar-Secunderabad, Howrah-Mysore and Santragachhi-Mangaluru

As announced in last Railway Budget the Railways have decided to introduce new weekly express between Shalimar-Secunderabad, Howrah-Mysore and Santragachhi-Mangaluru.  All these three weekly super fast trains with stoppages at Berhampur (Brahmapur) will connect Berhampur with some new destinations like Mangaluru and Mysore. This is in addition to two weekly trains connecting Visakhapatnam-Digha and Kharagpur-Villupuram announced by the Railways last week. 

22849 Shalimar-Secunderabad weekly Express will leave Shalimar on every Friday at12.20hrs and will arrive at Secunderabad at 15.00hrs o¬n the next day. In the return direction, 22850 Secunderabad-Shalimar weekly Express will leave Secunderabad on every Sundayat 5.30hrs and will arrive at Shalimar at 09.20hrs on the next day. This train has o¬ne AC-2 tier, 02 AC-3 tiers, 07 Sleeper Classes, 06 General Second ClassCoaches and 02 Guard cum Luggage Vans in its composition having stoppage at Kharagpur, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada between Shalimar & Secunderabad.

The regular service of 22817/22818 Howrah-Mysore-Howrah Weekly Superfast Express having stoppages at Kharagpur, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Katpadi  between Howrah & Mysore will commence from Howrah w.e.f. 24th Feb’12 & from Mysore w.e.f. 27thFeb’2012. Howrah-Mysore-Howrah Weekly Superfast Express will leave Howrah at 16.10hrs on every Friday w.e.f. 24th Feb’2012 and will arrive at Mysore at 05.00hrs on Sundays. In the return direction, this train will leave Mysore at 00.30hrs on every Monday w.e.f. 27thFeb’2012 and will arrive at Howrah at 14.50hrs on Tuesdays.

22849 Shalimar-Secunderabad weekly Express will leave Shalimar on every Friday at 12.20hrs and will arrive at Secunderabad at 15.00hrs on the next day. In the return direction, 22850 Secunderabad-Shalimar weekly Express will leave Secunderabad on every Sundayat 5.30hrs and will arrive at Shalimar at 09.20hrs on the next day. This train has stoppage at Kharagpur, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Sompeta, Palasa, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada between Shalimar & Secunderabad.

Source: East Coast Railways

Little headway in road works

Three World Bank-aided road projects are running much behind the schedule due to incompetence of the executing agencies. The World Bank had sanctioned loan for widening and strengthening of three roads - Berhampur to Taptapani, Bhawanipatna to Khariar and Chandbali-Bhadrak-Anandapur under the Orissa State Road Project (OSRP). All the three projects commenced works in February 2009 and the scheduled date of completion was August 2011. However, the progress of the three projects is very negligible. The progress of Berhampur-Taptapani road project remains far from satisfactory. The 41-km stretch of road from Berhampur to Taptapani was awarded to Backbone-ARSS joint venture company at an estimated cost of ` 81.97 crore. The cumulative progress of the project was less than 22 per cent till the 2011-end.This came to the notice of the World Bank team during their recent visit to the State. The team expressed serious concern over the inordinate delay in the completion of the project.

Source: IBNLive

Berhampur gets two new trains; funds sanctioned for modernization of 4th platform and 2 new railway over bridges

As announced in last Railway Budget the Railways have introduced a new train between Visakhapatnam-Digha and Kharagpur- Villupuram (Tamil Nadu), w.e.f. from 17thFebruary 2012 with stoppages at Brahmapur (Berhampur) station. 22874/22873 Visakhapatnam-Digha-Visakhapatnam Weekly Superfast Express will leave Visakhapatnam at 17.50hrs on every Thursday w and will arrive at Digha at 09.30hrs on the next day. In the return direction, this train will leave Digha at 17.15hrs on every Friday w.e.f. 24thFeb’2012 and will arrive at Visakhapatnam at 08.20hrs o­n the following day. Similarly, 22604/22603 Villupuram-Kharagpur-Villupuram Weekly Superfast Express will leave Villupuramat 10.40hrs on every Monday and will arrive at Kharagpur at 19.30hrs on the next days. In the return direction, this train will leave Kharagpur at 14.10 hrs on every Wednesday and will arrive at Villupuram at 23.00hrs on the following day.

Source: East Coast Railway

Silk City prefers a name change: ToI

BERHAMPUR: Cultural and literary activists of Berhampur want the town's name to be changed to Brahmapur. The Railways have already changed the town's name to Brahmapur following requests from eminent personalities and organisations of the town, including the Utkal Sammilani and Utkal Parishad. Both these socio-cultural organizations promote Odia language. But the central and state government offices are yet to change the name of Berhampur. "It is high time the government changes the name of Berhampur to Bramhapur when the Centre is going to change the name of 25 towns across the country," said Prahallad Panda, a retired professor of Berhampur University. "The town's name was spelt as Berhampur by the British to avoid confusion with other towns, particularly for postal purposes. For example it could have been confused with Berhampore in West Bengal and Burhampur in Punjab's Gurudaspur district, said P Venugopal Rao, who has written the "City of Brahma", a book on the town.

"The state's revenue department should bring an amendment to change the spelling of the names of towns like Berhampur, Balasore, Cuttack and Jatni," said Basant Kumar Panigrahi, a senior advocate. "The names of many ancient towns have been changed. So the government should change the spelling of towns in Odisha, including Berhampur," said Pramod Kumar Panda of Utkal Parishad, a socio-cultural organization. "We require some authentic records from the revenue department to plead to change the spelling of the town's name," a senior officer of the postal department said. "We will alter the name of the town after the revenue record is changed," a BSNL official added.

Berhampur born NRI Odissi exponent enthralls audience in Silk city

Shalini Patnaik, a non-resident Indian (NRI) Odissi dancer from California, America, enthralled the audience through her solo Odissi recital in the city on Monday night.

It may be noted that she along with her two other sisters Labani Patnaik and Shibani Patnaik has played a major role in popularizing Odissi in America and other western countries. The dance recital of Ms Shalini was organised at Kavisurya auditorium by Ganjam Kala Parishad and Chatrapur Kala Vikash Kendra. Her dance recital proved that although she lives thousands of kilometres away Odissi has kept her rooted to the culture.

She preferred to stick to chaste form of Odissi during her performance. During Mangalacharan she danced to pay her obeisance to the mother goddess through Durga Stuti. Her next phase of Odissi dance recital ‘Pallavi' was choreographed to the tunes of Raag Kirabani and during ‘Abhinaya' she preferred to dance to the timeless Sanskrit lyrics of Jayadev. Classical vocal artist Rupak Kumar Parida sang in the background during the performance. Bijay Kumar Narik played mardal, Agnimitra Behera violin and Soumyaranjan Joshi played flute.

Ganjam Kala Parishad honoured Shalini. Chatrapur Kala Vikash Kendra honoured the other artists who were part of the performance. Veteran stage craft master Kedar Apta was also honoured.

Source: The Hindu

Nine private agencies submit EoI for IIIT in Odisha; locating it at Berhampur rests on State Govt’s honesty

STPI- Berhampur

The State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik including several of his Ministerial colleagues have expressed their keenness for having the proposed IIIT at Berhampur on multiple occasions. This is mainly because of two reasons. First, Berhampur is still the only measure city in the state without a centrally funded higher education Institution and IIIT can fill the void. Second, other cities of the state like Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur have state funded IIITs and Rourkela has a centrally funded NIT. So, that leaves Berhampur as the only other prominent city which is the most deserving to have this Institute. As the much awaited Institution is on the verge of fruition, now is the test of sincerity of the Government led by Patnaik on whether they keep their promise for a centrally funded Institute at Berhampur or betray the people like their predecessors over the past several decades. Further, the public of Odisha, and Ganjam/Berhampur in particular can’t take the establishment of the Institute for granted. It is also the test of public activism and role of civil society in moulding public opinion and force the Government to implement its promise.

I earnestly appeal all those readers and concerned individuals who feel that the issue is worth fighting for; to voice their demand before the state government for early establishment of IIIT at Berhampur. Following are the emails of the people which you may consider writing to: cmo@ori.nic.in, cmorissa@ori.nic.in, cmo-ps@ori.nic.in, hrm@nic.in, ksibal@sansad.nic.in, kapilsibal@hotmail.com, kapil@kapilsibal.com, d.puran@nic.in, secy.dhe@nic.in, athakur.edu@nic.in, nksinha.edu@nic.in, rpsisodia.edu@nic.in,  csori@ori.nic.in ranjan.khanna@gmail.com, mdeoraoffice@gmail.com, pilotoffice@gmail.com, secretary@mit.gov.in, shankar.aggarwal@mit.gov.in, ajay@mit.gov.in, vbt@mit.gov.in, tsarkar@mit.gov.in, , dstsec@ori.nic.in, itsec@ori.nic.in

Related news from The Telegraph

The state is likely to have its own Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT). This proposed tech institute is among 20 such IIITs that the Centre intends to set up across the country. Official sources said nine private agencies have submitted an expression of interest for the ambitious project that would be undertaken in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. According to the proposal, setting up the institute involves an expenditure of Rs 128 crore of which Rs 54 crore will be provided by the Centre. The state government will invest Rs 45 crore and the remaining amount will be contributed by the private agency that takes up the project. The institute will come up on 50 acres allocated by the state government free of cost. Commissioner-cum-secretary of the state information technology department Pradeep Kumar Jena said the proposal would be sent to the Centre after a private partner for the venture was finalised. “The location (of the institute) will be decided by the private concern,” said Jena. He said the aim of the institute would be to provide state-of-the-art facilities to produce professionals in the field of information technology.

SOSA demands Police Commissionerate system in Greater Berhampur

Dear Chief Minister Sir,

The present state of lawlessness in Berhampur city and its adjoining areas has become a cause for concern. Owing to total lack of alacrity in the police administration here; violence, loot, extortion, murder and gang war have become the order of the day. The Greater Berhampur Region comprising of Berhampur city and its nearby areas of Chatrapur, Gopalpur and Hinjilicut have turned out to be the safe havens for criminals and anti-social elements.  As an upshot of this people here are under panic for the last several months, but the state administration is treating this matter with utter callousness.  The rising crime graph in the City in the last few years under your dispensation not only shows the insensitivity and inability of the State Government in maintaining law and order in this major commercial city but points to the virtual collapse of the state machinery in the entire region of South Odisha.  As the Home Minister of the State the buck stops with you and we demand concrete measures as silence is certainly not the solution.

To deal with the law and order situation in the capital city region, comprising Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, your government created the Commissionerate Police   system there. But in case of Berhampur city, where law and order has completely collapsed the State Government has shown little interest in restoring the rule of law. Berhmapur, being a bordering city of Andhra Pradesh and hence the transit point for the anti-social elements and being surrounded by Maoist infested districts, the need for Commissionerate Police system here cannot be overemphasized. In contrast, the discrimination shown towards the city and the entire region of South Odisha is glaring. To mention just one, the state government has created an IG police range for central Odisha at Cuttack, IG police for Northern range at Sambalpur and IG police for Western range at Rourkela while there is no IG range for the entire region of South Odisha even though the law and order situation here is worse compared to the rest of the state.  

the pioneer

 SOSA demanded establishment of a police commissionerate system at Brahmapur

 The South Odisha Students’ Association (SOSA) demanded establishment of a police commissionerate system at Brahmapur.

In a letter to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the SOSA president Ram Prasad Tripathy said the Greater Brahmapur Region comprising of Brahmapur city and its nearby areas of Chatrapur, Gopalpur and Hinjilicut have turned out to be the safe havens for criminals and anti-social elements. People are in panic for the last several months with a steep rise in the crime graph, but the State administration is treating this matter with utter callousness.
Justifying the reasons for the establishment of the police commissionerate system, the association said Brahmapur is a bordering city of Andhra Pradesh and hence the transit point for the anti-social elements. It is surrounded by Maoist infested districts and so there is a need for restructuring the existing system of policing......................

Ram Prasad Tripathy, president of the South Odisha Students’ Association, has demanded a police commissionerate system for the city and nearby areas of Chatrapur, Gopalpur and Hinjilicut.
“The present lawlessness in Berhampur city and its adjoining areas has become a cause for concern. The region has turned out to be a safe haven for criminals and the state administration is treating this matter with utter callousness,” wrote Tripathy in a letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik on February 6.
“The state government has created an IG police range for central Odisha at Cuttack, IG police for northern range in Sambalpur and IG police for western range in Rourkela. However, there is no IG range for the entire region of south Odisha even though the law and order situation here is worse compared to the rest of the state,” he said.

High Court Bench demand galvanizes masses in Berhampur

Source: The Sambad

International Finance Corporation team visit waste management project site in Berhampur

Source: The Sambad