High Court bench in South Odisha: Ganjam Bar Association members block roads in Berhampur city

Members of the Ganjam Bar Association blocked the roads in front of the Berhampur court on August 30 as part of their continuing agitation for the demand of establishment of a permanent bench of the Odisha High Court in the city. They also handed over a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the office of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), southern division.

Through the memorandum, they urged the Chief Minister to immediately request the Central government for establishment of a permanent bench of the Odisha High Court in Berhampur. The lawyers of the Ganjam Bar Association also requested the CM to hold a meeting with the representatives of the bar association over the issue.

During their road blockade and demonstration, the agitating lawyers shouted slogans against the Justice C.R.Pal Commission calling for its withdrawal. This single member judicial commission had been set up by the Odisha government through a notification made in March 2008 to esquire and investigate into the demands for permanent benches of Odisha High Court in South and Western Odisha. It was to furnish its report in six months but till now it has not come up with any interim report also.

The agitating lawyers alleged that in the name of this commission the decision on the demand for establishment of permanent bench of Odisha High Court for south Odisha in Berhampur was being delayed. President of the Ganjam Bar Association Kapileswar Patnaik Sadi said that they were planning to intensify their democratic agitation with support of people, which would also include road blockade and bandh calls.

A senior lawyer of Ganjam Bar Association, P.J.Padhi said hearing by a bench of Odisha High Court in Berhampur had occurred during the British era. According to him on January 4, 1937, then justice of High Court had held circuit court in Berhampur, which hinted that this city was considered suitable for a bench of the High Court for south Odisha even during the British era. Agitating lawyers shout slogans against Justice C.R. Pal Commission. Source: The Hindu 

IDCO undertakes survey for modernization of Barracks Stadium at Berhampur

Source: The Sambad

India's leading jewellery brand Tanishq opens its exclusive outlet in Berhampur

India's premier jewellery brand Tanishq, from the stable of Titan Industries, has opened its exclusive outlet in Berhampur city in Odisha. Currently Tanishq has its outlets in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela cities of the State. It may be noted that Berhampur is a major hub for gold trading due to which the company targeted this place. Tanishq hopes to increase its customer base in Odisha after opening its outlet at urban bank road of Berhampur. The new showroom at Berhampur is one of the biggest in the city and is spread over an area of 3,000 sq.ft. Tanishq aims to expand its footprint in eastern India, comprising Odisha, West Bengal, northeastern states and Jharkhand with opening of more number of outlets. The eastern region accounts for only 15 per cent of Tanishq's total business in the country at present. "We want to expand our footprint in the eastern region including Odisha," said V Ganesh, associate vice-president, Titan Company Limited. Tanishq has presence in 86 cities across the country, making it India's largest jewellery retail showroom chain.                                                           

Source: Dharitri

Buoyed by its success, Tanishq is also planning to introduce more ethnic jewellery designs in its product range in the near future. “Among our products we already have several designs taken from traditional filigree work of Odisha,” said associate vice-president of Titan Company Limited, V.Ganesh, during the inauguration of the showroom of ‘Tanishq’ in Odisha in Berhampur on Wednesday. Mr Ganesh accepted that the traditional jewellery designs of Odisha were somewhat unique. According to him, the team of designers of the jewellery company in Kolkata is working on introducing more Odia designs into the national market of this premier brand. Around 15 per cent of the jewellery marketed by Tanishq is based on traditional regional designs, he said. During the Rath Yatra, Tanishq had introduced a gold Jagannath pendant which was a huge success. The Tanishq authorities accepted the fact that the demand for low weight jewellery had increased due to rise in gold price. But they hoped that the lure of gold ornaments for women would never end in India. “We are also trying to bring down the price of some of our products through mass production,” Mr Ganesh said. To facilitate buying of gold by the common people, during this time of hike in gold price due to rise in value of dollar in comparison to rupee, the company has introduced Golden Harvest and Gold Booking Scheme. Through these schemes a customer can save a particular amount with the company to plan jewellery purchase with some extra benefits.

Sources: The Hindu & www.afaqs.com

Berhampuri patta sari in elite club

Source: http://mydayspecial.blogspot.in

By Sunil Patnaik (The Telegraph)                                                                           Berhampuri patta, a heavy silk sari with narrow borders woven with simple pitcher-like motifs, has been accorded the Geographical Indication (GI) label to protect the 200-year-old traditional product from being duplicated outside Silk City. With this, the sari has now found a place among elite traditional products such as Kanchipuram silk of Tamil Nadu and Chanderi fabric of Madhya Pradesh.

Under the Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, agricultural, natural or manufactured goods originating or manufactured in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory, could register as GI. It provides the registered proprietor and its authorised users to get exclusive legal right to use the GI. They also have the right to obtain relief in case of its infringement. “The GI registration would be a boon for handloom textile manufacturers of Berhampur as it would ensure that only genuine products are marketed and the typical kumbha (pitcher) design of Berhampuri pata is not imitated. We had been trying to get this tag for the past one-and-half-years,” said assistant director of textiles Upendra Kumar Debata. Last year, the state government had registered two textile items — Odisha ikkat and Kotpad handloom fabrics — with the GI registry. Four more indigenous products of Odisha — Sambalpuri bandha, Sonepuri Bomkai, Dhalapathar screen and Habaspuri sari — were in the pipeline. The local silk industry would get good marketing support following worldwide publicity of Berhampuri pata. “As the demand for this traditional sari increases, weavers, who now earn between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000 a month, will get more remuneration,” said Debata.

The enforcement of GI has two important facets — commercial and legal. While the former includes promotional campaigns, quality focus, generating awareness among all business stakeholders and promotion of consumer awareness, the latter covers cross-border protection, keeping a tab on counterfeit products and taking infringement action by the producers. Silk weavers, however, find no reason to rejoice. Secretary of Berhampur Silk Weavers’ Cooperative Society K. Bhimaraju said there were about 100 silk weavers in the city registered under three societies who were very neglected. “Ninety per cent of them stay in rented houses. Most landlords do not permit them to dig holes inside their houses to install looms. Three members of each weaver’s family work eight hours a day and earn between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000 a month,” said Bhimaraju.

Army officer Captain Swagat Kumar Das of Berhampur will be awarded the prestigious Shaurya Chakra gallantry award

Source: The Sambad

Captain Swagat Kumar Das of Berhampur in Ganjam district will be awarded with the prestigious Shaurya Chakra, the gallantry award for Army brave hearts. President Pranab Mukherjee has approved the award on the eve of Independence Day. "Swagat has done Odisha proud," said Sukhendu Das, Swagat's father.

Shaurya Chakra is the third highest peacetime gallantry award for army bravehearts. Swagat, a captain in Sikh Light Infantry, has been honoured for his fight against Ulfa terrorists in Assam in August last year.

Swagat did his Plus II from Khallikote College in Berhampur before joining the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune. 

Source: Times of India 

Berhampur Varsity set to tie-up with National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) for research, technology transfer

The Berhampur University is all set sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), one of the premier national level institutes for development, research and transfer of technology soon.

The MoU would be signed between the university and the NIRD at a brief function to be held on August 17, for which NIRD Director General Dr MV Rao has been invited.

With this MoU knowledge in research, training and sharing of technical knowhow in the five principal domains, namely, livelihood, fisheries, innovative education, women empowerment and tribal development can be exchanged, said, Prof. Behera, BU vice-chancellor.

After the signing of the MoU, the university is contemplating to hold an awareness programme in the evening through SIG groups for deliberation and exchange of ideas between faculty members and researchers working in the above five principal domains in order to associate the various postgraduate departments and explore technical expertise of the NIRD for development and empowerment of the rural areas in this region, Prof Behera added.

According to sources, the Vice-Chancellor is contemplating to urge the NIRD Director to take over the management of the famous deer park located in the university campus as the university has no fund for its maintenance. The university is currently spending Rs. 5 lakh per year towards maintenance of the deer park. Source: Odishatoday

BERHAMPUR UNIVERSITY (BU) TO HOLD MEMORIAL LECTURES FOR SOUTH ODISHA LUMINARIES

The Berhampur University (BU) has decided to conduct a series of memorial lectures in the days ahead in memory of great luminaries and sons of southern Odisha, who have had immense contributions in different fields and disciplines such as education, art and culture, freedom struggle and language and literature for an overall growth and development of this region.

The decision was taken by the University Syndicate at its meeting held on Monday under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor Prof Deepak Behera. This was the first syndicate meeting after Prof Behera took over as the Vice-Chancellor. On the other hand, tension prevailed in the university campus on Monday after the removal of a poster by some miscreants which was displayed by a student group welcoming freshers to the campus. A similar incident had also taken place on Friday night when a welcome poster for new entrants fixed another student group was removed by some miscreants, reportedly the rival group, for which a complaint has been lodged at the Bhanja Vihar police outpost.

On Sunday night, a Linguistics student, Bhavanikanta Sahu, had pated the poster on the wall which was burnt by some miscreants of rival group giving rise to tension in the campus. While some faculty members cite the forthcoming students’ union elections as the reason for such mischief so as to remain in limelight, another group of faculty members and staff including local intellectuals, however, feel that some elements who were close to the previous administrative regime are trying to destabilise the current administration to settle scores for their vested interests.

According to sources, bills worth lakhs of rupees spent under different heads such as repair and renovation, construction and purchases for university auditorium, guesthouse and VC’s quarter, etc., during the previous regime without following standard accounts procedure are being pushed to the present regime for post-facto approval but are reportedly being disapproved. There is a public perception that such accounts should be checked through AG audit. Source: The Pioneer 

CDP for Greater Berhampur still in the works; new agency may replace TCPO

Source: The Sambad

Boyanika to open its second outlet in Berhampur

Source: The Sambad

Berhampur city bus and solid waste management project implementation updates

Source: The Sambad

Airports Authority of India (AAI) team visits sites for Berhampur Airport

Source: The Sambad

The Telegraph

A four-member team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) arrived in the state to carry out a feasibility study for the proposed low-cost airport in Berhampur.  The team surveyed Rangeilunda and Ramchandrapur on the Berhampur-Gopalpur road to understand the local conditions for the possible air traffic movement.

The AAI team first visited the existing Rangeilunda airstrip on Berhampur University campus. It may be noted that the airstrip is active since past several decades. The airstrip spread over 40 acres of land was built during the British era during the World War II. It is now maintained by the State Public Works Department. At Rangeilunda airstrip, the AAI team held discussion with Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy, executive engineer of public works department and other district officials. They studied whether the Rangeilunda airstrip could be developed into the proposed low-cost airport by adding up extra land to its south and west directions, said Mr. Panigrahy. The Gopalpur MLA said once the AAI finalises the site, the State government would provide all possible assistance for establishment of the airport near Berhampur. 

Later, the team reached Ramchandrapur to inspect around 300 acres of land that has been earmarked for the proposed low-cost airport. Speaking to newsmen, members of the AAI team said they would assess the cost-benefit ratio as well as feasibility of both sites and send their report to their authorities for the final decision.

“We have studied every detail of the situation at both the places, including the existing Rangeilunda airstrip and Ramchandrapur village, nearby. We will submit our feasibility report to the AAI for a final decision,” said the joint general manager (planning) of AAI P.K. Mahapatra, who led the team.

The PWD executive engineer, who is in-charge of the Rangeilunda airstrip, said: “The length of the present runway is 895 meters, which is insufficient for take-off and landing of commercial aircraft. The AAI is insisting on 3,500m long and 500m wide runway. There are now 150 acres of land at Rangeilunda airstrip. We can acquire another 200 acres in the nearby areas as required by the AAI for opening a small airport.’’

It may be noted that the Central government has taken a decision for setting up 51 low-cost airports in Tier-II and Tier-III cities in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. Three of them will be set up in the State in places like Berhampur, Rourkela, and Keonjhar. The four-member AAI team will also visit the two other sites for the proposed low-cost airports in the State. Sources: The Hindu, The Pioneer & The Telegraph

Source: ORISSA POST

Bhubaneswar-Khallikote passenger train to be extended to Chatrapur

With an aim to provide better Passenger comforts for the convenience of passengers, East Coast Railway has decided to extend Bhubaneswar-Khallikote-Bhubaneswar passenger up to Chatrapur with effect from 5th August 2013. Consequent upon extension of this train to Chatrapur, the timings of 78412 Chatrapur-Bhubaneswar passenger will be changed between Khalikote and Khurda Road. 78411 Bhubaneswar-Chatrapur passenger will leave Bhubaneswar at 1000hrs and will arrive at Chatrapur at 1330hrs. In the return direction, 78412 Chatrapur-Bhubaneswar passenger will leave Chatrapur at 1355hrs and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 1820hrs.

Source: East Coast Railway

Tara Tarini development plans reviewed

Source: The Sambad

Southern RDC joins plantation drive at Tara Tarini Hill Shrine

Source: The Sambad

New VC of Berhampur University assumes office

Source: The Sambad