Post Phailin Berhampur

Source: The Sambad

Berhampur University wants Rs 150 cr Phailin package

Cyclone-ravaged Berhampur University has sought a special financial package of Rs 150 crore from the state government to give a facelift to the campus. The makeover plan includes reconstruction of some old structures like administrative building, teaching departments, staff quarters, guesthouse, sports complex, students' union office and hostels.

The university authorities have also proposed to replace overhead electrical lines with underground cables and massive plantation to restore Bhanja Vihar's lush green campus. Located near Gopalpur-on-Sea, Bhanja Vihar was badly damaged as Phailin made its landfall just a few km away on October 12. The authorities were forced to extend Puja vacation till November 18 as the university was in no position to conduct the classes early. "We have restored only 10% of damaged structure and need a special package to rebuild Bhanja Vihar," said vice-chancellor (VC) Deepak Kumar Behera on Saturday.

He was addressing an interface among revenue minister S N Patro, local MLAs, district administration and public to review post-cyclone management and prepare a roadmap for rebuilding the university. The meeting was organized by students' union. The government had sanctioned Rs 10 crore to the university while Rs 3 crore was released for immediate restoration. Berhampur MLA R C Chyaupatnaik and Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi supported the VC's proposal.

The minister suggested the varsity authorities to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for restoration by engaging a competent consultant and submit it to government. "Fund is not a constraint for development work. The government will consider sanctioning funds for development of the university after studying the report," he said. Divisional forest officer (Berhampur) S S Mishra said around one lakh plants would be planted on Bhanja Vihar in the next two years to restore its lost greenery. Source: ToI 

Elections over and issue forgotten- Berhampur city bus roll out delayed

Source: The Sambad

Odisha braces for Severe Cyclonic storm ‘LEHAR’

Source: The Sambad

Efforts stepped up for rail line between Berhampur and Phulbani

The agitation to achieve a railway link to Kandhamal district from Berhampur in Ganjam district will be intensified through democratic means, the Relapatha Sangram Samity of Kandhamal district, which is spearheading the agitation, has said. As part of its stepped up efforts to achieve its demand, the organisation decided to rope in people of Ganjam district. The organisation has, therefore, been renamed as ‘Relapatha Sangram Samity, Kandhamal-Ganjam’. The extended organisation held its first meeting in the city on Sunday to chalk out its future plans. It was attended by its president Sriya Kumari Nayak, secretary Subash Chandra Sahu, and social activists from Ganjam and Kandhamnal districts.

They decided to take out a rally in Berhampur on December 6 and hand over a memorandum to the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Southern Division, demanding that the railway link between Berhampur in Ganjam and Phulbani in Kandhamal district passing through areas that were yet to have rail connectivity be provided. The organisation also proposed to take out a motorcycle rally from Berhampur to Phulbani to create awareness among people. The rally would pass through the areas in Ganjam and Kandhamal districts that would stand to gain if the demand was conceded.

Former president of Ganjam Bar Association Sudhansu Panda, who attended the meeting, said it was a long-pending demand. He said that in 1977 a proposal had been made for budgetary allocation for survey work. Members of the organisation said railway connectivity would act as a catalyst in development for regions of both the districts. People of Kandhamal district hope railway connectivity would give a boost to tourism in region. It would also increase the market for the forest and organic agricultural produce of tribal people and dalits of the district.

Source: The Hindu

Dark hours to end in Ganjam

Photo credit: Gopal Krishna Reddy, The Telegraph

BERHAMPUR: Restoration of power in Ganjam district, which was ravaged by cyclone Phailin, is nearing completion. Earlier, chief minister Naveen Patnaik fixed November 15 as the deadline to restore power to all the 5.41-lakh consumers in Ganjam. However, the authorities failed to meet the deadline. Now, Ganjam collector Krishen Kumar says that power would be restored to all consumers within a day or two. Out of 5.41 lakh consumers in Ganjam, electricity has been restored to 5.03 lakh till now. Power has been restored to all the 22 blockhead quarters and 434 out of 475 gram panchayats till today, said sources in Southern Electricity Supply Company (Southco), the private power distribution company responsible for the region. “Restoration work is going on in a war-footing by mobilising around 3,500 skilled workers. We are much ahead of the expectations. We are putting all the efforts despite constraints. But there are still some critical areas,” said Southco managing director Prasant Kumar Chowdhury. “Opposition by villagers during installation of new poles due to standing crops in the fields, obstructions by village committees for re-routing of lines and insufficient skilled manpower delayed the restoration work. We filed several police complaints and we sought their assistance to overcome the situation. We faced such difficulties in Khandadeuli, Nandala, Gochabadi and other areas,” said Chowdhury. The power distribution network suffered a huge damage because of the cyclone that hit the district on October 12 and the subsequent floods. Southco incurred a loss of Rs 552-crore due to the twin calamities. More than 3,500 engineers and workers were engaged in power restoration work, said Southco sources. However, secretary of Southco Power Engineers’ Association Bijay Chandra Jena said that inadequate stock of materials and manpower caused hurdles in restoration of power. “Work targets were set without considering the practical problems, there was no plan of action. Work executed on labour payment basis instead of work contract basis caused delay in restoration,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph

Lesson from Phailin: Odisha to create shoreline forest

Forest Department requests Revenue Department to identify land in six districts

With the shoreline forest cover proving to be a bio-shield against tropical cyclones and sea surge, the Odisha government has proposed to take up coastal shelter belt plantation in 2200 ha of land during the next plantation season in 2014.

The Forest Department has requested Revenue Department to identify 2200 ha of land for the purpose in six coastal districts such as Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Balasore and Bhadrak. The Forest Department has also made preparations for raising seedlings in temporary nurseries from December next.

In Ganjam district, which bore the brunt of Cyclone ‘Phailin’ in October last, 800 ha of land has to be identified for the coastal plantation. While Berhampur forest division will undertake plantation on 500 ha of land, about 300 ha of land has to be identified in Chilika Wildlife division.

It needs to be mentioned that impact of Phailin was not as severe as was feared to be in island villages inside Chilika Lake. It was largely because of presence of shoreline plantation.

Mangrove forests act as bio-shield

Similarly, when the super-cyclone struck in 1999, many coastal habitations were saved in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts due to mangrove forests that acted as a bio-shield. The Rajnagar wildlife division will take up plantation in 200 ha and 100 ha in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts, respectively.

As per the Forest Department’s plan, the natural protection against cyclone would be created over 300 ha of land in Balasore district. Bhadrak district would get the plantation over 100 ha of land. District collectors of these six districts have been asked identify lands in consultation with forest department officials and handover the possession of the land to Divisional Forest Officers by December 10. Source: The Hindu 

AIRPORT in Berhampur

TOURISTS BACK IN CYCLONE-HIT GANJAM

Tourism in the Phailin-hit Ganjam district has resumed with a gradual inflow of visitors to the famous tourist destinations like Gopalpur-on-Sea, Rambha-on-Chilka and the Tara Tarini Shakti Peeth. As the peak tourist season spans from October to March, all the 20 major hotels — including the State-owned Panthanivas — have been getting visitors soon after the authorities cleaned up Gopalpur, according to hoteliers.

Visitors from the USA, Canada, Italy, Korea, Britain, Germany and Belgium have been visiting the town after normalcy was restored after the Phailin battered the sea resort on October 12. The lighting system has been restored in the beach on a priority basis for the convenience of the tourists, said Gopalpur Notified Area Council Executive Officer R Mishra.

Tourists from West Bengal and some other places have come to Rambha. They had been lodged at Rambha and Barkul before visiting the Chilika lake. The restoration work is almost complete at Chilika. Boating has also resumed in the lake, Rambha Panthanivas Manager Rabi Das said. Another tourist spot, the Tampara lake, located near Chhatrapur, has suffered a serious setback as its boating club, jetty, decorative electric poles and other facilities were destroyed. It would take some more time to restore normalcy at the lake area, official sources said. Source: The Pioneer 

Cyclone Phailin causes Blackbuck migration in Ganjam

The Phailin Cyclone and the continuous rains that followed have led to migration of blackbuck from their normal regions of habitation in Ganjam district.

According to forest officials the good news is that the devastating cyclone and the floods have not led to any major casualty of these endangered deer species. Till now no deaths of blackbuck have been reported from any part of Ganjam district.

Unique behavior

Speaking to The Hindu, Narayan Chandra Dora, the forest ranger of Aska forest range where a large number of blackbuck live, said the natural habitat of these animals must have saved them from the fury of nature.

The blackbuck shows unique behaviour during rains. When it rains, they prefer to remain in open spaces to enjoy the raindrops rather than entering the dense forests like other animals. During the Phailin Cyclone also these animals were found to be in the open spaces near human habitatatiion. So, the devastation inside the forests due to the cyclone did not harm them in big way. But the cyclone surely did get them panicked, because of which a large number of them seem to have migrated to some places other than their normal dwelling places.

Before the cyclone large blackbuck herds were being seen close to human habitations like Bhetanai, Bajraput, Siddhanai, Banabali etc. But after the cyclone these blackbuck are not being seen in these areas. As per forest officials a few blackbuck are still in these areas but most of these exotic deer seem to have migrated to some other place. “We hope they would return to these places again as for generations blackbuck and humans had a very close relationship in these areas, and due to traditional belief localities used to protect them,” said Mr. Dora.

Migration of blackbuck is not new to this area. Earlier blackbuck used to migrate from Aska and Buguda forest range areas in search of food when their number increased many folds. Blackbuck herds were seen to have migrated to areas near Khallikote and Bhanjanagar last year. So, forest officials are sure that panicked by the cyclone, blackbuck herds must have migrated to some other places inside jungles and they would be located soon.

It may be noted that as per an assessment around 2,800 blackbuck inhabit Aska nd Buguda forest range areas. As per last blackbuck census done in 2010-11, their population was 2181 including 1414 females and 223 young ones. Since generations locals protected these blackbuck due to traditional religious belief. Villagers in this region consider the animal as harbinger of rain. Villagers do not harm them and the blackbucks roam around freely even near the human habitations. Source: The Hindu

100-foot high brick made British era Chimney withstands two cyclones in Berhampur

A few metres away from this chimney, a major shed of the CWC depot has been completely devastated by Phailin cyclone

A tall brick built chimney of the British era on the campus of the Central Warehouse Corporation (CWC) in the city has withstood the super cyclone of 1999 and the recent Phailin cyclone proving that at times ‘old can also be strong’.

This around 100-foot high chimney stands proudly amid signs of devastation by the Phailin all around it on the campus of the Central Warehouse Corporation (CWC) in goods shed area of the city. The Phailin has also not been able to put any mark of damage on this decades old chimney.

It is quite interesting to note that a few metres away from this chimney, a major shed of the depot of the CWC had been completely devastated by the Phailin cyclone.

This large shed containing 2,000 MT of rice had collapsed under the wrath of the cyclone. Its asbestos roof was blown away and its walls had also collapsed making the rice stock in it exposed to rains that accompanied the cyclone. But the old chimney stood undeterred by the heavy winds of the cyclone as if hinting at a ray of hope.

According to regional manager, Odisha of the CWC, S. Pravin Kumar, this brick made chimney had also not suffered any damage due to the super cyclone of 1999. It only bears the effects of time and nature. At present a large banyan tree has grown at the top of this chimney. Although roots of the tree have reached the ground through the chimney, they have also not been able to bring in cracks on its stone wall. Mr Kumar felt some bird may have dispersed banyan seed at the top of the chimney which has now grown into a mature tree.

Before the CWC took up this patch of land to establish its largest depot in Odisha, it had a rice mill during British-era. This chimney happens to be the only remnant of that rice mill.

Several times in the past, the CWC authorities had tried to demolish this brick made chimney but they were not successful in their effort. It has been made by small sized strong bricks which were joined by traditional joining materials rather than cement. Moreover, metal rings had been provided around the chimney at several places to make it stronger. ‘These factors have till now saved this chimney from vagaries of nature as well as human efforts to break it down”, said Mr Kumar.

The CWC has now decided not to make any more efforts to demolish this old chimney. It would now be renovated and used as a landmark for the CWC depot in Berhampur. As it can be seen from quite a distance, the CWC plans to put up its signboard above the chimney after its renovation. Source: The Hindu