Defective Haladiapadar flyover, Berhampur

Odisha Govt ignoring folk dance legend Padmashri Bhagaban Sahu in his birth centenary year

Folk dance enthusiasts and disciples of folk dance legend of Odisha Padmashri Bhagaban Sahu lamented that even in his centenary year, the government had failed upkeep the memory of this great personality, who had codified most folk dance forms of south Odisha.

Padmashri Bhagaban Sahu with Indira gandhi

September 21 is the 101st birth anniversary of Bhagaban Sahu, who was born in Ganjam district in 1914. He passed away on August 12, 2012. Even in his centenary year, the State Culture Department as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi did not show any interest to revive his memories, said secretary of Padmashri Bhagaban Sahu Smaranika Committee (PBSSC), Bighneswar Sahu. Villages like Narendrapur and Badakusasthali in Ganjam district happened to be laboratory of folk dance by Bhagaban Sahu and his disciples still keep up his tradition there. But no programme has been planned there to observe his birth centenary or anniversary.

G. Krishna Reddy, a disciple of this great maestro, said: “It is an irony that the government as well as political leaders are taking much pain to promote modern dance groups and singers on TV channels although they have no footing in Orissa’s cultural heritage while due respect is not shown for the folk art forms and its gurus who are identity of Odisha.”

Mr Bighneswar said they had requested the government and State Sangeet Natak Akademy last year but in vain.

Padmashri Bhagaban Sahu

According to former secretary of Odisha Sageet Natak Akademi, Manmath Satpathy, Mr. Sahu own revived and codified several folk dance forms of south Odisha like tiger dance, ranapa, the dance on stilts, jodi sankha, laudi, paika dance and chadheia chadheiani. He is also remembered as the choreographer of the much-acclaimed movie Bagh Bahadur based on tiger dance form revived by him. Academician and folk researcher Venkat Rao Reddy also termed Bhagaban Sahu as a social reformer, who despite being a Brahmin had become disciple of tribal and Dalit folk dance gurus living in remote jungles to master the folk dance forms and to codify them for international arena. Bhagaban Sahu trained common poor villagers to become folk dance artistes to add up to their income.

Admirers of this legendary folk dance guru demanded that the State government institute a chair in Berhampur University or Odisha University of Culture in his memory, install his statue at a public place, release postal stamp in his memory and institute of an award for folk dancers. They also wanted Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) to establish a library in the city.

-The Hindu, BERHAMPUR, September 21, 2015

Lakhs Gathered on Ganesh Puja @ the ancient Sidha Vinayak Petha, Panchama (Berhampur)

Khallikote University second campus to come up near Kanishi

The second campus will set up for the newly established Khallikote cluster university near Kanishi on the outskirts of Berhampur.

Around 20 acres of land have been identified near Palur hill for the purpose. "It would be set up from funds sanctioned under Rastriya Uchachatara Shikshya Abhiyan (RUSA)," Pradeep Panigrahi, the state's higher education minister, said here on Tuesday.

The government has approved Rs 55 crore for the next three years to Khallikote cluster university under RUSA, of which Rs 18 crore is for this year. The sanctioned amount for this year, however, is yet to be released, sources said.

Minister said the Khallikote college campus would have WiFi facilities shortly. The government has sanctioned Rs 20 lakh to the college for the purpose. All other modern facilities such as smart classrooms and upgrade of laboratories would be made soon, minister said.

He was addressing a programme held at the college for distribution of free laptops to meritorious students, who passed Plus II in 2014, under Biju Youth Empowerment Scheme in 2013. He distributed around 150 laptops to the students.

The second campus for the 137-year-old college was necessary as the present infrastructure was not sufficient to conduct classes and other activities. The college has 18 different undergraduate and postgraduate departments with around 4,500 student strength. Moreover, around 20 acres of extra land is necessary as the autonomous college was upgraded to university. The government had notified upgrade of Khallikote autonomous college to cluster university on May 30.

The detailed project report (DPR) is being prepared for the second campus of the new university, said its officer-on-special-duty (OSD) Manmath Padhy. The estimate for the second campus would be known only after the DPR is drawn up, he said.

Besides the administrative building, plans are afoot for construction of post-graduate departments and hostels for boys and girls on the second campus, Padhy said. The new university and its constituent colleges are offering post-graduate courses in 18 subjects. "We also plan to introduce at least three more PG courses from the next year," he added.

Besides Khallikote, the cluster university consists Binayak Acharya College, Sashibhusan Rath (SBR) Government Women's College, Berhmpur, Science College, Chhatrapur and Goplapur College, Gopalpur. All of these colleges have common admission and decided to introduce common syllabus and choice-based credit system from this year, Padhy said.

-TNN | Sep 16, 2015

‪#‎KhallikoteUniversity‬

Govt of India has declared Govt ITI Berhampur as the largest and best ITI in the Country

95% of total Kewda flower exported from India is collected from nearby places of Berhampur city

Many are not aware of the fact that  the ingredients of Attar, the fragrant perfume highly popular in Arab and other Muslim countries in particular and among perfume lovers across the world in general  is prepared from the essence of Kewda flower. And, 95% of the total Kewda flower exported from India is collected nearby blocks of Berhampur city in Ganjam district, Odisha, India.

Ganjam district coastline near Silk City Berhampur, especially the area in the blocks of Chatrapur, Rangeilunda, Patrapur and Chikiti, is famous for the aromatic Kewda plantations.

Attar produced from Kewda extracts is considered rare. One litre of Kewda extract is sold at a price of whooping 2.5 -5 lakhs in the market. Estimated as an annual market of 300 crores, here Kewda flower cultivation and collection is the major source of livelihood for more than 50 thousand families.

Kewda flower near (Berhampur city) in GanjamIn Gunjam, there are 197 registered Kewda essence distillation factories. Economy of Kewda is so strong and deep rooted here that two decades ago local people refused to give land for the proposed Tata steel plant in Gopalpur-on-Sea (Berhampur) .

The Kewda flower has a smooth, refreshing balsamic scent. It’s a pleasing floral scents, but not too sweet, with hints of hyacinths and honey. Kewda Attar is good for releasing creative blocks, especially for artists and writers.

One of the flowers which is dear to the Indian heart is the Kewda(Pandanus odoratissimus) It grows on a small tree or shrub which is both cultivated and grows wild in coastal areas. It can also be found in some inland districts but the flowers seem to create their most exquisite floral bouquet in certain coastal localities, the most famous being the Gopalpur-on-Sea (Berhampur), Ganjam district of Odisha, India.

The tree can reach a height of 18 feet. The densely branched plant is supported by aerial roots forming a thick impenetrable jungle. The long leaves possess prickly spines along the edges and mid-ribs making the plant tough to handle for those not use to their peculiar nature.

The male flower “spikes”(a better technical word is inflorescence  are 10-20 inches long. Along the central stalk of spike one can fine many true flowers each encased in a fragrant cream-colored spathe; a spathe being a leaf like structure enclosing a flower.

A fully mature Kewda tree produces about 30-40 flower spikes each year weighing 5-6 each ounces each!!!! -http://www.microstat.in/

- http://www.microstat.in/index.php/95-of-total-kewda-flower-exported-from-india-is-collected-from-nearby-places-of-berhampur-city/

A view of ‪#‎Doppler Radar at Gopalpur-on-Sea, Berhampur

A Doppler Radar is specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the frequency of the returned signal. This variation gives direct and highly accurate measurements of the radial component of a target's velocity relative to the radar. Doppler radars are used in aviation, sounding satellites, meteorology, police speed guns, radiology and healthcare (fall detection and risk assessment, nursing or clinic purpose), and bistatic radar (surface-to-air missile).

When Berhampur will get the new bus terminus??

Maa Tara Tarini Shakti Peetha

This Shakti Peetha on the Kumari hills/Purnagiri hills at the bank of the River Rushikulya near Brahmapur city in Ganjam District, is worshiped as the Breast Shrine (Sthana Peetha) and manifestations of Adi Shakti. The Tara Tarini Shakti Peetha is one of the oldest pilgrimage centers of the Mother Goddess and is one of four major ancient Tantra Peetha and Shakti Peethas in India.

Links;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taratarini_Temple

http://taratarini.blogspot.in/

http://taratarinitemple.blogspot.in/

http://taratarinipictures.blogspot.in/

http://taratarini.nic.in/

Govt of India has declared Govt ITI Berhampur as the largest ITI in the Country

Govt of India has declared Govt ITI Berhampur as the largest ITI in the Country in terms of students on roll. (Noteworthy, in India there are 11183 Govt and pvt ITIs)

Here's how MKCG Medical College hospital Berhampur is lighting up lives

In its pursuit to light up lives, the Opthalmology department in Berhampur's Maharaja Krushna Chandra Medical College (MKCG) Hospital has so far conducted 380 successful eye transplants since its inception in 2006.

"We coordinate with NGOs and different organisations, create awareness among the hospital staff to inform us where ever there is a donor. Besides, we conduct public meetings to make people aware about eye donation. A not for profit organisation Friends Helping Club has helped us a lot in this regard," informs Professor Nageswar Rao Subudhi, Head of the Department of Ophthalmology of MKCG Hospital. The opthalmology department has been trying different ways to urge more and more people to donate eyes. It also organises an eye donation camp every year from August 25 for a fortnight.

"The corneas donated by senior citizens are not always suitable for transplantation. Mostly, we talk it out with family members of deceased accident victims and motivate them for donations,” explains the HOD and adds, “The donor corneas should be collected within six hours of death of a person and eye transplant should be performed ideally within 72 hours, while the transplant of the eyeballs should be peformed within 48 hours. We preserve the Cornea and eyeballs in the preservation bottles provided free of cost.”

Among the 460 cornea and eyeballs collected so far, 380 were used for transplant surgeries, however rest have been used for research purposes, informs Professor Subudhi.

‪#‎MKCGMedicalCollege, ‪#‎Berhampur

Airtel 4G service reaches Odisha’a Berhampur city

India’s top telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has commercially launched its 4G services in Odisha’s Berhampur.

“As we launch Airtel 4G for our customers in Brahmapur, they will be uniquely positioned for a superlative 4G experience. We are committed to building a world class 4G network in the region,” said Ravindra Singh Negi, CEO – West Bengal and Odisha, Bharti Airtel.

Last month, the company has announced that its 4G services were available in 296 towns across India. Prior to that, Airtel had successfully conducted trials of its 4G services in select cities and leveraged feedback from customers towards strengthening its service experience.

Airtel first started its 4G services in Kolkata in April 2014. At present, its 4G services are available around 296 towns across the world.

Berhampur to get modern police control room

The Berhampur Police is set to get a modern control room. The Police Housing Corporation is spending Rs. 6 crores to establish well-equipped control rooms in four cities of Odisha, which include Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur.

Berhampur Superintendent of Police, Sarthak Sadangi, informed, "Rs. 1.5 crores have been sanctioned for making a modern control room in Berhampur. Work will start after tender procedures are completed by the Police Housing Corporation. Communication will be much faster after the control room is developed."

The control room will be equipped with hi-tech equipment.15 telephone lines and LED screen will also be installed. The establishment of control rooms in the cities will help police curb crime rates.

Berhampur City level children's federation demanded Child friendly components in Urban development Schemes

Berhampur City level children’s federation organized its 15th federation meeting at Ganjam Kalaparishad, Berhampur on 6th September 2015. In this meeting they focused about government run development schemes. 

There are many schemes running through urban government. Both central and state governments implementing different schemes but while planning they are not focusing children as also a beneficiary. The drains are open as a result children are getting physical harm, water supply also creating hurdles for timely school going, transport system also not covered all the areas so it is time consuming as well as increasing financial expenditure, street light, children’s park, housing also creating obstacle more on mental growth. Always fearing for eviction and security putting pressure to safe and healthy living conditions. 

Children’s federation members get together to discuss the components like water, sanitation (garbage clearance, drainage and public toilets), housing, transport, electricity and public parks issues. In this consultation children discussed about the issues and impacts on physical and mental growth, after that came out with suggestions. They demanded Children’s helpdesk (use of ICT), Efficient delivery of children’s services (birth certificate, enrol in AWC and school etc.), Ensure children’s participation in plan, execution and monitoring, covered drain in all urban setups, Pro children smart solutions with children’s participation, Water supply three times in a day for six hours with adequate pressure, 24x7 uninterrupted electricity supply to all households, Community dust bin with segregation at source facility, Access to public transport to all slums. Public transport with children friendly components (low base steps, reservation for children, child friendly bus stop etc.), Housing with all child friendly indicators, Access to internet in all government schools, Count children as an active beneficiary and ensure children’s participation in plan, execution and monitoring. Include children and fulfil their needs and aspirations, Green neighbourhood with free from contaminated soil and polluted air and Special safety for children with community policing facilities and regular police patrolling to slums.

In this meeting near about 150 children from 27 child clubs and 30 slums participated. Noted hear that the Youth for Social Development (YSD) a local non- government organization working with children and youth on issues related to local governance and public service delivery, has facilitated children’s federation to improve the living condition of young children living in urban poverty.

Children’s federation has been actively engaged with the local and state government to improve their living condition and make Berhampur a child friendly city, since January 2013Children’s federation members Sruti Kumari Sahu, Sibani Behera, Amit Das took actively participation. From Youth for Social Development Mr. Shashikant Das, Chandan Sahoo, Abhiram Kanhar, Sujata Bisoi, Srinivas Dora and Suchitra Rout facilitated the federation members.