Thousands of Christians attend Candles Day celebration in Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Thousands of devotees marched through the streets of Berhampur holding burning candles in their hands in honour of Mother Mary on November 27 evening. It marked the culmination of more than 150-years-old Candles’ Day festival, which was celebrated by the Christians at the Queen of the Mission cathedral in the city. Christian devotees from all over Orissa and parts of adjoining Andhra Pradesh attended this celebration. With lighted candles these devotees marched forward singing songs in praise of Mother Mary. An idol of Mother Mary was put on a decorated chariot. It seemed to be the Rathyatra of the Christians of Orissa as they dragged along the chariot.

According to the Parish priest of Berhampur, Fr. Ajit Kumar Nayak this candles’ day festival is celebrated to commemorate the appearance of Mother Mary to Sister Catherine of France on Nov. 27, 1830. This festival is being celebrated in the Queen of the Mission Cathedral of the city since its inception in 1855. Many say this cathedral was the first Queen of the Mission Church established in India. The rituals of the celebration have their links to the rituals of churches in France. The nine-day long celebrations had started on Nov. 18. There were special prayers and discourses every day in the cathedral.

Source:The Hindu

State awaits Centre's nod on 2nd IIIT at Berhampur

The Orissa government has submitted its proposal to the Centre for setting up of the second International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Berhampur. The state government is now awaiting the Centre's nod in this regard. The second IIIT at Berhampur is proposed to be set up on the public private partnership (PPP) mode.“The state government has already submitted its proposal to the Centre for the second IIIT in the state. We are awaiting the final approval from the Centre to go ahead”, said Pradipta K Mohapatra, the state IT secretary recently. It may be noted that the Centre planned to set up 20 more IIITs across the country on the PPP mode. The state government has identified around 100 acres of land at Rangeilunda near Berhampur for setting up the second IIIT.
Meanwhile, the full-fledged campus of the existing IIIT in the state at Bhubaneswar has been inaugurated by the state chief minister on October 9 this year. The new campus of IIIT-Bhubaneswar is coming up on 23.5 acres of land at Gothpatna on the outskirts of the city at an investment of Rs 48 crore. Plans are also afoot to get the deemed university status for this institute. The institute is presently operating out of the campus of the Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC). The institute is expected to be fully operational in the next five years. Once the institute is fully operational, the student intake will go up to 2,000. The faculty strength is expected to be about 20 by the end of 2009. Earlier, IIIT-Bhubaneswar had announced that it would offer BTech courses in four streams of engineering as well as doctoral programmes from the 2009-10 academic session. The BTech courses would have a total intake of 240 students. These courses would be offered in four streams of engineering- computer science, electronics, information technology and electrical engineering.

Source: Business Standard, www.imv8in4u.blogspot.com/

Department for Rehabilitation Medicine to be opened in MKCG Medical college

BERHAMPUR: With focus on prevention of disability, the Government is developing and upgrading trauma care and rehabilitation medicine infrastructure in the State. A Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur would be opened soon and such facility extended to other hospitals of the State, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said at the IOA annual conference. Inaugurating the 54th annual conference of the Indian Orthopaedic Association, the Chief Minister admitted that lack of effective healthcare delivery is a major area of concern in Orissa. There is an urgent need to make use of medical advancements and upgrade infrastructure and manpower to combat disease.

Source: New IndianExpress

Bikash Manch demands development schemes for Berhampur and Ganjam district

BERHAMPUR: The Ganjam Bikash Manch submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, drawing his attention to Berhampur city which has lagged behind in every sphere of civic facility. Thanking the Chief Minister for establishing an engineering college in Ganjam and a Central University in Koraput district, the Manch highlighted the shortcomings of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation. The memorandum states that the Corporation is just a signboard, expressing concern on the absence of a master plan for the regulation of the city in view of the growing population and denial of minimum basic facilities. The Manch has come up with a host of complaints, from bad roads, lack of drinking water to shifting of offices. The memorandum says that lack of political will and complacency of the bureaucracy as the reasons for thwarted progress which have added to the sloppy state of affairs. After coming to power of Naveen, nothing has progressed here except high level meetings, proposals and estimates, the end results being nill, says the Manch. The Organisation wondered that people fail to understand as to why nothing happens when an able politician like him is at the helm of affairs. The Ganjam Zilla Bikash Manch reiterated that it would fight till they achieve success in getting welfare and development projects for the Ganjam district. Besides, the Manch has also demanded immediate preparation of a master plan for Berhampur city and formation of Greater-Berhampur, third water project to solve the drinking water scarcity in the city, establishment of a agricultural college at Aska, placing Bhanjanagar dam in the tourist map of Odisha and steps for generating employment by promoting and encouraging the cottage industries. The Manch also demanded the establishment of centrally funded Institutions like NID and IIIT in Berhampur, which has none at present and granting Unitary University status to Khallikote College.

Source: Dailypioneer

A new abode for wild pachyderms near Silkcity Berhampur

Reservoir proves a connecting link between villagers and elephants
BERHAMPUR: Efforts for peaceful coexistence of humans and wild elephants are on near Kumbhajhari village on the outskirts of the city. Residents of the area have started to accept the existence of a herd of wild pachyderms in their proximity. A few years ago, the villagers of Kumbhajhari created a small water reservoir on a hill near their village. It was named ‘Jamchuan’. It was initially meant for the cattle of the village. Later, the villagers found that the wild elephants roaming in the area were also getting satisfied with the reservoir and venturing into the village area. Later, they used their village funds to renovate and increase the capacity of the reservoir. The Forest Department also came out to help. The reservoir has proved to be a connecting link of humans and elephants in the area. Villagers maintain the reservoir and elephants in turn have stopped venturing near the human habitat in search of food.
The Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ahay Kumar Jena, said recently the Forest Department took initiative to further increase the capacity of the Jamchuan reservoir. The villagers are employed in the process. Plantations have been increased on the hill to augment ground water reserve inside the hill that feeds streams that connect the reservoir.
A herd of more than ten elephants which had strayed out of Lakhari elephant sanctuary six years ago preferred to stay back near this manmade reservoir on the hill top near Jamajhari village. The new forests developed by the ‘Vana Surakshya Samities’ of villages of the area seem to have satisfied the herd of wild elephants.
This new abode of wild elephants is at a distance of 15 km from Berhampur city. The area is under the Ramaguda reserve forest. The elephants are showing no signs of returning back to their original abode inside the Lakhari sanctuary. Till date the elephant herd has not injured or killed any human in the area although they destroy some paddy fields during the harvesting season.

By Sib Kumar Das (Source: The Hindu)

2nd phase to start at Sthana Peetha Taratarini under new chairman

Bhubaneswar: Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) of Southern Division of Odisha Chandrasekhar Kumar is the new chairman of the Tara Tarini Development Board (TTDB), a prominent temple administration body in Ganjam district. He has taken over from the outgoing RDC and former TTDB chairman Satyabrata Sahu who is now the Commerce & Transport Secretary of the State Government. It was under the guidance of the former chairman that the first phase of the stone temple was completed. This religious shrine is believed to be the Sthana Peetha (Breast Shrine) of Mata Sati and one amongst the four major ancient Shakti centers in India.The new chairman visited the shrine and discussed the commencement of the second phase of work. Board Secretary Pramod Panda along with the other board members tabled the primary draft of the second phase of work and it was decided to finish all on-going work before the upcoming Chaitra MelaThe projects in the second phase include completion of Kalyana Mandapam, construction of huge hill-top parking space, widening of stone steps and arrangement of public utilities or rest houses, maintenance of eco-system, construction of a hospital and the construction of a residential school and training centre for the physically challenged.
Source: The Pioneer

Nalco-NPCIL N-power plant proposed near Berhampur city in Ganjam

As part of its proposed diversification activities, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has decided to enter into an (MoU) with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to produce nuclear power. Signing of a nuclear deal with USA by India has ended isolation of the country from sources of nuclear fuel and paved the way for large-scale generation of nuclear power in the country. The Government of India has reportedly decided to produce nuclear power with the support of Central PSUs. Accordingly, the NPCIL, which is eyeing setting up of a nuclear power plant in Odisha, has roped in Nalco, the first Navratna company in the State, revealed sources. An MoU would be signed soon between NPCIL and Nalco for a joint venture (JV), official sources said. The JV company would set up a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant with an investment of Rs 8,500 crore. A site has been identified near Berhampur city in Ganjam district for the plant, said an official in the Department of Energy.The JV would be run with a professionally-managed team. A steering committee has been formed to scale up the move and the panel is likely to induct more members, said the sources. Meanwhile, Nalco has been accorded the prestigious Premier Trading House status in accordance with the provision of the Exim Policy by the Government of India. Premier Trading House (PTH) status is the highest award to any Export House.As per the Foreign Trade Policy, an Export House should have exported goods worth Rs 7,500 crore or more during the current year plus previous three years for getting the PTH status. Nalco has achieved an export target of Rs 7,609 crore during the current year up to July 31, 2009 and the previous three years.

Source : The Pioneer

Sporadic mating of Olive Ridleys near Rushikulya

BERHAMPUR: Sporadic mating of Olive Ridleys is being seen in the sea near Rushikulya rookery near Berhampur city in Ganjam district. Usually mass mating of Olive Ridley turtles is reported from this coast during the month of December. The local marine fishermen say they have started noticing mating of these rare turtles slightly early this year. The Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), A. K. Jena said the mass mating of Olive Ridleys is yet to be seen but there have been reports of sporadic mating of Olive Ridleys in sea at a distance of beyond 10 kilometres from the sea coast.
It may be noted that the State government bans fishing in this area from beginning of November till the return of hatched baby turtles into the sea from this coast. The mass nesting of Olive Ridleys occur on the Rushikulya rookery coast in February.
The wild life experts say sporadic mating of Olive Ridleys occurs throughout the year. Therefore sporadic nesting of these turtles is also reported at times other than the mass nesting period. Few Olive Ridleys come over to Rushikulya river mouth near Berhampur city to lay eggs throughout the year barring the summer and monsoon months, when the beaches are not conducive for laying eggs.
Female Olive Ridleys after copulation can store sperms without fertilisation inside their body up to three years. When they find conducive climate on the onset of winter they fertilise their ovum with the stored sperms to lay the eggs.
There has also been a speculation that some recent sporadic mating of Olive Ridleys may related to some of these turtles who may have preferred to stay back near the Orissa coast during past year rather than the migratory groups that visit this coast for mating and nesting. No study has been made yet to ascertain this speculation.
Source: The Hindu

Need for a Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) in Berhampur

There is a need to develop the present Technology Support Centre for Kewra Industry in Berhampur as a full fledged Fragrance and flower development centre on the lines of FFDC, Kannauj. Further, a research institute for the same can also be included under the development centre. Presently the Berhampur cluster (http://www.ffdcindia.org/clusterberhampur.htm) is only the third such cluster in India of its kind on fragrance, the others being Patna and Jhalawar. All these three clusters come under the FFDC, Kannauj. In view of the strong output base of Kewra in the Berhampur region which caters to the need of the entire country, the establishment of FFDC along with the research institute has become an imperative.
Ganjam district of Orissa produces 85-90% of Kewra in our country. The Kewra flowers are used for production of Kewra essence for flavouring of syrup, soft drinks and other food preparations. It is also used in certain perfume blends. In our country, Kewra is being cultivated in the coastal belt of Orissa and to some extent in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. It is estimated that around 3 million trees are grown on about of 5000 ha of land that produces more than 30 million spodices (oil bearing flowers) per year in Ganjam District alone. The spodices are used for production of Kewra oil/essence. With the rapid industrialization and change in the food habits of the common masses of the country, the consumption of Kewra oil is increasing day by day. Presently, the Kewra shrubs are not being cultivated in a planned manner, the demand is met through wildly grown shrubs. Kewra shrubs are not available in sufficient quantity; therefore there is a need to develop proper agronomy and cultivation techniques for increasing production of Kewra oil.

Source: The Samaja

Source: Dharitri

State’s second IIIT in Berhampur

(Recent news report in Pragativadi on IIIT- Berhampur)

State’s second IIIT in Berhampur

• IT Secretary of Odisha reiterates the establishment of IIIT at Berhampur

Berhampur has been identified as the location for the second Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in the state. Delivering the state focus address in the seminar 'Moving Ahead with Innovation' organised by the Odisha Chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Friday, IT secretary Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said that in spite of the current global downturn in IT sector the effort was on to prepare human resources to meet the growing need of the state to roll out e-governance.

Link: http://www.pragativadi.com/071109/other_news.htm

Source: Pragativadi, www. http://imv8in4u.blogspot.com/

Second State-level drama festival concludes in Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Even in this era of television, good plays can drag audience out of their drawing rooms to auditorium. The second State-level drama festival organised in the city proved it.
This week-long drama festival concluded on November 15 evening. All the seven plays enacted during the festival had packed house at its venue the Ganjam Kala Parishad auditorium. It was a non-competitive drama festival where prominent amateur theatre groups from different parts of the State enacted their best plays, which have won accolades in national level theatre festivals. Some of these plays were decades old and part of development of amateur theatre in Orissa.
Despite the odds like acoustics lacking and bad ventilation in the auditorium, audience filled it up every evening. Veteran theatre activist, Raju Padhi said the welcome sign was that more than 50 per cent of the audience was general public having no relation with stage activities. They had come over only to enjoy the plays. “They enjoyed the plays till the end which hints that despite speculations the live attraction for live theatre would continue in the minds of general public”, he said.
Swagatika Padhi, who came over to see three plays in this drama fest said one of the major reason behind its success was the professional management of the organisers. Usually the enactment of plays precedes elongated boring meetings comprising of long speeches. It delays the beginning of enactment of play. But in this drama festival the enactment of plays started sharp at 7.30 p.m. The meetings that preceded, were short and were attended by prominent personalities related to stage and cinema.
The variety of theme and format of plays was a major draw for the audience. The first two plays ‘Jeeara’ and ‘Baunsa Thenga re Swadhinata’ enacted by ‘Ka Kha Ga’ of Damanjodi and ‘Kala Parishad’ of Dhenkanal were plays based on human formations on stage. ‘Emiti bi Dine’ enacted by ‘Canmas’ of Paradip and ‘Kurukhyetra ra Thikana’ of Tulasi Cultural Association of Kendrapara were based on burning contemporary issues. The play of Casmas dealt with the topic of female foeticide and depicted a time when there would be dearth of women in the country. The other play was based on the corruption that continues in the name of social service. On Saturday a famous folklore of Orissa came alive in the play ‘Ati Achambita Katha’ enacted by three decades old organisation, Manan of Bhubaneswar. Its apt presentation enthralled children as well as the elders. ‘Jhada’ of ‘Sampark’ from Rourkela was the play of the concluding evening of the drama festival.
Courtesy: The Hindu

Conference of Mayors and Municipal heads kicks off in Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) played host to the conference of Mayors and chairpersons of Municipal bodies of the State. The Conference attended by more than 100 heads of Municipal bodies of the state was inaugurated by the state Revenue Minister at the historic Town Hall in the city. Hints of hike in the holding tax was evident during the discussions at the conference which deliberated on the methods of raising resources for the municipal bodies to carryout developmental activities. But, given the poor infrastructure and services provided by urban bodies in cities like Berhampur, Cuttack and Sambalpur, the natives have been opposing any hike in holding tax. In the mean time, a state government agency has already conducted the property survey of the individuals in four important towns of the state including Berhampur, Cuttack, Sambalapur and Puri to assess the holdings of individuals in the unit areas.

Source: The Hindu, Businessstandard, Aahwaan

Berhampur-Rourkela direct train service demanded

BERHAMPUR: Strange it may sound but, Berhampur and Rourkela, the second and third largest cities of Odisha are yet to be connected by a direct train service. This despite the fact that proper railway line exists between the two cities to be connected by a train. The absence of a direct train service is causing hardships to the commuters, who have to change 2-3 trains to reach the other city. It seems the East Coast Railway authorities are neither bothered nor interested in improving railway connectivity in the State. Since the last few years there is also a similar demand from several quarters for a direct train service between Visakhapatnam and TATA via Berhampur, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, which could also serve the purpose of connecting Berhampur and Rourkela, but this has not evoked any response from the Railway officials. The State Governement on its part has never gone beyond submitting memorandums as a ritual prior to every Railway Budget. Eversince the Hirakhand express that connected Berhampur and Rourkela has been stopped there has been demand for alternate tarin service and yet the Zonal authorities are keeping mum on this issue. Now several organisations of the City have appealed the state government and the East Coast Zonal officials to pursue this issue with all seriousness to connect the silk city with the steel city of Odisha.

(PS: Thanks to Abhisek for the inputs)

Building Berhampur as a Higher Education destination

R.P.Tripathy

Berhampur city has many advantages as a place to emerge as a future higher education destination of Eastern India. To name a few, apart from being the third largest city in Odisha, Berhampur happens to be the commercial nerve centre of South Odisha and KBK regions. Interestingly it caters to the needs of a couple of districts of Andhra Pradesh as well. Further, Berhampur is the biggest city with a port in the state of Odisha. The City has one of the oldest colleges of Eastern India with Khallikote College nearing 150 years of its establishment. Berhampur University and MKCG Medical College have helped Berhampur emerge as a higher education destination of the State. Recently many private engineering colleges have come up in the City along with the Parala Maharaja Engineering College. Yet, the City has failed to get any of the centrally funded Institutes so far, despite the fact that it has got excellent rail and road transport infrastructure in the state apart from moderate weather conditions. Certain demands and suggestions have been made recently from different quarters that are likely to make Berhampur one of the leading destinations for higher education. This will not only help in the growth of the City, but also the vast under developed region of Southern Orissa and KBK. Following are some of the suggestions to build Berhampur as a destination for higher education;

·Declaration of Berhampur-Bhubaneswar knowledge corridor to develop Berhampur as a national level higher education cluster
·Establishment of Indian Institute of Information Technology (I.I.I.T)
·Khallikote College must be upgraded as an Unitary University
·Establishment of one of the state funded professional Universities like Health University or Management University or a second Agricultural University of the State
·One national level research lab of CSIR, DRDO or DAE
·Establishment of the National Institute of Design (NID)
·Establishment of the earlier announced Indian Institute of Labour (IIL) Studies on the lines of VV Giri Labour Institute, NOIDA
·A branch of the National maritime University at Gopalpur.
·Establishment of the Marine Biotech Park at Gopalpur.
·Upgradation of MKCG Medical college into a national level medical college and research centre
·The JN Tata Technical Education Centre to be upgraded as a national level technical institute on the lines of BIT.
·The Ministry of Defense College at Gopalpur to be upgraded as a Defense University and the establishment of AFMC under the University
·Establishment of Sugar Research Institute at Aska and Salt Research Institute at Huma.
·Completion of the STPI and IT Park projects near the City.

Finally, the formation of the Greater Berhampur metropolitan area is of critical importance in bringing the above mentioned Institutes to the City. There is strong justification for the merger of nearby towns like Chatrapur, Gopalpur, Hinjilicut and many villages located close to the City under Berhampur Municipal Corporation. There is also a strong case for developing the Airstrip near Bhanja Vihar as a domestic airport under the PPP route or in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense. The sooner this is done, the better it will be for the future growth of Berhampur and will also give a fillip in making Berhampur a higher education destination in Eastern India by 2020.

Chandrasekhar Kumar takes over as the chairman of Taratarini Development Board

BERHAMPUR: Shri Chandrasekhar Kumar, IAS and the new Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) of Southern Division has taken over the chairmanship of the TaraTarini Development Board, considered as one of the prominent temple administration and development bodies of the State. As per the convention of the Board, Mr Kumar who has recently joined as the RDC is replacing the outgoing RDC and the Chairman of TTDB Shri Satyabrata Sahu, who has since joined as the Commerce & Transport secretary of Government of Orissa. Shri Sahu’s Chairmanship was eventful as it marked the completion of the magnificent stone temple at Taratarini Hill Shrine and the shrine and its peripheral areas witnessed massive development in the past few years. The TTDB members and office bearers while congratulating Shri Kumar expressed the hope that the Hill Shrine will become a great center of religious and tourist importance in the country under his chairmanship. It is worth mentioning that the second phase of the temple, which includes construction of a massive complex for the devotees and the construction of four side-temples, boundary walls, social initiatives apart from many other small projects and plantation drive, have started recently.
Photo source: www.trekearth.com

Berhampur the southern capital of Orissa: A nice commentry on the City

Following are some beautiful lines on Berhampur. Sourced from
www.myberhampur.com

Several projects inaugurated as Naveen visits Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in his day long visit to Berhampur and Ganjam district on Tuesday has inaugurated several projects at Sheragarh, Gopalpur and Berhampur city besides laying foundation stone for the railway over-bridge near Auto-nagar in Berhampur.
Dharitri and The Sambad on Chief Minister’s visit to Berhampur:

• http://www.dharitri.com/111109/story6.asp,
• http://www.orissasambad.com/news_article.php?id=10490

Naveen launched India’s first gram panchayat banking outpost at Sikiri panchayat of his Hinjili constituency in south orissa in the presence of the Chief General Manager (CGM) of Orissa circle of the SBI Shiva Kumar, State Panchayati Raj Minister, Prafulla Samal and Ganjam district Collector V.K.Pandian. The Chief Minister said this project would put Orissa on the path to become the first State in the country to provide banking facility in all panchayats. In the first phase this banking outpost project would be taken up in 10 districts of Orissa, which have high number of NREGA beneficiaries. Naveen took part in around 16 inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremonies in his home constituency Hinjli and Berhampur city during his visit. He laid the foundation stone of a railway over bridge at Haldiapadar, inaugurated new hostel building of the Helen Keller deaf school of Berhampur, a tribal hostel in Central school, Berhampur and inaugurated the Santh Bhima Bhoi national library and herbal garden in the city.
Source: The Hindu, Orissadiary, Orissasambad, Dharitri and Odishatoday

Dalai Lama to visit Chandragiri near Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Tibetan Spritiual leader Dalai Lama will be visiting Chandragiri near Berhampur in January. Jigme Rinpoche, Head Lama, Chandragiri Buddhist Monastery said that his holiness Dalai Lama will be visiting the state to inaugurate the Buddhist Monastery in Chandragiri on January 11 next year.
The head Lama called on the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday to discuss about the proposed visit of the spiritual leader next year. It should be noted that during the Chinese Aggression of Tibet in 1959, Tibetan refugees crossed over to India along with the Dalai Lama and were allotted this spot near Berhampur. About 600 Tibetan refugee families had settled in five camps in Chandragiri area, which is topographically and climatically similar to the Himalayan State. The new Buddhist Monastery that is to be inaugurated is going to attract tourists as it happens to be the biggest monastry of its kind in the eastern region of India.

Source: Orissadiary, Orissalinks