MJ fan Harihar looks to burn the dance floor

 To vote for Harihar, type HD and send SMS to 56882

Voting lines are open till Friday1st October 2010

Following is an Excerpt from The Telegraph story on Harihar by Shilpi Sampad

BERHAMPUR: The Silk City of Orissa, Behrampur, went into celebration mode after Harihar Dash danced his way into the grand finale of a talent hunt show ‘India’s Got Talent Khoj-2’ being aired on a private entertainment channel. Harihar, with his signature ‘popping and locking’ dancing style impressed the audiences and received a huge number of votes that helped him secure a berth in the final round. Interestingly, Harihar has not received any formal training in dance. As a kid, he used to admire late pop star Michael Jackson. “I used to play his music and imitate his style of dancing. Soon I added my own steps to them and made it into a unique style of dancing,” he told The Telegraph on phone from Mumbai. Harihar, who completed engineering from MITS, is now preparing to get into a business management college. He was the cultural champion in the annual festival of BPUT for three consecutive years (2005 to 2007). Initially, Harihar’s parents did not support his passion for dancing. But they changed their minds when Harihar started doing well at the dance show. Earlier, we used to advise him to focus more on his studies. However, when judges appreciated his dance, we realised he had a gift. Now we hope that he wins,” said his parents. Family members, friends and relatives of Harihar have already started visiting temples to pray for his success in the final. The city has gone into a celebration mode. Harihar said: “From the auditions to the semi-finals, I have used my style, which is popping and locking with a bit of variation here and there. For the final, I am trying to fuse different dance forms and tell a story through that.” Moreover, the team of sand artists from the state, Manas Kumar Sahoo and group, has also gained entry into the finals with the help of a ‘wild card’. Harihar said he would be equally happy if either of them wins the title. "The Prince dance group from the state had won it last year. This year I want either of us to repeat their success. It is a tough competition with seven other participants from different states. However, Orissa stands a great chance to win the show. The sand artists are extremely talented and gifted. The best one should win,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph

Harihar Das of Berhampur storms into the finals of India’s Got Talent-II

• To vote for Harihar, Type HD and send SMS to 56882
• Voting lines are open from 25th September till Friday1st October 2010
• Click here to watch the Semi-final performance of Harihar
• Click here to read the news on Hari in Oriya daily Dharitri

SMS fever is running high in the silk city with firecrackers going up in the skies as Oriya boy Harihar Das sailed into the final of reality show India’s Got Talent Khoj-II. Harihar Das hailing from Berhampur captivated the judges as well as the audience with his breathtaking performance. The popping and locking artist also stunned Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra with his unique form of dance. Reality show’s judge Sajid Khan showered praise on Harihar and predicted him to have all abilities and potential to represent India globally in this category.

Meanwhile, animation sand artist Manas Sahu and his group, made it to the grand finale through wild card entry. With two teams from the state making it to the finale, everyone is now hoping either of them to rewrite history after Prince Dance Group winning the finale of the reality show in the last edition. To see Harihar scrapping through the final, the entire City has started making wishes and prayers in temples and houses. Students, youth, eminent citizens, organizations and political leaders are busy reaching out the public seeking votes for Harihar to win the competition. 

Publicity campaign in Berhampur for the success of dancing sensation Harihar Das

• Semifinals of India's Got Talent at 9 PM on Friday, 24th September
• To vote for Harihar, Type HD and send SMS to 56882
• Voting lines open from Friday, 24th Sept 10 PM to 25th Sept 9 AM

Different organisations, political outfits, traders, students and officials in Berhampur are now busy creating an SMS mania in the City and in the State in favour of Harihar Das of Berhampur who has emerged as a dancing sensation in India’s Got Talent reality show. People carrying leaflets and banners are going from street to street to mobilize support in favour of Harihar to see him win the final of ‘India’s Got Talent’ show of entertainment channel ‘Colors’. Not to be left out the MLAs of the city and leaders of various political parties accompanied by eminent citizens took out a rally in the city yesterday urging people to send SMS in favour of Harihar Das. The district hoteliers’ association, various cultural troupes and choreographers association are also into this publicity drive. People canvassing for Harihar are optimistic that the city lad will do what the Prince Dance Group did lat year and will make Berhampur and the State proud.

Source: Orissa TV

Orissa Sambad on Harihar

BMC restarts anti-encroachment drive

Berhampur Municipal Corporation has finally woken up to the problem of traffic congestion and encroachment of pavements by traders for commercial use. In the fourth phase of anti- encroachment drive the City Corporation removed illegal constructions and hoardings in the presence of senior officials of the local body, district administration and police force. The present drive is aimed at constructing pavements and parking space for vehicles and de-congesting the City roads. The drive passed off peacefully in most of the areas like Khallikote College Road, Town Hall, PVN Rao, Barracks, Annapurna Market, UB Road, SNT Road, Girija Junction, Ram Lingam Tank Road but it faced some resistance in Old Bus Stand area and Aska Road where people raised slogans demanding proper rehabilitation and alternative arrangement. In some parts of the city like Bhapur Bazar and One-way Traffic Road people were seen voluntarily removing the encroachments. While welcoming the anti- encroachment drive carried out by the Municipal Corporation, senior citizens of the city demanded special vending zones for the evicted traders and to expedite the ring road and NH-217 bye-pass projects to de-congest the city. Further, they also appealed the authorities to make alternative arrangements for the hundreds of slum-dwellers who have been recently evicted. As per official records the number of slums in Berhampur city is around 103 where more than two lakh city residents live   Presently Berhampur city is dealing with huge influx of migrant population from the adjoining districts of south Orissa and north Andhra and most of these migrants find an easy living in the city pavements by taking up petty business. The City Corporation is carrying out the anti-encroaching drive for the last couple of months to give a face-lift to the historic Berhampur city and has started building vending zones to rehabilitate the traders whose livelihood has been affected due to this drive.  Recently the local body has also initiated a massive slum development programme under the IHSDP scheme sponsored by the Central Government with an investment of over Rs 35 crore. 

Berhampur city plays host to National seminar on green building technology

BERHAMPUR: A three-day national seminar on ‘eco-friendly material and techniques for green building technology' is under way in Berhampur city. The seminar is being organised by the city chapter of the Institution of Engineers (India). Several experts of building technology and architects from different parts of the country are attending the seminar as resource persons, said organising secretary of the seminar Swadhin Kumar Panigrahy. On Tuesday, an interactive session to discuss implementation of green building concepts in fast-growing urban areas like Berhampur was held. It was attended by MLA Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy, Mayor of Berhampur city Siba Shankar Das, city SP Shefeen Ahmed Khan as well as several experts of the field. Dignitaries of the city discussed the issues related to comprehensive development plan for the city by the Berhampur Development Authority.Elucidating the need of the seminar, P.K. Maity, chairman of the Architecture Engineering Division Board of Institution of Engineers, who is attending it as an expert, said green buildings were an extreme need in this fast urbanising world. According to him, in the next three decades half of the population may shift to urban pockets. Green building practices aim at reducing the environmental impact of new buildings that come up in an area. For future sustainability there is a need for reducing amount of natural resources buildings' consume and the pollution caused by them, according to Mr. Maity. These steps have become need of the hour as buildings have started to account for large amount of land use, energy and water consumption, environmental alteration in urban areas. Experts attending the seminar were of the opinion that cost of a green building would be around six to eight per cent higher than conventional buildings. “But they felt this extra cost would get paid back through environmental restoration and energy conservation within decade. But conversion of existing buildings into ‘green buildings' is not cost effective at the present moment,” Mr. Maity said.

Source: The Hindu

Centre sponsors two M.Tech courses in NIST

BERHAMPUR: The Department of Science and Technology has sponsored two M.Tech programmes at Berhampur-based National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) for 2010-11 session. According to a release, NIST is the only TIFAC CORE center in India for research and development in 3G/4G communication technologies. The programmes, which are AICTE approved, are M.Tech in Wireless Communications and M.Tech in Embedded Systems. Admission to the courses will be through the PGAT conducted by the Orissa JEE. All students (GATE or non-GATE) admitted into these programmes will be given a scholarship as per norms. Recently NIST has also signed an exclusive agreement with CADENCE, USA, based on which a CADENCE Center of Excellence in VLSI has been established in NIST campus with full semester training for 60 students per batch on CADENCE tools.

Source: New IndianExpress

Thousands of devotees visit Panchama on Ganesh chaturthi

BERHAMPUR: Panchama, a sleepy village on the outskirts of Berhampur city was agog with influx of thousands of devotees from far off places like Andhra Pradesh on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. Mostly children and womenfolk made a beeline in front of the historic Ganesh temple, located on the outskirt of the village from the wee hours, as people from far flung places thronged the ancient shrine to appease Siddha Vinayak the elephant God, appearing on an old tree. The tree believed to be 500-year-old withstood the passage of times. The tree happens to be a big attraction for the devotees, where they perform the rituals.

Police made elaborate arrangements to maintain traffic and the law and order. Local volunteers also came forward to help the visiting devotees by providing drinking water and to maintain traffic."Unlike the last several years, this year we have performed puja smoothly" said one of the devotees.

According to legend, the temple was built by King Purushottam Dev of Gajapathi dynasty of Utkala during his Kanchi Abhijan to marry Princess Padmabati, daughter of King of Kanchi. The King during his journey, used to take rest in the Goddess Bhairabi temple, located near Panchama. Once while the king was sleeping, he heard a celestial voice instructing him to appease Lord Ganesh before leaving the place. If the elephant God was pleased, the princess would surely be his.

Source: PTI

Harihar Das of Berhampur enters the semi finals of India's Got Talent-II

Following news is from daily Orissa Sambad

CM launches water body repair scheme in Ganjam

BERHAMPUR: The irrigation sector in the state is likely to get boost with the chief minister Naveen Patnaik launching the repair and renovation of the water bodies, mostly related to minor irrigation projects, under the repair, renovation and restoration (RRR) scheme of the government. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Ganjam district on Thursday launched ‘Repair, restoration and renovation of water bodies' project in Orissa. The project is a joint venture of State and Central governments. Existing minor irrigation projects will be renovated under the project for the benefit of farmers. During his eight-hour whirlwind tour to the areas of his home constituency Hinjli, the Chief Minister laid the foundation for works to be taken up under the project. He laid the foundation for three such projects in Shergarh block. These projects were Kanaka Bandha at Kulagarh, Sagar Bandha at Sagarpalli and Kumutibandh of Terikarijhola. Thirty medium irrigation projects in Shergarh block and 24 in Hinjli block will be renovated under the project. They are part of Hinjli Assembly segment represented by Mr. Patnaik.

In total, 782 minor irrigation projects will get a facelift in Ganjam district under the project. More than Rs. 240 crores will be spent on them. Most minor irrigation projects in Ganjam district depend on rain. It may be noted that in 2004-05 a pilot project of ‘Repair, restoration and renovation of water bodies' was taken up in Ganjam district. Under it 24 minor irrigation projects were provided a new lease of life. He reached Hinjli by helicopter from Bhubaneswar at around 9.30 a.m. and departed for State capital at around 4.30. In between he managed to attend 22 inauguration and foundation-stone laying ceremonies of public amenities in different parts of Hinjli and Shergarh blocks. The chief minister today laid foundation stone for repair and renovation of three MIPs in Ganjam district’s Sheragada block during his day-long visit to the district. The MIPs included Kanaka Bandha at Kullagada, Kumuti Bandha at Kerikerijhola and Sagara Bandhh at Bhusunda. As many as 1761 water bodies in 21 out of 30 districts of the state will be revived with an estimated cost of Rs 595.14 crore over next three years.

Source: The Hindu & Business Standard

Berhampur People: Prabir Kumar Dash (The man behind Padmasambhav Mahavihara)

Excerpts of news report by Sunil Patnaik from The Telegraph

BERHAMPUR: The Padmasambhava Mahavihara monastery, located at Chandragiri is an architectural marvel. Its design was conceptualised by an Oriya engineer from Berhampur, Prabir Kumar Dash. For the 44-year-old, it was the biggest challenge of his career. The foundation stone of the monastery was laid in 2003. Finally, in 2008 Prabir’s hard work paid off. The building was completed and was considered as the largest Buddhist monastery in South Asia. The monastery, inaugurated by Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on January 12, 2010, during his last visit to Chandragiri, has since attracted many foreign and domestic tourists. Prabir said: “I put my heart and soul into the project. Dalai Lama praised and admired me for the architecture and structural design of the Padmasambhava Mahavihara monastery. It was really a great feeling and indeed the turning point of my career.” Prabir did his schooling from KC High School, Berhampur. He passed MTech. in structures from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2009. At present, he has launched an environment engineering consultancy in Berhampur.

“Earlier, I didn’t have any idea about the structural designs of Buddhist monasteries. But in 2003 Pema, the in-charge of Lamas in the Phuntsokling Tibetan settlement, Chandragiri, contacted me and asked if I was interested to work on the monastery project. I agreed immediately. Later on I found out that he got my phone number and address from the Berhampur city directory,” said Prabir. Before starting work on the project, Prabir visited a Tibetan monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. “I designed everything on AutoCad, a software application for design. Initially, it was difficult to coordinate with Lama Tashi, the chief Tibetan designer based in USA, to prepare the design of the Padmasambhava Mahavihara monastery because he could communicate only in Tibetan. But slowly things fell in place,” he said. Taslim Khan, a contractor based in New Delhi who had experience of building about five monasteries, worked with Prabir. Those days Prabir used to stay at Camp Number 4 at Jiranga in Chandragiri. The five-storeyed, 96-foot high Padmasambhava Mahavihara monastery was build over 10-acres at a cost of Rs 8 crore. Its main attraction is a 21-foot statue of Buddha and his two main disciples in the assembly hall. The other attractions are a 17-foot statue of Padmasambava with his eight manifestations and two consorts and a statue of Buddhisatva Avalokitesavara with thousand arms and eyes.

“Monastery is a center for spiritual activities where residential monks are trained in the philosophical foundations of Buddhist sutras and the tantric techniques that lead towards enlightenment. They also learn traditional painting, astrology and Tibetan medicine. The monastery is engaged actively in prayer ceremonies where people come to receive blessings. It was a powerful place to experience the living tradition of Buddhism,” said Jampel, chairman of local Tibetan assembly.“The monastery has boosted tourism in Orissa,” said Gyetral Jigmei Rinpoche, chief abbot of the monastery. Brad, a tourist from the US, who recently visited the monastery, said: “I saw the monastery during my visit to Chandragiri. The interiors and the main structure are beautiful.” “It is the third best tourist place in Orissa after Puri and Konark. But the authorities must take immediate steps to construct a proper road from Lobarsingh to Jiranga temple to enable more tourists to visit the monastery,” said Prabir. After achieving success in building the Padmasambhava Mahavihara monastery, Prabir began receiving offers for various other projects. Some of them include the upcoming 76-foot high and 55-foot wide Lotus Temple at Aurobindo Matru Mandir in Ankuspur near Berhampur and one Iskcon temple in Berhampur.

Source: The Telegraph

Harinath Reddy of Berhampur in India's Got Talent-II

Click here to watch Harinath Reddy performing at India's Got Talent Show

After Harihar Das, now it is T. Harinath Reddy of Berhampur city, brother of Krishna Mohan Reddy of the Prince Dance Group, who has entered the Indian's Got Talent- II quarter finals. With three formidable contestants from Orissa, Harihar Das and Harinath Reddy from Berhampur and the amazing sand animation artists Manas Sahu and Group from Puri the dominance of the state continues in one of the most popular television reality shows in Indian television.  Meanwhile the Manas Sahu and group has entered the semi-finals of India's Got Talent-II telecast by Colors channel.

Berhampur Municipal Corporation moots waste disposal plant

Excerpts of news report by Sunil Patnaik from The Telegraph

BERHAMPUR: The Berhampur Municipal Corporation has initiated steps to set up a garbage disposal plant at the cost of Rs 72 crore to Rs 80 crore at Chandini Hills, much to the relief of the city residents in general and people residing near Sukunda Math. “We have built the boundary wall and the gate. Electrification work is under progress. The garbage disposal plant is expected to come up with in two to three years under the Urban Infrastructure Development for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT)”, said municipal commissioner Bhima Manseth. The sanitation scenario has worsened in the city, which generates about 150 tons of garbage per day. “We are presently managing 450km road and a stretch of 450km of sewage under the jurisdiction of the corporation with a pitifully small number of sanitary workers. There were 700 sanitary workers including 300 regular sweepers and 400 on contractual basis,” said city health officer Sashi Bhusan Panda. “Considering the national average, two sweepers are required to clean and maintain half-a-km of road and drain separately. We, therefore, require 1800 sweepers in Berhampur. But now we are managing with just 700 sweepers,” added Panda.

Source: The Telegraph

The Silk City is all set to be slum-free

Excerpts from news report by Sunil Patnaik from The Telegraph

           

BERHAMPUR: The slum dwellers residing in as many as 29 slums, located under the jurisdiction of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation, will be rehabilitated in new pucca buildings in five years, said the Integrated Housing for Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and the Rajiv Awas Yojana launched by the Central government. The Silk City is all set to be slum-free in phases within the stipulated time mentioned by the Centre. “As many as 29 slums located under the jurisdiction of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation have been earmarked and will be demolished in phases. The slum dwellers will be rehabilitated in new pucca buildings to be built within five years,” said Bhim Manseth, city’s municipal commissioner. The Berhampur Municipal Corporation has already invited tender to build new buildings at the five slum areas he said. While the Union government is supposed to provide with the 90 per cent of the total cost, the state government would bear the rest of the cost under the IHSDP. In another development, a sum of Rs 31 crore has already been pumped in for the project under the IHSDP. The corporation has received a sum of Rs 11.60 crore in the first phase. Implementation of the Rajiv Awas Yojana, which is on the pipeline, is expected to further boost the project, sources said. “We have initiated process to provide pucca houses to the slum dwellers. Rs 1.50 lakh will be provided to each of the families for the construction of 1,202 houses. The colonies earmarked for the rehabilitation will be equipped with the facilities like drinking water, electricity, macadamised roads and drains,” said the mayor. “After the construction of the buildings for the dwellers of 24 slum areas, we will earmark other slum areas and rehabilitate the families in new buildings to be constructed under the Rajiv Awas Yojana,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph

Toyota Motors to set up rare earth oxide plant in Ganjam

Toyotsu Rare Earths Private Limited, a subsidiary of Japanese auto major Toyata Motors, will set up a rare earth oxide plant at Chatrapur in Ganjam district. The project will be a joint venture with Indian Rare Earths (IRE) Limited and commercial production will start from May next year. This will be 100 per cent EOU with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes a year. The joint venture company will invest Rs 150 crore while the State Government will provide infrastructure including land. IRE will supply raw material for the project. The project will open up employment opportunities for the local people. TREO Director Tsutomu Aoki who called on the Chief Minister here today discussed the project. (More on this story from Orissa Sambad)

Source: New Indian Express

Astha International plans Rs 500-cr township, mall & three-star hotel in Berhampur

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard                    

Astha International Limited, one of India's leading direct selling companies, expects to acquire 300 acres of land at Berhampur by January 2011 for its Rs 500-crore integrated township project called 'Astha City'. This would be the company's first residential cum commercial real estate project in Orissa which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of its overall turnover. S S Kisan, chairman and managing director, Astha International said, “We hope to take possession of 200 acres of land for our integrated township project at Berhampur by January 2011. Orissa is an important market for us and besides direct selling of the whole gamut of products, we would also like to invest in sectors like real estate and hospitality in the state.”

Astha International, based out of Surat (Gujarat), clocked revenue of 40 crore from its operations in the Orissa market in 2009-10 and its revenue is set to reach Rs 50 crore by the end of the current financial year. To cater to its growing business needs, the company is planning to have ten offices in the state by this fiscal end. These offices would come up at locations like Balasore, Soro, Berhampur, Balugaon and Rourkela to name a few. The company has opened an office in Bhubaneswar and this would serve as the zonal office for the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.Astha International would also scale up its employee strength from 50 at present to over 500 in the next couple of years. The direct selling firm would ramp up its strength of distributors in the state from 1.3 lakh a present to 10 lakh by the end of 2012.

Besides its proposed township project, Astha International has also evinced interest in setting up a three-star hotel in the city but the details are yet to be finalized. The company also intends to build a mall in the city with a total built-up area of 15,000 sq ft. Astha International, which has more than 10,000 products in 26 different segments, also plans to float a bank called Astha Bank by 2011-12. The company claims to have got the license from the Reserve bank of India and the bank is set to commence operations from 2011-12.

Source: Business Standard

CM lays foundation stone for Tata Industrial Park and inaugurates STPI in Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur today. Tata Steel managing Director H.M. Nerukar was also present while laying the foundation. Tata Group will start the project by setting up a Ferrochrome plant and a bar mill as anchor industries for the Industrial Park. The project is likely to be completed in two years time and provide employment opportunity to about 1000 people.  

STPI-Berhampur

The Chief Minister along with the Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot today inaugurated the newly built Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in Berhampur in the presence of several Ministers of Government of Odisha and Central Government officials.

Link for related stories on this:  

Desalination plant key to Tata Steel's project: Business Standard

Ten anchor investors for Tata Steel's Gopalpur SEZ: Business Standard

Displaced people welcome Industrial Park: Business Standard

Naveen happy with Nerurkar: Tathya

Tata Steel to set up industrial park in Orissa: The Hindu

Tata Steel to set up industrial park in Orissa: Business Standard

Sources: OTV, Business Standard, The Hindu, http://www.tathya.in/ 

Berhampur Airport (Rangeilunda) progress updates from OTV

Click here to see the future plans for Berhampur Airport at Rangeilunda

The historic Berhampur Airport (Rangeilunda) is located at a distance of around 5km from the city and adjacent to Berhampur University. The Rangeilunda air base was built by the Britishers during the second world war period and it remained as an air strip since then. The runway is currently used by the defence establishment, state government, private companies and VIPs to reach Berhampur and other places in south Odisha. State's second flying training Institute is coming up at Berhampur Airport in Rangeilunda. The Air Traffic Control Tower (MSSR site) and AAI offices are located close to the Airport. Recently efforts are being made by the government to make it a full fledged domestic Airport. This news video on the history and progress of Berhampur Airport is from OTV.

Distance from Rangeilunda Airport- (Berhampur University- 0km, Berhampur city 5km, Gopalpur-On-Sea-5km, Taratarini Hill Shrine 30km, Taptapani-50km, Chilka- 40km, Bhairabi Temple- 15km, Chatrapur-10km).

Tata Steel to invest Rs 1000 cr at Gopalpur

Dillip Satapathy/ Business Standard/ August 19, 2010

BERHAMPUR: After a lull of nearly one and half decades, Tata Steel has finally geared up to put to use its 3,200 acres of land lying idle at Gopalpur in Orissa. Playing the role of the anchor tenant for an industrial park proposed to come up on this patch of land, the company is all set to launch two projects: a 50,000 tonne per annum ferroalloys plant and 40,000 tonne per annum bar mill there. The two projects together are estimated to cost about 1000 crore. Tata Steel managing director, HM Nerurkar is scheduled to meet chief minister Naveen Patnaik here tomorrow and give a presentation on the company’s plans for Gopalpur. Patnaik is likely to lay the foundation stone for the projects on Friday. “To start with, the proposed two units, the ferroalloys plant and the bar mill, will be our anchor investment. But our ultimate objective is to make this industrial park attractive for investors in the field of steel and steel downstream, speciality and bulk chemicals and engineering”, said a senior official of the company.

While the ferroalloys plant will cost about Rs 200 to 250 crore, the bar mill will be set up at an investment of Rs 750 to Rs 800 crore. This will be the third ferroalloys plant of Tata Steel in Orissa. The company is operating two ferroalloys plants at Bamanipal and Athgarh (through its subsidiary Rawmet) with capacities of 50,000 tonnes per annum each.For the bar mill, the company intends to get the ingots from Jamshedpur by rail and road. Similarly, the company will source raw material for the ferroalloys plant, which will be a backward integration project for the company’s proposed six million tonne plant at Kalinganagar, from its chromite mines in Sukinda valley. Both the units are expected to be commissioned in 30 months time. It may be noted Tata Steel had acquired 3,700 acres (including 500 acres for the rehabilitation colony) in mid 1990s for setting up of a 10 million tonne steel plant at Gopalpur. However, it shelved the project and the land was lying vacant. The company later proposed to set up special economic zone (SEZ) on this patch of land and also got in principle approval from the Centre for the purpose. “But now with proposed changes in the tax codes, SEZs have become irrelevant. We would rather prefer to develop the land as an industrial park for steel downstream and engineering projects”, said the company official. The infrastructure for the industrial park will jointly be developed by Tata Steel and its associate company, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL). A feasibility study on the complex has been done by Ernst and Young while another internationally famed consultant, Jurong of Singapore is currently preparing its master plan. The master plan will be ready in 3 to 4 months following which the company will market the project and attract investors to set up their units in the park, said the sources. The cost of infrastructure, which includes developing the land and providing road, rail, power, water supply facilities within the park and linking them to external sources, is estimated at about Rs 5000 crore.

Source: Business Standard

Oriya boy Harihar from Berhampur in India’s Got Talent-II

Click here to watch Hari performing at India's Got Talent Show

Orissa Sambad on Harihar Das
Times of India news on Harihar

A Prince in the making  

In the season 2 of the India’s Got Talent show by Colors TV Channel, Oriya lad Harihar Das from Berhampur has entered the quarter finals. The news has sent a wave of jubilation among the people of Berhampur city and Orissa as this is the second year in a row when a boy from the state and Berhampur city has reached up to this level in a national realty show. Last year the Prince Dance group of Berhampur got massive support from the entire state and stole the national limelight. 23 year old Harihar is from Ram Nagar area of Berhampur city and has completed his B.Tech from MITS, Rayagada and has earlier participated in DPL and Dance India Dance shows by Sony and Zee TV respectively.

Cadence centre of excellence inaugurated in NIST

BERHAMPUR: The Cadence, a VLSI Tool Company, in association with National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), got the Cadence Centre of Excellence inaugurated at the institute premises on Tuesday. Prof. Sangram Mudali, Director, NIST, expressed the importance, and brighter prospects of opening this centre of excellence which is not only first of its kind in the state of Odisha but in the entire country. A total of sixty final year students registered for the same in the Cadence lab incepted in the institute premises. The Cadence team emphasized that the collaboration with NIST would enable the students to be exposed to industry relevant practical training, have access to the latest EDA Software/flows, certifications, industry access via cadence and soft skills training. NIST has now many firsts to its credit among the technical institutes in the state. NIST has the unique distinction of having students from 13 different states of India who are studying here. Further, it is the first such technical institute in the state to get TIFAC-CORE facility and also to have a Business Incubator in the campus.

Source: Orissa Barta