Paralakhemundi to have tool room, training centre

In another step to enhance employability and gainful livelihood options in tribals-dominated districts, the State Government has decided to set up a Mini Tool Room & Training Centre (MTRTC) at Paralakhemundi. The MTRTC would be established in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode among the Central and State Governments and a private partner through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The initial capital of the SPV has been estimated at Rs21 crore.  Chief Secretary Bijoy Kumar Patnaik, who held a high-level meeting here on Tuesday for establishment of the Mini Tool Room & Training Centre in the backward Gajapati district, advised the Industry Department to expedite the process of formulation of detailed guidelines for financial and administrative management of the SPV. The MTRTC would be set up in accordance with the broad guidelines prescribed by the Union Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises.                                                                               Source: The Pioneer, Panoramio (by devadattarath)

Over four thousand youths get employment at Ganjam job fair

Berhampur/Bhanjanagar: Altogether 4127 unemployed youth have get jobs at a mega employment fair held at Bhanjanagar in Odisha's Ganjam district. Similarly, 1969 persons were selected for training by different companies in the fair, sources said. Around 45,000 job-seekers thronged the Nijukti Mela held yesterday and the selected candidates were given the appointment letters on the spot, district collector Krishan Kumar said. Altogether 38 different companies from across the country opened their stalls to recruit unemployed youths in the one-day job fair, jointly conducted by the district administration and state employment mission for the first time in the district.

The prominent companies which came to recruit the youths included Wipro, Genpact, L&T and several textile and security services. The jobs ranged from security guards to BPO and IT professionals. The qualified ITI pass outs also got scope to get job in different companies. The mela, conducted for the first time in the district, gave an opportunity to job seekers to get employment on the spot, said state’s rural development minister Bikram Keshari Arukh who inaugurated the fair. Bhanjanagar, the sub-divisional headquarter town was made venue of the Nijukti Mela to attract candidates from nearby interior tribal villages, the collector said. Assistant director, employment, Berhampur RM Khillana said while free food was arranged for the job seekers, several of them were provided transport facilities to reach to the venue.

Source: Indian Express

SUCI seeks better amenities at Brahmapur railway station

Local committee of Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), Communist Party, staged a dharna in front of the Brahmapur railway station demanding furnishing the station with necessary services for the common passengers by the Railways. Even though Brahmapur has become an important place from trade and economic point of view and a lot of people depend on the railway as a major mode of travelling and transportation, absence of prime services creates problems for the passengers, said SUCI State committee member Bisnu Das. The Railways authorities are neglecting developmental activities, he added. The SUCI demands included morning passenger train services to Brahmapur via Bhubaneswar, a waiting lounge at the station, a passenger halt at Ankuli and free provision of toilets and parking space. A member of the committee, Somanath Behera, said railway accidents have become common in the area. Many passengers have been injured or killed in the accidents. But the Railways Department does not have ambulance facility at the main station. Therefore, we demand 24-hour ambulance facility at the railway station and 24-hour doctor and nursing facilities, he said. Meanwhile, in his one-day visit to Brahmapur, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) verified the situation of city railway station. He was given a six-point charter of demands through the Chief Commercial Manager (CCM). Source: The Pioneer, OTV

Century-old Hanuman temple demolished in Berhampur

Nearly a century-old Hanuman temple was demolished in Hanuman Bazar in an eviction drive in Berhampur city after shifting the deities to a temporary place. The administration had given around one-month time to Hanuman temple authorities to shift the deities before carrying out demolition. "We demolished the temple because it was constructed on government land," sub-collector (Berhampur) Ajit Mishra said. The anti-encroachment drive jointly launched by the revenue department, Berhampur Municipal Corporation, Berhampur Development Authority (BDA) and police was postponed to give sufficient time to the encroachers and temple authorities to move away before November 23. "Since the temple has enough land to construct another place of worship, we will take steps to construct a new Hanuman temple in the area and install the deities", mayor of the city corporation S.S.Das said. The new temple would be constructed by raising fund through collection of donations from the public. The anti-encroachment drive would continue for some more days in Bada Bazar. The people fully cooperated with the administration and there was no protest, police said. Police personnel were deployed in the area to maintain law and order. Several multi-stored buildings have also been demolished during the drive. Earlier the administration had issued notices to the building owners to evict. The busy commercial area, considered the nerve centre of the city, is choking with encroachments that have become a nightmare for the commuters. Source: PTI

Ganjam apparel training centre gets country's first ISO certification

Vikash Apparel Training Centre (VATC) of Hinjli in Ganjam district got ISO 9001:2008 certification. Present trainees of the centre met the Chief Minister at his residence  in Bhubaneswar. According to a release from the Chief Minister's office, VATC is the first centre out of 7 apparel training centres in Odisha and 543 training centres across the country that has achieved this feat of accreditation through the International Organisation for Standardisation certification. This certification is Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand who are the leaders in quality management. Vikash Apparel Training Centre located in Hinjilicut, Ganjam set up with the support of State Employment Mission and ministry of rural development by IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative Limited has pioneered employment linked training program since July 2008. This training centre has trained and placed over 2000 BPL youth from Ganjam and Malkangiri in large garment manufacturing export houses like Roverco Apparel (Chennai), Arvind Limited (Bangalore), Shahi Exports (Bangalore), K. Mohan (Cochin) and many others. The training centre simulates the exact industry shop floor with industrial sewing machines and the training is conducted in two shifts. Apart from technical training, the trainees are provided with soft skills, life skills, yoga, English & Hindi, motivation, leadership, HIV AIDS, company law, etc. IL&FS Clusters with the support of State Employment Mission has been able to train and place over 7000 rural BPL youth in its seven training centres across the state and has presence in almost all the left wing extremist affected districts in Odisha with the latest addition at Malkangiri. 

Sources: The Hindu & OrissaDiary

Another weightlifter from Berhampur wins gold in national weightlifting championship

Source: Anupam Bharat

Berhampur to get 6 lane Highway connecting Ichhapuram and Bhubaneswar

The 180km four-lane highway between Andhra Pradesh’s Ichhapuram and Bhubaneswar via Berhampur will be made into a six-lane road.“A feasibility study is in progress,” said National Highways Authority of India deputy general manager Prabhat Ranjan Behruia. “The task of feasibility study has been entrusted to AECOM, a Gurgaon-based agency. We expect to launch the six-lane highway soon,” he said. “Our norms say if the passenger car unit (PCU) is more than 23,000 a day, we can opt for a six-lane highway. During a recent study at Kespur in Ganjam and the portion of the highway that passes through Berhampur, we found that the PCU was 28,000 a day. A six-lane highway could accommodate more vehicles on the road and ensure passengers’ safety,” he said, adding that construction of the six-lane highway had already begun from Chennai.Behruia said of the 158km road from Icchapur to Ganjam (50.80km), Ganjam to Sunakhala (56km) and Sunakhala to Khurda (51km), construction of 141km has been completed. “A road under bridge at Chhatrapur is to be constructed by the NHAI, for which the Indian Rare Earths Limited has to hand over the site.

Source: The Telegraph

Gopalpur beach festival from January 11 to 15

Gopalpur beach festival would be held in January this time rather than in December like earlier years. This five-day beach festival would be held from January 11 to 15. Earlier date of this beach festival used to coincide with Christmas. This decision was taken at the first preparatory meeting for the beach festival held in Berhampur city. This beach festival is organised every year jointly by the Ganjam district administration and Ganjam District Hoteliers' Association (GDHA) to promote tourism at this beach resort and to show case cultural heritage of South Odisha. The preparatory meeting was chaired by Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) southern division, Laxmi Narayan Nayak. It was attended by Ganjam Collector Kishan Kumar, MLAs of Gopalpur and Berhampur and many office bearers.

Decision to shift dates of the beach festival was taken at the request of the GDHA. The GDHA felt holding of beach festival during festive tourist season was putting extra pressure on the small beach resort. Added to it large crowd that gathers up for the beach festival and clogged traffic was also causing problems for the tourists who check in hotels of the beach resort during that time. Holding of this beach festival during January would add up another tourist season for the beach resort, felt GDHA. This famous beach festival had been started during 90s by the GDHA and this famous beach is just 9km away from Berhampur city. Source: The Hindu

Dividers to come up on NH 59 passing through Berhampur city

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Berhampur Ajit Mishra has directed the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to put dividers on the stretch of NH 59 that passes through the city to curb rising accidents. Mr. Ajit Mishra has passed the order while dealing with a case filed under Section 133 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in his court by former secretary of Ganjam Bar Association (GBA) Manoj Patnaik. According to the directive, dividers will come up in the middle of the highway to bifurcate the incoming and outgoing traffic to check accidents. Dividers will be put up on a stretch of 15 km of NH 59 from Ambapua to Budhighara temple on the outskirts of the city. The highway authorities have also been directed to put extra watch on most accident-prone stretch of the highway between Engineering School square and Budhighara temple. Mr. Patnaik filed the case on January 20. The NH 59 was formerly NH 217. The road connecting Gopalpur Port with Raipur in Chhattisgarh has become NH 217 through gazette notification made in 2001. Stretch of this highway that passes through the city also became most accident prone zone. As per the data provided by city police, between April 2001 and April 2010, 104 persons died and 269 persons were injured due to accidents on this stretch of road. So, there was a demand for measures to check incidences of frequent accidents on this stretch of highway. Another reason for the accidents on this stretch of highway is unauthorized parking of passenger vehicles including buses. In March, the SDM also ordered against unauthorized passenger bus stoppages from the stretch of the highway that passes through the city. But till date unauthorized parking of passenger buses has not been checked. It is alleged that although the city has two bus stands, yet passenger buses and mini buses block the road at different places for long periods.

Source: The Hindu

Stone laid for 'Break Water Wall' at Gopalpur Port

BERHAMPUR: The Commerce and Transport Minister Sanjib Sahu laid the foundation stone for  a ‘break water wall’ at Gopalpur Port, 18 km from Berhampur city on Thursday. The wall - mandatory for an all-weather port - would be 3 km in length and will cost ` 240 crore.  The fair-weather port of Gopalpur was handed over to Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL Group) by the Odisha Government.  And the port is being developed into an all-weather one by Gopalpur Port Ltd (GPL), a consortium led by OSL Group. It will be the second all-weather port in the State after Paradip. The existing fair-weather port was handed over to GPL in October 2006. According to the CA, GPL will develop the port on BOOST (build, own, operate, share and transfer) basis. After completion, the Port targets to handle 10 million tonne of cargo in the first year of its operation. The consortium is to invest about ` 1,700 crore in the port. Though the construction was scheduled to start last October, it was delayed for various reasons. The port officials informed the Minister that construction works would be completed by 2012-end. Transport Secretary Gagan Dhal accompanied the Minister.

Source: New Indian Express

OTDC comes out with package tour to Tara Tarini hill shrine

The Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has come up with a package tour to promote Tara Tarini hill shrine in Ganjam district. This tour would be taken up around five times in a month to enable devotees and tourists from other parts of the State to have a comfortable luxurious trip to this famous hill shrine. As Bhubaneswar would be starting pint of this tour it would enable tourists coming to visit golden triangle, Puri-Bhubaneswar-Konark, to opt for a visit to another chunk of Odisha.

The Tara Tarini Development Board (TTDB) has decided to provide all possible assistance for this project of OTDC, said secretary of TTDB, Pramod Panda. According to him this package tour would be on Tuesdays along with the day of Sankranti. These are most preferred days for devotees to visit this hill shrine. Mr Panda said this package tour for Tara Tarini was being provided at affordable price of around Rs 640 per passenger. Tourists would start from Bhubaneswar in air-conditioned luxury buses and reach Tara Tarini hill shrine just before noon.

The TTDB authorities would welcome the passengers and provide them all possible hospitality. These tourists would be provided ‘prasad' of the temple as lunch which is part of the package. Along with accompanying guide the troupe of tourists would get a chance to move around scenic spots around the hill shrine during their stay there. Ropeway between the hill top and the foot hill was also part of the tour package, Mr Panda said. According to him this project of OTDC would help in promotion of this hill shrine as a major tourist destination.

Mr Panda said the second hill top road to the shrine was almost completed and it would be ready for use by public by the end of the year. This new road starts from Keshpur junction. Work was also under way for construction of a ring road around the Tara Tarini hill. The ghat road to the hill top is being widened further for easy driving. In some places gradient of steep slopes have been reduced.

To beautify adjoining areas embankment of Rushikulya river that flows around the Tara Tarini hill is being beautified. “We are planning to increase parking space on the hill top by cutting down and leveling some more portions on the hill top,” Mr Panda added. During past few years the TTDB has made a complete face lift of this hill shrine that includes erection of a complete new temple in place of the old temple. This new temple is based on ancient Rekha style temple architecture of Odisha. It was constructed under the supervision of noted sculptor, Padma Bhusan Raghunath Mohapatra.

Source: The Hindu

Much awaited Berhampur Book Fair kicks off

The much-awaited 12-day annual Berhampur Book Fair was opened in this Silk City on Saturday. The fair was inaugurated by Revenue Divisional Commissioner L. N. Nayak in the presence of a number of litterateurs of the State at the St Stephens Church Ground near the Telephone Bhavan road. There are 80 stalls of various books that include fiction and non-fiction, entertainment and leisure, business and finance, hobbies, special interest, general interest and health and living. Many stalls have also been opened up by organisations related to Shirdi Sai Baba, Gayatri Shaktipeeth, Pragyan Mission, Geeta Press etc to sell their own publications. Some book traders like one from Puri Jagannath temple premises, who specialise in spiritual and religious books, have also come out to open their stalls in this book fair. Most of these stalls are drawing huge crowds. The crowd includes youth as well as the aged. The Book Fair Committee has chalked out different activities, including quiz competitions by Chanda Bijoyee Mishra and literary discussions by different literature academies of Ganjam district. The inaugural function was attended by eminent writer Das Benhur, Secretary of State Sahitya Academy Bijay Patnaik and Dainik Asha editor Pramod Kumar Panda.

Source: The Pioneer, The Hindu

Berhampur University conducts indirect election

An indirect election for the students’ union of Berhampur University has been conducted peacefully. Earlier, the direct election process had to be cancelled following clash between two groups of students on September 28. “The students first voted their class representatives who, in turn, elected the office-bearers of the students’ union. President, vice-president, secretary, and joint secretary of the students’ union, 10 members of the executive body, and secretary and joint secretary of the dramatic association and athletic association were chosen in the indirect election today,” said the university’s administrative officer, Ganapati Chowdhury, who conducted the election. Forty class representatives were elected from the university’s 20 postgraduate departments to take part in the union’s election. Besides, three representatives were sent from computer application, tourism and Russian studies courses. Jayadev Pandit has become the newly-elected president, Kapilendra Nahak the vice-president, while Ajaya Kumar Sahu and Balaram Behera have been elected assistant secretaries of the union. Sidhartha Arawal and Minaketan Behera have been elected the secretary and joint secretary of the athletic association. P. Swarup Kisan and Satyajit Singh have been elected as the secretary and assistant secretary of dramatic association. “Indirect election process is one of the election methods recommended by the Lyngdoh Commission. We opted for it as it would not disrupt our classes and help maintain law and order on the campus,” said N.R. Chowdhury, chairman of the varsity’s postgraduate council.

Source: The Telegraph

Small town India makes it big – via reality TV (Indiatalkies.com)

Blurring the lines between reel and real, Sushil Kumar lived a billion dreams when he went from being a computer operator earning Rs.6,000 a month to a millionaire many times over by winning Rs.5 crore on ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. The fairytale ‘slumdog millionaire’ come to life on that new harbinger of change – reality television. The 27-year-old from Motihari in Bihar, who went from oblivion to fame and wealth in a matter of 13 questions on the fifth season of the quiz show, is the latest in the many talents from far flung corners of the country who have come to the national centrestage thanks to reality shows. When the show was going on air, KBC host, superstar Amitabh Bachchan, had said he wanted to reach out to people in the interiors so that viewers could get to see some of the best brains from small towns. After Sushil Kumar’s spectacular win, aired Wednesday night, Big B said: ‘This is what the common man is all about. This is what KBC is all about – given an opportunity, the common man has the strength, the ability and the acumen to prove to the world that he is the best and second to none.’

Last month, The Suresh & Vernon Group won ‘India’s Got Talent 3′. The group of 30 youngsters from Mumbai suburbs like Vasai, Virar and Nala Sopara were from lower middle class backgrounds and danced their way to the TRPs.

Another rags to riches story was of the Prince Dance Troupe from the backlanes of Berhampur, Orissa. The unlikely stars, including daily wage labourers and two polio-stricken children, won an earlier season of ‘India’s Got Talent’ and even got to perform at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

The trend began in the late 1990s with shows such as ‘Meri Awaz Suno’ on Doordarshan and Zee TV’s ‘Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma’. Singers like Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghosal first showcased their talent on these shows before going on to make it big in Bollywood, the ultimate dream of every artist. Thanks to their success stories, reality shows became a rage in small towns. More aspirational than just an entertainment show. Many talents found their spot in the sun – Sony’s ‘Indian Idol’ turned Abhijeet Sawant into a celebrity post his win while the second season winner Sandeep Acharya from Bikaner in Rajasthan too became well-known. There was also Prashant Tamang from Darjeeling, Amit Paul from Shillong, Emon Chatterjee from Kolkata and Antara Mitra from Maslandapur in West Bengal. Debojit Saha, a struggling singer from Silchar, Assam, got a new lease of life after winning Zee’s ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’, as did Raja Hassan, Tochi Raina and Harshit Saxena.

Sources:  Indiatalkies, The Hindu

OTDC announces special bus service from State capital to Tara Tarini Hill Shrine

In a bid to attract more tourists to famous religious destination of the state the OTDC has launched two special weekly bus services to Tara Tarini in Ganjam district and Tarini temple in Keonjhar district, OTDC Marketing Manager Alok Mishra said. Every Tuesday, a bus would leave Bhubaneswar at 8 a.m. for Tara Tarini and the trip (to and fro) costs Rs.660 per person. The bus would start its journey from the Panth Nivas and would pick up tourists at Kalpana Square, 

railway station, Vani Vihar, and Rasulgarh Square in the Capital en route Tara Tarini. Similarly, the bus for Ghatagoan will leave Bhubaneswar at 7 a.m. every Tuesday and it would cost Rs.610 per person (to and fro). However, pilgrims can also avail themselves of one-way service on payment of Rs.300 per person, Mr. Mishra said.

For further information, OTDC officials can be contacted on mobile phone number 99383-74772.

Source: The Hindu

MGCHRI to set up cancer hospital in south Odisha

Oncologists feel rural and ignorant women of the State are prone to threat of cervical cancer. Addressing a press meet in Berhampur city oncologists from Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Research Institute (MGCHRI) of Visakhapatnam said lifestyle-related cancer threat also looms over people of Odisha.

Surgical oncologist and managing director of the cancer institute Murali Krishna Voona said with education and better lifestyle incidence of cervical cancer was going down among women. Radiation oncologist of the institute Kanhu Charan Patro described how change in lifestyle has started to increase occurrence of breast cancer in traditional states like Odisha. According to him one of the major reasons is the blind adaptation of cosmopolitan lifestyle in the educated women in the upper economic strata. “But the silver lining is that due to increased consciousness women with developing breast cancer are being identified early for timely medical intervention”, said Dr Murali Krishna..

The MGCHRI is planning to establish a cancer hospital in south Odisha. “We have started viability survey of the project in the area”, said Dr Murali Krishna. On October 31 a clinic of the institute was opened in Berhampur city which would be visited by oncologists from the Visakhapatnam based cancer hospital every month. The MGCHRI declared to extend its subsidised treatment for BPL families of Andhra Pradesh to the poor patients of Odisha also. Source: The Hindu 

SBI launches ‘Bank on Wheels' in Ganjam

State Bank of India (SBI) introduced ‘Bank on Wheels' in Ganjam district to increase financial literacy among rural mass who are till date not acquainted with banking facilities. Regional office of the SBI in Berhampur city has introduced this awareness building project. Under this project a decorated vehicle would move around remote villages distributing awareness building literature regarding concept of banking process and to take banking process to their door steps. This project will also provide thrust to the Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP).

The SBI authorities have identified 60 villages in the district. As per the plans 300 new accounts would be opened up in each of these villages. A.V. Brahma Rao, Deputy General Manager of the Bank flagged off the ‘Bank on Wheels' vehicle at a function which was attended by Ajit Kumar Tripathy, Regional Manager.

Source: The Hindu 

Anti-encroachment drive speeds up in Silk City

BERHAMPUR: Anti-encroachment drive in the Silk City started on Monday from the Sanno Bazaar in the city to widen roads encroached by business establishments in Sanno Bazaar, Bada Bazaar and Hanuman Bazaar. With the help of police force, bulldozers entered the three areas to demolish encroachments. Hundreds of shops were razed. Even the Hanuman Temple was not spared. Some portions of the temple were demolished. During demolition at the Hanuman Temple, Bajrang Dal, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), BJP Krushak Morcha and inhabitants of the area gathered and opposed the move. Following intervention by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) with a suggestion to shift the deity to the nearby Raghunath temple after necessary rituals, the protesters left the place.  During the demolition drive on the first day, Sub-Collector Ajit Mishra, tehsildar Satrughna Kar, BMC Mayor Shiv Shankar Das, Berhampur Dedelopment Authority (BMC) commissioner Bhim Manseth, Berhampur SP Safeen Ahmed, SDPO Sarat Mahapatra, one magistrate along with the police force were present. The administration has given seven days to the shopkeepers in Bada Bazaar to move elsewhere. On expiry of the deadline, the bulldozers will again swing into action, the administration has warned.

Source: The Pioneer

Ganjam migrants send remittance worth Rs 800 crore back home

Source: Dharitri

Ganjam wetland at Tampara to be made ecotourism centre soon

BERHAMPUR: Tampara, a wetland near Chhatrapur in Ganjam district, will get a facelift soon, following the state government's decision to develop the mini-lake into a major ecotourism centre. The wetland will be developed under the ongoing Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, (ICZMP) funded by the World Bank. The project authorities have already sanctioned Rs 6.90 crore to the state owned Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) for the purpose, official sources said. District collector Krishan Kumar recently discussed the project with concerned officers. Presently, the 5.8 km-long and 670-meter wide wetland is used for water-sports and boating. At least four fiber boats and two scooter boats are stationed in the site for the purpose, said district tourist officer Surendra Lima. Facilities like parking, public conveniences, eco-parks, jetties, tents and cottages will be developed as part of the project. Besides, floating restaurants and cottages will also be set up, sources said. The Tampara lake, designated as a tourist spot by the state government in 2008, attracted 27,425 tourists last year as against 26,755 in 2009 and 26,230 in 2008, official sources said.

Source: Times of India