Resolve Jindal issue through talks: Govt tells dist admn
Angul: Protesting attack on land oustees of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) by security guards, lawyers and activists of political parties on Friday blocked National Highway-55 for hours.
The state government has asked the district collector of Angul to ensure restoration of peace.
The collector is also asked to verify whether the company denied jobs to the local people and land oustees, Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneswar.
Patnaik was replying a to a query on Wednesday's violence at JSPL plant site in Angul where 164 people including women were injured as agitators entered into the plant premises demanding removal of labourers from outside.
JSPL executive director Rajesh Jha said that the company is are open to discussion.
We are keen to resolve the issue through talks but the villagers should respond in a positive way, he added.
Of the 160 villagers injured in the incident, seven were serious at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack while about two dozen land oustees were admitted at the district headquarters hospital here.
Four injured security guards had been admitted at a hospital in Nalco Nagar.
We have arrested two senior officials of security wing of the company based on an FIR filed by the villagers. Police has also received another FIR from the JSPL, Angul SP Satyabrata Bhoi said.
The land oustees alleged that the company defied the government's direction and gave employment to outsiders ignoring interest of the local people who gave away their land for the industry.
The lawyers of Angul district demand a CBI probe into the matter as the police turned mute spectator when company officials mercilessly beat up the innocent villagers, Bar Association, Angul, President, Dilip Das said.
Hundreds of vehicles were standard on both sides of the National Highway-42.

MindTree Kalinga starts city project
Bhubaneswar:   MindTree Limited, a global IT and Product Engineering Services Company, started work on its 20-acre campus, to be named MindTree Kalinga, in the Chandaka Special Economic Zone here on Thursday.
The campus would be built in a phased manner and the first phase of 200,000 square feet will be completed in 2013.
Students from various local educational institutions poured earth specially brought in from different corners of the world at the base of a Krishna Ficus tree at the proposed site.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik placed the earth from the state and welcomed MindTree with the comment that entry of high quality organisations to the state helps the economy and the intellectual eco-system too.
MindTree vice-chairman Subroto Bagchi commended several government agencies for getting MindTree Kalinga off the ground and promised a world-class centre that would train and deploy some of the best minds of the eastern region.

PPT to triple cargo handling capacity by 2020
Paradip: Chairman of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) G Jagannath Rao unfurled the National Flag here on the Republic Day on Thursday.
In his address to the gathering he mentioned that plans are on the anvil to increase the capacity to 251 million tonnes form the 76 million tonnes at present.
Rao took salute from a March Past of CISF jawans, contingents from the Paradip College, Odisha Maritime Academy and different schools of Paradip township along with a platoon of Port employees retiring in the year 2012.
He expressed gratitude to the residents of the Port township and nearby areas for making the valedictory function of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Paradip port on January 13 a huge success and urged the employees to improve efficiency to meet the competition form new ports.
Rao inaugurated many structures that included the new CISF Complex, Sea Farers Club, Lion’s Pillar, and Wagon Tipper.
He laid the foundation stones for 33 KV electrical sub-station and net barrier.

Companies opt for franchise route for power distribution
Bhubaneswar:  : The power distribution companies (Discoms) of Odisha have aggressively opted for franchisees to improve their Aggregate Technical and Commercial performance in power distribution.
The Reliance-controlled Discoms have taken up the task in right earnest.
At present NESCO has four inputs based franchisees and 42 numbers of collection based franchisees, WESCO has five inputs based franchisees and 14 collection based franchisees and SOUTHCO has three input based franchisees and one collection franchisee.
Franchise operations cover 3,149 villages having 143,072 consumers in NESCO, 1957 villages with 144,578 consumers in WESCO and 631 villages having 53,057 consumers in SOUTHCO.
The Electricity Act 2003 and National Electricity Policy have made it mandatory for distribution companies to deploy franchisees in all rural areas covered under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana.
The various franchisee models in operation today are collection based and input based models. Individuals, NGOs, Women Self Help Groups (WSHG) and corporate bodies are operating under various franchisee models.
Increased participation of WSHGs registered under Mission Shakti faces the hurdles of lack of a formal structure, rudimentary working knowledge and poor financial condition.
The district administration needs to step in with credit assistance and training to help them.
The energy department and the women and child development department have formulated a scheme known as SHG Energy Franchisee Arrangements (SEFA) for development of Micro Franchisee throughout the state with the help of WSHGs.
The scheme envisage constitution of a state level working groups for formulation of training documents and to conduct state level, district level and block level orientation and training programme and also constitution of selection committees headed by the Block Development Officer (BDO) and executive engineer and CDPO as members.
The entire activity is training centric and aimed at imparting skills at all levels.
As per the SEFA scheme, WSHGs are to be utilised by the discoms for collection of energy bills and allied activities in rural areas with the gram panchayat as the unit area of operation.
They will receive a performance based remuneration and will be entrusted with the activities of meter reading, billing, collection of revenue including arrear revenue, release of new service connection, theft detection, prosecution and facilitating consumer grievance redressal.

NTPC distributes Braille slates, other items to schoolchildren
Bhubaneswar:  As many as 48 Braille slates and Taylor frames along with arithmetic types and 40 headphones were provided to the students of the Bhima Bhoi School for the Blind of Bhubaneswar by the Vasudha Mahila Mandal of NTPC’s Eastern Region II Headquarters here on Friday.
The equipments were distributed among the students by Regional Executive Director (East II) of NTPC Jayadeb Nanda and president of Mahila Mandal Swarnalata Nanda on the occasion of the Republic Day.
Club members also provided a television set for the hostel of the school.
Senior executives of the company and executive committee members of the club were present. Earlier, Nanda unfurled the national Flag at a separate function in the company’s guesthouse premises at Pokhariput.


Poultry culling: Farmers incur loss of Rs 1,000 cr
Bhubaneswar: After the bird flu scare hit Odisha following detection of H5N1 virus in some blood samples of poultry birds and crows, chicken and egg consumption drastically fell across the state leading to a loss Rs 1,000 crore of farmers, vendors and other stakeholders related to poultry business in the state, members of Odisha Poultry Farmers’ Association (OPFA) said here on Wednesday.
The members said that the state government has taken various initiatives to control the bird flu in the state and also culled thousands of poultry birds at Kerang and Bahanada.
Instead of immunization of the affected birds, culling of the fowls continued indiscriminately. The members lamented that without diagnosing the affected fowls, the birds were killed which resulted in a huge loss to the poultry farmers.
The culling is also the worst form of cruelty to animals and birds, they alleged.
After the media hype and the state government resorting to the culling exercise, the consumers got scared and refrained from consuming chicken and eggs, which affected business of 30,000 farmers and another10 lakh people depending directly or indirectly on the trade.
Some farmers have taken bank loans and the present loss has been great burden on them, the Association said and warned that the loss may lead to suicide by the loan-stressed farmers.
The Association informed that no human death due to bird flu has yet been reported in Odiaha and no one gets affected by consuming chicken and eggs by cooking them at 70 degree centigrade.
The farmers’ body demanded that the state government should take appropriate steps to immunize the birds and modernise the farming technique and health facilities for the poultry farms in the state.
It said that Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of chicken and eggs in the country but bird flu has never broken out in the state.
It is not that chickens had not died or were not affected by diseases but the state government and media have never made hype about flu keeping in view the interest of the farmers, it said, and demanded that a testing laboratory should be set up in the state for detection of the flu in the birds.

Tata DOCOMO’s new offer for CDMA customers in Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Tata DOCOMO, the unified telecom brand of Tata Teleservices Limited (TTL), today launched an exciting handset bundled offer for its new CDMA customers in Odisha.
Under this offer, customers can buy Huawei C2835 color FM handset at Rs 1099 along with which they will get 500 minutes of free local calling.
Commenting on the offer, Ratul Ray, Chief Operating Officer, Odisha, Tata Teleservices Limited said that the launch of this handset is an extension of our commitment to offer affordability to our customers.
At Tata DOCOMO, we have always strived to offer unparallel services with an assortment of handsets and now we have one more handset which comes bundled with the benefit of free 500 minutes of local talk-time keeping the differentiated usage patterns of our customers in mind. We are confident that this offer will be well received by our customers, Ray added.
Free calling value will be credited as 15,000 seconds per month for the next two months. Validity for free seconds will be 30 days from the day of credit.

MindTree Kalinga to be launched in city today
Bhubaneswar: With top software companies chalking out their strategies for growth, the top administrators in the Information Technology (IT) sector in Odisha say that by 2013 the state will have more than 10,000 seats for software professionals.
TCS, Infosys, Wipro and above all MindTree have started their plans for expansion in Odisha in a big way, said an official in the Department of IT(DoIT).
MindTree, a global IT and Product engineering services company, is starting work on its 20-acre campus from Thursday, said sources.
Though the company had intended to open its campus way back in 2004, bureaucratic wrangles forced the IT major to wind up its plan.
However, with the intervention of the top officials in the DoIT, it has once again taking up the job to set up 2,000-seater campus by 2013, which will ultimately a 10,000-seater campus in future.
DoIT secretary and IDCO CMD Pradeep Jena played a crucial role in roping in the Global IT company to Odisha by providing 20-acres of land in Infocity I.
MindTree vice chairman Subrato Bagchi is now seriously pursuing his company’s agenda of expansion in Odisha as he feels that the state is emerging as the IT hub of the Eastern India.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will lay the foundation stone of the MindTree campus on the Republic Day on Thursday in the Infocity I Zone.
The campus will be named as MindTree Kalinga.
While MindTree has firmed up its plan, Wipro has also started construction of its campus in Infocity I, said an official.
This will be a 3,000-seater campus with the latest facilities for software development.
Similarly, Infosys has decided to be co-developer of a 50-acre zone in Info Valley SEZ coming up near Khurda.
DoIT sources said 5,000 seats would be developed in next two years.
TCS has also started adding its second campus with 3,500 seats in Infocity I.
All these companies would be adding 10,000 seats by 2013, which would provide big opportunities to the tech grads in the state.


State yet to decide on OMC-Rio Tinto JV
Bhubaneswar: The possibility of revival of the $1 billion jinxed joint venture (JV) project between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Anglo-Australian mining major Rio Tinto appears murky with the state still dithering on the matter.
Though a revised JV pact was prepared after several rounds of negotiation between the once sparring JV partners, nothing has moved forward in the past one year.
There has been absolutely no progress on the project for the past one year. The matter is pending at the government level, said a top official of OMC.
The fate of the project hinges on the decision to be taken by the government. The revival of the JV does not look bright at this stage, he said.
A top Rio Tinto executive on Tuesday called on the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik, understandably to discuss possibility of the project revival.
There were discussions on the iron ore mining project to be taken up jointly by OMC and Rio Tinto. The project was proposed several years back but we haven't decided anything on revival of the JV, said Patnaik, after a meeting with Sam Walsh, chief executive (iron ore), Rio Tinto.
As per the original JV pact signed between OMC an Rio Tinto, both partners had agreed to export 50 per cent of the mined iron ore while setting aside remaining 50 per cent for domestic consumption.
However, the state government's thrust on meeting iron ore demand for local industries instead of exports seemed to have put the brakes on the revival plan.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had recently urged the Centre to ban iron ore exports.
It may be noted that the Odisha government had constituted a task force in 2007 under the chairmanship of the chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik to look into the renewal of JV agreement between OMC and Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto had entered into a JV with OMC on February 24, 1995 to develop Gandhamardhan and Malangtoli iron ore deposits in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts in Odisha with a mining capacity of 25 million tonnes per annum.
However, the project could not take off due to different reasons including slump in the iron ore market and proposal for direct export of iron ore, prompting the OMC later to seek winding up of the JV as per advice of the Solicitor General of India.
This sparked off a legal battle between the two parties. While OMC had filed a case in the Odisha High Court to wind up the JV agreement, Rio Tinto had approached the Company Law Board of India to contest OMC's claim.
Even as the petitions filed by OMC and Rio Tinto were still pending for disposal, both the parties seemed eager to settle the matter out of court.
As per the original pact, Rio Tinto was to hold 51 per cent equity in the JV while OMC would own the balance 49 per cent.

Truckers body splits over transport row
Angul: Opposing the dictatorial attitude of some office-bearers and members of Talcher Truck Owners’ Association, over 700 truckers here broke away and formed Gramanhal Truck Owners’ Association.
They announced this at a press meeting recently.
Truck owners Suresh Behera and Nirod Pradhan said that the new body was formed consisting of truck owners who have engaged their trucks in Balaram, Nandira, Jaganath, Ananta and Dera coalmines in Talcher.
There had been a simmering discontentment among the truckers operating in Talcher over the some unfair practices by the association.
The truckers belonging to rural areas alleged that they were treated unfairly by some members of the parent association as a result of which their trucks remained idle for a long time.
With the spilt in the truckers’ body, fears arose that this may lead to law and order problem in loading of coal at various coalmines in coming days.
Among others, Khirod Kar, Nayan Kumar Sahu, Bipin Behari Mishra, Prasan Pradhan, Khirod Pradhan, Prahalad Pradhan, Promod Sahu, Karunakar Sahu and Ananat Sahu, were present.


JSW explores slurry pipeline ore supply for Bengal steel unit
Bhubaneswar:  JSW Steel is said to be in talks with both NMDC and Stemcor India for iron ore supply to its upcoming Bengal steel plant.
Stemcor is building a slurry pipeline for supplying iron ore (from Odisha) to steel makers in the eastern parts. Since JSW is the biggest company, with its plant under construction, there have been talks between the two, official sources said.
Matthew Stock, managing director, Stemcor India Pvt Ltd, said that the company is looking to build the pipeline and supply ore to companies making steel in the eastern region.
Obviously, there are companies who need iron ore and logistically, road transport is non-viable. Stock declined to say if the company was talking to JSW Steel Bengal.
He said transporting ore by road or rail is very expensive in India and a pipeline can be a viable option.
Jayant Acharya, director (commercial and marketing), JSW Steel, said that it is too premature to talk about it at this point.
He said they were actively looking to secure iron ore linkages for the plant and exploring options to get ore from Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director and group chief financial officer, said that the company is waiting for the clearances from the government which should come in the current quarter.
We will then start the work on the plant, immediately, he added.
JSW Steel is yet to achieve financial closure for the plant as the state government is yet to transfer the land required.
The first phase plan is for steel capacity of three million tonnes a year and a 300 MW power plant.
Stemcor is already building a 230-km slurry pipeline to connect its iron ore mine to its four million-tonne pellet plant in Odisha.
It has been stuck over a short distance because of forest clearance permission and this is expected by the end of February.
Essar Steel also has a slurry pipeline, 267 km, linking its beneficiation plant in Chhattisgarh’s Bailadilla to the pellet plant at Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.

BCIC urges Coal Ministry to revoke price hike
Balasore: Balasore Chamber of Industries and Commerce, (BCIC), an industrial association of the district, has written to the coal ministry, expressing strong concern over the increase of coal price, terming it steep and discriminatory.
In the letter to Union mines minister Shriprakash Jaiswal, the association has urged for revocation of the price hike notification.
The Coal India Limited has hiked the price twice, in the last 10 months, between February 26 and December 31 2011 and on both occasions it discriminated against and segregated the captive power producers and the rest of power producers in contravention to the norms specified in the new coal distribution policy of October 18, 2007, the letter pointed out.
It said the CIL has resorted to exorbitant increase in coal price under the pretext of changeover from the system of Useful Heat Value (UHV) to Gross Calorific Value (GCV) to conform to international practices.
While the ministry termed the changeover as price-neutral with the CIL also assuring marginal hike in price ‘which was indispensable, a sharp and discriminatory price rise has been effected, BCIC president Himanshu Das said.
The BCIC, besides alleging that the hike in the camouflage of changeover to the GCV-based pricing, also alleged gross discrimination against the captive power producers, defeating the purpose of the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act, 1973 and the coal distribution policy.
The association, apart from alleging lack of adequacy and transparency in the GCV-based system, also observed that it would adversely impact the industry in particular and the economy in general.

SBI solar ATM set up
Bhubaneswar: A rural ATM with solar energy was installed at Trahi Achyuta Nagar, 25 km from here, by State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday.
Deputy Managing Director and CDO of SBI Corporate Centre, Mumbai Arundhati Bhattacharya inaugurated the ATM.
SBI has more than 26,000 ATMs in the country and the solar power ATMs are part of the initiative in providing 24 x 7 services to its customers along with the other alternate banking channels like mobile banking and internet banking.
Among others, SBI officials R Karthikeyan, Praveen Gupta and Abhijit Dutta were present.

BKD blames FCI for low paddy sale .
Bhubaneswar:  : Biju Krushak Janata Dal president Golak Bihari Nayak on Sunday blamed the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for distress sale of Kharif paddy in different districts of the State.
The farmers are being forced to sell the paddy at a price lower than the minimum support price (MSP) due to non-cooperation and faulty procurement policy of the FCI and food ministry, Nayak alleged.
He alleged that the FCI is not procuring the surplus paddy in the state as it is doing in the other states like Punjab, Hariyana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Shortage of space is another reason for which FCI purchases paddy of certain limit from Odisha. Since FCI is the major procurer of food grain in the country, it should construct more godowns in the State for storing the food grains, he added.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has announced to procure 28 lakh MT paddy from the farmers of the State in order to stop the distress sale of paddy.
The general paddy is being purchased at Rs 1, 080 per quintal and Grade-A paddy at Rs 1,100 per quintal.
Agencies like Odisha State Civil Supply Corporation, Mark Fed, Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies, Pani Panchayat and Women Self-help Groups are purchasing the paddy. The purchase agencies are bearing the cost of paddy transportation.
During collection period if any body resorts to black marketing, stringent rule is there to punish the person, Nayak said.


OSPCB allows RSP to resume operation
Bhubaneswar: Four days after shutdown of two units at Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has granted permission to operate them following anti-pollution measures and submission of a time-bound action plan.
RSP sources said that based on a comprehensive time-bound action plan presented by it before the board last week and the action already taken for pollution control at two units, they have been granted permission to operate them.
In compliance with the directive of SPCB, they had shut down these two units on January 16. In a statement the company affirmed its commitment towards fulfilling the action plans on emission control in a time-bound manner.
While closing down the two units, RSP undertook various process improvement steps to modify its pollution control measures.
A delegation of RSP led by its CEO G S Prasad had assured the SPCB that concrete steps were being taken to rectify certain lacunae by putting in place the action plan.

Firms should focus on environment safety, mineral conservation
Bhubaneswar:  The concluding day function of the 14th Mines Environment and Mineral Conservation (MEMC) Week was organised jointly by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) Bhubaneswar and KJS Ahluwalia Group here on Sunday.
The objective was to create awareness among the people about the safety of environment and conservation of minerals for the future.
Attending as chief guest of the function, Controller of Mines for Central Zone of IBM Ranjan Sahai said that the sustenance of Odisha mining amidst all odds is really appreciable.
Apart from the mining activities, the companies should give importance to the environment, mineral safety and CSR activities for inclusive growth, he said while underscoring the need for optimal use of the minerals.
On the occasion, the organising committee awarded some successful miners, mining officials and organisations who did extraordinary works for the safety of the environment and conservation of minerals in the state.
A documentary film ‘14th Endeavour’ made by IBM was screened on the occasion.
Among others, KJS Ahluwalia Group director Prashant Ahluwalia, general manager (Mines) AK Bhuyan, mining geologist of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) MK Somani, convener of the function and Regional Controller of Mines of IBM TK Rath, executives and officials from the state forest and environment department, Directorate of Mines, Odisha State Pollution Control Board and representatives of various mines and mineral industries were present.

Vedanta to meet MoEF officials regarding Odisha refinery
Bhubaneswar: Vedanta Aluminium plans to meet officials of the environment ministry "soon" to chalk out its strategy related to expansion of alumina refinery in Odisha, following rejection of its review petition by the Odisha High Court last week.
There is no stricture against us by the Odisha High Court. Now, we will have to sit with ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to decide further course of action, Vedanta Aluminium President Mukesh Kumar said.
He declined to give any particular date by saying that it will be held soon.
The Odisha High Court last week rejected a review petition of the company in which it had sought reconsideration of the decision on not permitting Vedanta Aluminium to expand its refinery's capacity to 6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).
However, Kumar clarified that the Odisha High Court has declared environment ministry's circular of November 16, 2010 as illegal and the petition has been dismissed due to this.
Vedanta had sought permission for expansion under this office order of the MoEF, he said.
The Odisha High Court has not rejected Vedanta Aluminium's request.
In fact, they have questioned the legality of the action taken by the MoEF as in the eyes of the High Court, circular of November 16, 2010, issued by the MoEF is illegal and any action taken based on it will also be illegal, he added.
The MoEF circular deals with procedures to deal with cases involving violation of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 or Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006.
In October, 2010, the environment ministry had ordered to stop work at Vedanta's alumina refinery site, after an MoEF panel found that the company was carrying out expansion work with out the environmental clearance.
The Vedanta expansion project envisages to have 6 MTPA alumina refinery, along with a captive power generation capacity of 285 MW at an estimated cost of USD 5.6 billion.
Later, the Anil Agarwal-promoted firm, which has the permission to run 1 MTPA refinery, had sought clearance for expansion under the MoEF's November 16, 2010 circular, although here also, it was denied permission.
According to the procedures laid out in the said circular of the MoEF, all cases of violation will be considered as per the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee of the ministry or a similar state committee.
It also says that the process of environmental clearance will have to be started afresh and it will not be construed at regularisation for violation of the EP Act, 1986 or EIA Notification 2006.
Besides Vedanta, many companies, whose projects were found continuing without the green nod, had sought clearance under the circular.
This includes projects like Jindal Power's Tamnar power project in Chhattisgarh and Lavasa project of HCC.

Ensure RRBs’ reach in remote pockets
Puri: All India Regional Rural Bank Employees Association (AIRRBEA) secretary general Dillip Mukherjee greeted the recent announcement by the Centre that the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) would be a role model and it would extend all support to them.
Since the inception of the RRBs during 1975-76, they have been playing a vital role in strengthening the rural farmers’ economy. However, a large area of the country is still out of bounds for the banks. The Centre should ensure its reach to the remote areas of the country to render banking service to a vast rural populace, he said while addressing the two-day conference and the national council meeting here.
The banks are instrumental in implementation of various poverty amelioration schemes of the Government like GCC, SHG, KCC, SSI artisan, SCC and retail trade, he pointed out.
Elaborating further, Mukherjee said that there were nearly 1, 11, 089 accounts including the deposit and loans under the 82 regional rural banks till the fiscal year of 2010 in the country. These as per the new reformation policy would be reduced to 46, he pointed out.
The RRBs registered a steady growth incurring profits. They have topped in agriculture sector business. In 2010-11, the banks secured a rise of Rs55,067 crore as against Rs40,202 crore in the year 2009-10. Similarly, savings rose from Rs75,906 crore to Rs99,136 crore, Mukherji informed.
He demanded that the RRB Act be amended to reorganize and de-link it from the sponsoring national banks to ensure a unified command, autonomy of the RRBs, a level playing field with other banks, parity of service conditions and pension as admissible to employees of the banking industry and regularization of part time workers along with promotion benefits.
Delegates of AIRRBERA from almost all the RRBs of the country participated in the event to deliberate on several problems.

SBI customers continue to lose money
Paralakhemundi: The vanishing of lakhs of rupees from the accounts of eight SBI ATM customers recently in Gajapati district has spread panic here.
Victims have lodged complaints with local police that their money had been withdrawn from ATMs in Faridabad in Haryana on January 15.
With the security of their deposited sum at stake, many accountholders were found withdrawing all their deposits at the bank counter on Saturday.
A few days ago, two persons had complained that lakhs of rupees had been withdrawn from their accounts at SBI’s Paralakhemundi branch.
Cash worth lakhs of rupees has been withdrawn from the accounts of eight customers at Faridabad on January 15. We have informed our Mumbai headquarters officials about it and necessary action will be taken soon, Paralakhemundi SBI manager AC Behera said.

Nalco denies raid on CMD house
Bhubaneswar: The Nalco has denied rumours in the local media circle regarding Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) raids on its CMD BL Bagra’s residence.
A release issued here on Saturday said hat the company had received queries on the veracity of the rumour and clarified that there was no truth in the story, which seemed to be a figment of imagination of some groups with vested interest.
The release also said that the Central Vigilance Commission never conducts raid on the residence of any official and no one from the CBI or the CVC has either met the CMD or visited his residence.


MCL to set up medical college in Angul
Bhubaneswar: The Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited (MCL) would set up a medical college along with a 500-bed super specialist hospital at Talcher with the Odisha overnment giving the no objection certificate to the coal major to go ahead with the project.
According to official sources, the MCL has registered a body, Mahanadi Medical Education Trust, which would establish and run the proposed medical college and hospital in the name Mahanadi Institute of Medical Science and Research at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore.
An MCL team which met chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Saturday sought the clearance of 20 acre of government land for setting up the project at Talcher.
The proposed medical college which would be affiliated to Utkal University would function at Nehru Satabdi Hospital, now being run by MCL at Talcher.
The present bed capacity of the hospital is 135 but the number would go up to 500 in the long run, the sources said.
The Mahanadi Institute of Medical Science and Research would be established in the pattern of Sanjaya Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science with initial intake of 100 boys and girls in MBBS course.
Meanwhile, MCL had already invited expression of interest from eligible consultant groups for survey and design and monitor the construction of the project along with a nurse training school-cum-hostel, residential complex for executives and non-executives, hostels for students, staff nursing hostel and other necessary infrastructure as per the Medical Council of India norms.
The chief secretary has directed the Angul collector Siba Prasad Mishra to identify the lands required for the medical college project and recommend the government for forest clearance for the forest lands.

No labour unrest in Balasore Alloys
Balasore: There is no labour unrest in Balasore Alloys and the unit is functioning as usual, director (operation) of the company Bichitrananda Panda informed at a press meet here on Thursday.
He, however, didn’t say anything about the pending electricity arrear to the tune of Rs 165 crore against the company of Nesco, which had kicked off a controversy as the power distribution company had warned to cut off the supply in case the bill is not paid.
Panda only said the case was sub judice.
Stating that the company had been conducting the best CSR activities, the director said that the company has been paying around Rs 120 crore as tax under different heads annually.
The plant engages around 3,000 workers directly and 10,000 indirectly, he claimed again.
The company’s export stands at about 35 per cent of the production now but it would increase further after certain expansion works are completed in the plant, he informed.
Vice-president (HR) Himadri Rautray and senior manager public relations Sanjay Acharya also spoke.


OMDC suspends operations at Kolha Roida, Dalki mines
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Minerals Development Company (OMDC) on Friday said that it has suspended operations at its Kolha Roida and Dalki mines after not getting permission to lift ore from the mines.
Development and mining work in Kolha Roida Iron & Manganese Mines and Dalki Manganese Mines has been stopped as permission for lifting of iron and manganese ore has not been issued by DDM, Joda, OMDC, a PSU under the administrative control of the steel ministry, said.
The company, a part of the Bird Group of Companies, had resumed development and mining operations in both the mines in Keonjhar district on December 29 last year.
OMDC, which had closed the mines about three years back after its mining leases in Odisha expired and approvals lapsed, had sought an expression of interest (EoI) from players looking to purchase iron ore from the company shortly after reopening the same.
The reopening was designed to help the firm start operations once again as all six of its iron and manganese ores located at Keonjhar are inoperative due to their closure on account of non-availability of environment and forest clearances.
As per estimates, the Kolha Roida mine has an annual production capacity of 30 lakh tonnes of iron ore and 2.4 lakh tonnes of manganese ore.
OMDC is one of the three firms in the Bird Group of Companies.
State-owned Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), which holds a majority stake in the Bird Group of companies, was scheduled to buy iron and manganese ore from OMDC.
OMDC shares were trading at Rs 35,056 a scrip on the BSE on Friday afternoon, was down by 3.02 per cent from their previous close.

SAIL chairman opens new units at RSP
Rourkela: As part of measures to raise output substantially, Chairman of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) C S Verma today inaugurated some new units at Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) including an Air Separation Unit (ASU) of tonnage Oxygen plant.
The ASU-III of Tonnage Oxygen Plant-II has a production capacity of 700 tonnes per day of Oxygen.
This unit comes at a very opportune time as the enriched oxygen generated in the oxygen plant would help the Blast Furnaces to achieve the enhanced output of 7000 Tonnes of Hot Metal per day, RSP sources said.
ASU, when in operation, would also facilitate simultaneous blowing of the converters in SMS-II which will in turn improve the efficiency of the steel melting shop.
Verma, who arrived here on Friday on a two-day visit to the steel city, also inaugurated the High Top Pressure at Blast Furnace-III.
Thereafter, a presentation on the performance of the plant in production and productivity was made before the SAIL chief.
The SAIL Chairman also visited other modernisation units like te New OBBP, New Sinter Complex, Blast Furnace-V and Coke Ovens Battery-VI, where he interacted with Project collective about progress of work in these units.
Chairman, SAIL also interacted with the cross-section of employees at the Gopabandhu Auditorium. During the day, Verma spent time with school children at Deepika Ispat Siksha Sadan, run by RSP as part of its CSR initiative to benefit the underprivileged.
 

Roadside vendors to demand state policy
Bhubaneswar: The All Odisha Roadside Vendors’ Association (AORVA) will observe National Vendors’ Day on Saturday in every Municipality, Municipal Corporation and NAC area across the state in order to celebrate the day of introduction of National Vendors Policy in the Parliament.
Around four crore roadside vendors in the country observe January 20 as the National Vendors’ Day since the policy was introduced in and adopted by the Parliament.
In a release here on Thursday, President of AORVA Pratap Sahu said that the policy has come to effect in 10 states to support the vendors whereas the state government here has so far confined itself to constituting a task force and drafting the policy.
He said that the state government should provide land to two lakh vendors in the state through vending zones.
Besides, they should be given identity cards, trade licence, sanitation, medical and life insurance facilities, Indira Awas houses and JNNURM facilities, Sahu said.


Clear projects in time-bound manner: Govt tells IPICOL
Bhubaneswar: Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik on Wednesday stressed on improvement in the activities of Industrial Investment Promotion Corporation of Odisha Limited (IPICOL) as a nodal agency for investment promotion in industrial sector.
A high-level meeting presided over by the chief secretary at the State Secretariat here discussed about the proposals relating to the counselling and pre-entry investors services, post approval and after-care follow-up for inter departmental co-ordination and problem solving market intelligence, strategic planning and research, conducting secretariat studies, cluster development in ancillary and downstream industries were also discussed.
The chief secretary advised the IPICOL to focus on specific industries for promotion, especially on the ancillary and downstream industries in steel and aluminum sector, automobiles, and building material industries, food processing and agro-based units.
IPICOL was advised to make core group of personnel having interest of expertise and articulation to work in the promotion of these sectors.
The other areas of focus were identified as livelihood project and Information Technology (IT) network project. Patnaik also directed the IPICOL to adopt quick mechanism for clearing up the projects and proposals.
Further, he advised the IPICOL to frame time-limit for different departments to clear up the proposals submitted to them. The projects, which do not need much of natural resources, should be cleared up in a month.
It was also decided that the Corporation will move aggressively to identify small and medium units and establish linkage between man power requirement of proposed industries and skill building programmes.

Farmers asked to produce quality milk
Bhubaneswar: Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department Secretary and OMFED CMD Satyabrata Sahu, attending a 50-day training camp of OMFED here, discussed about the duties and responsibilities of the secretaries of the 49 milk federations of Balangir, Kalahandi, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Sambalpur, Koraput, Malkanagiri, Nabarangur and Rayagada.
He advised them to produce qualitative and hygienic milk by adopting the scientific methods. The secretaries were also asked to follow artificial insemination to produce hybrid calf from a country cow.
Among others, OMFED officials JB Patnaik, Bhabesh Chandra Das and head of the training camp Sureswar Behera were present.

Tata Steel bags CNBC Asia CSR Award
Bhubaneswar: Tata Steel has bagged the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award at the India Business Leader Awards- 2012, instituted by CNBC-TV 18, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Managing Director of Tata Steel HM Nerurkar received it on behalf of the company from Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and gave the credit to the employees, union and senior management team.
Vice-Chairman of Tata Steel B Muthuraman congratulated Nerurkar and commended his leadership.
Tata Steel had recently bagged the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Award in the metal category.

Vipul Greens unveils show apartment
Bhubaneswar: Vipul Limited, a leading national real estate company, unveiled the ‘Show Apartment’ of its ambitious project Vipul Greens and invited all current and prospective buyers to experience the world class amenities which would be available in the project, on Tuesday.
The project is being developed under a Public Private Partnership mode with the Odisha State Housing Board over an area of 4.65 acres off National Highway-5 opposite the upcoming AIIMS.
On the occasion, Vipul chief executive officer Guninder Singh said that the overwhelming response for Vipul Gardens had motivated us to launch ‘Vipul Greens’, our second project in Bhubaneswar.
Vipul Ltd has so far delivered houses over 6.75 million sq ft area and is presently working on an area of about 10 million sq ft.

RVNL gives ambulance to Balangir hospital
Sambalpur: The Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) of the railway ministry is to take up doubling of the Sambalpur-Titilagarh and Raipur-Titilagarh railway lines passing through Balangir district.
As part of its corporate social responsibility, RVNL has handed over a state-of-the-art ambulance to the district hospital, Balangir.
The ambulance was handed over by Chief Project Manager Pradeep Gupta on behalf of the RVNL to district collector S N Dey in the presence of CDMO Dr B Kindo.


Two RSP units shut down
Bhubaneswar: Two units of the public sector Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) were shut down on Monday following directives from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board for flouting pollution related rules and provisions and failing to control pollution.
The two plants were the centering plant and the Number 3 MC boiler unit of the captive power plant.
The plant authorities have submitted a status report on the action taken to control pollution.
The plant authorities reportedly have drawn a blueprint to control pollution and tackling pollution related problems.


Capex programme to record Rs 350 cr spending by March
Bhubaneswar: The capital expenditure (Capex) programme taken up mainly with the objective to bring down the AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) loss is set to clock Rs 350 crore spending by the end of March this year.
Material procurement for implementation of the Capex programme for distribution companies (discoms) has already begun. We expect an expenditure of Rs 350 crore on the programme by the end of March 2012, official sources said.
In November last year, the state government had announced a Capex of Rs 2400 crore for the four distribution utilities in the state- Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha Ltd (Cesu), North-eastern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Nesco), Southern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Southco) and Western Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Wesco).
The state government has released Rs 205 crore in 2010-11 and has made a budget provision of Rs 325 crore, including the 13th Finance Commission's grant of Rs 125 crore, for 2011-12.
An expenditure Rs 2400-crore is set to be incurred during 2010-11 to 2013-14 and it is aimed at bringing down the AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) loss by 12-13 per cent.
One per cent reduction of AT&C loss will contribute Rs 60 crore per annum.
Out of the total expenditure of Rs 2400 crore, the state government will provide Rs 1200 crore while the four discoms will mobilize the remaining Rs 1200 crore.
Of the financial assistance of Rs 1200 crore to be provided by the state government, Rs 500 crore would come from the 13th Finance Commission which is to be passed on to the discoms at zero per cent interest.
A technical committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Engineer-in-Chief (electricity) to examine and recommend the required equipment specifications and place the same before the monitoring committee for their adoption.
The monitoring committee has so far held 13 meetings and approved technical specification of 19 major items including commercial terms of procurement and turnkey contract.
The detailed project reports prepared by Cesu (Rs 406.49 crore), Nesco (Rs 189 crore), Wesco (Rs 185.5 crore) and Southco (Rs 190.25 crore) have already been approved by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).


Central Bank to cover all districts
Bhubaneswar: The century-old Central Bank of India has 27 more branches in the pipeline which would ensure its presence in all the districts of Odisha.
It presently has 80 branches.
Bank’s Deputy General Manager PK Mohanty informed the media here at its Regional Office here on Saturday that the bank expects business of Rs 3,000 crore in the current fiscal and targets Rs 5,000 crore next one.
Emphasising on the focus of the bank on agriculture Mohanty said that during the remaining period of this financial year around 5,000 CKCCs (Central Kisan Credit Card) would be distributed to the farmers of the State.
The bank runs a training Institute at Deogarh for rural development.
An Entrepreneurial Skill Development Institute at Jagatpur near Cuttack to impart training to entrepreneurs is on the anvil.
The bank observed the Children’s Day in November last as the Financial Literacy Day.


Innovative practice boon for sugarcane farmers
Bhubaneswar: Farmers cultivating sugarcane under a new method Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) in Nayagarh, Ganjam and Bargarh shared their experience about the method in a recently concluded state level workshop organised by NIRMAN and AgSri.
The SSI method was introduced by NIRMAN.
Naba Kishor Das (48), a farmer of Khairapati, said that he earned Rs 5,200 from intercrops and Rs 26,000 from sale of buds to other farmers.
Sources said that during last 10 years, sugarcane production in Odisha has been declining by around 50 per cent.
The productivity level is less than 32 tonnes per hectare which is less than the national average of 40 tonnes per hectare.
In traditional method of sugarcane cultivation, farmers spend Rs 12,000 per acre whereas in the SSI, the cost of cultivation in seed declines considerably.
The SSI farmers only take the bud of sugarcane and raise it in nursery and transplant in the field. In the SSI method, farmers not only save Rs 12,000 per acre in seeds but also save in cost on water and labour.
At the same time, they get a bonus from intercropping as the practice gives spaces between rows and plants.
Among others, Member, Board of Revenue Aurobindo Behera, State Programme Officer, UNDP Ambika Nanda, Joint Director, agriculture, G N Mohanty and Prasant Mohanty of NIRMAN participated in the workshop.
Successful farmers Nishakar Pradhan from Ganjam, Duryodhan Champatray of Nayagarh and Dhaneswar Sahoo from Baragarh were awarded.
Over 100 farmers from various districts participated.


NABARD to fund Rs 30 crore for Odisha
Bhubaneswar: The National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Thursday announced a credit plan of Rs 30,000 crore for Odisha for the current fiscal 2012-13.
This projection envisages a growth of 20 per cent over the 2011-12 figure of Rs 25,000 crore. Gracing the State Credit Seminar 2012-14, organised by the NABARD here, finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik, development commissioner & APC, RN Senapati and principal secretary, finance Jugal Kishore Mohapatra urged be bank to focus on inclusive growth while disbursing loans in the state.
NABARD Chief General Manager, Odisha Circle, KK Gupta said that the annual credit plan has laid emphasis on farm mechanisation, dairy, fishery, storage godowns and water resources as parts of agriculture term loans.
While Rs 1,486 crore has been earmarked for farm mechanisation, Rs 540 crore has been provided for dairy and Rs 416 crore for fishery.
A target of Rs 383-crore loan disbursement has set for water resources and Rs 461 crore for godown.
Besides, Gupta said that the bank has provided Rs 10,401 crore for disbursement as short-term crop loans and Rs 11,126 crore for other priority sectors.
The target for non-farming sector loan disbursement has been set at Rs 3674 crore.
Last year, the NABARD had crossed its credit plan of Rs 16,915 crore by disbursing Rs 17,112 crore in the state.
In fact, the credit dispensation in 2010-11 had been more than double in the last three years as the credit dispensation in of the year 2008-09 was Rs 7,484 crore.
The NABARD credit plan has focused on boosting rural tourism, food processing/ agro industries, revival of the handloom sector, maintenance of industrial estates and skill development as parts of its activities in the rural non-farm sectors.
In the poultry sector, it would encourage large investment while in the dairy sector the mini diary units would be encouraged.
The credit plan proposes to encourage farmers to use small farm equipments, secondhand machineries and small tractors as parts of its endeavour for mechanisation of the farm sector. Realising the problem of acute shortage of storage facilities, the bank has proposed to extend loans for building agriculture infrastructures like godowns, cold storages for potato and market yards.

TiE drive to help women entrepreneurs
Bhubaneswar:  The Bhubaneswar chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) has announced a certification course for the state’s women entrepreneurs which will begin from March 17.
The course is being conducted jointly by Birla Institute of Management Technology and Hyderabad based Indian School of Business. Goldman Sachs is funding the programme as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility and covering over 10,000 women entrepreneurs all over the world in 26 countries.
The 19 days’ programme will have 5 modules. The first, third and fifth modules are scheduled for March, April and May of this year.
Modules 2 and 4 are planned to be individual mentoring sessions whose details will be given to the candidates after the selection interview on January 30.
Last date for registration is January 19.
Interested persons can contact Programme Coordinator Mohit Gupta by sending a mail to mohit.gupta12@bimtech.ac.in

Nalco officers’ body alleges torture behind DGM death
Bhubaneswar: The death of DGM (Finance) of Nalco MMR Prusti at Kalinga Hospital here owing to heart attack on January 11 last triggered a controversy in the public sector unit (PSU).
Nalco Corporate Officers’ Association general secretary Suryamani Samal alleged that due to mental torture by the Nalco CMD BL Bagra with whom Prusti was not in good term, the latter had been in a state of shock.
Prusti had attended an interview for the post of GM in Nalco, where Bagra was a member of the interview board on January 9 at Bhubaneswar.
During the interview, Bagra allegedly asked many questions to Prusti to harass him as a result of which Prusti had come out of the room and fainted.
He had been immediately admitted in the Kalinga Hospital but two days later he was declared dead, said a release by the Officers’ Association signed by Samal said.
The release said that Prusti had been transferred to Nalco at Angul due to his strained relation with Bagra.
But after working there for a few years, Prusti had been again transferred back to Bhubaneswar. Alleging that irregularities are maintained during the interview of the top posts in the company, the Association demanded termination of Bagra from his present post.


ADB to provide assistance for road, energy sectors
Bhubaneswar: The Asian Development Bank on Thursday assured the Odisha government to provide financial assistance for development and strengthening of the energy, road and irrigation sectors.
Executive director of the ADB Asok Lahidi discussed with chief secretary Bijay Patnaik at the State Secretariat here relating to the progress of various ongoing ADB-funded projects.
While giving details as to the progress made in the ongoing projects Patnaik proposed Lahidi for further loan assistance to the state, particularly in the road, energy and irrigation sectors.
The sources said Lahidi had expressed his satisfaction over the progress of various projects and assured Patnaik for providing required loan assistance for the development of the three sectors particularly for strengthening transmission of power.
However, Lahidi said that ADB would consider providing funds for the projects as per recommendation of the economic affairs ministry, the sources added.

MSME fair from Jan 18
Rourkela: Encouraged by the success of the MSME International Trade Fair-2001, the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) and the industries department once again are jointly organising the second edition of the trade fair from January 18 to 22 at Sector-13 Exhibition Ground here.
It will be a perfect platform for those associated with the MSME sector.
The show covers a wide range of engineering, manufacturing and allied industries.
It is also an ideal platform for mines, mineral-based industries and mega industries to display their profiles.
The trade fair would display a wide range of engineering and manufacturing products in steel and mining, foundry, furnace, metallurgy, welding, power, energy, electrical, electronics, agro, food processing, FMGC, pharmaceutical, real estate, plastics, packaging, automobiles, auto component, glass, ceramics, IT and handicrafts, among others.

RSP bags 7 prizes in AIRSRC
Rourkela: Horticulture department of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) won laurels by bagging seven prizes in various categories at the 30th All India Rose Show and Rose Convention organised by Indian Rose Federation at Jamshedpur.
Rose growers, including individuals, institutions, industries and corporate sector, participated in large number in the three-day show that concluded on January 8, RSP sources said here on Thursday.
A wide variety of roses in myriad colours were on display.
Against stiff competition this year, roses from RSP bagged 7 prizes in different categories.
The show was inaugurated by Jharkhand governor Syed Ahmed in the presence of H M Nerurkar, MD, Tata Steel and other dignitaries.
A team led by H Mishra, AGM, Horticulture received the awards.
In the past several years, RSP roses have won laurels in the All India Rose Shows held at various places in the country.
RSP had also won many prizes in the show held at Amravati in 2011.

Shakti Sugar to set up Diploma Agri College
Bhubaneswar: Shakti Sugar would establish an Agriculture Diploma College in Dhenkanal district, said managing director and vice president of the company M Manik.
Manik, after meeting agriculture minister Pradeep Maharath,i told newsmen here on Thursday that as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility activities, the company has planned to establish the Agriculture Diploma College near its sugar plant at Haripur.
The company is on the lookout for a suitable piece of land, he said.
Stating that large areas in Dhenkanal and Jajpur districts are covered by sugarcane cultivation, he said there was a proposal to set up another sugar factory in Jajpur district.
Manik said Denkanal sugar factory of the company was running successfully and sugar production at the mill had increased from 1,500 mt in 2009 to 3, 000 mt in 2011.
This was achieved due to efficient management and by ensuring skill development.
He said for encouraging the farmers, the company had been imparting training to local farmers. So far10, 000 farmers have been given training on sugarcane cultivation besides providing fertilizer, pesticides etc.
He also claimed that the farmers were given support price for their sugarcane.


PPT proposes second port at Bahuda Muhan
Bhubaneswar:   Paradip Port Trust, the first and only major port operating in Odisha on the east coast since last five decades, has proposed to set up a second port in the state.
It has zeroed in on Bahuda Muhan in Ganjam district for the project.
Interestingly, the proposed site, one of the 14 locations identified by the state government for establishment of non-major ports, had earlier attracted the notice of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) for a similar venture.
We have sent the proposal to the state government and are waiting for the approval, said A C Bose, deputy chairman of PPT.
However, he refused to disclose the details of the project.
On the other hand, JSPL, which had evinced interest to set up a port at the same location, had proposed to construct it with a capital investment of Rs 1,424.4 crore.
The operational cost of running the port was pegged at Rs 152 crore per annum.
The port site is located at a distance of 30 km south of the existing Gopalpur port and 18 km from Berhampur, the commercial hub of south Orissa.
JSPL wanted to develop the port as a captive project to meet the internal cargo movement requirement for the company’s steel and power plant coming up at Angul.
PPT is interested to construct the port as a sister venture.
Besides JSPL and PPT, several other investors, including couple of steel companies whose projects are in the pipeline in the state, have shown interest to develop a port at the same area, sources in government said.
Anticipating fierce competition from about seven other non-major ports that will come into existence in the state by next five years, PPT has already announced to expand its current capacity.
The expansion plan included to increase traffic capacity to 237 million tonne by 2020, from 76 million tonne at present.
The main addition in the capacity includes 22 million tonne for crude oil to support the cargo traffic of refinery project of Indian Oil Corporation Lt (IOCL), 95 million tonne for iron ore and coal, 20 million tonne for liquefied natural gas and a multipurpose berth which will have a capacity of 15 million tonne.
Currently Paradip port is mainly used for handling iron ore, coal, fertiliser raw material and other bulk cargo.
The proposed non-major port at Bahuda Muhan is expected to handle cargo like graphite, corn, cotton and cashew, major products of South Odisha.
Along with steel and power, the state has been able to attract investments to develop ports as the government took steps to tap its unutilised coastline that stretches for 480 km and faces Southeast Asia.

Posco to bring FINEX technology for Odisha steel plant and JV with SAIL
Bhubaneswar:  Union steel secretary P K Misra on Wednesday admitted that land availability for mega green-field projects will continue to nag promoters till a widely acceptable policy for Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) which has the acceptance of states emerges.
A Bill on R & R policy is currently being debated in Parliament and I hope that the issues relating to land availability will be settled in a harmonious and peaceful manner, he said.
Misra’s comment comes in the wake of Posco and Arcellor Mittal’s long-drawn efforts to set up green-field steel plants in India.
The steel secretary was speaking at the inaugural session of a ‘Steel Seminar on FINEX Technical Application’, organized by FICCI & Posco in New Delhi.
Misra said that for its plant in Odisha and a proposed joint venture with SAIL at Bokaro, Posco has proposed FINEX technology-based steel plants.
When these plants come up it will be for the first time that FINEX technology will operate outside Korea. It will bring advantage both to India and Korea as the Indian steel industry needs access to new innovative technologies as it embarks on a high growth phase of its development, while to Posco, the Indian market would provide a unique opportunity for growth and development, he said.
FINEX is an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable technology, developed by Posco with its engineering partner, Siemens.
It is innovative as it directly uses iron ore fines and noncoking coal without coking and sintering processes.
It is cost-competitive because it uses low grade raw materials like iron ore fines and non-coking coal and is sustainable and environment-friendly compared to the conventional blast furnace.
It emits significantly lower amount of nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide and dust.
It also has great potential for mitigation of carbon dioxide.
The steel secretary said that one of the strengths of the Indian steel industry is the abundance of low cost, quality iron ore on the country.
However, the steel industry has not been able to leverage this advantage to the fullest extent. Systematic development efforts need to be made to create additional mining capacity, encourage investment and speedier environment and forestry clearances.
It is estimated that domestic requirement of iron ore for steel consumption will go up by almost 200 million tonnes by the end of the 12th Plan.
Yong-Won Yoon, CMD, Posco India Pvt. Ltd, said that the Indian government is concerned about iron ore fines, which accounts for a significant volume of India’s iron ore production. Indian iron ore fines are either lying in dumps or are exported as there is not enough facility for pelletisation.
India’s National Mineral Policy 2008, emphasizes on value addition to iron ore fines. FINEX can provide a good solution to iron ore fines.
As Posco highly evaluates the opportunities in India, we will bring the FINEX technology to our India projects and contribute to sustainable and green growth of the Indian steel industry, Yoon said.
Hoo-Geun Lee, Senior Vice President and Head of FINEX R&D, explained the technical applications and the benefits of FINEX.
Among others, Ki-Hong Park, executive vice president, & Head (Growth Investment Division), Posco; S K Roongta, chairman, FICCI Steel & Non-Ferrous Metals Committee & MD, Vedanta Aluminum Ltd. and N C Mathur, co-chairman, FICCI Steel & Non-Ferrous Metals Committee & Advisor, JSL Ltd, addressed the seminar.

Nocci holds awareness meet on workplace safety
Balasore: An awareness programme on ‘Workplace Safety’ was organised on Tuesday under the aegis of the North Odisha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nocci) in association with the district administration.
The objective of the programme was to develop skills and practical solution to react to the different kinds of industrial accidents.
District Collector Akhil Bihari Ota, while inaugurating the event, stressed on the safety of individual workplace.
He said that the safety of any unit involves all its members.
Apart from the designated department, it is the responsibility of all other members of the unit to have basic knowledge of safety systems.
Head of HR and IR Birla Tyres S Raychaudhary Chief Operational Officer of Ori-plast, PK Dave, Manager Safety of Balasore Alloys Sarat Nayak, Deputy Electrical Inspector Baleswar Range RK Satpathy, Assistant Director of Factories and Boilers S Jena, consultant of industrial safety and fire management from Haldia SK Ray and Nocci vice-president (infrastructure) Jaideep Ganguly were the speakers and resource persons on the occasion.
They shared their experiences, mainly about prevention and safety measures for fire hazards.
Nocci secretary CP Bharatia presented the keynote address.
Representatives of hospitals, nursing homes, oil depots, hotels and restaurants attended the meeting.
Amit Behera, Harish Patel and Mukul Kumar were among those who managed the programme.

Nalco officers protest management apathy
Bhubaneswar:  The Nalco Officers’ Associations, Bhubaneswar; Damanjodi and Angul has requested the Nalco management to solve their different longstanding issues relating to salary, perks, PRP, leave, house rent and promotion.
Due to lack of response from the management, the associations served a strike notice on January 4, as the management did not take any decision, the officers staged protest on the Nalco Foundation Day celebrations.
On Tuesday, the officers wore black badges.
The associations have warned that if the management does not take any decision on the issues, its office-bearers will go on hunger strike from January 30.
They have stated that the management will be solely responsible for any development which may dent the image of the company.

Berina Hair Spa launched
Bhubaneswar:   Berina Hair Spa Treatment Nourishing Cream Bath has been launched by a leading hair care products manufacturing company Berina Cosmetics for dry, damaged and chemical treated hair.
This product has a composition particularly with Hydrolysed Protein which makes deteriorated hair nutritious and keeps it natural.
It also makes the hair supple, glossy smooth and soft.
The product is available in the market.


JSPL expects to resume work on CTL project next year
Bhubaneswar:  Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) expects to resume work on its ambitious Rs 60,000-crore Coal to Liquid (CTL) project next year after receipt of environmental clearance.
The environment impact study (EIA) for the CTL project has been completed. We expected to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for the project soon. Our CTL project has already been approved by the state High Level Clearance Authority last year. Work on the project is expected to begin next year after we get the environment clearance. The CTL project will have the capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day and it will be commissioned in five years. The CTL Plant will produce petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel, Naveen Jindal, chairman and managing director, JSPL told reporters after meeting chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Tuesday.
Jindal Synfuels Ltd, a subsidiary of JSPL has lined up an investment of Rs 60,000 crore in setting up a CTL project at Durgapur in Angul district.
The company would also set up a 1100 MW captive power plant (CPP).
The project needs around 4,000 acres of water and 90 cusecs of water has been allotted from the Mahanadi river.
The CTL project has the potential to generate employment for about 6,000 people.
The company said it would acquire land on its own for the project.
The state government has already come up with the draft MoU for the project.
The project is set to create direct and indirect employment for over 30,000 people.
Meanwhile, JSPL has commissioned the plate mill of its six million tonne per annum steel plant at Angul.
Our plate mill is the largest in the country. We have also commissioned two units of its Captive Power Plant (CPP). Besides, the beam and fabrication unit has been completed, Jindal said.
The state government through its nodal agency for land acquisition Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Idco) has alloted 970.34 acres of government land and 2,819.64 acres of private plant for JSPL's integrated steel and power complex, minister for industries and steel & mines Raghunath Mohanty had said in a written reply in the State Assembly during the Winter session of the House.
Till the end of November this year, JSPL has offered direct employment to 1,413 people which includes 132 from Angul district, 485 from outside the district and within the state and 786 people from outside Odisha.
Once the plant is fully operational, it is expected to absorb 9,580 persons including 920 people in the managerial cadre, 220 technical officers, 3750 people in skilled category and 4,690 in semi-skilled and other categories.
The project has also generated 12,204 indirect jobs in unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled categories.

Salt producing units to close down in Ganjam
Berhampur: One of the leading producers of salt in the country, Humma-Binchanapalli Salt Production and Cooperative Society running a host of units has decided to close down in view of the constant loss in salt production and labourer problem.
While the climate changes have caused reduction of salt production, a canal that was dug between Chilika and the sea has stopped the entry of saline water into Saib canal, the salt workers of the society chiefly fall back on for raw material.
The cooperative society's secretary K Durjyodhan Reddy said the foremost reason for the reduction in salt production is the deepening of Chilika canal by 4-5 feet which impedes saline water flow to the Saib canal.
Besides, sweet water from the Rushikulya River is getting mixed up with the saline water causing a fall in the density of salinity by 0.5 degree which earlier used to be 2.5 degree.
Ganajm District Industrial Centre (GDIC) general manager said the salinity in the sea water is not sufficient for production of salt.
With the mixing of bore well water with the sea water, the salinity in the water can be raised in the area and production can be resumed.
With this objective, the GDIC has promised to establish four bore wells for the Humma-Binchnapalli salt production society and two bore wells for Bahuda salt production society, he informed.
Since 1942, the Humma Binchanapalli salt production society has been producing, marketing and exporting salt.
But the employees are not getting regular salary, for which at least 50 per cent of the employees have left their job.
Due to high cost of production and less profit in the business, the cooperative has decided to stop the production for the current year.
Earlier, in December, the Namak Mazdoor Awas Yojana of Bahuda cooperative salt society in the Surala village had suspended production for the same reasons.
The Bahuda society had demanded government sop in the production and transportation of the salt but that just fell in the deaf ears of the authorities.

MSME Trade Fair held
Angul: A three-day MSME Trade Fair was inaugurated on Monday at the Nalco Exhibition Ground in the industrial town of Angul.
The trade fair has witnessed participation by all major corporate and industrial houses of Odisha, including PSUs like Nalco, MCL, NTPC and Paradip Port and corporate houses like Tata Steel and Dhamra Port.
The exhibition stall put up by the recently-inaugurated Dhamra Port has generated good response and excitement among the visitors, who have been thronging the stall to have a glance of the construction of the deep-sea modern port.
On the inaugural day, principal secretary, industries T Ramachandru visited the DPCL exhibition stall.

VAL sponsors camp to help out disabled
Lanjigarh: Being handicapped, it used to be difficult for Arkhit Pujari to work and get two square meals a day.
Pujari is now happy as he got a tricycle free of cost which would help him to earn his livelihood comfortably.
Like Pujari, many persons having various physical disabilities were handed over wheelchairs, tricycles and given treatment free of cost at a day-long free medical camp at Junagarh in Kalahandi district.
It was organised by Lakshya Bhartee Foundation, New Delhi in association with Narayan Sewa Sansthan, Udaipur and Agrawal Samaj, Junagarh on January 8.
Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) provided the camp full support.
The VAL, Lanjigarh contributed 20 wheel-chairs and tri-cycles and agreed to bear the cost for surgery of at least 50 patients.
Dr Sabita Swain and Dr Supriti Patra of Vedanta Hospital treated the patients in the camp.
The wheelchairs were handed over in presence of VAL Head-HR KR Kundu and KC Gupta and Kamal Kumar of Lakshya Bhartee Foundation.
A total of 402 patients were registered at the camp, where 20 wheel chairs and 20 tri-cycles were handed over to patients with various physical handicaps.
In addition, 125 patients were identified for surgery.

PPT golden jubilee on Jan 13
Paradip: The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) founded by former Chief Minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik completed 50 years on January 3.
The port's foundation was led by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, on January 3, 1962.
Patnaik had to struggle against all odds posed by the anti-Paradip lobby in the then Central government and the anti-Paradip campaign by some neighbouring states where ports already existed much before Paradip was conceived of as a port.
Sources said, a grand function is proposed to be held on January 13 to hold the golden jubilee year celebrations of Paradip Port.
This function is scheduled to be graced by Union shipping minister Mukul Roy, shipping secretary Mohan Das, chairmen of all major port trusts of the country, all former chairmen of Paradip Port Trust and heads of various firms who are using the port for the import and export of their cargo.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will also be part of this function, the sources added.

P C Mohanty appointed director of Odisha Sponge Iron
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Sponge Iron & Steel Ltd has informed BSE that the board of directors approved the appointment of Mr. P C Mohanty, General Manager (P & A), Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL), as director.
The company said that Mohanty's appointment on the board of the company is effective from November 23, 2011.
He will serve as a nominee of IPICOL.



SBI launches Gruha Gamya project
Bhubaneswar: The State Bank of India launched project Gruha Gamya at its main branch here on Saturday.
The project was launched by Vice-Chairman of Bhubaneswar Development Authority DK Singh in the presence of SBI Chief General Manager Praveen Gupta and, GMs bank Devendra Prasad, and Rajiv Verma, builders and prospective buyers.
Gruha Gamya is an initiative to provide information about the ongoing housing projects in the CDP area of the city.
Through this, builders and real estate developers can showcase their projects.
The buyers can visit SBI Bhubaneswar branch to get information on the available projects or flats.
The project is first of its kind in Odisha.
While CGM Gupta spoke on the benefits of the project, BDA VC Singh admired such an endeavour of the bank.

Reliance Trends on expansion mode
Bhubaneswar:  Keeping up its aggressive expansion strategy, Reliance Trends has emerged as India’s largest chain of large format apparel specialty store with the opening of its 70th store in Bangalore.
Company CEO Arun Sirdeshmukh said that keeping up with the ever-evolving taste of the contemporary Indian consumers, the Indian retail industry is undergoing vast changes.
Since its inception, it has been the mission of Reliance Trends to ‘democratise fashion’ and make it accessible to a larger spectrum of consumers across smaller towns and cities which did not have access to this evolved retail experience, he said.

Adivasi Mela in city from Jan 26
Bhubaneswar:  The state-level annual Adivasi Mela, being organized by the SC and ST development department, will kick off at the Adivasi ground in the city from January 26.
The exhibition, the only one of its kind in the country, was started on January 26, 1951.
The exhibition got off to a colourful start in the erstwhile state capital in Cuttack under the auspices of the Adivasi and Harijan welfare department.
With the shift of capital to Bhuhaneswar, the exhibition changed its venue.
Due to unavoidable circumstance, it was put off from 1962 to 1967 only to revive itself erratically from time to time.
But since 1982, the exhibition was organised regularly.
The duration of the Adivasi Mela was extended from one week to a fortnight from 2010.
The 15-day-long exhibition has its own seating venue - a sprawling ground, well-maintained and manicured by the SSD department in the heart of the capital city.
The exhibition showcases the rainbow world of tribal culture, in its varied and myriad forms reflected from their pitched stalls on the exhibition ground.
The characteristic house pattern of different tribal people, with their material culture in their
The exhibition has given shelter to stalls pitched by other departments related to tribal life and tribal development.
Departments such as Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Fishery, Forest, Small Scale Industries, associated with various development intervention for tribal people, show their operational strategies.
The Adivasi Mela - 2012 under the theme ‘Livelihoods of Tribals’ is showcasing the development activities in tribal village sector, craft sector, tribal corporate sector, tribal Haat, tribal painting and tribal food.

ORUPA to organise craft bazaar from Jan 12
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Rural and Urban Producers’ Association (ORUPA), a State-level apex body of artisans is going to organise an All India Craft Bazzar at Sunabeda of Koraput district from January 12 to 22 with its own funds.
At least 200 artisans from all over the country will be participating in the exhibition, according to ORUPA manager Ashok Kumar Sahu.
In a release here on Monday, Sahu said that the exhibition will be inaugurated by DIG of Police (SWR) Soumendra Priyadarshi on January 12 evening at the NAC Ground.
Koraput collector Sachin R Jadav will grace the occasion as chief speaker.
Sahu said the planned exhibition at Sunabeda is part of ORUPA’s basic objective to ensure socio-economic development of craft as well as craftsmen.
Its efforts include marketing, product diversification, group formation, capacity building, working capital support to artisans and many more.
Stating that marketing is considered as one of the major thrust areas, he said organising exhibitions in different places of the country including major cities and towns is one of the major activities of the federation.
The artisan members pick up new ideas and experiences at the exhibitions.

IFFCO holds Road Safety Week
Paradip: The 23rd National Road Safety Week was observed by the IFFCO on Friday.
The programme was inaugurated by MR Patel, senior Executive Director of the company.
A street play Yama Vani was staged under the guidance of noted dramatist Abhay Kumar Das.
A Surakshya Rath with road safety messages travelled through the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack and Jajpur.
Earlier, another programme was also held at Cuttack on January 2.
Paradip started a Road Safety Campaign on Wheels.
The vehicle decorated with useful information on preventive aspects of road accidents was flagged off by Manoranjan Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of State Transport Authority in presence of Prasanna Kumar Beura of IFFCO.

NTPC yet to solve ash woes
Talcher: Even after several warnings by State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), ash woes continue to haunt the NTPC-run power plant at Kaniha.
The breaches appearing in the fly ash pipeline of the unit off and on and the plant authorities remaining indifferent to the issue have compounded the woe further.
Sources said the breaches have led to gushing of ash slurry into river Tikira contaminating water. The NTPC repairs the pipe line just for the sake of eyewash where as the problem of regular breaches lies elsewhere that the plant officials do not want to address.
Sources revealed the existing ash management measures are not in tune with what the board had suggested.
Some villagers said in most of the ash mishaps, Tikira was at the receiving end of terrible pollution which is spreading serious water-borne diseases.
The presence of chemical substances like silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, iron oxide, titanium oxide, phosphate, sulphur dioxide, calcium oxide, sodium oxide, potassium oxide and manganese dioxide in the coal ash pose threat to the health of locals as well as to the biodiversity.
Environmentalists have expressed concern that due to the frequent leakage of the pipeline, the fly ash of NTPC is deposited on the bed of river Tikira and Bramhani.
This is creating a serious threat to Samal Barrage also.
Irate locals attribute these mishaps to loopholes in the fly ash management strategy of the power major.
They alleged poor construction and callousness of the authorities are among the prime causes behind the regular breach of ash pond and leakage of the pipeline.
The negligence of the district administration and the SPCB in this serious environmental issue is really annoying. Even after the visit of the House Committee on Environment, nothing much has changed.
The SPCB and the NTPC top brass discussed the ash issues last month to find out an instant solution.
However, the new mishap is a serious setback to the 3,000 MW Navaratna power company, which is yet to resolve its faulty fly ash management.
Environmentalists said NTPC failed to put forward a robust mechanism to avert its ash woes. The PSU gave an assurance to the SPCB to develop a zero pollution mechanism within 2012, but in vain.


OIA silver jubilee concludes
Cuttack: There are 10 lakh enterprises in Odisha, out of which 117,000 enterprises were reordered but only 45,000 were registered with the industries department.
In many cases the present entrepreneurs are not interested to put their next generation in their business.
The MSMEs are the backbone of our economy.
Presently sufficient technical manpower is available in the State to be utilised by the industries, said Director Of Industries, Odisha Kabindrnath Khatei, attending as chief guest in the closing ceremony of the sliver jubilee of Odisha Industries Association here on Sunday.
Paradip Refinery project (IOC) Executive Director M Vijaya Wargya, who attended the function as chief speaker, said that MSMEs are very vertical to complete their project.
He expressed his satisfaction visiting the exhibition ‘Shilpa Odisha’ and thanked OIA for such arrangement as he could find several vendors under one roof.
The celebration attended by more than 400 entrepreneurs was presided over by OIA president Abani Kanungo.
General secretary Rajesh Kanungo detailed about the celebration.
Organising secretary Vinod Bhut proposed vote of thanks.
The programme was followed by a cultural programme comprising dance and song.

SUD Life launches new Endowment plan
Bhubaneswar:   Star Union Dai-chi Life (SUD Life) announced here on Friday the launch of its new non-participating traditional endowment plan, Dhan Suraksha Platinum targeted at high net worth individuals.
The plan allows you to make a one-time investment for which a guaranteed amount is paid at the end of ten years and five times of the single premium paid in case of death during this period. Chief Investment Officer Venkat Rao said that it is a unique plan that has a strong combination of guaranteed savings and guaranteed protection.
He added that SUD Life has moved to 10th position on Gross Premium basis among private life companies.

Godrej Interio launches store in city
Bhubaneswar:  Godrej Interio, a leader and innovator in home and office furniture category, announced the launch of its largest store in the Eastern region, spanning a huge area of 5,400 sqft at Lewis Road in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
The store was launched in the warm presence of well know Bollywood Star Jeetender along with Ratul Mazumder, East Zone asst vice-president, sales.
This store will possess unique and experiential elements and offer discerning customers an ultimate premium shopping experience becoming a one-stop destination for a wide and exciting range of furniture that will beautifully enhance the bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining area, a release said.

Prayag Group opens Paradip branch
Paradip: The Prayag Group of Companies, corporate agents of SBI Life Insurance and Life Insurance Corporation of India, opened its branch here at the ICICI Bank building on Sunday. The branch was inaugurated by company Regional Manager Sushil Mandal.
Bhubaneswar Branch Manager Bhruguraj Singh was the chief guest.
Paradip Branch Manager Mahendra Swain, Dulal Baig, Senior Developer Bibhu Prasad Nayak and Junior Developers Ajaya Kumar Beura and Satya Ranjan Pal explained to the customers and staff about the aim of the company and the facilities available.
Thousands of local insurance agents and investors attended the function.

Essar sponsors blood donation camp
Bhubaneswar:  A blood donation camp was organised on Sunday by the Maruti Club with the sponsorship from Essar Steel at Bamebari here.
A total of 156 units of blood were collected.
The District Red Cross Society made all technical arrangements for blood collection, an ambulance was also provided by Essar to meet any unexpected situation during the camp.
The camp was inaugurated by Officer-in-Charge of Bamebari PS Soumyachit Mishra.
Secretary of District Red Cross Society AK Khan and Maruti Club president RK Mahakud were present on the occasion.
As Essar CSR team, led by Dr Manoj Dash, was also present.
Head of Essar Steel Odisha Pramod Kumar Gupta said that such initiatives would be intensified in the coming days.
We are also in the process of building a 16-bed hospital at our plant site near Dabuna which will provide all types of basic and primary health services to local people, he added.


MoU with Mittal to be renewed
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Saturday asserted that the validity of the MoU with steel major ArcelorMittal would be extended for another five years.
Steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty said that since the MoU signed in December 2006 to set up a 12-MTPA steel plant along with a captive power plant at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore has expired in December 2011, the state government has initiated the process to renew the deal for another five years.
He said that ArcelorMittal India has applied to the government for renewal of the MoU for the project at Patna in Keonjhar district citing a number of reasons, including the delay in land acquisition.
Mohanty said that the state government would embark on the process of land acquisition by persuading the local people.
The company requires around 8,000 acres of land.
While 2,583 acres are with the state government, the balance belongs to private people.


Allahabad Bank ED visits state
Bhubaneswar: Allahabad Bank Executive Director MR Nayak arrived here on a programme to Odisha on Saturday.
On his maiden visit, he will attend a review meeting of the Zonal Office and major branches on CASA and recovery and attend a corporate customers’ meet Monday.
On Tuesday, he will visit some villages to review financial inclusion programmes.

Time to rethink on food production, research methods: ICAR chief
Bhubaneswar: Director General of Indian Council of Agriculture and Research (ICAR) S Ayappan has underscored the importance of scientific research in the field of agriculture and the challenges it is facing presently.
While speaking on ‘Feeding Crores for Ever’ during the 99th Science Congress at the KIIT University, Ayappan said that the work of the scientists in the areas spanning pesticides, agricultural machines, rural development, renewable energy sources, materials technology, molecular plant breeding and genetically improved grains is changing our agriculture and spearheading a remarkable silent revolution which is shaping our country’s progress through this decade of innovation.
We need to look differently at our priorities in food and this is an opportune time to rethink the food production and research methods. Also, the maintenance of the system can be carried out within the village and information systems as Kisan Mobile Sandesh and Agropedia need to be developed more, thereby creating indirect employment, he said.
Ayappan expressed concerns about natural resource base, impact of climate change on production, ground depletion and imbalance in food grain.
We have to act as clearing house of research and general information relating to agriculture, animal husbandry, home science and fisheries and to institute and promote transfer of technology programmes, he said.
Further elaborating on the issue, he said that we have to undertake and promote consultancy services in the fields of education, research, training and dissemination of information in agriculture, agro-forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, home science and allied sciences.
It will help us to look into problems relating to broader areas of rural development.
However, in this endeavour, the generation of ideas is critical. Central to the ideation process is ‘Right to Food’ and the Science Policy has to be people- participatory, Ayappan pointed out.
On the strengths of India, he said, the nation has drought-accessing monitoring system which will have to be upgraded for drought- proofing agriculture.
He also informed the audience about improved productivity in dry-land farming, bio-engineering measures for soil-conservation, integrated nutrient management, integrated farming system and water budgeting.
These strengths need to be harnessed to address the basic needs of the people and to transform India into a food-secured nation, Ayappan suggested.


Take up skill growth, boost state interest: Montek
Bhubaneswar: Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday delivered the 11th Edition of the Nalco Foundation Day Lecture Series here and urged the Navratna PSU to vigorously participate in the skill development initiative of the Centre to help maintain the growth momentum of Odisha.
He pointed out that Odisha needs to polish the skills of 1 lakh persons in the next five years and needs the support of Nalco in achieving the task.
He urged the company to shed its reservations about the trainees demanding jobs in it and wholeheartedly support the noble cause.
Speaking on 'Challenges in the 12th Plan, he said that in spite of the current slowdown, which is linked to the troubles in the Eurozone, the 12th Five Year Plan would be able to achieve an annual growth rate of above 9 per cent.
He observed that certain favourable conditions must be created in the areas of savings, labour supply, productivity issues and sectoral constraints that include infrastructure, energy and water.
He pointed out that rising subsidy and lack of buoyancy in tax revenue are points of worry.
He advocated an early introduction of GST as one of the solutions.
Referring to labour productivity, he identified basic education and skill development as pre-requisites for a high growth rate.
But the rising cost of energy and unrealistic domestic pricing are the major concern areas.
The country would now have to continue importing even coal to meet its energy needs.
He added that the water availability problem would be a still bigger cause of concern.
Those present at the meeting included Nalco CMD BL Bagra and Director (Personnel and Administration) Jay Verghese.

SC rejects pleas challenging OPGC tender
Bhubaneswar:  In a boost to the Odisha government and Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC), the Supreme Court has dismissed the special leave petitions filed by BJP leader and former minister Manmohan Samal and others challenging an Odisha High Court order on the tendering process of an OPGC expansion project.
A Division Bench of the apex court consisting Justice DK Jain and Justice Anil R Dave, while dismissing the petitions, declined to interfere with the order of the Odisha High Court of November 15, 2011 which had rejected an interim relief on the tendering of the project of the power company in IB Valley.
It may be mentioned here that the Odisha High Court had rejected the application filed by one Kailash Chandra Gupta of Dhamnagar in Bhadrak district challenging the tender floated by the OPGC for its proposed new units at IB Thermal Power Station.
The court order had stressed on the fact that the writ petition was filed only on the basis of surmises and paper publications and does not substantiate how by not following the CEA guidelines and allowing the consortium members to participate in the tender process, it will cause a loss to the State or the OPGC.
Sources said that the OPGC, a joint venture (JV) between the Government of Odisha and AES Corporation, USA, had issued a notice inviting tender for setting up its unit 3 and 4 (660 MW each) at IB valley.
For this, four top and nationally reputed companies had submitted bids in November 2011.

Pollution: RSP urges SPCB not to take action
Bhubaneswar:  Instead of complying with the clear-cut directions of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) authorities have requested the board not to close down the steel plant.
RSP CEO GS Prasad called on SPCB Member-Secretary Siddhant Das on Thursday and appraised the plant’s future course of action for controlling pollution in all the units as per the prescribed norms.
He said that the RSP has already taken action in this regard and insisted that the plant has been able to control emission from the MP Boiler-III quite considerably.
The plant authorities have proposed to phase out the Sinter Plant-1 after stabilisation of the Sinter Plant-3, which is expected around December 2012, Prasad said.
He requested the SPCB to allow operation of the Sinter Plant-1 till that time as its closure would affect steel production very adversely.
The proposal of the RSP was analysed by the SPCB officials, who felt that the RSP should come up with a comprehensive and convincing action plan that would ensure pollution within the prescribed limits.
It was made quite clear that the direction issued by the board has to be implemented first, before consideration of the plant’s request.
The RSP CEO assured that the plant would close these two units and come up with an action plan shortly.
The SPCB had issued the closure direction for the Sintering Plant-I of the Steel Unit and the MP Boiler-III of the CPP-1 of the Rourkela Steel Plant on December 19, 2011.
So far, RSP has not complied with the direction, SPCB sources said.

Govt should focus on small, medium firms in state: JB
Cuttack: Inaugurating the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Odisha Industries Association (OIA) here on Friday, Assam governor and former chief minister of Odisha JB Patnaik observed the small and medium industries in the State actually flourished during the 80’s.
He said that during the period, the public sector unit Nalco was set up in the State, while many industrial estates came up with the assistance of the state government in creating huge employment.
Patnaik was the chief minister of the State between 1980 and 1989 leading the Congress government and had given a clarion call to set up ‘thousand industries in thousand days’. Recounting the call given by him then, Patnaik said that the success of the vision is now clearly visible as the OIA celebrates its silver jubilee in the most befitting manner.
He, however, admitted that there had been some disappointment in the industrial sector but was quick to add that the failure for the first generation entrepreneurs was natural.
He urged the entrepreneurs not to get disheartened over the failures and suggested that corrective steps should now be taken to revive the sick small and medium industries.
Large-scale industries cannot survive of without support and therefore, there is always a necessity to focus on small and medium units in order to ensure success in large industries, he added.
Presided over by the OIA president Abani Kanungo, the inaugural session of the three-day celebration was also addressed by Sambad editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik.
He called upon the state entrepreneurs to maintain their self-respect and opined that the large-scale industries have a major role to sustain the micro-small-medium entrepreneurs.
On the occasion, the Assam governor also inaugurated the Association’s newsletter ‘Shilpa Varta’ and went round the Shilpa Bazaar set up on the occasion.
He went around 70 stalls in the Bazaar and spoke to many entrepreneurs discussing their problems and possible measures to overcome them.
While the OIA general secretary Kanungo gave the keynote address detailing the activities of the 25-year-old association, the OIA vice-president R P Sharma proposed the vote of thanks.

IFFCO wins HR Excellence Award
Paradip: Director (HR & Legal) of IFFCO RP Singh has been honoured with the Top Rankers Excellence HR Leadership Award-2011.
The award was given by Union minister for tourism Subodh Kant Sahay in New Delhi during the 13th National Summit on Visionary Leadership for Powering Business Growth.
The award was conferred on Sigh for displaying inherent HR abilities, competencies and excellent HR initiatives for transforming the image of HR from the traditional compliance-based approach into a proactive development and inclusive approach.

Villagers protest setting up of JR Power Gen plant
Angul: Rail and road communication was disrupted on Friday at Bamur as thousands of villagers under the banner of Jivan Jibika Surakhya Committee’ staged a Rail Roko protesting setting up of JR Power Gen Private Limited, a power plant, in Kishorenagar block.
All the shops, offices and schools remained closed due to the strike too.
Residents of around 30 villages blocked the Cuttack-Sambalpur NH-55 at Bamur and sat on the rail line and blocked all the rail services.
While the Sambalpur- Puri up and down intercity as well as Rourkella- Bhubaneswar up and down intercity trains were cancelled on the route, the Bhubaneswar- Bolangir train was terminated at Angul station.
Massive police were deployed at the venue of the agitation in view of the tension prevailing there.
JR Power Gen Private Limited signed an MoU with the Odisha government for setting up a 1,980 MW power plant at Kishorenagar at an estimated cost of Rs 798,890 crore.
Notice has already been served to acquire land for the power plant.
The company has already signed a coal supply agreement with the Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation (PIPDIC).
However, the affected people of Kishore Nagar block are opposed to the plant on various grounds and have staged several demonstrations demanding the scarping of the project.
Mainly, they have been opposing it on the ground that the plant will affect the fertile land and create heavy pollution.
The state government has allowed setting up the power plant at the proposed area of Sureswari Irrigation Project which is not acceptable to the people, Jiban Jibika Surakhya Committee president Dinabandhu Pradhan said.
Former MLA and a veteran socialist leader Surendra Pradhan said that not only the farmers but also thousands of labourers and Kendu leaf collectors will lose there livelihood if the proposed thermal power plant is set up.
Water Initiative, Odisha convener Ranjan Panda, who has extended his support to the movement, maintained that while the the people of Kishorenagar and Athamallick are not getting water from the river Mahanadi for drinking and irrigation purpose, the state government has no right to give the river’s water to the power project. This is against the State Water Policy, he said.
The committee members demanded immediate scrapping of the MoU.
Later in a meeting of Citizen’s Action Forum at Angul, attended by several NGO leaders, activists and farmer leaders, it was resolved to extend full support to the affected people.
The officials of the power project declined to comment on the issue.
However, after the sub-collector and Additional SP rushed to the spot and assured to the people to resolve the issue after February 22, the strike was called off.
 
IFFCO captive jetty on Mahanadi in offing
Paradip: The Indian Farmers’ Fertilizers Corporation (IFFCO) has proposed to set up a captive barge jetty on river Mahanadi with an investment of Rs 93 crore.
This would be the first of its kind and is expected to promote inland water and coastal transport and curtail dispatch limitation of fertiliser products through road and rail modes.
IFFCO Paradip has proposed the new cargo shipping facility in the Odisha coast, which is a unique proposition to use the National Waterways No 5 (NW-5), the Mahanadi Delta River system.
The proposed jetty would be set up at Kaudia on the riverbank which is part of the IFFCO's Paradeep unit.
While the IFFCO possesses a well-equipped and dedicated jetty at the Paradip Port, the new facility would come handy for it with a capacity to raise production to three million tonnes per annum, sources said.
In the meantime, IFFCO has conducted and is continuing various studies to critically assess the project.
A bathymetry survey of the Mahanadi and its mouth by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, has already been conducted.
Environmental studies for baseline parameters of ambient air and water quality by the CES, mathematical model studies for location of the jetty by IIT Madras, a CRZ study by the IRS have also already been done, which has provided positive results.
While the entire project land is under the IFFCO's possession, there would be no requirement to acquire land for the purpose.
The project has good employment generation capability as loading cargo, jetty management and barge manning and management need huge manpower, sources said.
Under this backdrop, the IFFCO has approached the state commerce and transport department to give its green signal for the projects.
We have just received the proposal, and the IFFCO authorities will make a presentation on their project soon, a senior official of the commerce and transport department said.

Cosmorose launches branch in Jaraka
Jajpur: The Cosmorose International Limited opened its branch at Jaraka in Jajpur district on Wednesday.
The branch will sell gold and silver.
Among others, Cosmorose MD Sk Mukthar Alli, director Sk Mohiuddin, Jaraka office head Mohasin Raja and Suryamani Barik were present at the function.



MCL plans four coal corridors over 3 dists
Angul: The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), flagship company of coal major Coal India Limited, has chalked out an ambitious plan to set up four coal corridors in its three coal-bearing districts in Odisha to make the massive coal transport easy and environment-friendly.
These corridors will make coal transport on roads easy and pollution- free in Talcher, Ib Valley and Basundhara Coalfields where coal transporting roads are either not renovated or not in existence for years. These roads will link the colliery pit-heads to their respective railway sidings, MCL Director (Project and Planning) AK Singh said.
Two big corridors are planned for Talcher and Basundhara coal fields with an estimated cost of about Rs 290 crore and Rs 395 crore respectively while there will be small coal corridors in Lakshmanpur and Ib Valley areas.
In fact, substantial progress has been made on proposed Talcher coal corridor, Singh informed.
The road projects needed in the coalfields are overdue in view of the burgeoning coal traffic in the colliery areas day by day with production rising up.
It is very difficult to handle large number of trucks on the road built up decades ago.
A total of 80,000 trucks are engaged in the internal coal transport works at the MCL.
The director said that for the 39-km-long Talcher coal corridor the company has sanctioned required funds and later the MCL Board also has approved it but the job award to some contractor is awaited.
This will be done after the financial appraisal is obtained. As per rule, financial appraisal is necessary by any independent financial institution for the award of more than Rs 150-crore tender, Singh said, adding that the company is going to speed up the road project within a period of two to three months and the road will have a width of 18 meters and would completed with excellent lighting system.
The coal company also has a plan to provide a coal corridor to evacuate coal from Basundhara coalfield in Sundargarh district.
A 33-km-long coal transport road linking Bedabahal with Bankibahal has been proposed.
The company board has approved the fund of Rs 385 crore and it also awaits financial appraisal by some independent agency.
The state government is to be given money for the construction of this road for which land acquisition is required, a top MCL official said.
Similarly, there will be two small coal corridors in Lakshmanpur area and Ib Valley areas of the Ib Valley Coalfield where land acquisition, including forestland, will take place for the road. While the Talcher Road will be over MCL land, other three corridors require fresh land acquisition for which the state government’s help is solicited, the official added.

Birla Tyres resumes production
Balasore: The strike by nine workers’ unions at the Birla Tyres here was finally called off on Tuesday evening following intervention of district collector Akhil Bihari Ota.
An agreement was reached between the unions and the management. Production at the plant resumed from the night shift.
Under the four-point agreement, the company, as an interim measure, would pay Rs 3,000 per month to the workers and Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,000 respectively, to casual and contractors’ casual workers till a final conciliation for wage revision within a month.
The unions would submit a report within two weeks that at least 51 per cent of workers accept the agreement and that the workers would help the company bring the production level at par with that of the year 2009.
We have resumed production. There is normalcy in the factory, company Industrial Relations Officer CG Rout said.
However, the workers under the Birla Tyres Workers’ Union (BTWU) are still on their dharna in front of the plant gate.
We are the recognised union; yet the management made the agreement with the other unions. Therefore, we have moved the High Court. We will submit a memorandum to the chief minister on Friday, said BTWU president Rajendra Bal.

HAL observes Foundation Day
Sunabeda: The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) observed its Foundation Day with much enthusiasm here last week. General Manager (Engine) Aniruddh Kumar and GM (SED) KC Nanda graced the occasion as the chief guest and guest of honour respectively.
Addressing the staff audience on the occasion, Kumar spoke about the functioning of HAL, successful commissioning of aircraft engines and corporate social responsibility of the Sunabeda division.
He said that the company has an impressive product track record that includes types of aircraft manufactured in-house and 14 types produced under license.
Besides manufacturing aircraft engines, the division has also undertaken a number of works as part of peripheral development under its corporate social responsibility programme.
Different sports like volleyball, cricket, football and kabadi were conducted among the people to encourage them and to bring to light their hidden talents.

UCO Bank opens ATM counter at Banpur
Banpur: The UCO Bank branch, the first and oldest unit of a bank established at Banpur in 1973, opened an ATM counter last week.
Bank GM SK Dey Purkayastha, along with State Organising Commissioner of All India Boy Scouts Association Omprakash Agrawal, jointly inaugurated the counter.
The bank’s Senior Branch Manager Rabindranath Pradhan welcomed the customers.
Among others, Prof Sukalyan Panigrahi, Prof Nalinikanta Patnaik and Sibaram Patra spoke on the occasion.


Coal supply to TTPS hit by fire
Talcher: The coal loading point of Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) at Jagannath Project in Talcher caught fire on Tuesday, which damaged the 500-metre conveyor belt and stopped coal ferrying from the coal mine to the plant. The loss incurred to the power producing company is worth crores of rupees.
According to reports, the total coal loading point was engulfed in a major fire in the morning.
As a result, the heavy-duty electric motors of the conveyor belt worth Rs 1 crore were completely gutted. Six fire tenders rushed in to the spot and doused the fire after four hours.
The Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited (MCL) supplies coal through this point to the TTPS, which requires 6,000 tonnes of coal per day to run its units.
The incident has further compounded the coal crisis in the plant which is now facing acute shortage of coal due to internal sabotage.

RSP posts highest record in steel output
Rourkela: Blazing a trail of success, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) registered the best ever Hot Metal and Crude Steel production in the month of December 2011, official sources said.
The steel plant produced 2,08,012 tons of Hot Metal and 1,96,027 tons of Crude Steel during the month which are the best ever figures for any month since inception, they said.
During the month the Blast Furnaces made 7,376 tons of Hot metal on December 20 thereby creating a new record for any single day, and quickly broke it on December 25 by producing 7,388 tons of Hot Metal.
Similarly, the highest ever production of crude steel for any single day of 7,326 tons was registered on December 20.
More than 100 percent APP (Annual Production Plan) was fulfilled in the production of Sinter, Hot Metal, Crude Steel, Plate Mill Plates, HR Coil for Sale and HR Plates.
The performance on the Techno-economics front too was equally impressive.
Best ever Coke Rate of 523 kg per Ton of Hot Metal was recorded during the month, while Specific Energy Consumption of 6.76 Giga Calorie per ton of Crude Steel was also the lowest ever.
This superb achievement in December bolstered the performance of the Plant in the first three Quarters of the current fiscal.
During April-December the Steel Plant registered a growth of 1.7 per cent in the production of Saleable Steel over the corresponding period last year.
In the production of various Value added products like Plate Mill plates, HR Plates, ERW Pipes, Galvanized Sheets and ET Plates, growth of 3.1 per cent, 3.9 per cent, 20.3 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 34.6 per cent was recorded respectively over the corresponding period of last year.
In 2011, for the sixth consecutive year Rourkela Steel Plant surpassed the 2 Million tonne mark in the production of Hot Metal and Crude Steel for any Calendar year.
The highest ever production of saleable steel of 2.05 MT was also recorded for any calendar year in the year just gone by.

Birla Tyres output hit by ceasework
Balasore: Production at the Birla Tyres stopped for nine consecutive days on Tuesday due to the strike by workers belonging to nine unions despite intervention by the district administration. The situation was aggravated further as the majority union, the Birla Tyres Workers’ Union (BTWU), embarked on a dharna in front of the plant on Tuesday.
We, of the recognised union, are on dharna from today in protest against non-fulfilment of our wage revision demand. We earlier informed all concerned about our dharna, which will continue till January 13. However, we are neither with the other unions nor do we support their strike, BTWU president Rajendra Bal said.
The company had last year witnessed a major labour unrest for nearly a month. It has invested nearly Rs 650 crore and has about 5,000 employees, including 4,500 workers.
District collector Akhil Bihari Ota said that the district administration invited both the workers’ unions and the management for talks to defuse the crisis on Monday, but no breakthrough was achieved.
Hopefully, the difficulties will be sorted out soon, he added.
Ota said that the unions are demanding a hike of Rs 3,000 in monthly wage.
The management asked them to join work first. The workers allege that the labour department did not intervene in the situation in a positive spirit.
The management maintained that the company is incurring huge loss due to production loss. The power plants are on. These are recurring expenditures whether there is production or not, a company executive said.
The plant’s Industrial Relations Officer PG Rout, on the other hand, said that the recognition period of the BTWU is already over since December 16.
We had made efforts to settle wage revision with the BTWU. We will take the final decision taking the view of a majority union, he added.

OHPC gets ISO 9001:2008 Certificate
Bhubaneswar:   The Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (OHPC) has been awarded with the ISO 9001:2008 Certification.
The certificate was presented by state energy secretary and OHPC chairman Mathi Vathanan to OHPC MD Sahadev Khatua in the presence of Director (HRD) Rajesh Sharma and other senior OHPC officials.
This certificate, in general, indicates that the OHPC has developed and effectively followed its quality management system and quality procedures.

Part of RIL interest in ETV divested to TV18
Bhubaneswar:   RIL on Tuesday announced that a part of the interest owned by it in the ETV Channels is being divested to TV18 Broadcast Limited (TV18).
As part of the deal, Infotel Broad Band Services Limited (Infotel), a subsidiary of RIL, has entered into a MoU with TV18, Network18 Media and Investments Ltd (Network18) for preferential access to all their contents for distribution through the 4G Broadband Network being set up by it.
As per the MoU, Infotel will have preferential access to the content of all media and web properties of Network 18, its associates, programming and digital contents of all broadcasting channels of TV18 and its associates on a first-right basis as a most preferred customer.


IFFCO resumes operation
Paradip: The Paradip unit of IFFCO resumed its work after the Joint Action Committee of the Truck Owners’ Associations of Paradip arrived at an agreeable decision with the IFFCO unit on Monday.
IFFCO was shut down on Saturday owing to blockade of the company road by truckers leading to a deadlock in transportation of materials to and from the company.
The company will be operational from Tuesday, an IFFCO release said.
According to the release, the JCC that was spearheading the agitation against IFFCO, demanding cargo transportation through their trucks at their rate held a meeting with the district administration and the IFFCO management on Sunday.
The meeting yielded positive response from both sides.
IFFCO agreed for partial cargo transportation through trucks of the agitating owners.
The company management asked their existing transport contractor to accommodate trucks with JCC affiliation.
The demands with regard to change in transporting charges from the existing rate to a higher level as demanded by the JAC remained inconclusive as the IFFCO management sought more time to take a decision.
Among others, Paradip ADM Surjit Das, IFFCO advisor DV Suri, JCC chief Sumanta Biswal, Paradip SDPO and a few truck owners took part in the discussion.

Tax consultants’ role in state financial growth vital
Jajpur: The tax consultants play an important role for the financial development of the State. They are the true link between the tax payers and the government and when the bond becomes stronger, the economy grows more viable, said Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik of Supreme Court of India.
He was speaking on the 3rd annual day celebration of Jajpur District Tax Bar Association on December 30.
Patnaik also delivered a speech on ‘Role of Tax Professionals for Development of the State.’
Inaugurating the programme, finance and public enterprises minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei highlighted on the role of tax consultants for the growth of the state’s economy and how it is linked for the financial inclusion of the masses.
Among others, Bar Council of India chairman Ashok Kumar Parija, Odisha State Bar Council chairman Gopal Krishna Mohanty, senior advocates of Odisha High Court Biranchi Narayan Mohanty and Hrishikesh Rout spoke.
Jajpur Tax Bar Association president Madan Mohan Swain presided over the meet and secretary Bibekananda Mohanty read out the association’s report.
In the morning, after its formal inauguration Korai MLA Priti Ranjan Ghadei and Vyasanagar Municipality chairperson Bandita Parida, a state-level mock court was organised.
More than 12 participants from various law colleges of the state participated in it.
While the students of Madhusudan Law College in Cuttack clinched the first and second positions, a local student stood third in the competition.
Participants from Ganjam Law College P Anup Dash and Noopur Patnaik own the consolation prizes.


PNB opens state's 98th branch at KISS
Bhubaneswar: The 98th branch of the Odisha Circle of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) was inaugurated by Founder of KIIT & KISS Dr Achyut Samant in the presence of PNB Circle Head SK Mohanty at the KISS campus last week.
Mohanty highlighted the latest competitive interest structure of the bank.
The highest interest rate on retail term deposits is 9.50 per cent for a period of 1,111 days (approximately three years compounded quarterly).


Workers’ stir paralyses Birla Tyre production
Balasore: The production of Birla Tyres’ tyre and flap producing unit at Chhanpur here has ceased for four successive days on Friday following a strike by workers despite intervention of the District Labour Office.
The company, which had also witnessed a major labour unrest for nearly a month last year, has an investment of nearly Rs 650 crore and an employee strength of about 5,000, including 4,500 workers.
We invited all the trade unions and the management for talks in our presence on Thursday. Yet, it didn’t yield any result as either party refused to budge from their stands, District Labour Officer Sarat Chaudhury said.
While the unions demanded a Rs 3,000-hike (in wages) per month as an interim hike till final wage settlement, the management asked them to join the work first. This resulted in the continuation of the stalemate, he said, adding that efforts are underway to find means o defuse the crisis.
The workers allege that the labour department did not intervene in a positive spirit on their issues.
However, the recognised of the factory, the Birla Tyres Workers’ Union (BTWU), maintained that its members are not participating in the strike.
We are not party to the current strike. Those agitating belong to the other unions which have meagre presence in the plant, BTWU president Rajendra Bal said.
The conciliation between us and the management with the intervention of the labour commissioner held on 20th of this month regarding wage revision failed.
The revision is due for over 18 months. We have given a notice for strike from next month if our demands are not fulfilled, he said.
The management, however, said the company is incurring a huge loss due to production loss. The power plants are on. There are recurring expenditures whether there is production or not. We have been suffering a huge loss on account of the stalling of production which is experienced since 26rh B-shift (afternoon). We have requested them to resume work and then we would consider their demands. Yet, we don’t find any response from them,” said company manager for Industrial Relation PG Rout.

Tata Steel MD gets CEO of the Year Award
Bhubaneswar: Tata Steel MD HM Nerurkar was conferred with the CEO of the Year Award-2011 by the Indian Institute of Materials Management (IIMM) at a function at the Beldih Club on Wednesday.
The award was handed over to him by IIMM Chairman, Jamshedpur Shivaji Sinha amidst the CEOs and senior executives of various companies and other eminent personalities of Jamshedpur.

Essar provides bus to Paradip school
Paradip: The school children of Sri Satya Sai Jnana Vikash School in Kujang now have reasons to smile. The school being within the operational area of Essar Steel in Paradeep was provided with a bus.
The school, run by Sri Satya Sai Trust, caters to the education need of children from Bhutmundai and Pankapal gram panchayats.
The two school buses owned by the school, needed maintenance and repairing and were not in use for years. Enrollment had dropped because of transport hitches.
However, Essar Steel donated the school bus as part of its corporate social responsibility which will benefit school children of 12 villages including Bhutmundai, Santara, Kujang, Jagannathpur, Kothia Sahi, Sandhapur, Taladanda, Pathuria, Agapal, Bhaguathela, Bagai and Badapal.
School headmaster Dinabandhu Senapati attributed rise in enrollment in the school from 195 in 2010-2011 to 265 students in 2011-2012 to better transport facility.
He hoped the new bus would facilitate transportation of the school children.
Essar Steel Odisha chief Pramod Kumar Gupta said Essar Steel has already started taking initiatives in improving the quality of education in the region by making an arrangement with ILF&S Education, a national level technical support agency, to provide classroom support programme.
Besides, the company has also planned for the constitution of a community-based school supervisory committee for ensuring better learning outcomes, providing educational equipment, support for extra-curricular activities like music and sports and support for teachers’ training programmes.


Two more appointed as Nalco Directors
Bhubaneswar: The Board of National Aluminum Company Ltd (Nalco) has been strengthened with the appointment of Madhukar Gupta and Ghanashyam Hiralal Amin as Independent Directors for a period of three years.
Gupta is a former Union home secretary and Amin is the vice-president of National Cooperative Union of India.
With four other Independent Directors already on the Nalco Board, the strength of such Directors has gone up to six.
Still there are two more vacancies to be filled in.

PPT crosses record in conventional loading
Paradip: Paradip Port Trust achieved a milestone by loading 45,400 mt iron ore by conventional method, using ship cranes and grabs.
The quantity was loaded in 24 hours between 6 am of December24 and 6 am of December 25 in MV Ten Yoshi Maru at multi-purpose cargo berth by the stevedores EC Bose and company.
The exporters were Atha Mines Pvt Ltd. The previous record was set at 43,100 mt on December 13, 2010 by the stevedores ACE Commercial Company in the vessel MV Nicolas.
Such an outstanding achievement of the Paradip Port in spite of slump in the export of iron ore, will draw attention of overseas importers and trade to sail their vessels to the port, mainly basing on the user-friendly cooperation from the port authorities, said an official of the local exporters.

Expanded Tata Hospital, water harvesting park inaugurated
Bhubaneswar: Managing Director of Tata Steel HM Nerurkar on Tuesday inaugurated the new surgical ward facilities of its existing hospital at Joda in Keonjhar district.
He also inaugurated new Rainwater Harvesting Park Aquatica at Joda East Iron Mine (JEIM) which would help to increase the ground water status in and around the mining area.
After inaugurating the new surgical ward Nerurkar said that additional facility of surgical ward and Laparoscopy service along with the increase in number of beds would help to serve the local community and employees better.
It is the only hospital in the district with a state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Laparoscopy facility.
Among others, Tata Steel VP (Raw Materials) Partha Sengupta, VP (Engg & Chhattishgarh Project) Varun Jha, PEO to MD Arun Mishra, and GM (OMQ) DB Sundara Ramam were present.

Land losers’ stir adds to Balasore Alloys woes
Balasore: The Balasore Alloys has landed in further trouble with the people who sold their lands to the company during its expansion staged a demonstration on Wednesday in front of the District Collectorate under the banner of the Jana Jibana Surakshya Manch (JJSM).
The land losers alleged that they were not adequately compensated against their land. They demanded intervention of the district collector as well as of the state government on the issue.
The company purchased land of around 192 acres through middlemen for expansion of the plant between 2003 and 2007 with an average rate of Rs 1.5 lakh per acre.
While 72 families were affected, no one got employment in the factory despite assurances during the land deal, the JJSM alleged.
Another company recently paid Rs 10 lakh per acre during its land acquisition. We lost our livelihood parting with our agriculture land and other hand (to Balasore Alloys), but we could not find employment, JJSM president Manoj Nayak said.
District Collector Akhil Bihari Ota said that there is hardly anything to intervene for the district administration with regard to land compensation as they were private deals.
The land in this case is not acquired by the (state-run) Idco. Hence, the land acquisition laws would not be applicable in this case. However, I would urge the company to look into the aspect of employment and CSR activities in the local area, Ota said. The land-losers’ stir has haunted Balasore Alloys close on the heels of the company being asked by the Odisha High Court to deposit at least Rs 45 crore by December 31 to avoid snapping of power supply by the Nesco.
 

IIL conducts farmers’ meetings in state
Bhubaneswar: : Insecticides (India) Ltd (IIL) conducted more than 50 farmer’s meetings in Odisha in the last six months under its Jagrukta Abhiyan.
IIL managing director Rajesh Aggarwal informed reporters at a meeting here on December 17 that the company’s focus is on research and development to help small and marginal farmers. General manager MK Singhal said that 35 distributors and 1000 dealers of the company are active in the state whose market of agro-chemicals has a size of around Rs 100 crores.
The company aims to organise about 100 meetings this year.
Production has recently started in Dahej Plant and also construction for a new manufacturing facility at Chopanki (Rajasthan) has started.


HC asks Balasore Alloys to make part payment
Balasore: The Odisha High Court has issued a deadline to the Balasore Alloys to make part payment of the bill to avoid disconnection of power supply.
The court in its order on Monday directed the company ferroalloy producing and exporting company here to release Rs 45 crore against its total due of Rs 165 crore by December 31.
And a decision for remaining amount would be taken on January 9 next.
On the other hand, the company officials expressed their ignorance about the High Court order. We haven’t received any order copy till now. Hence, we can’t comment when our senior decisions-making officers are away from the district, Balasore Alloys senior PRO Sanjay Acharya said.
Power distribution company Nesco on December 16 had served a notice to the company to clear the dues by the end of the month or else it would discontinue power supply.
The outstanding amount included the staggering electricity charges and the delay payment surcharges.
Nesco lawyer Pradip Mohanty said that the company moved the High Court against our power snapping notice.
The court has directed the company to pay Rs 45 crore by December 31st, and for the balance amount the next hearing will take place on January 9.
We can take action on the strength of this order on the 1st of next month if the company fails to comply with the court order, he added
As the news about the court order spread here, it triggered panic among the employees of Balasore Alloys and local people, who expressed apprehension whether the management would pay the amount within the deadline.
We are undergoing once crisis after another. We don’t find breathing time even to reconcile with our position. The company suffered a blow after the resignation of several top executives, including MD Rabindra Jena.
Barely within a month we are facing another hard blow, lamented a company officer.
Nesco Superintending Engineer Gobinda Sahu said that following the court order, we have very little role to play.
Now, the ball is in the Balasore Alloys’ court. We will go ahead with power disconnection if the court order is not complied with, he pointed out.

Manch seeks restoration of forest land from LANCO
Dhenkanal: The Jana Jagrata Manch of Khadagprasad in Dhenkanal district has appealed the District Collector in a petition to restore 7.438 acres of forest land from the illegal encroachment by LANCO’s Babandha Power Plant.
The citizens’ forum also alleged that while the power plant has occupied irrigated lands, grazing ground, forestland and cremation ground of the village, it is not giving priority to peripheral development and employment to the local youth.
Sources said that a former samiti member of Khadagaprasad has filed two separate writ petitions in the Odisha High Court in this connection.

Truckers resort to blockade of IFFCO goods
Paradip: The Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of Paradip Truck Owners’ Association on Monday resorted to blockade of the IFFCO road and did not allow any inward or outward movement of fertilisers, raw materials and coal in an attempt to force the fertiliser company to engage their trucks for dispatch of fertilisers within the state on the basis of their rates, not at the rates as decided by the IFFCO.
According to sources, the job of road transportation of fertilisers within the state is awarded by the company through competitive bidding while the JCC is demanding more than double of the existing rates.
IFFCO finalises the transportation rates through competitive bidding by tendering process, inviting quotations from reputed transporters, the sources said, adding that presently a large number of trucks are on job at the IFFCO through other associations and no commercial organisation could afford to accept such unreasonable demands.
The sources maintained that a number of meetings were held with the JCC in the presence of the district administration by December 24 at the Collector’s office at Jagatsinghpur.
All issues of the association were discussed and it was decided that IFFCO would find some solution and discuss the same with the JCC on December 27 at Paradip.
But, in the meantime, around 250 members of the association launched a blockade on the IFFCO road on December 26 and did not allow any inward or outward movement of fertilisers, raw materials and coals.
If the present situation prevailed, the plant would be forced to shut down within a day or two, apprehended the sources, adding that IFFCO could not supply fertilisers to Odisha during the last two months and incurred loss of more than Rs 1 crore due to non-cooperation of the JCC.
As the blockade is continuing, the loss will increase and also supply of fertilisers to the farmers will be severely affected.
It is learnt that the IFFCO has apprised the district administration about the developments hoped that the issues could be resolved only through discussion.


NSL shifts Nagapattinam power project to Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Hyderabad-based NSL Power, that had recently scrapped its 1,320 mw power project at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu due to local protests, has decided to relocate the plant to Odisha.
This will be the company’s second project in Odisha as it is currently in the process of acquiring land for a 1,320 mw coal-fired power plant at Angul.
For the second project, the company has applied to the Odisha government for clearances and the proposal is being vetted by the state-owned Industrial Investment Promotion Corporation of Orissa Limited (IPICOL).
We have submitted the proposal to IPICOL. After we get the necessary clearances, we will decide about the place and capacity of our second power plant, said P C Panda, Odisha project head of NSL Power.
The state government recently directed the IPICOL chairman and managing director (CMD) to place the proposal before the next Task Force meeting.
The Nagapattinam project was held back after stiff opposition from local villagers in Tamil Nadu.
The project, conceived in 2008 intended to produce 1,320 mw power and the company had already acquired more than half of 1,300 acres of land required for it. Sources said that the company chose Odisha to relocate the project on the grounds of easier access of coal, a key requirement for thermal power plants.
For the Tamil Nadu power project, NSL Power was in agreement with the Mahanadi Coal fields Ltd (MCL), as per the coal linkage policy of the Central government, for supply of 70 per cent of its coal requirement.
The coal would have been shipped via Paradip port to Vanagiri in Tamil Nadu, where the company had plans to build a captive jetty. NSL would have the rest 30 per cent coal need through imports from Indonesia.
For the Angul project, the NSL Power is in pact with the MCL for supply of entire coal requirement through the coal linkage.

Jindal visits Essar plant
Paradip: Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal on Monday visited Essar Steel Plant which is under construction.
Later, briefing newsmen here, Jindal said that the purpose of his visit to the Essar plant was to see the plant as the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is also establishing a 6-million-tonne-per-annum steel plant at Angul in Odisha.
He expressed his satisfaction about the expeditious construction and utilistation of modern technology in the Essar plant with minimum environmental damaging effect.
Sources said that the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is also contemplating to acquire a cargo berth of the Paradip Port Trust as a captive berth to handle exclusively the import and export cargo of the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd at Paradip.

CanFin celebrates silver jubilee
Bhubaneswar: Canara Bank-sponsored CanFin Homes Limited celebrated its silver jubilee followed by a drawing competition held at the Indira Gandhi Park here on Monday.
Students from many schools around the city participated in the competition.
AITUC state general secretary Sauribandhu Kar distributed prizes among the winners.
The competition was coordinated by CanFin manager Rasmikant Satpathy.


IFFCO’s chemical disaster awareness bid
Paradip: IFFCO Paradip unit recently observed the Chemical Disaster Prevention Day to create awareness on chemical disaster prevention.
Senior executive director MR Patel administered pledge to the employees to rededicate themselves in efforts to prevent chemical accidents.
All employees observed two-minute silence to pay homage to the people who lost lives in Bhopal gas disaster and other such chemical disasters.
Patel told the employees that it is their moral duty to provide a clean, safe and fearless environment to the neighbours. Hence everybody should be vigilant and take utmost care while on job to avoid any untoward incident which results in disaster.
To generate awareness, IFFCO conducted essay and quiz competitions based on chemical disaster and its prevention.
Many employees participated in the event.
Later prizes were distributed to the winners.

NTPC plans to set up plant in Sundargarh
Sundargarh: The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd, is planning to set up Darlipali Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) stage-I, 2x800 units under Lephripara block in Sundargarh district.
As a part of advance R&R activities, NTPC has committed to associate with the renovation works of the district headquarter hospital.
NTPC has earmarked a total of Rs 10 crore for this purpose.
As a first installment, NTPC General Manager SK Reddy handed over a cheque of Rs 3 crore to chief district medical officer Sabita Chandra Patel on Sunday in the CDMO office here.

Ex-RSP staff given mushroom farming training by KIIT
Rourkela: Under Counseling, Retraining and Redeployment (CRR) scheme of the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises, 40 trainees, who had retired under VRS from Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), were given certificates and conveyance allowance of Rs 60 per day by KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, after their successful completion of mushroom cultivation training here on Thursday.
To bring the VRS people again into the mainstream, the Government of India has introduced this scheme and in Odisha, the scheme is monitored by the KIIT University’s School of Rural Management Department (KSRM) as nodal agency and in Rourkela, it is implemented by noted social organisation ENVICARE.
Addressing a gathering on the occasion, chief guest B Swain advised the trainees to be vegetarian for a good health.
Mushroom cultivation is a profit making venture, he added.
ENVICARE director Aurobinda Das delivered the guest introduction speech and spoke about the aim of the scheme.
Among others, KSRM senior project coordinator Gopal Bhoi and ENVICARE member secretary Srikant Satpathy spoke.


Fly-via-Hyderabad offer for city passengers
Bhubaneswar :Hyderabad International Airport Ltd has started dedicated transfer assistance for Bhubaneswar passengers.
The company announced 'Fly- via-Hyderabad' initiative on Saturday for Bhubaneswar passengers in PPP mode to provide best air service to the people of Odisha.
Through dedicated transfer assistance terminal, passenger from and to BBSR will get many facilities including baggage transfers, airport and airline information, passenger assistance and recheck at arrivals and many more.
HAIL chief Commercial Officer Ramesh Krishnamurthy said that through Fly-via- Hyderabad, people travelling to western countries will be benefited in terms of saving of time and ticket cost.

NTPC starts computer training centre
Bhubaneswar   The Gajamara Super Thermal Power Project of the NTPC has started a computer training centre at Talabarakote under Sadar block of Dhenkanal district.
About 60 children and youth are participating in the training. Regional Executive Director (East II) of NTPC Jayadeb Nanda recently visited the centre and interacted with the participants.
He expressed that additional computers will be placed for the benefit of children and youths.
NTPC has planned to set up a super thermal power project of 1,600-MW capacity in Dhenkanal district.


Rajib Sahoo new BoB director
Bhubaneswar  Eminent Chartered Accountant of Odisha Rajib Sekhar Sahoo has been elected as a Director of the Bank of Baroda (BoB), which has branches in even 25 countries.
Sahoo, who took charge of his new office on Saturday, will continue in the post for three years.
The BoB has a large coverage in Odisha, and Sahoo’s presence in the bank is expected to help the state substantially.
Earlier, he was a Director in the Andhra Bank.
He is also now an Independent Director in the Hindustan Zinc Limited.


New Foam Fire Tender for RSP
Rourkela: A New Foam Fire Tender with advanced technology was inducted into the fleet of Central Fire Station of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP).
Purchased at a cost of Rs 60 lakh, the fire tender has various advanced features to meet fire exigencies, RSP sources said today.
The major technical features are water tank, foam tank, pump, water-cum-foam monitor with nozzle, power take off alternator and telescopic light mast which can be extended up to 7 meter height.
Besides, it is also equipped with multipurpose nozzle, portable pump, polyamide-braided rope, smoke cutter and rescue kit, they said.

Eco-friendly urbanisation need of hour: Experts
Bhubaneswar: Urbanisation plays an important role in the development of underdeveloped and developing countries. The road map for urban development and governance in Odisha needs to be drawn with a focus on eco-friendly cities, opined speakers in a seminar on ‘Housing for Urban Life with Sustainable Technology’ here recently.
As per an estimate, where as 32 per cent of the people in India are living in urban areas, in Odisha, it is 18 per cent of the total population.
Hence, keeping in view the large scale migration to metros and towns from the rural areas, the concept of environment-friendly urbanisation should be given utmost importance, they said.
The seminar was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Odisha in association with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Indian Green Building Council, Hyderabad.
CII-Odisha chairman BL Bagra said that mass housing should be given due importance keeping in mind the growing trend of urbanization.
He said that housing for urban life should be done by optimising the usage of resources such as water, energy and land, thereby making it more environment-friendly.
The term low cost housing is no more in use as it is replaced by affordable housing, he added.
Commissioner-cum-secretary, housing and urban development, Saurabh Garg said that the state government has plans for implementing the idea of mass housing in the state for which it would require the active support of the builders, the architects and other stakeholders.
There is a need to use new green technology, energy efficient electric equipment, domestic waste management, bio-technology energy for domestic use and judicious use of water, air, electricity and land in the new and existing flats, houses and other dwelling units in the cities and towns, other speakers said.
Representatives of various organisations like National Housing Bank, IIT, Khadagpur, BDA, and Odisha State Housing Board were present on the occasion.

Savings accounts: Banpur UCO Bank gets top slot
Banpur: The UCO Bank branch of Banpur received the first prize and a trophy for mobilising the highest savings bank accounts in the Bhubaneswar Zone in half of the current financial year. This is the highest achievement in India, said senior branch manager Rabindranath Pradhan.
On behalf of the branch, Pradhan received the trophy and citation from executive director of UCO Bank Chandrasekharan.
Meanwhile, the branch has started its ATM counter here.
 

GAIL proposes JV in Odisha
Bhubaneswar: The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has proposed to undertake marketing of natural gas to many industries in various sectors like power and fertiliser in different parts of Odisha.
It has decided to develop upstream, midstream and downstream units in the oil and natural gas sector in the state.
GAIL has proposed to constitute a Joint Venture Company (JVC) for development of natural gas including setting up of an LNG terminal in the state.
Initially, the JVC would have a share capital of Rs 100 crore, official sources said.
GAIL has planned to commence and augment supply of natural gas, both domestic and imported, in Odisha and to expand its gas pipeline infrastructure in the State.
The company has also been authorised to lay a Surat-Paradip pipeline, which would eventually bring natural gas to more industries in Odisha, the sources said.
It has planned for a City Gas Distribution (CGD) facility and supply of natural gas to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers through a trunk pipeline network.
Sources in the industries department here has revealed that GAIL has in fact provided a draft JV agreement to the state government and several departments are looking into various aspects of the proposal.
Once it is cleared, the state government through one of its PSUs would move for the JVC, said the sources.
Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik has taken the stock of the GAIL’s proposal and other secretaries are having detailed analysis of it.

Survey of mines through GPS mechanism
Bhubaneswar: The mining department has decided to tie up with ORSAC to undertake survey of mining limits through the global positioning systems (GPS) as directed by the Centre appointed Justice M B Shah Commission to look into irregularities in the mining sector.
The commission which recently toured several areas of the state including mines in Keonjhar district had advised the state government determine the mining limits of the companies in the sector.
The commission had asked the government on December 14 to complete the survey through the GPS mechanism in the first phase in mineral rich Keonjhar district within a month and then to take up the survey work in other districts.
The Commission too had asked the government to identify reference points to detect excess mining by companies beyond the limits.
The revenue, forests and the mining departments would jointly work to identify the reference points.
After completion of the survey work, the mining department would compare the satellite maps with the maps of the lease holders.
The lease holders would soon be apprised of the government decision about the GPS survey.
The survey work would be completed within a month as directed by the Shah Commission.

Rajiv Verma new SBI GM
Bhubaneswar: Rajiv Verma has taken over as the General Manager of the State Bank of India (SBI) at its Local Head Office, here.
A PG in Science, he joined the bank as a Probationary Officer in 1976.
Prior to the present posting, he held many important positions like DGM in New Delhi and Hyderabad.

Amway organises workshop on skincare
Bhubaneswar: The Amway India played host to an interactive awareness workshop on skincare for women of different age groups here on Wednesday.
Christened as ‘A Day with Artistry’, the workshop redefined skincare regimen for women by providing effective solutions to optimise skincare regimen. It was adeptly handled by eminent dermatologist Dr Kishan Agarwal.
He educated Amway distributors and consumers about different features of skin, commonplace skin diseases, skin challenges with age.
He also stressed the need of daily skincare routine and provided suggestions on ways to maintain skin, prevent wrinkles in 30s and combat signs of aging in 40s and 50 years of age.
Makeover specialist Raja enhanced the beauty of the model by using newly launched six new shades of Attitude Lip colours and four new shades of Attitude nail colours.
Amway India VP (East) Diptarag Bhattacharjee said that the launch of new shades of colour cosmetics comprising lipsticks and nail colours under Attitude is in line with our strategy to strengthen our beauty category and to focus on youth.

OPGC signs MoU with Transparency International
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) became the first state PSU in the country for adopting an integrity pact by signing a MoU with the Transparency International India (TII) here on Tuesday.
The OPGC committed itself, its suppliers and contractors for adoption of the integrity pact, a tool developed by the Transparency International, to ensure that all activities and transactions between the company, its suppliers and contractors are dealt in a fair, transparent and corruption-free manner.
The MoU was signed at the State Secretariat in the presence of finance and public enterprise minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, energy minister Atanu Sabayasachi Nayak along with representatives of OPGC and TII.
On behalf of OPGC, its MD Venkatachalam K signed the MoU with TII Chairman PS Bawa.
As per the MoU terms, the OPGC would appoint competent and credible Independent External Monitor (IEM) in consultation with the TII to review independently and objectively, whether and to what extent the parties comply with the obligations under this agreement.
It is a new initiative that OPGC has taken. It is important to implement this initiative towards creating corruption-free environment, the energy minister said.
The finance minister also congratulated officials for this pact.

UK aid to promote pro-poor private investment
Bhubaneswar: The UK government's Department for International Development (DFID) launched its first private sector development programme in India in partnership with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in New Delhi on Sunday.
The programme Samriddhi is aimed at helping the poor people in India's low income states get access to financial services to improve their income and quality of life as well as by promoting responsible and sustainable private sector investment.
It will extend the reach of financial services in underserved areas in Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
This will directly benefit 12 million poor people, of which three-fourth are women, to raise their incomes, set up or grow businesses, save for family needs like their children's education, and cope with unforeseen shocks like a death in the family.
I believe that entrepreneurs with innovative and creative ideas, who take risks and work hard to produce a product or a service, especially those which can help poorer segments of society, deserve to be encouraged and supported, British Council in New Delhi British International Development minister Andrew Mitchell said while announcing the new project.
SIDBI chairman Sushil Muhnot observed that there is a welcome shift towards impact investments by development agencies and Samriddhi has the potential to become a model for such investment programmes in future.
He mentioned that SIDBI had helped a network of Micro Finance Institutions in the country under National Micro Finance Support Programme supported by DFID among other institutions reaching 6.6 million clients and the present programme would enable to replicate the success in identified Samriddhi States.
Samridhi represents a UK commitment of £65 million (Rs 520 crore) between 2012 and 2019.

RSP asked to shut down 2 units for creating pollution
Rourkela: The Odisha State Pollution Control board on Monday directed Rourkela Steel Plant, the first integrated steel plant in the public sector in India, to close down its No 1 Sintering Plant and the No 3 MP boiler of its Captive Power Plant on charges of creating pollution beyond stipulated limits.
While 100 mg of pollutants in the plant atmosphere is permissible, it was much beyond that at the sintering plant and the CPP MP boiler No 3, sources revealed.
The RSP authorities had started operation of the Sintering Plant No 1 in 2008 and the MP boiler No 3 in 2010 without approval of the Pollution Control Board.
After the Thermal Power Plant at Kaniha and the Nalco, the Rourkela Steel Plant is the third in the line of fire by the Pollution Control Board, pointing fingers at their irresponsibility towards public concerns.
As the board’s decision is bound to tell upon employment in the units concerned and affect production, trade union leaders have expressed concern at the development.

Lenovo regains top spot in Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Personal Computer Company Lenovo regained the no 1 spot in the market in Odisha after a gap of 2 years.
It is now ranked number two in the world and number 3 in Indian PC market due to its aggressive strategy.
Lenovo India MD Amar Babu, who was in the city to attend the ITAO exhibition, disclosed to the media that the success in the state was due to rich features and consumer friendly products supported by an efficient service network.
General Manger East Aditi Ganguly said that the focus is to add to the 15 exclusive stores in the state.
Currently Lenovo is the world’s as well as India’s fastest growing PC player for 8 straight quarters.

Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights
Cuttack: City-based Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Institute of the Government of India organised a two-day workshop on Intellectual Property Rights in collaboration with the Spice Cluster of Cuttack and Cashew Cluster in Brahmagiri here on Friday.
MSME Director Alok Roy inaugurated the workshop and called upon all to take advantage of the IPR.
Among others, Assistant Director Sukant Sahoo, Cuttack Cluster chairman Surendranath Panda, Cashew Cluster chairman Biharibandhu Palai also spoke on the occasion. Among others, Ukal University Prof PK Sarkar, Aroma Associates advocate Siddharth Das were present.

Use of ash bricks solution to fly ash crisis
Bhubaneswar:Participants at a state-level consultation on ‘Management of fly-Ash’ on Friday overwhelmingly suggested that the only and the best available way to manage the fly ash problem in Odisha was to encourage the use of fly-ash bricks in construction of buildings and sensitise the people about its advantages.
The consultation was organised by ‘Development Initiative’ with support from the Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).
Making a comparative analysis on ash generation and ash utilisation in the state, OPGC Managing Director Venkatchalaiya K, eminent economist Golak Bihari Nath, development consultant Anup Kumar Mohapatra and Pragatishil Sramik Manch general secretary Rakshakar Mohapatra discussed suitable measures that need to be taken for the proper utilisation of fly ash to address the problem that has led to an alarming environmental pollution around the concerned units.
Currently experiencing an industrial boom, Odisha is facing challenges in managing the large quantity of fly ash produced every year by coal-fired power stations.
Disposal of this material has already posed a serious problem.
The effective use of the huge quantity of fly ash is still of great concern not only from waste utilisation point of view but mainly from its adverse impact on global environment and climate change.
Participating in the consultation, professionals from all walks of life including academics, government officials, policymakers, construction workers, masons, social activists and media persons shared their views on the issue.
Putting a comparative analysis of clay brick and fly-ash brick, Sushama Sahu, a participant from Jharsuguda, said ash bricks are more heat protective, re-usable and cheaper than clay bricks. Only people need to be sensitised about the uses and benefits of ash bricks, said Sahu who has been living in an ash-brick building for last four years.
Others said that the present scenario does not allow disposal of this waste in the casual manner it is being done at present. Thus this waste utilisation has to be increased considerably in the most economical, practically viable and environmentally sustainable manner, they said.
The speakers suggested that one solution to the problem is encouraging utilisation of fly-ash bricks.
Though several attempts have been made in the past for making fly-ash bricks, the overall scene of its social acceptance, marketing and promotion was inadequate and not satisfactory.
The state government, on the other hand, has failed to encourage use of ash bricks and ban the use of clay bricks in the state, they said.
The utilisation of fly ash in India is as low as about eight per cent in comparison to European countries where 70 per cent of fly ash is used in different ways which should be properly studied, they suggested.


Nalco marathon flagged off
Bhubaneswar: On the occasion of 30th year of corporate excellence, the chairman-cum managing director of Nalco BL Bagra flag up a marathon race here on Sunday.
The family and the children’s of the Nalco employees were participated in the marathon which started from the corporate office and culminated at Nalco Nagar.
Bagra gave away the trophies to the winners.
Among others, director (P&A) Joy Varghese, director (P&T) Ansuman Das, director (commercial) SS Mohapatra were present.

Turtle opens one more city outlet
Bhubaneswar: The men’s apparel and accessories brand Turtle opened one more outlet in the city and unveiled its Unforgettable Collection 2011here on Friday.
Inaugurating the outlet Director of Turtle Limited Shitanshu Jhunjhunwalla observed that the growing popularity of the brand inspired the opening of the new store.
On the Unforgettable Collection, he added that it is an attempt to blend the fashion of the sixties with a hint of modernity.


PNB opens 97th branch in Odisha
Bhubaneswar: The 97th branch of the Odisha Circle of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) was inaugurated by Odisha State Police Housing & Welfare Corporation CMD Sudhanshu Sarangi at Cuttack Road here in the presence of PNB Circle Head SK Mohanty recently.
Mohanty highlighted the latest competitive interest structure of the bank.
The 96th branch of the circle was also opened earlier at Satyabhamapur by Mohanty.

Amway launches new office
Rourkela: Amway India Enterprises unveiled its first office here on Friday.
The state-of-the-art office would capture the untapped business potential of this industrial belt as well as of Western Odisha.
With this, Amway’s total number of offices in the state has gone up to five, the other four being in Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Jeypore and Berhampur.
Spread over a 550-sqft area, the new two-storied Amway Touch Point office would house a computerised customer service and product ordering facility and distributor waiting area.
It is also equipped with training and counselling room.
Distributors residing in Rourkela, Jharsuguda, and surrounding areas would now be able to find information and training on the existing and new quality products from the stable of Amway and order for products across the counter.
Briefing newsmen on the occasion, Amway Vice-President (East) Diptarag Bhattacharjee said that Odisha with high growth potential, has been continuously witnessing a steady double-digit growth over the last three years.
The first eleven months in 2011 has seen our business grow by 34 per cent over the same period in 2010.
We are quite hopeful that our presence in Rourkela would drive huge growth, catapulting Odisha to one of the largest contributors of Amway East, he added.
In a message, Amway India MD&CEO William S Pinckney said that the opening up of the office with exclusive product training facility in Rourkela is a clear indication of the impressive growth of Amway’s business in Odisha and our commitment to support and be closer to our business owners and customers.

BoB opens 62nd branch in Odisha
Cuttack: A Bank of Baroda (BoB) branch opened at CDA in the Twin City on Friday became the bank’s 62nd branch in Odisha.
District collector Girish SN inaugurated the new branch.
Regional head Jitendra Kumar Das said at the inaugural function that Bank of Baroda is the fastest growing bank with an aim to open more branches in un-banked areas in the western part of the state.
He appealed citizens to take advantage of the bank’s wide range of retail products with attractive fribbies during the ongoing campaign period.
CDA branch manager Ram Chandra Mallick thanked all dignitaries.

VAL holds walk for energy conservation
Lanjigarh: Over 500 employees of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) and its associated companies participated in an Energy Walk here on the occasion of the National Energy Conservation Day on December 14.
VAL President and COO Dr Mukesh Kumar flagged off and led the walk, which started off at the VAL Township and concluded at the administrative office of the VAL alumina refinery.
Placards and banners were displayed for conservation of energy. All VAL senior officials, including Bimalananda Senapati, KR Kundu, N Nagesh, Venkat Reddy, Manoj Agarwal and Premkumar, joined the walk.
The walk was followed by an oath-taking ceremony.
One-hour power cut in the township on December 19 to create awareness on energy saving and knowledge enhancement session on energy conservation on December 20 have been planned before the week concludes on December 21.
On the occasion, Dr Mukesh Kumar, said that change begins from within, so does energy conservation.
To be pioneers in energy conservation, we will have to demonstrate our commitment into action. We will put our best foot forward in creating VAL, Lanjigarh as one of the benchmark energy efficient refineries across the globe, he added.
Recently, VAL was conferred the prestigious National Energy Management Award 2011 by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
It was also honoured with the National Award for Excellence in Water Management 2011 by the CII in November at Jaipur, Rajasthan.

IFFCO bags tech innovation award
Paradip: IFFCO Paradip unit has bagged the prestigious ‘FAI Technical Innovation Award, 2011’ for its innovation in siphon breaking arrangement for acid circulation pumps in the Sulphuric Acid Plant and acid draining arrangement of brick-lined acid towers in the Sulphuric Acid Plant.
The award was presented by Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Jena to IFFCO Executive Director MR Patel at the annual grand seminar organised by the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) at New Delhi on December 7. While receiving the Award, Patel said this prestigious award is in recognition of the dedicated team of IFFCO, Paradip unit.
This unit is committed to clean environment while continuing its efforts for similar achievements in the coming years.


GMR gets mega power plant status
Bhubaneswar: The GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd (GKEL), which is setting up a 1,050-MW coal-fired power plant in Odisha, has the distinction of becoming the country’s first mega power plant as it executed an agreement for supply of 260 MW to the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) under Case I bidding.
With this agreement for power sale under tariff policy, the GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd (GKEL) has become eligible to avail mega power plant status under the new policy, said company sources.
GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd (GKEL) has tied up 85 per cent of its power sale with the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) under the tariff policy.
Besides the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), GKEL has executed power purchase agreements with Gridco, HPGCL and PTC.
The GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd (GKEL) is expected to commence power supply from its first unit in mid-2012.
The Bangalore-headquartered company, promoted by the GMR Group, is presently executing the thermal power project at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district.
Nalco bags National Energy Award
Bhubaneswar: The smelter plant of the National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has bagged the National Energy Conservation Award for 2011.
Nalco CMD BL Bagra received the award from Union Minister of Power Sushil Kumar Shinde at a function in New Delhi to mark the National Energy Conservation Day on Wednesday.
The function was inaugurated by prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Nalco has also taken up green initiatives to harness unconventional energy sources.
 

Roof holds expo in City
Bhubaneswar: The real estate marketing company The Roof and financier DHFL announced here on Wednesday the real estate expo Grihapravesh in the city from Friday.
Keeping the high interest regime and the uncertain response of buyers in mind the exhibition is an attempt to entice prospective customers with discounts.
The Roof Director SR Samal hoped that customers would take advantage of the event to choose their preferred house with discounts, spot finance and low complications.

Fenesta launches Villa Windows
Bhubaneswar:: Fenesta launched its Villa Windows in Odisha.
Announcing the launch on Wednesday, its Regional Head Arindam Chatterjee said that it is a unique product that addresses the unique requirements of Indian home users and provides better options to architects.
It integrates the traditional Indian window design of grill and mesh with UPVC, the new age window material pioneered by the company itself in the country.
Unlike the traditional windows with the wooden frame it does not suffer from problems that include poor insulation, low strength, inability to withstand high temperatures and humidity, fading under sun and termites.


Tata Housing announces its first PPP venture in Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar: Tata Housing, India’s fastest growing real estate development Company today announced its plans to expand its presence in the tier-II cities of India, by signing its first PPP venture in the ‘Temple City of India’ – Bhubaneswar, in association with Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).
The project will be spread across 12 acres of land with development potential of 1.5 million square feet and projected revenue of Rs.700 crores.
Commenting on the project, Brotin Banerjee, MD and CEO, Tata Housing said that as part of its long term strategy, the company is looking at expanding its presence in the fast growing Tier II cities.
With Bhubaneswar being ranked the 5th fastest growing Indian city in terms of real estate, our plan to launch the first of its kind premium living venture here is befitting of our longer term commitment to the city, he said.
The largest city of Odisha, Bhubaneswar today is a center of economic importance in the region. An emerging IT hub, the boom in the metals and metal processing industries has made Bhubaneswar one of the fastest developing cities of India in recent years.
The Real Estate in Bhubaneswar has seen considerable rise in demand giving rise to acute shortage of high-end residential homes.
This is due to the expanding city population and the rising disposable incomes of Bhubaneswar's denizens.
The boom in Real Estate in Bhubaneswar is also due to the increased investments coming into Orissa state.
Bhubaneswar being the capital of Odisha captures the king's share of the investments. Many big Information Technology companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro have set up development centers in the city.
The deal was inked as a result of a competitive bidding process, and signed in the presence of Deoranjan Kumar Singh, IAS, Vice Chairman, BDA, housing and urban development department and senior officials of Tata Housing at the BDA office in Bhubaneswar.
Like all other properties of Tata Housing, the project will be designed by renowned international architects and constructed under the guidance of Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

Epson's new printers enter Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Epson India, a part of the Japan-based Epson Corporation, started selling its new printers having a branded ink-tank system in its new product here on Tuesday.
It introduced three types of printers, including L100, L200 and L800, in the market.
According to company deputy general manager SM Ram Prasad, the printers are user-friendly and of low cost.
Photographers can take them easily to any place and print their photos immediately.
The company has many service centres in Odisha.
It is aiming a turnover in excess of Rs 600 crore this financial year.
It markets and supports Epson Dot-Matrix printers, inkjet printers, inkjet all-in-ones, laser printers, point of sale printers and systems, scanners and LCD projectors.


Reliance Diamond Rush launched
Bhubaneswar: Reliance Jewels has launched ‘The Biggest Diamond Rush,’ an initiative taken to make a memorable shopping experience to customers.
Vice president and Business Head of Reliance Jewels Ashok Kaul, Senior announced in Bangalore an unbelievable discount of up to 100 per cent on making charges on diamond jewellery.
He also announced a 2 nights and 3 days free holiday pack from Club Mahindra on every purchase.
Eight contestants would also win a bumper price ‘Free lifetime membership from Club Mahindra’ by just filling in a contest form.
Starting from December 1, 2011 to January 22, 2012, the diamond rush would offer customers a two-month-long shopping experience at all Reliance stores across the country.


RBI foresees forex improvement soon
Bhubaneswar: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is hopeful that there would be some improvement in the foreign exchange (forex) volatility in the coming days.
In view of the European Union Summit, we are expecting that there would be some corrections in the value of rupee, said RBI Deputy Governor Harun Rashid Khan here on Saturday.
The outcome of the summit would bring some comfort to the world economy, he said.
Khan was here to address a regional seminar on ‘Securities Market: A Connectivity to Wealth Creation’, organised by the Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange.
The seminar was also addressed by SEBI Executive Director J Ranganayakulu, Calcutta Stock Exchange MD & CEO Madhab Reddy, Nalco Company Secretary KN Ravindra and Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange chairman Vivek Patnaik and CEO, Debraj Biswal.
Khan told mediapersons that the RBI policy review on December 16 would take note of the forex volatility besides the problem of inflation and the NPAs of banks.
The Euro Zone crisis has its impact on the Indian economy. India used to get funds from European banks, he said, adding that now that the European banks are in trouble, the funds flow to the country would be dried up.
He said that the country’s commerce is going to be affected as India’s export to European countries is about 20 percent to 30 per cent of its total exports.
There would flight of capital as the foreign financial institutions would withdraw from the stock market.
Khan warned that the commodity prices are going to be affected as the country is importing about 70 per cent to 80 per cent of its fuel requirements.
The nation is also going to face the problem of contamination as its global integration index has gone up over the years, he added.


GAIL to partner Odisha in gas-based power project
Bhubaneswar:State-owned natural gas processing and distribution company Gail India has shown interest to make Odisha a partner in setting up of a gas-based power project in the state, informed industries secretary T Ramachandru here on Sunday.
Gail India is interested to form a joint venture with the state government for setting up of a gas-based power project in the state. They will give a formal proposal soon, he said on the sidelines of a climate-friendly technology seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) here.
Two weeks ago, Gail India won the bid to lay down gas pipelines for 1,500 km, stretching from Surat to Paradip after bidding just one paise to transmit one million British Thermal Unit (BTU) of gas.
The pipeline project, estimated to be built for Rs 5,500 crore, will originate from Mora in Gujarat, a major terminal of gas grid pipeline network and is will end at the Indian Oil Corporation's refinery at Paradip.
The bi-directional pipeline is proposed to pass through Jalgaon, Nagpur, Raipur and Bhubaneswar.
While the main line would cover 1,500 km, another 124 km spur lines would go through the states of Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
After signing up 29 agreements with several companies to set up coal-fired power plants, the state government has shown its interest to set up gas-based power projects also.
Few months ago, leading petroleum products trader Petronet proposed to establish a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at coast of Odisha.
The company is in talks with the authorities of Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur port to establish the berth at one of these locations.


Invest Bhubaneswar kicks off on Dec 16 .
Bhubaneswar: The second edition of the Invest Bhubaneswar, Odisha Symposium, is going to be organised here from December 16.
Briefing newsmen here on Saturday, convener of Invest Odisha Purna Mohanty, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, said that about the objective of the three-day event and the achievements of Invest Bhubaneswar till now.
He said the efforts to develop Bhubaneswar as a brand and an attractive destination for investment started in 2009.
Following the visit of a team comprising ministers, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs from the state to the US in the last two years and the first Odisha Symposium held last year, the city of Cupertino has identified Bhubaneswar as a sister city.
A chapter of the Indo-US Entrepreneurs has also started functioning in the city.
Mohanty added that as a result of the efforts by the Invest Bhubaneswar, many projects by entrepreneurs from the State with funding from abroad are in the pipeline which includes an SMS-based domestic gas leakage detection system.
Former chief secretary Sahadeb Sahoo disclosed that some other successful efforts would be showcased during the forthcoming symposium.
The focus of the symposium is on small and medium projects.
Chairman of Human Development Foundation Dhanadakant Mishra said that the Invest Bhubaneswar is working to encourage entrepreneurs from the state and connect them to global network of entrepreneurs.
The focus this time is on encouraging entrepreneurs from the districts.

OHPC gets video-conferencing facility
Bhubaneswar:   Videoconferencing facility through VPN was inaugurated at the Corporate Office of the Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) by energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak here on Friday.
Among others, energy secretary G Mathivathanan and OHPC MD Sahadev Khatua and HRD Director Rajesh Sharma along with other OHPC senior officials were present on the occasion.
Khatua explained about the present generation scenario from Hydro plants, future capacity expansion of the OHPC and benefits of video conferencing facility for maintaining various activities in power stations.
This facility would further help in improving communication with different power stations of OHPC and improve efficiency of the organisation.

Meet on green investments in polluting industries held
Bhubaneswar:   There have always been debates regarding global climatic change and its far-reaching socio-economic impact on society and environment.
In response to the vulnerability generated by the climatic change issues, government and non- institutional stakeholders around the globe have started framing policies and strategies to counter the menace. Keeping this in view, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),Odisha branch and British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata, jointly organised a workshop ‘Financial instruments for promoting green investments in industries in Odisha and West Bengal’.
The basic purpose of the seminar was to deliberate on framing policies and to provide possible financial and other incentives to existing and upcoming industrial projects in the states to minimise discharge of carbon emissions and other pollutants and to maintain a clean and green environment.
The initiative was supported by IPICOL WBIDC of Odisha and West Bengal governments.
Principal secretary, industry department of Odisha T Ramachandru outlined various steps taken and the policies to be adopted in the direction, keeping in view the huge industrialisation in Odisha, mostly with establishment of steel, power, aluminum, cement and power firms, which are highly polluting.
Representatives from industries like Tata Steel, JSPL, Arcelor Mittal etc and industrial chambers attended the seminar.



L&T Infra offers tax-saving bonds
Bhubaneswar: L&T Infrastructure Finance Company Limited announced its offer of Long Term Infrastructure Bonds with a face value of Rs 1000 and an annually compounded interest rate of 9 per cent.
Vice President GK Shettigar told reporters here on Friday that these 10-year bonds offer income tax benefits and is expected to be listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange after the five-year lock-in period.
The minimum subscription would be five bonds and in multiples of one Bond thereafter.
The bond issue is expected to close on December 24.
The funds raised through this Issue would be utilised for infrastructure lending as defined by the RBI.


Kolkata-Rourkela DTDS air service launched
Sambalpur: First time in India a ‘Per Seat’, fixed cost, fixed schedule air service was launched between Kolkata and Rourkela by DTDS.
The business travellers from across India can now expect to travel in style and comfort in charter planes.
DTDS announced plans to launch the service to the industrial city Rourkela from Kolkata, where passengers can book single seats on fixed rates and fly at fixed charter timings.
Travellers from across India can fly to the Industrial city and return on the same day.
DTDS charter flight timings connect morning flights reaching Kolkata from Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, and New Delhi.
Travellers to Rourkela from anywhere in India or abroad can reach destinations in shortest time and catch connecting evening flights.

Octant Ind to set up biomass power project
Bhubaneswar: Octant Industries Ltd has informed BSE that the company has began its works for setting up of 10 MW Bio Mass Power Project in Sambalpur district.
The company has already acquired land and Land development and civil work is under progress. It expects to commission the power plant within a year.


Naveen Jindal gets Bhagwati Award
Bhubaneswar: The OP Jindal Global University’s Chancellor Naveen Jindal has been conferred with the Justice PN Bhagwati Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to legal education and corporate philanthropy.
He is also a Member of Parliament and the chairman and managing director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd.
Instituted by the Capital Foundation, this award was presented by former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at a function in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of Supreme Court Justice Altamas Kabir.
The citation of the award notes the extraordinary contribution of Jindal’s to legal education and higher education.
The award brought reactions of appreciation from Professor Stephen P Marks from the Harvard University, Professor Peter Schuck who is the Emeritus Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Bar Council of India’s Legal Education Committee among others.

Coal import drops by 3.6 pc
Paradip: Import of coking, non-coking and thermal coal to various Indian ports dropped by 3.6 per cent last month in the country.
Companies, including Bhatia International Ltd, Adani International Ltd and JSW Energy and Power Ltd had imported 8.94 million metric tonnnes (MT) of coal in October through 20 Indian ports.
Mundra, a private port in the west coast of India where Adani imports most of its coal, received the highest level of shipments at 1.7 MT.
The eastern ports of Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram got 0.6 MT, 0.7 MT, 1.4 MT and 1.1 MT, respectively.
The imports were largely from Indonesia, Australia and South Africa.
The economic slowdown is said to be a major reason for such a drop in the import, said sources.

HAL to set up seven new divisions in country
Sunabeda: The fast-growing Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is going to set up seven new divisions shortly.
At present, there are 19 divisions across the country, HAL (engine division) general manager Aniruddh Kumar said on Wednesday.
When asked about the possibility of a new division in Odisha, Kumar suggested the state government to impress upon the management for the purpose.
One major requirement is to improve the basic infrastructure like roads. Kumar expressed concern over the poor condition of the road connecting Pottangi to Sunki on NH 43.
Projects improve the economic and social standards of the people in the region and HAL at Sunabeda has been able to rise up to the expectations of the people, he said.
About the status of Sunabeda division, he said at present around 200 engines are produced in a year.
With different types of MIG engines, HAL also makes light combat helicopters.
At Sunabeda, engines worth Rs 2,000 crore are produced per year.
HAL engines have good reputation abroad. Seven light combat helicopters were sold to Equador, a Latin American country.
Maurissus and Maldives were provided with advanced light helicopter ‘Dhruv’(one each) by the Government of India.
Hal is ready to make fifth generation air craft, which cannot be detected by radar.
Also there is a plan to produce 100 seated civil helicopter, Kumar added.
Regarding CSR of HAL, the GM informed five new villages will be added to the existing eight villages for developmental activities for which the process has already started.

Vedanta holds healthy baby competition
Bhawanipatna: Healthy children are necessary for a healthy society. Keeping this in mind, Vedanta Foundation recently organised a healthy baby competition at Bhawanipatna where 60 babies between seven months and one year of age participated.
Rupa Nayak, an 11-month baby won the first prize, while Premjot Singh and Swastika Panda bagged second and third prize respectively.
Chief guest on the occasion, DSWO, Kalahandi Saudamini Das attended the function and advised the mothers to take care of their babies.
She gave some valuable tips to keep the babies healthy.
Chief Medical Officer, Vedanta Hospital, Lanjigarh, Dr Sabita Swain gave some valuable tips to minimize the child death rate.
Other guests present on the occasion were ICDS Programme Officer Banabasini Biswal, Dr Bijaya Kumar Kampa and members of Vedanta Balchetna Anganwadi Project (VBCAP).
Apart from the top three healthy babies, three other prizes were distributed where prizes for healthy skin, beautiful eye and cute smile went to Adyasha Padhee, Pratikhya Mahakud and Bikash Ranjan Pradhan respectively.
VBCAP project head Balakrushna Rath and district head Gaurab Parida organised the programme.


RSP receives CII-EXIM Bank Award
Rourkela: Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has been conferred with the prestigious CII-EXIM Bank award -2011 for Strong Commitment towards Excellence.
RSP was chosen for this award from among a number of reputed organisations through a stringent selection process.
The award was given on the basis of the achievements of RSP in different gamut of activities right from production, productivity, techno-economics and customer satisfaction to Human Resource Management, health care and CSR.
The award was presented by the CII Institute of Quality, Bangalore at a ceremony organised in Bangalore on December 1, plant sources said today.

MindTree to revive Odisha project
Bhubaneswar: The Bangalore-based IT giant MindTree, which had opted to put up a project in the capital city but later preferred to pull out of it due to delay in allotment of land, is now likely to revive the project.
It may be noted that two days back the state government handed over possession of 20 acres of litigation-free land to MindTree in the Infocity area.
MindTree reportedly agreed to revive its Odisha project following a recent meeting of vice-chairman and co-founder of the company Subroto Bagchi with the state government officials.
The company will build a 10,000-seater software development centre in the Infocity with a total built-up area of 1.5 million sqft.

Trade Fair concludes
Jajpur: The valedictory ceremony of the 22nd Industrial Trade Fair-2011 was held at Jajpur Road on Sunday.
Finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, Korei MLA Priti Ranjan Ghadei, and Tata Steel VP (Odisha) H Jha visited the Tata Steel stall, which got the Best Presentation award.
Tata Steel senior manager JK Padhi received the award from the minister.


State to assit Infosys as SEZ co-developer
Bhubaneswar: While the Odisha government is all set to support software major Infosys to expand its presence in the state, mindless action by senior officials of the industries department has posed stumbling blocks for the planned expansion.
Recently, the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ (Special Economic Zone) wanted to consider the request of Infosys for being a co-developer in the sector-specific SEZ for IT/ITES in Odisha. The SEZ at villages Gaudakashipur and Arisal, in Khurda district, is being developed by the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco).
This SEZ was notified on January 4, 2011 over an area of 106.260 hectares.
Infosys had submitted a proposal for becoming a co-developer in the SEZ for setting up of software development facility for IT/ITES and allied activities over an area of 45.85 acres (18.56 hectares).
A co-developer agreement was made with the developer Idco on July 28, 2011 and the Development Commissioner, Falta SEZ, had recommended the proposal.
However, a letter from the industries department asking the BoA to defer the matter came as a surprise for Union commerce secretary Rahul Khullar, who is the chairman of the BoA.
Though the Department of IT (DoIT) is handling the issues relating to Infosys, it was kept in the dark by the DoI, said sources.
Idco was also ignored over the issue despite the state-run infrastructure major being the developer of SEZ.
DoIT officials fail to understand as to how the industries department is asking the BoA to defer the approval for no fault of the Infosys and, most importantly, when the developer, Idco, has signed an agreement with the software company to take it as a co-developer.
Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik was at a loss over the issuance of a deferment letter to the BoA, said sources.
In a letter to Khullar, the chief secretary deeply regretted such an action, which caused inconvenience to the Centre and requested him to ignore the communication, said the sources.
Patnaik said that Infosys has already been allotted 45.85 acres of land for setting up software development facilities for IT&ITES and allied activities as a co-developer.
The chief secretary has urged the BoA chairman to favourably consider the proposal to allow the Infosys as a co-developer of the SEZ.

Bandh observed for reopening of stone lime co
Rourkela: A 12-hour bandh was observed in Biramitrapur town of Sundargarh district today demanding reopening of a stone lime company here where production remains suspended since last month.
The century old Bisra Stone Lime (BSL), a public sector enterprise under the union ministry of steel, is closed since November 9 following an order of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB).
The plant's lime stone and dolomite production is suspended since then.
The OSPCB had directed the BSL authorities to stop its production for want of environment clearance.
Shops and business establishments remained closed and vehicular movement was affected during the bandh called by the workers.
The INTUC-led Gangapur Labour Union has demanded immediate reopening of the company for the interest of the about 1000 employees and many daily wage earners of the area who have been engaged in the mining operation.
General secretary of the Union Sandip Mishra has urged the workers to observe a peaceful bandh.

IFFCO bags Water Management Award
Paradip: The Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Paradip unit on November 25 bagged the prestigious National Water Management Award, 2011 given by the Confederation Indian Industry (CII) at its Water Conclave, 2011 in Jaipur.
IFFCO GM PH Patel received the award from Rajasthan minister of agriculture and water resources Gurmeet Singh Kunnar.
Executive Director MR Patel has congratulated all IFFCO employees for the achievement.


RSP continues growth momentum in Apr-Nov
Rourkela: Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has continued its growth momentum in the first eight months of the current fiscal by producing 2,00,052 tonnes of hot metal and 45,085 tonnes of plate mill plates.
With this performance, the steel plant registered the best ever November production. Another highlight of the month was a number of major units achieving the APP (Annual Production Plan) targets, RSP officials said.
More than 100 per cent APP was achieved in the production of coke, sinter, hot metal, crude steel, plate mill plates and HR plates.
The plate mill achieved a new record for any single day both in slab rolling and plate production by rolling 2577 tones of slabs and producing 2430 tonnes of plates on November 10.
Best month since inception figures were also achieved in the two crucial techno-economic parameters - coke rate (524 kg/ton of hot metal) and specific energy consumption (6.8 G Cal/ton of crude steel), officials said.
The superlative performance in November propelled the steel plant to register the best ever saleable steel production of 13,46,301 tonnes in the April-November period.
Besides, in the production of plate mill plates, HR coil for sale, HR plates, ERW pipes, galvanised sheets, ET plates and saleable steel (total) RSP recorded growth of 2.6 per cent, 5 per cent, 2.9 per cent, 27.5 per cent, 4.4 per cent, 42.4 per cent and 1.5 per cnt respectively over the corresponding April-November of last fiscal.

Consider inclusion as opportunity: RBI Dy Guv to banks
Bhubaneswar: Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India Subir Gokarn advised the banks on Saturday to see the Financial Inclusion activities as an opportunity for them and not as mere obligation.
He added that delivery of financial services to the masses is a critical challenge for the banks and RBI.
Speaking at the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC)-organised summit here on Banking and Capital markets Gokarn said that sustainable growth, which alone can ensure improved quality of life, needs low inflation rate.
He also shed light on challenges facing the country in human capital, balanced nutrition, infrastructural shortcomings and global integration.
State Bank of India Chief General Manager Praveen Kumar Gupta said that the key to double digit growth , which was the topic of the seminar , can happen only when growth is inclusive, environment friendly, non exploitive and generator of employment.
Commenting on the raging debate in the country on inflation vis-à-vis growth he predicted that on base line effect alone inflation would be down to low levels by the end of the current month.
Chairman of Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange Vivekananda Patnaik gave a brief description of the evolution of the capital markets and said that the regional stock exchanges have not become irrelevant and have a lot of role to play in spreading financial awareness.
While giving the welcome address President of ICC Shrivardhan Goenka highlighted the brief history of ICC.
ICC Director General of ICC Dr Rajiv Singh delivered the vote of thanks .

DPCL launches AIDS awareness drive in Bhadrak
Bhadrak: On the occasion of the World AIDS Day on Thursday, an awareness campaign was organised by Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) for truck drivers, daily labourers, ice factory workers and fishermen community members of Dhamra and nearby areas.
DPCL also partnered with Bhadrak district administration in a programme at Bhadrak, wherein blankets and protein food items were distributed among 70-odd HIV/ AIDS infected persons. Leaflets and information materials on HIV/AIDS were also distributed by the company among various vulnerable groups within the district.
Among others, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Bhadrak, Debendra Mohapatra was present on the occasion.
A motorcycle rally started in the morning from DPCL Health Centre near the Dhamra Port site office and went around the periphery villages, market places, labour colonies and various construction sites to spread awareness about the infection.
The campaign also comprised of medial and para-medical staff of DPCL.
DPCL volunteers interacted with truckers regularly coming to Dhamra port area, carrying construction materials, as well as those plying on Jamujhadi-Dhamra roads.
Besides, the workers in several ice factories functioning in and around Dhamra area, around 5000-odd fishermen presently engaged in dry fish farming in Chandinipal, Kaninali and Dhamra areas were also counselled and educated about HIV/AIDS.


Four state PSUs to get Gold tag
Bhubaneswar:  The Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) is all set to enter the Gold club of state-owned undertakings due to its robust revenue and high profit ranges.
The state government, which is classifying its undertakings according to their nature and scale of operations, seems to favour the OMC in providing the Gold tag.
Out of the 32 state undertakings, OMC has topped the list both in revenue and profit during 2009-10. The OMC earned revenue worth of Rs 2,085.27 crore in 2009-10 while its profit amounted to Rs 1,890.22 crore.
The state government, which is implementing Public Enterprises Reforms to make its PSUs self-sufficient to face varied challenges of the market, has decided to divide the undertakings into four categories- Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
As there are no such PSUs which can qualify for Platinum, at least four of them are to be given the Gold tag based on their revenue and profit generations in 2009-10.
These are the OMC, the Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC), the Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) and the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO), official sources said.

Gridco for equity participation in PXIL
Bhubaneswar: State-run Gridco has decided to go in for equity participation in the Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL), which has been promoted by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
The PXIL aims to provide access to a fully electronic marketplace that enables substantial benefits to buyers and sellers of power in the country.
Gridco and OPTCL CMD Hemant Sharma sees bright scope in investments in the PXIL and, finding it an attractive proposition, has decided in principle to opt for equity participation in a big way, according to Gridco sources.
Gridco would subscribe 25 lakh preference shares at the rate of Rs 10 each at par amounting to Rs 2.5 crore in the PXIL subject to approval of the State Government, said a senior Gridco officer.
The PXIL is regulated by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
It is running a Power Exchange in the country and the exchange earns 1 paisa per unit of power in both sale and purchase deals.
The power exchanges are emerging as robust organisations following the deregulation of the power market after the enactment of the Electricity Act, 2003.


Bank of Baroda CMD to visit Odisha
Bhubaneswar:   Chief Managing Director, Bank of Baroda, MD Mallya will arrive in Odisha on Saturday on a four-day tour.
He will attend a Board of Directors meeting of the bank to be held on Monday in presence of ED Rajiv Kumar Bakshi and ED MS Srinath.
Mallya will review the developmental activities of the bank in the state and visit various branches.
BoB, which now has 61 branches in the state, is planning to launch 15 new branches by the end of 2011.


TICI plans to set up plant in Odisha
Bhubaneswar:  Bicycle manufacturer TI Cycles of India (TICI) is planning to set up a plant in Odisha.
The Chennai-based Murugappa Group has come up with a proposal to open shop in the state.
While over two lakh girl students are going to benefit under the scheme, TICI sees a captive market in the state.
This will be the first bicycle plant in Odisha.
Producer of BSA Hercules bicycles, TICI will be investing Rs 62 crore to set up a plant with an annual capacity to produce 24 lakh cycles.
Search is on for a site of 25 acres of land in and around the Khurda Industrial Estate for the project, said sources.
The IPICOL, the Single Window Clearance Authority, has received the proposal from TICI.
The second largest manufacturer of bicycles in India, TICI is selling 41 lakh cycles per annum. The company has plants in 14 locations, including those in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Bihar has already attracted three bicycle manufacturers after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced his massive chief minister’s cycle yojana.
Once the land and requisite clearances are obtained, the plant in Odisha would be set up in 18 months of time, the sources said.
The manpower requirement for the projects is about 800, including skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers, for the main plant and another 800 to be required by vendors.
The bicycle models to be manufactured involve both load-carrying and welded categories, which are Mountain Terrain Bike (MTB) Sports Light Roadstar (SLR), Kids and Juveniles (Roadstar bikes for 8-14 age group).
There is also a proposal to set up Vendor Park facilities for manufacturing plants for six major vendors supplying frames, forks, mudguards and carriers for bicycles.
The park would be located within 2-3 km from the main plant.
This would also create more job opportunities for the local youth, said the sources.

TiE chief to visit state
Bhubaneswar: The chairman of TiE Global Board of Trustees Ashok Rao will visit Odisha during December 8-10.
Rao is scheduled to meet members of the TiE Bhubaneswar chapter and also meet senior government officials to discuss on investment opportunities as well as growth of entrepreneurship in the state.
He will also deliver a keynote address on ‘Formation of Entrepreneurship and Process for Angel Funding’ during a seminar to be organised by TiE Bhubaneswarat the XIMB on December 10. Rao is a serial Entrepreneur in USA.
He is a board member of various universities and a motivational speaker at private sessions for Fortune 500 companies.

Fastrack store launched in city
Bhubaneswar: The second exclusive Fastrack store on Wednesday launched with a rocking musical performance at Anandam Complex in the city.
Its aim is to be a youth fashion brand and come closer to the consumers. Fastrack has expanded its portfolio and now includes not only watches and sunglasses but also bags, belts and wallets. All products of Fastrack are attractively priced between Rs 195 and Rs 3,795.
We have over 67 exclusive stores across the country making Fastrack an iconic youth brand, said its vice-president Ronnie Talati.