Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik offers special Puja at Tara Tarini Shrine

Orissa Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik visited the Adi Sakti peeth of Maa Tara Tarini on April 26, 2011. Tara Tarini, an ancient Shakti shrine is located on the banks of the mythologically famous Rushikulya River, 30 km from Berhampur city and is believed to be the Sthana Peeth (Breast Shrine) of Adi Shakti with its history dating back to antiquity. The Shrine is one of the ancient most places of Shakti worship and among the four major Shakti centers in India.

The Chief Minister landed at around 9.30am by a special copter near the hill shrine and directly went inside the holy temple and offered puja for around one hour. He visited the newly constructed temple complex and enquired about its progress. RDC of Southern Division, Orissa and Tara Tarini Development Board Chairman Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak and TTDB secretary Shri Pramod Panda informed him about the progress of all ongoing developmental works on both the hilltop and on the foothill region. They also informed the CM about the future infrastructural requirements keeping in view the consistently growing number of visitors and devotees to the shrine. 

Shri Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the new administrative building constructed by Purushottampur block at a cost of 25 lacs on the hilltop and appreciated the ongoing works. He reviewed the widening work of the ghat road, which is constructed by the PWD department, government of Odisha at a cost of Rs 5 crores.   On the foot hill of the shrine the CM laid the foundation stone for the Tara Tarini bathing Ghat on the banks of holy river Rushikulya at a cost of 10 lacs.

TTDB secretary Shri Pramod Panda conveyed the CM that this holy shrine is fast emerging as a popular religious tourism destination. Last month during the Chaitra festivals around two million devotees visited the holy shrine from the cross section of the country and mainly from Orissa and other neighboring states. Shri Panda informed that bearing the growing number of devotees in mind the TTDB has decided to construct a lavatory complex, big rest shed and view-tower on the hilltop. 

After knowing the facts the Chief Minister immediately directed the officials to expedite the ongoing developmental works for the benefit of the devotes and assured all possible help from the state government for creating required infrastructure facilities. Among others, Law and Rural Development Minister, Government of Odisha Shri Bikram Keshari Arukh, RDC and TTDB Chairman Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak, Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Pattnaik, Gopalpur MLA Dr. Pradeep Panigrahi, MLAs of Khallikate and Polosara, District Collector Shri V. Kartikeyan Pandian, SP Ganjam, SP Berhampur, all the office bearers of TTDB, Executive Officer of Tara Tarini temple and other officials of government of Orissa were present on the occasion.  

Silk city Berhampur gets air connectivity; first flight takes off from historic Rangeilunda Airport

A new chapter was added to the state’s aviation history today with the launch of a non-scheduled air charter service from Gopalpur to Bhubaneswar. Global Avianautics (GAL), which runs the Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) for the state government in Bhubaneswar, is operating the service. “The flight will take off daily from Gopalpur’s Rangeilunda air strip for Bhubaneswar. The six-seater twin engine mini aeroplane Pipper Seneca will carry four passengers and two crew members. The cost of a flight from Gopalpur to Bhubaneswar would be between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000. The distance between the two cities, which is about 186km by road, will be covered in 40 minutes,” said O.P. Suri, CEO of GAL, and wing commander Pradeep Chakravarty. Ganjam collector V. Kartikeya Pandian inaugurated the service on the auspicious day of Ram Navami. However, there were no passengers in the inaugural flight.

GAL would provide air journey to Visakhapatnam and other nearby cities having big or small airstrips, provided the plane covers the distance within two hours. Clarifying the status of the non-scheduled air charter services, officials of the GAL said that there is no schedule journey of the flight. “When we have four passengers, we will take off,” said a GAL officer.

Although there is no air ticket booking office or enquiry counter at Rangeilunda at present, GAL is planning to open an office on the premises of the PWD office situated near the air strip, sources said.

The GAL aviation services company is providing various aviation services such as flying training for fixed and rotary wing aircrafts, development and operation of small airstrips, non-scheduled air charter services and aero sports. The officers are quite optimistic about the prospects at Rangeilunda.

GATI at Bhubaneswar is using Rangeilunda as the second flying club in Orissa. “As the Bhubaneswar airport runway suffers from traffic congestion most of the time, the civil aviation ministry was in search of a suitable substitute and considered Rangeilunda air strip as the best,” captain M.S. Mander, flight instructor in-charge of GATI, had said earlier.

Mander, who had surveyed the Rangeilunda air strip along with wing commander Pradeep Chakravarty earlier, had urged the district administration to extend the present runway of the Rangeilunda air strip so that bigger aircraft could land and take off. Gopalpur, which is a major tourist destination, could have air connectivity with Calcutta, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar.

Rangeilunda is located at a distance of around 5km from Berhampur and is adjacent to Berhampur University. The Britishers built the Rangeilunda air strip during the Second World War.

Meanwhile, Road and Building, Division-II, Berhampur has prepared an estimated Rs 27.29-crore plan for development of Rangeilunda airstrip. Further, a green filed domestic airport has been proposed to come up at Konisi on the outskurts of Berhampur city.

Source: The Telegraph, IBNLive.com

Lakhs of devotees throng Taratarini hill shrine on 2nd Tuesday of Chaitra fest

Tara Tarini Hills (Kumari Hills) from the Sky (Image Source: Google earth)

Around four lakh devotees from various parts of Orissa and from neighbouring states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh thronged the Tara Tarini hill shrine on the auspicious Second Tuesday of the month of Chaitra. Tara Tarini, an ancient Shakti shrine located on the banks of the mythologically famous river of Rushikulya, 30 km from Berhampur city, is believed to be the Sthana Pitha (Breast Shrine) of Adi Shakti. The Shrine is one of the ancient most places of Shakti worship and among the four major Shakti centers in India. It bears a history of not less then 5000 years.

It may be noted that all the Tuesdays of the month of Chaitra are days of festivity at this hill shrine and this month long fest in honour of the twin goddess is the biggest fair of India held at any religious shrine.

As per the report available, on the second Tuesday of Chaitra festival around 10,000 babies offered their hairs to the goddess and the number this year surpassed the number registered in the corresponding Tuesday of the previous years.

The festivities started at this shrine from Monday midnight itself and throughout the night there were cultural programmes to entertain the devotees. After the traditional ceremonial works, the sanctum of Maa Tara Tarini opened at around 1 a.m in the morning and darshan started after that.

Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) of Southern Division, Odisha, Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak, Secretary Fisheries Government of Odisha Shri Satyabrata Sahu, Ganjam District Collector Shri VK Pandian, Superintendent of Police Berhampur and Ganjam and many other senior state and central government officials, apart from the executive officer and all other office bearers of Tara Tarini Development Board, were present on the occasion.

Last year on the third Tuesday of Chaitra, more than 6 lakh people visited the hill shrine. Therefore, sensing that, the Tara Tarini Development Board (TTDB) is making elaborate arrangements for the smooth darshan of devotees on the upcoming 3rd and 4th Tuesdays.

Thakurani Yatra kicks off in Berhampur; Goddess comes to her parental abode; Silk City erupts in joy

BERHAMPUR: The famous Thakurani Yatra, one of the biggest and attractive carnivals of Berhampur and Orissa,has kicked off on late Tuesday Night. The bi-annual extravaganza began with the presiding deity “Budhi Thakurani” arriving in her father’s house at Desibehra street in the city. 

As per tradition, Durga Prasad Desibehra, main organizer of the festival and known as the “father” of the deity along with his wife went to the Thakurani temple at mid-night on Tuesday in a grand procession to invite the goddess. After performing rituals in the temple, they returned with a garland of flowers in a basket and kept the same in a temporary thatched temple constructed for the purpose in front of the house of Desibehra. The Goddess will take rest for today and tomorrow in her parental abode. From the third day of the commencement of the ceremony, the garland will be kept inside a decorated ‘ghata’ (earthen pot) and the Goddess will visit to different parts of the city, known as ‘ghata parikrama’, on every evening for next one month amid religious fanfare. The main ‘ghata’ is carried by the wife of Desibehra on head; eight other women take position with the pots known as parswadevatas. Several others follow the ‘ghata’ carrying a pot on their head during ‘ghata parikrama’. The Ganjam District administration has initially given sanction for 15 days for the Yatra, which is likely to be extended subsequently. Considered as the biggest festival in this southern Orissa city, the occasion provides the people opportunity to rejoice. People of the region settled in different parts of the country and outside the country visit the city during this Yatra to be with their families. The Thakurani Yatra brings people of the city on to the streets and it turns into a mega carnival when thousands of people get themselves painted as different mythological characters and roam around the city streets.

Railway wagon factory to come up near Berhampur

Kolkata/ Berhampur: The proposed railway wagon factory of the ministry of Railways is likely to set up near Berhampur in Ganjam district. The State government has identified about 101 acres of land at Sitalapalli, about 15 km from here, for this purpose.

Union Railways minister, Mamata Banerjee had announced for setting up of a railway wagon factory in the state during her budget speech in the parliament. The proposed factory will be set up under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, where the state government will provide the required lands.

“Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik has already written to Banerjee about the selection of the site for the proposed factory” said a senior government officer. Patnaik has also asked her to take necessary steps to start work on the project.

“The Railways needed 100 acres of land for the purpose and we have identified a 101acre patch”, he added. The land coming under Berhampur tehsil is government land, sources said. The proposed site is about 1.5 km from Jagannathpur station. Tata Steel is setting up an Industrial Park near the proposed site.

The ruling BJD legislators from Ganjam district have hailed the government decision. “The government has rightly selected the site for the railway wagon factory, where several other industrial units like the steel plant and industrial park are coming up” said Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi, local MLA. “The people of the district will be benefited by the project” added MLA (Berhampur) Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik.

After joint inspection of at least four sites in different places of Ganjam district by the officials of the East Cost Railway and Ganjam district administration, finally the site near Sitalapalli was selected.

The detail project report for the proposed factory would be worked out by the Railways ministry after which the ministry would float bid inviting the companies to participate in the project.

The legislatures urged the Railways ministry to start the process for the setting up of the wagon factory without any further delay.

Source: Business Standard