NIST-Berhampur among the top five Engineering colleges in Eastern India; ranked 31st nationally by DataQuest

Beach cleaning system for Gopalpur-on-Sea

The state government has decided to introduce integrated beach cleaning (IBC) system at Gopalpur-on-Sea and its nearby tourist spots such as PatiSonepur and Dhabaleswara. The tourism department has sanctioned around Rs 30 lakh for it, a tourism officer said.

The tender will be floated for this purpose very soon, said Ganjam district culture officer and in-charge tourist officer K C Nishank. A separate tender will also be floated for the cleanliness drive at Tampara, another tourist spot near Chhatrapur, sources said.

At present, the Gopalpur beach is cleaned by Gopalpur NAC, which has limited resources. But Pati Sonepur, Dhabaleswar and Tampara tourist places are not cleaned at all though a large number of tourists visit the area. "Many tourists, particularly foreigners, will flock to the tourist resorts if the beaches are cleaned. Beach tourism will get a boost then," said MLA (Gopalpur) Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi. Under the new beach cleaning initiative, the contractor has to engage sweepers to clean the beach manually. "No machines will be used as these will destroy the fragile eco-system of the beach," he added.

It was also decided that a committee of local people will be formed to ensure that complete cleanness is maintained. "The committee will supervise and advise the contractors, if they find any lacunae," said a tourist officer.

The district administration has also planning to impose the ban on use of polythene bags on Gopalpur beach. "We will ask the NAC of Gopalpur to strictly implement the polythene ban on the beach," said a government officer. Source: ToI 

Interesting Articles/Blogs/Travelogues on Berhampur

• 
  Berhampur: Sour,Sweet and smooth as Silk! By Sourav Panda (thebrokenscooter.com)
• From Berhampur to Brahmapur!  (svcberhampur.blogspot.in)
• Drifting Into a Side-Stream! By Hendrik Erasmus
• Gopalpur-on-Sea: An unforgettable memory; By Sugata Sen
• Kashmir of Orissa - Daringbari (avik-besttraveldestinations.blogspot.in)
• Weekend Drive to Ganjam; ByPriyadarshini Sur (www.boloji.com)
• Kolakata to Gopalpur-on-Sea : a Long Weekend; By DriveTrain BHPian (http://www.team-bhp.com)
  

Odisha CM writes to PM and Railway Minister seeking National Project status for Berhampur-Sambalpur (via Phulbani) and Gopalpur-Rayagada railway lines; demands speedy implementation of railway wagon factory in Ganjam

Berhampur Railway Station, Odisha

Demanding justice and proper share to Odisha in the 2013-2014 Railway budget, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to the Prime Minister mentioning the needs of the State in view of investment flow, economic growth and industrialisation. Pointing at the apathetic attitude of the Rail Ministry in spite of huge revenue collection from Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that 'the railway route length and all rail density in the state is much below the national average as also substantially lower than that in neighbouring States. In contrast, the gross earnings from various stations in the State of Odisha is estimated to be in excess of 14000 Crore during the year 2012-2013.' Chief Minister has requested the Prime Minister of India, in his letter, to ensure allocation of sizeable part of the revenues generated from Odisha within the State to strengthen and expand rail network.

Citing that the State needs to look for new virgin areas for development and industrialisation as many of the present industrial clusters have attained a stage of saturation in terms of availability of land, water and, also, due to environmental concerns, Naveen has demanded speedy execution of projects such as, Bhadrachalam Road – Talcher Rail Link via Malkangiri, Jeypore, Lanjigarh; Berhampur- Sambalpur new Rail Link via Phulbani; Rayagada – Gopalpur Rail Link via Bhismagiri. Requesting the PM to advise the Ministry of Railways to execute these projects on priority basis, Naveen has also urged that these projects should be treated as “National Projects”. The Chief Minister has demanded the Prime Minister in his letter to expedite the setting up of the Wagon Factory at Sitalapali in Ganjam which was declared in Budget for the year 2011-12 and also take steps to establish a railway apprentice training centre in the backward KBK region to support the skills development and increase employability of the people of this region.

Alleging that the union ministry has bypassed Odisha while implementing ambitious projects like the dedicated freight corridor aligned with mega industrial hubs, national road expressways and high speed train projects, Naveen has demanded that the eastern dedicated freight corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni should be extended to Vishakhapatnamso as to ensure seamless movement of freight between the ports and the vast northern and central hinterlands of the country. On poor or no rail network in the backward regions of Odisha, the Chief Minister said that lack of infrastructure has been one of the major reasons of impeding socio-economic growth of this region. Mentioning that expansion of rail network in these areas would help minimising the impact of left wing extremism, Naveen adds in his letter to the Prime Minister that ‘delivering rail services in the naxal affected regions is one of the best means to channelise development therein and provide counter active force.’

Source: Hotnhitnews.com & Orissa Diary

Berhampur University celebrates 47th Foundation Day

Berhampur University celebrated its 47th Foundation Day on 02 January 2013. The function was held at the Biju Patnaik Auditorium on the university campus. State Minister for Higher Education Badri Narayan Patra attended the function as chief guest. Berhampur MP Siddhant Mohapatra, Berhampur MLA R.C.C. Patnaik, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy, and Khallikote MLA Purna Chandra Sethy were present. University Vice-Chancellor Jayanta Kumar Mohapatra presided over the function.

The Berhampur MLA said the university deserved to be developed into a centre of excellence. He promised to take up the issue with the government and urged people of all sections to support him in his efforts. The Gopalpur MLA asked the State government to develop the university and the city as an education hub.

Mr. Patra said development of human resources in the State was closely associated with development all other resources in the area. Source: The Hindu 

Speeding train mows down six elephants near Berhampur in Ganjam

Six elephants, including a tusker and three females, were mowed down by the speeding Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express near Berhampur in Ganjam district. A train attendant also died in the accident, which has triggered a blame-game between the state government and the railway authorities.

While forest officials said the accident took place because their advise to the railway authorities to check the train’s speed was ignored, railway officials said the information reached them a little too late. They said the mishap had occurred at the exact time when they were informed about the movement of the elephants.

Source: The Telegraph

The accident occurred near Subalaya railway level crossing between Rambha and Humma stations in Ganjam district, about 40km from Berhampur. One of the elephants that died was pregnant with a two-month-old baby inside her. The foetus died as well.

A train attendant, Ranjit Jena, 24, a contractual employee, was also killed.

“The train was unstable for about a few minutes after the impact. Ranjit might have opened the door of the coach to check the matter and may have been thrown off the train. We found his body near the tracks,” said Ajaya Kumar Jena, the deceased’s cousin, also an attendant on the same train.

“The tusker that died in the accident was about 25-30 years old. There were two baby elephants and three females in the age group of 45-47 years. The pregnant elephant was dragged by the train for almost half-a-kilometre,” said Khallikote forest division ranger Bijaya Kumar Hota.

“The speed of the Coromandel Express was 110kmph when the accident took place,” said Sudhansu Mishra, divisional forest officer of Berhampur, who, along with the senior forest officers, reached the accident spot. “Railway tracks cutting through migration corridors are to blame for the accident. This is one of the most perilous tracks for wild elephants. We have put up 10 signboards saying ‘Elephant Crossing Zone’ along the railway tracks to caution train drivers and remind them to move the train slowly. They are supposed to run the train at 20kmph in this zone. But the Coromandel Express was running at 110kmph when the accident took place,” he said.

“The ranger of Chilika wild life division P.C. Guru informed the railway control room about the movement of the elephants in the area on Saturday night before the accident and requested the authorities to instruct the drivers of all the trains to move slowly,” he said. “It clearly shows that the railways are at fault and we have initiated steps to arrest the erring driver of the train,” Mishra said.

However, railway officials claimed that the Coromandel Express had already left Khurda when the message came. Chief public relations officer of East Coast Railway R.N. Mohapatra said: “We received the information at 12.43am when the accident had already taken place.”

The state forest officials have buried the dead elephants after conducting post-mortems on the spot. Forests and environment minister Bijoyshree Routray said: “If the railway authorities don’t comply with our directions, we will take up the issue with the chief minister. And he will write a strong letter to the Centre on this issue.” “We will hold a meeting tomorrow with the railway authorities,” she said.

Source: The Telegraph

Progress of City Bus service and modern Bus terminal projects in Berhampur reviewed by the Chief Minister

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the progress of several infrastructural projects currently under implementation in Berhampur (Click here to read the full document). The review included the city bus project planned for Greater Berhampur along with other projects such as development of a modern bus terminal, renovation and beautification of Ramlingam Tank, progress of three railway over-bridges inside Berhampur city, construction of NH-217 bypass, four-laning of the city roads, progress of solid-waste management project apart from several drinking water projects.

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More buses to provide services in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur

As a New Year gift, the state government has decided to augment city bus services in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur. A meeting in this regard was held on December 26.  While 48 buses - 15 standard and 33 mini buses- will be added to the fleet size on Bhubaneswar-Puri and Bhubaneswar city routes, city bus services (CBS), Berhampur, will have a fleet of 24 mini buses in the first phase. Besides, 12 air conditioned buses - six each on Cuttack-Puri viaBhubaneswar and Nandankanan-airport routes via Jayadev Vihar - will be run. The housing and urban development (H&UD) department will spend about Rs 15 crore for augmentation of the fleet of Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) and Rs 5 crore for CBS under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). At present, 105 buses ply inBhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda and Puri under the JNNURM scheme. As many 95 buses ply in Bhubaneswar alone.

Given the requirement of buses in the existing routes, the fleet size will be increased, said a senior officer of H&UD department. "BPTSL and Dream Team Sahara, which are looking after the operational part of the bus services, had given a proposal to increase the fleet size. Taking into consideration certain specifications, model and other parameters, it was decided to increase the fleet of buses," said the officer. The frequency of service, availability of present infrastructure and demand of the commuters were also taken in the account, he added. While each AC bus will cost around Rs 40 lakh, standard bus and mini bus will come for Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh respectively. For infrastructure development, Rs 2.12 crore has been set side. Sources said Nandankanan-airport route will have an improved frequency with buses available every 15 minutes. But the number of buses will remain the same. Khurda-Master canteen route will have six more mini buses at an interval of every 25 minutes, while four more buses will be added to the Kalpana square-Niladri Vihar and Biju Patnaik-AG square routes. Dumduma-VSS Nagar, Bidanasi-Master canteen and Sum hospital-Jagatpur routes will also have additional six buses. Five more buses will be run from Barmunda to Puri.

Official sources said Meghraj Capital Infrastructure Services, which is the transaction advisor for city bus services in Berhampur, will facilitate procurement of buses.

Source: Times of India