AC Buses in Bhubaneswar from February 2014

AC Buses in Bhubaneswar from February 2014

Here comes another great news for the people of Odisha. The capital of the state, Bhubaneswar, is going to add another feather towards becoming a metro and modern city of the country. According to the sources Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is going to launch AC buses in Bhubaneswar in the second week of February, 2014.

Number of AC Buses in Bhubaneswar:

BMC has planned to launch 12 AC Buses in Bhubaneswar. Procurement of these 12 buses has already been completed by the BMC officials. The buses have been supplied by a Kanpur based bus firm.

Routes:

AC Buses in Bhubaneswar will ply on three different routes initially. While one route is from Bhubaneswar to Puri the second route is from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack. Another route that has been finalized is between Airport and Nandankanan.

Facilities:

All the AC Buses in Bhubaneswar will have CCTV cameras and GPS monitoring system. Each of the buses will have 35 seats. The seats will be lower so that the elder and physically challenged persons don’t get any trouble while travelling in it.

Bus Fare:

The bus fare will be finalized the fare fixation committee. It is expected to be in a range which will be affordable by the common people. Dream Team Sahara, which is managing 125 city buses in the city, will also manage the functioning of the AC Buses in Bhubaneswar.

City Bus Route Info Signs to be Displayed on Several Routes :

The population of the Twin City is increasing rapidly due to the increasing job opportunities and affordable place to live in. With the increasing population the transportation facility must be good enough to control the commuters.

Government City Bus is playing a major role in transportation within the city. But most of the people are facing problems while choosing the right bus to their desired destination. So to help the commuters to choose the right bus, now City Bus Route Information will be displayed on the bus stops in the shape of signs.

The commuters will now have a basic idea on which bus to board to reach their desired destination and also about the other bus routes.

The sign boards were lying empty for more than one year after the Bus Bays were made. The City Bus service started on October 10, 2010 and the bus stops were completed recently.

Few days ago an initiation was made by The Telegraph about the empty sign boards held on some routes. But the Authorities before doing anything wrote the information about the bus routes on the empty sign boards. Now three routes 405, 207, 603 are having sign boards, while two more routes 801 and 504 will be added shortly.

“More sign will be developed along other bus routes. The public works department and traffic police will also be consulted on this. At present, the sign work is involving 168 bus stops along the three routes”, said Municipal commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra.

Zebra crossings and dividers would also be painted near the bus stops apart from the bus route signs, added  Municipal Commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra.

Nishikanta Mishra, chairman of the city bus operator Dream Team Shahara, said: “After covering the 168 sign posts, we will cover 200 more for two more routes. After that, 400 more sign will be added to the remaining 12 routes.”

The Dream Team Shahara is also planning to add more 60 buses to its existing 17 routes and extend the closing time from 8.30pm to 9.30pm after the addition of the new buses to the routes.

Bhubaneswar to become IT hub

Bhubaneswar to become IT hub

An information technology investment region (ITIR) is going to be established in Bhubaneswar. The proposed ITIR region in Bhubaneswar will be developed on an area of 40 square kilometers for which around 10000 acres of land is required. According to the sources, the ITIR region will come up between Bhubaneswar and Khurda at a cost of Rs 17,883 crore. The cabinet memorandum for the same is being made and it will get the approval of the cabinet soon.

The ITIR region of Bhubaneswar will create as many as 2,30,000 jobs in the state while it can accommodate a population of 5,40,000. Around three fourth of the project will be made in public private partnership (PPP) mode. Sources say that the in-principle approval has already been given by the centre. At a time when foreign direct investments (FDI) are gaining pace, the ITIR region will definitely attract a huge amount of investment to the state. The ITIR project is expected to include an airport, a global IT training centre and a science city among other things.

The Infocity II project that is already in progress, is also going to be a part of the information technology investment region of Bhubaneswar. Infocity II is being developed over 600 acres of land. According to the sources, the ITIR project will be completed in two phases. While 20 percent of the project is planned to be completed in the first phase, the second phase will have majority of work which includes 80 percent of the project. The next big thing about the project is land acquisition. As per the ITIR project plan, arounf 40 percent od the land will be allotted to the information technology (IT), IT enabled services (ITES) and electronics and hardware manufacturing units. The other 60 percent of the approved land will have development and research centers. Institutes of national and international importance will also be allotted land in this region. Some schools, hospitals and shopping malls are also planned to be constructed here.

Similar kind of ITIR projects are also approved in other states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 

Skywalks to be set up in Twin City by Government of Odisha

With the increasing vehicular traffic in the Twin City (Bhubaneswar and Cuttack); the pedestrians are facing a lot of problems in crossing the roads in the congested areas. Many accidents are also happening in the busy areas due to the road crossing. So for the convenience of the pedestrians Government of Odisha decided to build Skywalks on the busy areas of the city. The first Skywalk is going to be set up in Jaydev Vihar. The whole idea of building Skywalks in the Twin City came from from the Mumbai Skywalks.

The main purpose of the Skywalk is efficiently moving the pedestrians from the busy congested areas to other locations. The Skywalk will be connected to the Bus Stations, Taxi Stands and shopping malls through a dedicated walkway. Where the Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) are only meant for crossing the roads while a Skywalk will extend a little bit and to more than one direction.

The state housing and urban development (H&UD) department is looking for an executing agency for the Skywalks project. The project cost of the Skywalk which is to be build in Jaydev Vihar is around 10 Crore. The Whole investment will be done by JNNURM funds for the development of the infrastructure of the city. A similar Skywalk is also to be set up near Link Road in Cuttack. In the second phase, we have planned to construct skywalks at Kalpana Square and Raj Mahal Square in Bhubaneswar, H&UD special secretary S K Ratho said.

The Whole Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) project is now replaced by the Skywalks even if the Foundation stone of the Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) at Javdev Vihar han been laid on 31 August 2013. The government is now planning to construct the Skywalks on every Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) site.

As the Skywalks will not only help the pedestrians to cross the road but also lead them to different locations, this will be best the common people. Most of the Urban Planners welcomed the skywalk concept, but they had a doubt whether it can serve the purpose at Jaydev Vihar.

Skywalks are suppose to be present near Metro Stations likewise in Mumbai, so some people feel that the skywalks needs to be set up at Master Canteen and Kalpana Square. The demand of the people is that the projects should be completed as soon as possible not like the Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) which was announced in 2011 but the construction is yet to start.  

Odia Director’s film selected for International Film Festival

Odia Director’s film selected for International Film Festival

Odia Director Sabyasachi Mohapatra’s feature film ‘SALA BUDHA’ has been selected for International film festival of India’s Indian panorama section. the list of the feature films to be showed in the IFFI-2013 has been announced recently in which 26 films have been shortlisted. The jury that was chosen for the selection of feature films was headed by noted film maker and editor B. Lenin. The jury comprised of nine members and it took 21 days to finalise the list in which ‘SALA BUDHA’ finds a place. Paan Singh Tomar is also shortlisted as direct entry to the festival. It had won Best Feature Film award in the 60^th National Film Awards. Six Malayalam, five Bengali 3 Marathi, 2 English and one film each from Konkani, Kannada, Kosali and Tamil have been selected in the featured film category. A number of movies have also been selected in the non-feature film category.

The 44^th IFFI-2013 is going to be held in Goa from November 20 to November 30, 2013. ‘SALA BUDHA’ is a movie made in Kosali language. It focuses on the rural area. It is an attempt to show the plight of aged people in the western part of Odisha (in the villages) in the form of a movie. ‘SALA BUDHA’ is the daptation of the novel of Kapil Prasad Mohapatra, father of the director Sabyasachi Mohapatra. This movie is made in black and white and the director says that he has enough reasons for doing so. This, being a periodical movie, a black and white adaptation can give it the required justice. The Oscar award winning movie, The Artist, was also made in black and white and that is the inspiration for the director of ‘SALA BUDHA’. The last film to be selected for IFFI was ‘Swayamsidha’ which was directed by Sudhanshu Sahu.

The movie ‘SALA BUDHA’is produced by Susanta Mohapatra. While the dialogues are written by Atala Bihari Panda, Prakash Mohapatra has contributed as the cinematographer. The cast of the movie includes Ghasiram Mishra, Gadadhar Barik, Prithwiraj, Atala Bihari Panda, Netranand, Purushottam Mishra and Ratan Meher. 

Odisha Among Top States in MSME Job Creation

When we talk about job opportunities in the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector, Odisha has fared well in creating job opportunities in that sector. According to the Union ministry of MSME's annual report for 2012-13 Odisha has been ranked among the 10 leading states in country in terms of employment generated by the MSME sector.

The number of employed people in the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) reached to 3.32 million and 0.173 million are employed in the registered sector. About 3.15 million people engaged in the unregistered sector.

The other leading states in terms of employment in MSMEs are Uttar Pradesh (9.23 million employees), West Bengal (8.578 million ), Tamil Nadu (8.09 million), Andhra Pradesh (7.069 million), Maharashtra (7.04 million), Kerala (4.96 million), Gujarat (4.77 million), Karnataka (4.672 million) and Madhya Pradesh (3.36 million).However, the state did not feature among the top 10 leading states in terms of number of enterprises.

The total number of MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) units in Odisha is about 1.57 million out of which 1.53 units are registered and the rest being the unregistered sector.

It may be noted that enterprises registered with district industries centres in the states/ Union territories, Khadi and Village industries commission (KVIC)/ Khadi and Village Industries Board, Coir Board (as on March 31, 2007) and factories under the coverage of Section 2m (i) and 2m (ii) of the Factories Act 1948 used for Annual Survey of Industry having investment in plant and machinery up to Rs 10 crore were considered to belong to the registered sector.

The top states in terms of number of MSME enterprises are Uttar Pradesh (4.403 million units), West Bengal (3.664 million), Tamil Nadu (3.313 million), Maharashtra (3.063 million), Andhra Pradesh (2.596 million), Kerala (2.2 million), Gujarat (2.178 million), Karnataka (2.02 million), Madhya Pradesh (1.933 million) and Rajasthan (1.66 million).

Similarly, the enterprises engaged in the activities of manufacturing or in providing/rendering of services, not registered permanently or not filed entrepreneurs memorandum (EM) with state directorates of industries/district industries centers on or before March 31,2007 are classified as unregistered enterprises.

The state government is taking keen interest to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) to facilitate credit linkage for MSMEs (micro, small & medium enterprises) in the state.There are 26 DICs and five RICs in the state.

Government of Odisha to develop 2,158 km highways under Road Development Plan

Highways in a state show the development of that area. Wide highways will increase the transportation rate which will ultimately lead to achieve the business goals. That’s why the state government has came out with plans to improve the conditions of 2,158 km state highways with an total investment of Rs 3,000 Crore in upcoming 4 years. The tender notice has been called for the 1st phase of work involving 381 km or state highways with an expenditure of Rs 633 Crore.

A new scheme has been introduced by the Government of Odisha called as State Highways Development Programme (SHDP), which will be working on doubling the State Highways within five years with an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 Crore.

A Project management Cell is going to be set up to manage and monitor the projects under SHDP scheme. The work department has been advised to engage Professional Contract Management Agency to assist the PMC to accomplish the target in due time.

The first phase of the programme include widening and strengthening of the road of 11.772 km long between Hindol and Mahidharpur on SH-64 in Dhenkanal District. The first phase also includes 11.93 km long Umerkote-Raighar-Kundei-Likma on SH-40 in Nabarangpur district, , 8.20 km Seragarh-Nilagiri-Jharanaghati on SH-19 in Balasore district and 7km Arigaon-Bishalpali road in Bolangir district.

The first phase also include Shergada- Badagada-Sorada stretch on SH-36 of 38.95 km in Ganjam district, Manamunda-Kantamala-Ghantapada-Sindhiguda (SH-41) of 24.19 km in Boudh, Banigochha-Madharpur-Khajuripada-Phulbani-Saranagada-Nuagaon-Baliguda (SH-1) of 52.52km in Kandhamal, Baliguda-Muniguda (SH-5) of 24 km in Kandhamal, Parvatipur-Laxmipur (SH-51) of 47.35 km in Koraput district, Karanjia-Thakurmunda-Satkosia-Anandapur (SH-53) of 57.22 km in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar district.

As per the decision, the Berhampur-Mandara stretch (31 km) and Shergada-Badagada-Sorada (38.95 km) in Ganjam district, Padadahandi-Umerkote-Yerla (18.60 km) and Umerkote-Raighar-Kundei-Likma (11.93 km) in Nabarangpur district and Bhawanipatana-Gunupur-Kashipur (18.90 km) in Kalahandi district will also be developed into two lanes.

In a high level meeting which has been held recently chaired by Chief Secretary, J K Mohapatra, the main emphasis was given on widening roads in the Naxal-affected districts. In the meeting, Chief Secretary J K Mohapatra asked the officials to prepare monthly work plans against each road project and accomplish the target.

The State Works Department has decided that project costing more than Rs 20 Crore will be implemented under Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode. The Chief Secretary has advised the works department to finalize contract awards of 800 km roads and finish tendering of balance roads by December 2013.