Pragativadi

Business

Nalco donates 15 PCR vans to city police
Bhubaneswar: Principal secretary, home Aditya Prasad Padhi and Nalco CMD CR Pradhan on Tuesday flagged off 15 Police Control Room (PCR) vans donated to the commissionerate police by Navratna PSU National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco).
The PCR vans will assist the commissionerate police to help people in need, maintain law and order in the city, for quick response to the incidents and conducting special patrolling drives to detect traffic violations, along major stretches across the capital.
The PCR vans fleet was formally flagged off at the Reserve Police Ground on Tuesday. Nalco as part of its corporate social responsibility had spent Rs 78.63 lakh towards the cost of these PCR vans.
Among others, Director (personnel and administration) of Nalco Joy Varghese, Commissioner of Police BK Sharma, city DCP Himansu Lal, along with the senior officers of the company and police officers of the Commissionerate were present on the occasion.
Earlier, the city police had more than 10 PCR vans conducting patrolling.
With these additions, it is expected to augment the fleet and provide help to denizens.
It may be mentioned that last year, Nalco had also donated Rs 1.35 crore as financial assistance towards construction of a 100-men barrack at the Reserve Police line Campus in the city.

Union steel secy visits Tata rehab centre
Kalinganagar: The Union secretary of steel PK Rastogi on Tuesday visited the Tata Steel Rehabilitation facilities at Sansailo in Kalinganagar along with vice president (Orissa Project) of Tata Steel BK Singh Tuesday.
He was warmly welcomed by the rehabilitated families.
Rastogi appreciated the efforts of Tata Steel for putting in place good rehabilitation facilities and schemes for the displaced families of Kalinga Nagar.
He also interacted with the rehabilitated families and women’s self-help groups.
Tata Steel is setting up a mega project at Kalinga Nagar.

RSP equips village women with self-sustaining skills
Rourkela: The effectiveness of the initiatives taken by the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), designed to make rural women the agents of change through appropriate education and empowerment, is evident from the success of its women resource centres.
Last year the steel plant, via its corporate social responsibility initiatives, set up ten women resource centres in Chungimati, Bankibahal, Dumerjore, Jaydega, Baniguni, Usra R S Colony, Barilapta, Sorda, Chikatmati and San Nuagaon.
Women from these villages were initially trained in the nuances of managing of the centres, at the CSR Department of RSP.
Of them, 40 were selected as master trainers, who were thereafter trained in various modules like food processing, improved chullah making, basic healthcare, mushroom cultivation and vermin composting.
These master trainers have been assigned to impart their knowledge and skills to adolescent village girls.
Apart from training the girls, the women resource centres have also started their own ventures for earning a regular income.
One example is the ASHA women resource centre of Chukatmati where the members regularly make various food items like mixtures and chips and market them in their village.
The team invested Rs 800 in mushroom cultivation, and earned a profit of Rs 8,000.
The improved chullah has become immensely popular in Chikatmati, as well as nearby villages
However, what is of greater significance is that the members are sharing their knowledge and skills to the young girls.
In a follow up programme organized at the CSR department on 9 July, experts from SRI, Ranchi, discussed the practical aspects of the endeavours of the various WRCs and guided them to overcome various obstacles.

SPM berth at Paradip goes defunct again
Paradip: The Single Point Mooring (SPM) berth at Paradip went defunct again on Tuesday after partition of the discharging hoses due to rough weather and other problems. The SPM belonging to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is meant for discharge of crude oil.
Of late, the crude oil discharge was being done by one single string instead of double string as the other line was damaged due to rough weather during a ship operation and the SPM was non-operational for a month.
Thereafter, the IOC officials made one line operational and carried out cargo operations with their own hired pilots, which was accepted by the Paradip Port Trust.
The SPM is operated at only during good weather.
However, its operation during a cyclonic weather has raised many eyebrows.
The IOC officials could not be contacted about the mater.

City to host world meet on iron, steel
Bhubaneswar: A three-day international convention on ‘Clean, Green and Sustainable Technologies in Iron and Steel Making’ will be held in the city here beginning on July 15.
The convention, organized by the Multi Disciplinary Centre on Safety, Health and Environment (MDC on SHE) will be inaugurated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
A number of public and private undertakings have come forward to sponsor this convention.
Briefing newsmen on the objective of the convention here on Monday, chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy said that iron and steel making is intensive in terms of usage of natural resources including minerals of different descriptions, energy and capital.
Further, the raw materials used being intrinsically carbon based emissions are high impacting the climate materially.
Mining, a pre-requisite activity to iron and steel making is also another area of concern. We have taken all care to maintain the pollution level at the lowest level, he said, adding that clean and green technologies when adopted in manufacturing will reduce consumption of resources and energy and also reduce emission of green house gases.
In this context, the convention aims at identifying appropriate technologies that will promote sustainability and create awareness among various stakeholders including steel promoters, mining companies, scientists, academia, policy makers and people at large, Tripathy maintained.
Both preventive and ameliorative interventions are essential for sustained mining and industrialization, he pointed out.
Present on the occasion, state secretary steel and mines Ashok Dalwai said that India aims at producing about 250 million tonnes per annum of steel by 2020 up from the current output level of 65 mtpa.
Orissa would be one of the major contributors to this escalation.
He said that a total of 49 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) have been signed by the state government envisaging an output of 90 mtpa.
Referring to the global recession, Dalwai said that it has not affected Orissa’s industrial growth.
Also present on the occasion, convener of the organizing committee, GD Rath said that the convention, first of its kind in India will come out with a package of recommendations that are of practical value and thereby generate immediate gains for the Orissa in the short run.
Besides, to its local relevance, it would be a step towards meeting India’s international obligation in consonance with the Kyoto protocol, he added.

MCL supplies more than agreed amount of coal to Nalco
Sambalpur: The Angul unit of National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) has executed a fuel supply agreement with the MCL for supply of 4.71 million tonnes of coal per year, a release by the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) said.
During the current year, up to July 8, the MCL has supplied 1.35 million tonnes of coal against the pro-quantity of 1.27 MT.
With this, MCL has supplied 105 per cent of the agreed quantity to Nalco during this period.
As regards the NTPC, the MCL’s supply of coal has been to the extent of 99 per cent in the month of July and 91 per cent overall in this calendar year.
It may also be seen that this is no mean achievement, especially during the gruelling summer season, an MCL release said.
Besides, before the coal is dispatched to consumers like Nalco and NTPC, a joint sampling system is followed where representatives of the consumer and MCL analyst the coal at the loading point, and after satisfaction of both the parties, the coal is dispatched.
Hence MCL makes sure that quality as well as the quantity to the satisfaction of the consumer remains its priority, the release added.
The release came in response to counter a statement by Nalco on Saturday that besides getting its supplies from the MCL the company is also importing coal in order to augment its buffer stock.

SBI Life launches Maha Anand ULIP
Bhubaneswar: SBI Life Insurance has launched a new Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) named Maha Anand in Orissa.
As per the report of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), SBI Life Insurance, in keeping the middle and low-income segments in semi-urban and rural areas as its targets, ranked first among private life insurers till May this year.
With the premium being a minimum of Rs 6000 per annum, the new product is also exempt from medical examination.
The customers can avail of tax benefits under Sections 80 C & 10 (10 D).
The buyer can also decide on whether his contribution should be invested in Equity, Equity Optimizer or Bond Fund.
Money invested in it can also be partially withdrawn after five policy years to meet unforeseen contingencies.
The product is seen as a reflection of the commitment of the insurer to offer need-based solution to every socio-economic segment.

IFFCO begins phosphoric acid export
Jagatsinghpur: The Paradip unit of the IFFCO has decided to export phosphoric acid to its Kandla unit.
For export of acid, the Paradip unit has put 6 km-long pipe line from the plant to the jetty along with necessary pumping arrangements.
Notably, the first ship was loaded on Sunday with export of 8,000 tonnes of acid.
It is planned that export will be doubled from next month.
With export of acid, the Paradip unit will operate at higher load and this will improve financial viability of the unit in the market.
Notably, after acquisition of the Paradip unit in 2005, the IFFCO maintained its pace for revamping of entire complex to make it one of the efficient run units.
To make the unit further financially viable, it has been exporting power to Orissa.
It also started producing and selling hydrofluosilicic acid from the waste.

JSPL bags award for HR management
Bhubaneswar: In recognition of its outstanding people practices, the Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) was conferred with the Inaugural SAIL-IIM (A) award for excellence in human resource management.
JSPL’s strategic HR head Dr Sanjeev Sahni and GM-HR CD Mathew received the award from Union minister of steel Virbhadra Singh at a function at New Delhi.
Instituted this year in collaboration of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmadabad (IIM-A), the award commemorates 50 years of the SAIL in the steel business.

Sterlite Energy mulls IPO to raise Rs 3,000 crore
New Delhi: Sterlite Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vedanta Group firm Sterlite Industries, may hit the capital market soon with a public offering to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore to part finance its expansion plans.
Sterlite Energy is planning to come out with an Initial Public Offer (IPO) in next 3-4 months, sources close to the development said.
The company may dilute up to 10 per cent of its stake to raise about Rs 3,000 crore to fund its expansion programme.
When contacted, Vedanta Resources spokesperson declined to comment.
Sterlite Energy is working to set up two commercial power projects - a 2,400 MW plant at Jharsuguda in Orissa and another 1,980 MW utility in Punjab at an investment of about Rs 15,000 crore.
The company has already tied up finances worth Rs 6,150 crore for its Orissa project. In addition, Sterlite Industries is infusing a capital of Rs 2,050 crore.
In the first phase, the firm will commission 600 MW of 2,400 MW power plant in Orissa by this September-October 2009.
Vedanta Resources group companies, including Sterlite Industries and Hindustan Zinc, plan a cumulative capital expenditure of Rs 20,000 in the next one year to take the overall power production (captive and commercial) to 6,500 MW from the present 4,500 MW.

Centre to connect major employment exchanges across the country
New Delhi: The Centre has decided to list all information on job opportunities in government departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) on Internet by inter-linking major employment exchanges across the country.
The computerization process of major employment exchanges of the country is on and will be completed in the next three months.
Once this is done, all information about job opportunities and those listed in the exchange will be available on a website, Union minister of labour and employment, Mallikarjun Kharge said.
This could be a boon for job seekers as the proposed national portal will make all employment-related services available on a single window.
The web portal would be a storehouse of information on availability and requirement of skilled persons and would also network with industrial training institutes and other centres, a senior official of the ministry said.
Modernization of employment exchanges across the country will help students register online and reach out to any exchange in the country.
The National e-Governance Plan had identified employment exchanges as one of the Mission Mode Projects.
Modernization of the exchanges will be launched in two phases, covering Haryana, Rajasthan, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Assam in the first phase and the rest of the states in the second phase.
The modernization move will also enable real-time usage of online data submitted by employers for providing opportunities to job seekers, the official said.
Availability of data would also help both the Centre and the state governments to plan policy interventions, the official said.
The entire project is expected to be completed in 36 months from commencement of the work.
The ministry has held a series of meetings with state governments and the detailed project report is in the final stages of preparation, sources said.
National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), a non- profit making organization, has been selected as a principal consultant for the modernization of the employment exchanges.
Services of established job portals would also be sought to make the project possible, the official said.
Once the exchanges become fully active, they are expected to provide quality guidance on capabilities assessment, employment counseling and vocational guidance, and training- related information to the job seekers.

RSP donates Rs 1 lakh to Ved Vyas Ashram
Rourkela: As a part of its corporate social responsibility, the Rourkela Steel Plant provided Rs 1 lakh for various developmental works of the Ved Vyas, a Gurukul Vedic Ashram.
Teacher Prasanna Kumar Shastri and dealing assistant of the Ashram Subhash Chandra Sahu received the cheque from RSP Executive Director (Materials Management and Personnel Administration) SS Mohanty at a simple function.
The ashram, a centre for learning Sanskrit, houses 105 destitute students.
These students are provided free education, food and clothing.
The amount will be utilized in providing basic items like beds, clothes, school bags, utensils, mosquito nets to these students.
Among others, RSP GM (Town services and CSR) Narayan Pati and other officers of the CSR department were present.

Samiti protests Vedanta bauxite dumping plan
Bhawanipatna: Thousands of activists of the Paribesh Surakhya Sangram Samiti, headed by Hari Majhi took out a protest rally along the Rupra Road here on Sunday in protest against the proposed dumping of bauxite near the railway station here by the Lanjigarh-based Vedanta Aluminum.
The company planned to make a dump near the station, from which bauxite will be transported through trucks to the plant’s site at Lanjigarh.
The Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti, Kalahandi Sachetan Nagarik Manch and Green Kalahandi supported the movement of these activists, who called upon the residents of Rupra Road to fight against the dumping proposal.
The leaders alleged that the bauxite unloading near station would pollute the entire area.
Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das, who could not join the protest meeting because of the ongoing Parliament session, addressed the activists over mobile phone.

Nalco imports coal to increase buffer stock
Angul: Public sector aluminium major National Aluminium Company is operating its smelter plant here at its normal production capacity.
However, the company has requested Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) to increase the supply of coal, which the latter has assured, according to a Nalco release on Saturday.
According to the release, railway rakes have arrived with imported and washed coals, which Nalco had ordered earlier to strengthen its buffer stock.
Disturbed logistics due to heavy rains and wetness of coal are the reasons of recent shortfall in power generation at the company’s captive power plant, located adjacent to the smelter.
At present, Nalco is getting 12,000 tonnes of coal per day on an average from the nearby MCL.
Out of its eight units of 120-MW capacity each, the power plant is operating seven units at present.
On the other hand, out of its 840 units, the smelter is operating 835, while the rest five are under scheduled maintenance.
With the arrival of supplementary coal, the company shall operate all the units of the power plant soon.
Nalco has signed a Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) with the MCL for linkage of coal to make the newly commissioned ninth unit fully operational.
The recent crisis has so far not affected the aluminium production that was being apprehended earlier, the release added.

RFQ for at least one mega power project soon
Mumbai: The Union Power Ministry is likely to invite a Request for Qualification (RFQ) for at least one of the three Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) for which it has identified sites in Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
We are expecting one RFQ this year, additional secretary, ministry of power, Gireesh B Pradhan, told reporters at a conference here on Saturday.
The ministry has shortlisted Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, Bedabahal in Orissa and Kotipalli in Andhra Pradesh for the projects.
We have identified a total of 14 sites for UMPPs, Pradhan added.
Four out of these 14 proposed projects have already been awarded to private players. Three out of these are with an Anil Ambani Group company and the fourth with Tata Power.
While the Sasan (MP), Krishnapatnam (AP) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) projects have been awarded to Reliance Power, the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat has been bagged by Tata Power.
Each UMPP has a capacity of 4,000 MW.
Though no timeline has been fixed for the RFQ, it is likely to be invited soon followed by financial and technical bids from interested power players.
Pradhan added the country's target of achieving 78,775 Mw of power during the XI Plan Period (2007-12) was doable.
Asked what the government would do to expedite power projects, he said that the ministry will have more intensive monitoring, a much closer review at all levels and besides, would get Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) to take steps to shorten various processes.

Cosmopolis Plus launched in city
Bhubaneswar: Following positive response to The Cosmopolis-Phase I, Assotech BEBL Infrastructure Pvt Ltd has announced the launch of The Cosmopolis Plus in Bhubaneswar with better options having more value-added features with bigger sized apartments.
The Cosmopolis Plus combines the evolution of modern architecture with upscale amenities ensuring maximum lifestyle.
It comprises three bedroom and three bedroom+ study apartments, a company release said here on Saturday.

Conference on Nonferrous Minerals and Metals-2009 held
Bhubaneswar: The 13th International Conference on Nonferrous Minerals and Metals-2009 was held at the Swosti Plaza here on Friday.
Inaugurating the conference, vice-chancellor of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology Omkar Mohanty said that apart from bauxite, Orissa has substantial resources for nonferrous metals like nickel, titanium, and manganese that are yet to be exploited in the fullest extent.
In the opening address, Nalco director (finance) BL Bagra highlighted the need for diversification of nonferrous resources.
He said that Nalco was contemplating to explore possibilities of trying out the commercial scope of developing other nonferrous metals besides aluminum.
Director (Mining) of the Hindustan Copper RC Singla spoke on the copper industry in the country and issues related in mining and extraction of the metal.
Dr HP Mishra, former chairman of the IPICOL and RN Parbat, former COO of the Hindalco Industries were felicitated at the conference.
SK Banerjee, former CMD (in-charge) of the Nalco and the co-chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee delivered the welcome address at the conference attended by around 100 delegates from the country and abroad.
President of the Millennium Institute of Energy and Environment Management HS Ray also spoke.

RSP to reward meritorious students
Rourkela: To promote educational excellence and develop competitive spirit among students, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) on Friday announced that it would reward the meritorious students of the steel city.
The student getting the highest aggregate marks in class ten examinations of HSC, ICSE, and CBSE will be awarded.
Similarly, for class twelve there will be three awards each for toppers in various boards, company sources said here.
The scheme will be open to the students of all schools located in and around Rourkela.

Mobile launch
Bhubaneswar: Reliance Mobile CDMA has announced the launch of handset bundled offer, which includes a colour screen mobile handset Classic 206, priced at Rs 777. Offering a value-for-money deal with its economic pricing of Rs 777, the feature rich Classic 206 colour screen CDMA handset comes with a Reliance CDMA connection. Reliance Mobile customers are free to choose any tariff and value proposition from its exhaustive range of products and services.
The product adds variety to the wide bouquet of offerings in the Reliance Mobile CDMA portfolio.
The Classic 206 offers customers a large display with colour film, speaker phone, a large phone book memory enabling customers to save 500x3 contact details, 32 polyphonic ringtones, Hindi SMS and long battery life.

JK Paper Mills organizes Van Mahotsav
Rayagada: JK Paper Mills organized Van Mahotsav in various government offices and educational institutions here recently in a bid to foster awareness on the importance of plantation and greenery amongst the people.
More than 200 saplings were planted in the premises of the SP office.
Among others, SP Asish Kumar Singh, other senior police officers and JK Paper Mills officials were present at the occasion.

State software exports crosses Rs 1,168 cr
Bhubaneswar: Despite global economic crisis notwithstanding, the IT and ITES units in the state posted an impressive growth in software and IT services exports in the 2008-09 fiscal with a growth rate of 39.05 per cent over the previous year’s exports of Rs 840 crore.
According to state commissioner-cum-secretary, IT Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, the software exports for the first time crossed the Rs 1,000-crore mark and achieved a gross figure of Rs 1168 crore.
The state found a place amongst the top ten states in software exports.
While the national average growth in 2008-09 stands at nearly 21 per cent, the State notched almost twice this rate.
Kerala and Gujarat are the only two other states in the Rs 1,000-crore-plus software exports category, he told reporters here on Thursday.
Mohapatra said that the first notified Infocity IT SEZ commenced its operation from the state in January 2009 with the inauguration of the TCS Development Centre as the first approved unit of the IT SEZ.
The Infocity IT SEZ made its maiden software exports of Rs 6 crore in the last financial year. Other major units coming up in this SEZ are MindTree Consulting, Genpact, STG Chips and Perfectus.
Three other IT SEZs in the State have received approval from the commerce ministry.
Though one of these, the DLF Infopark, has sought de-notification, it is anticipated to come up soon with a proposal for setting up a world-class IT Park under the STP scheme. The state government has allocated funds for creation of external infrastructure linkages like roads, electricity and water for the Infovalley IT SEZ, which will spread over nearly 600 acres of land, about 15 km from the city.
Thirty acres of land has been identified for the Mindspace IT SEZ close to the Mancheswar Industrial Estate.
The state government is also considering setting up the first IT Investment Region (ITIR) and IL&FS has been engaged for conducting the techno-economic feasibility survey for the project.
The IIIT Bhubaneswar has received the Letter of Approval from the AICTE for an intake of 60 students each in the disciplines of Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE), Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EEE), Computer Science Engineering (CSE) and IT.
The institute, which is currently conducting M Tech courses in Computer Science and IT with 25 students each from the OCAC building, would shift to its own campus in August this year.
The IIIT Bhubaneswar has been promoted by the state government as a flagship institute to address the need of quality technical education and meet the shortfall of good quality faculty in technical institutions of the state, Mohapatra informed.
The state now has two operational STPIs at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela and a third one will be soon inaugurated at Berhampur.
A proposal to set up another STP facility is under consideration of the Centre.
Currently, there are more than 40 large and small e-governance projects in various stages of implementation that offers good opportunities to the IT SMEs of the state, he added.

Panel suggests single window clearance facility
Bhubaneswar: The departmental Standing Committee on Industries has suggested the state government to take steps to make the district-level single window clearance authorities functional for providing better industrial facilitation services to the micro, small and medium enterprise.
The committee, led by Mrs Usha Devi, in its fourth report on scrutiny of demand for grants for the year 2009-10 of the industries department that was submitted in the Assembly recently, has sought adequate budgetary provisions for the purpose.
It also suggested that the Orissa State Finance Corporation (OSFC) should start financing units at the earliest and may sign the necessary MoU with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in the interest of the local micro and small enterprises.
The committee has also recommended that the regional industries centres at five potential locations should be made functional by the end of the 2009-10 fiscal by effectively utilizing budgetary grants available for the purpose.
While observing that the grants made available to the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa for taking up investment promotion activities has been reduced as compared to the previous financial years, it called for more funds to the organization.
Expressing satisfaction over the approval for its earlier restructuring proposal of Orissa Small Industries Corporation, the committee noted that the restructuring should be meaningfully implemented by bringing out timely notifications pertaining to various decisions of the exercise.
The Orissa Industrial Infrastructure development corporation (IDCO) should set up at least five new industrial estates at various locations in the state having potential for setting up of new ancillary and downstream industries.
The committee also proposed that the corporation should take effective steps to set up aluminium-based downstream industrial park at Angul, a mega food park in Khurda, wood-based industrial park in Paradip, and apparel parks at suitable locations.
The committee recommended that the industries department should promote a good testing laboratory preferably in the Public Private Partnership sector.
It pointed out that while the Centre has already sanctioned six polytechnic colleges for the state, it may be moved for sanction, one for each district of the state where no polytechnic college exists.
It also suggested that adequate provisions in the first supplementary should be made towards subsidy to film producers of Oriya films, grant-in-aid or managerial grants to the Orissa Film Development Corporation, renovation and remodeling of existing cinema halls, term-loans or soft-sum-bridge loans and soft loans to producers for Oriya feature films and short Oriya films.

State to use BSNL bandwidth for e-governance
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa State Wide Area Network (OSWAN), an initiative of the Orissa government to set up an information and communication network for the entire state with the vision of making all government services accessible to the common man in his own locality, has taken a major step towards becoming a reality.
An agreement in this regard was signed on Wednesday between the Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), by which the latter will provide bandwidth for ensuring connectivity of over eight thousand e-governance kiosks across the state.
Commissioner-cum-secretary of IT of the state government P K Mohapatra said that the network so established would be at the core of the infrastructure for implementation of the e-governance plan and help the State improve the administrative efficiency and efficacy to achieve accelerated over-all development.
The network would augment the capacity of the state government to improve the interface with the common man and help the Mission Mode projects such as land records, road transport, education, municipalities, police, agriculture, employment and many others such areas.
It would also help improve the connectivity of the government offices in the state and district headquarters with those at the block and panchayat level, he added.
The project is being implemented by the OCAC, the Technical Directorate of the IT department of the state government at a cost of Rs 23 crore.
The project would be completed nine months ahead of the schedule, in November.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief General Manager (Telecom) of Orissa circle of BSNL AN Rai expressed satisfaction that the BSNL has been chosen as the bandwidth provider and assured that the BSNL would make all efforts to translate the aspirations of the common man to access information into a reality.
The effort would be to immediately provide 2 MBPS connectivity which would be scaled up to 8 MBPS wherever necessary.
The welcome address was delivered by GM (Marketing) J Ganta and the vote of thanks was offered by GM (Operations) US Panda.

Seminar on best mining practices held
Joda: A seminar on ‘Best Practices in Mining and Beneficiation Technologies’ was jointly organized by the Barajamda chapter of the Mining Engineers’ Association of India (MEAI) and the Tata Steel’s OMQ Division at the Valley Club of the Tata Steel at Joda.
The seminar was marked by presentations on mineral beneficiations, mineral conservation, use of chemicals for conserving water, thickened slurry disposal system, advanced blasting soft wares technologies.
The seminar was followed by the Mining Engineers’ Association of India’s annual general body meeting in which OMQ general manager Arun Misra was elected as the chairman, Shailesh Verma secretary and Mukesh Ranjan joint secretary-cum-treasurer.
Speaking after being elected, Misra set directions for the MEAI by constituting different sub-committees for environment, safety and productivity for promoting and sharing the best practices available.
About 250 participants including senior executives from mining organizations like SAIL-RMD, Tata Steel-OMQ, Jindal, Essel Mining, OMC and OMDC participated in the seminar aimed at sharing latest technologies for eco-friendly mining.

Numero Uno re-launches store in city
Bhubaneswar: Numero Uno, the flagship brand of the Numero Uno Clothing Ltd (NUCL), re-launched its store at Master Canteen Square in the city here on Thursday. The company introduced its brand NU Blue that offers denims and casual wears including shirts, jackets, sweaters and t-shirts.
The denims range from Rs 699 to Rs 999, shirts from Rs 599 to Rs 799 and jackets from Rs 1,499 to Rs 2299.
Speaking at the inaugural function, Business head of the NUCL Vivek Saraswat said that the new brand offers style, comfort and value for money.
At present, there are 33 stores of the NUCL and another 21 store are planned to be opened in the current financial year, he added.
The store houses entire range of Numero Uno jeans wear comprising over 1,600 garments for both men and women.

IIFT comes up in city
Bhubaneswar: The Institute of Interior and Fashion Technology (IIFT) started functioning at the Mancheswar Industrial Estate here on Thursday.
The institute will impart BSc, BBA and MBA courses in streams of fashion design, interior design and textile design, institute sources said.
Speaking on the occasion, chairman, IIFT, Bhubaneswar Amiya Ranjan Patnaik said that with improving life styles, there is increasing demand for branded and custom designed fashion wear as well as interior design products.
This has resulted in an increasing demand for professionals in these fields, which the IIFT aims to fulfill.
Aiming at high standards of course delivery tuned to the demands of today’s markets, the IIFT has brought together a number of highly experienced lecturers in these fields, he added.
Present on the occasion, Arabinda Kumar Zurkapker, academic director, IIFT, Mumbai said that the special feature of the curriculum is the practical experience provided through site and industrial visits, guest lectures, use of multi-media to enhance course delivery and projects for hand on experience.
These courses are open to people from all walks of life including students, home-makers and professionals, said Mrs Pratibha Mohanty, the managing director of the institute.

PPT breaks record in cargo handling
Paradip: The Paradip Port has shown excellent performance in the 1st quarter (April 1 to June 30) of the current fiscal 2009-10 by handling a total cargo capacity of 14.17 million metric tonnes compared to 11.31 million metric tonnes achieved during the corresponding period last year.
During the current period of the first quarter, the export cargo accounted for 6.9 million tonnes and the import cargo 7.8 million tonnes.
The major cargo handled are 3.7 million tonnes of iron ore, 2.8 million tonnes of thermal coal, 2.5 MT of crude oil and 2.5 MT of raw materials for fertilizer.
A total number of 392 ships were berthed and 387 ships were sailed by the marine department of the Paradip Port Trust despite acute shortage of pilots.
For the first time, public-sector fertiliser company IFFCO will be exporting finished fertilisers of 5,000 MT in containers to Chennai.
The container ship, Seaways Valour is waiting since July 3 to get berth.
Also IFFCO will be exporting for the first time 10,000 MT of phosphoric acid by a ship named Sun Lavender which has arrived here on July 7.
Presently 50 ships are waiting at Paradip to get berth and another 50 ships are expected to arrive by the middle of this month.
Sources said despite recession, the achievement could be possible under the guidance of PPT chairman K Raghuramaiah, the traffic department headed by Saroj Mishra and the marine department headed by Captain GP Biswal.
At this rate, the port can achieve 60 million tonnes of cargo handling by the end of this financial year surpassing its last year’s achievement.

Locals protest JSPL acquisition of water sources
Angul: Taking strong exception to the wanton misuse of water resources by the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), the locals have alleged that even after the direction of the Supreme Court the company has acquired and also destroyed the Nandira and Badakhandia rivulets at Basudevpur and Panapur.
For long, the locals have been depending on these rivulets and it has become their life-line.
A total of 160 families are rehabilitated at Basudevpur village by the state government after being displaced in the Derejeng Project.
The reserve forest land of this village was de-reserved in 1982 and the state government allotted the land to the affected people.
But now, these people are again forced to be displaced for establishment of the JSPL project and the company is acquiring the common property resources, including the natural water sources with the help of the local administration.
Such repeated displacement of poor people has seriously affected their social and economic life, rued the residents, who decided not to allow any JSPL employees to the village.
Meanwhile, the Orissa Lok Pal is probing into the matter.

NINL stresses on more productivity
Jajpur: Public-sector Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL), the largest producer and exporter of pig iron in the country, is all set to overcome the global recession.
NINL Managing Director BK Panda is busy planning to outsmart the recessionary trends in the market. In the recently-held meeting of the Board of Directors, Panda revealed his plans, said sources.
NINL, that made a turnover of Rs 1,359 crore in 2008-09 and made a cash profit of Rs 181.23 crore, is eyeing more export during 2009-10.
The company plans to produce 800,000 tonnes of hot metal and 736,400 tonnes of pig iron during this year.
In 2008-09, NINL had exported 242,804 tonnes of pig iron, while in 2009-10, it has planned to export 439,200 tonnes, said sources.
Domestic sales, which amounted to 129,897 tonnes in 2008-09, are expected to go up to 296,800 tonnes in 2009-10.
In May this year, NINL made the highest pig iron domestic dispatch since its inception. Though it was planned to dispatch 50,000 tonnes of pig iron, the achievement was to the tune of 60,552 tonnes.
In May last year, there was a dispatch of only 20,890 tonnes for domestic sales.
In 2009-10, NINL is eyeing an annual turnover of Rs 1,999 crore with a cash profit of Rs 255 crore.
The company is stressing upon improving the productivity and, accordingly, the business plan is made ready for implementation.
To improve the profit-before-tax with a target of Rs 150 crore in 2009-10, stress is given on improvement of productivity in each sector.

Vedanta to provide 200 MW to State Grid
Bhubaneswar: In view of the current power crisis in Orissa, Vedanta has come forward to help the state government by providing 200 MW of power daily to the State grid from its own plant with effect from Wednesday.
Vedanta is reported to have managed to provide power at the rate of Rs 3.60 per unit, which is less than the current market price of Rs 6 to Rs 7.
In fact, Vedanta had been providing 115 MW of power to the State Grid from its group company Balco in Chhattisgarh since July 4 by cutting supply to its own smelter. Looking at the continuous demand in the state, Vedanta extended its supply with effect from Wednesday from Jharsuguda and managed to provide additional 100 MW of power to the State Grid.

Tata Steel expansion projects on track
New Delhi: Tata Steel on Wednesday said that the project to augment production capacity at its Jamshedpur steel plant to 10.5 million tonnes is fully on and would get completed as scheduled by 2010.
The Jamshedpur expansion project is fully on and is on time, Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman told reporters on the sidelines of the Assocham Steel Summit here.
The steel major is working to enhance production capacity at Jamshedpur at an estimated investment of Rs 12,000 crore.
At present, the company’s plant has a capacity to produce 6.8 million tonnes of steel annually.
In addition to the existing plant, the company has also proposed setting up mega steel plants in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
The company says it wants the site condition to improve and iron ore blocks allocated quickly.
We want to do the Orissa project quickly. As the site condition improves and we get iron ore blocks. The same for Chhattisgarh, he said.
While in Jharkhand it proposes to invest about Rs 42,000 crore for a 12 million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA) steel plant, in Orissa it intends to pump in nearly Rs 22,000 crore for a six MTPA unit.
The steel major also plans to invest Rs 18,000 crore in setting up a five-million-tonne-per-annum steel plant in Chhattisgarh.

Swosti Plaza gets new name
Bhubaneswar: Swosti Plaza Ltd, eastern India’s largest convention hotel and popularly recognized as a premium business hotel in Bhubaneswar, has been renamed as Swosti Premium Ltd with effect from June 25.
The upgradation of our rooms, health club, discotheque, equipments, restaurants, food quality and service standards has helped us become the first hotel in eastern India to get the ISO 9001: 2008 Certification in June, 2009, said managing director of the Swosti Group JK Mohanty.
With the largest number banquets and major conferences with 159 rooms, Swosti Premium has become the most popular business hotel in Orissa, he added.

PPL bags best occupational healthcare award
Bhubaneswar: The Paradip Phosphates Limited (PPL) bagged the Best Occupational Health Care Award sponsored by the Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
PPL vice-president (Operations) Ranjan Basu received the award from commissioner-cum-secretary, labour and employment Jagar Singh at the 36th State Safety Award Ceremony here on Monday.
Among others, labour and employment minister Pushpendra Singhdeo and director of factories and boilers were present at the function.

Tata Steel bags 1st prize for longest accident-free period
Bhubaneswar: The Ferro Alloys Plant (FAP) of the Tata Steel at Joda was conferred with the first prize in the category of ‘Longest Accident Free Period’ by the Directorate of Factories and Boilers at the 36th State Safety Award Ceremony here on
Monday.
Head of the plant BD Nanda received the award from labour and employment minister Puspendra Singhdeo. The Tata Sponge Iron was also felicitated with the first prize in the category of ‘Lowest Weighted Frequency Rate of Accident’.
Besides, senior technician of the Tata Refractories Bijay Kumar Das was honoured with Shrama Award for best performance in safety for regular worker.

NTPC bags best environment award
Kaniha: The NTPC Talcher Super Thermal Power Station was conferred with the Best Environment Management Station for Safety Award by the Directorate of Factories and Boilers at the 36th State Safety Award Ceremony here on Monday.
NTPC Executive Director Lalan Prasad received the award comprising of a shield and a certificate from labour and employment minister Puspendra Singhdeo.
Senior manager of the NTPC RK Singh accompanied Prasad during the ceremony. Commissioner-cum-secretary, labour and employment Jagar Singh was present on the occasion along with other dignitaries.

ACC bags best mishap-prevention award
Bhubaneswar: ACC Ltd, Bargarh Cement Works, received the award for best performance in accident prevention, safety management
and communication system at the 36th State Safety Award Ceremony-2007 here on Monday.
The company’s director Rajendra Singh Rathore received the award.
Besides, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd received the Best Occupational Health Care Award while NTPC, TSTPS, Angul received the Best Environment Management Award.
Manoj Kumar Bal of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd received the Best Safety Officer Award. Similarly, Hindalco Industries bagged the Best Performance in Safety, Health and Environment Management Award and BGS Rao of JK Paper Mills the award for act of bravery for saving life and avoiding accident inside the factory premises.
Labour and employment minister Puspendra Singhdeo, who distributed the awards to the winners, advised the employers’ organizations to play a vital role in arousing safety consciousness among the employees.
Director of the factories and boilers SK Mishra delivered the welcome address. Commissioner-cum-secretary of the labour and employment Jagar Singh emphasized for attitudinal shaping up of the top management to achieve the best result in safety management.

OPGC clears 1,360 MW project at Ib Valley
Bhubaneswar:The Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) has decided to go in for a 1,360 (2X660)-megawatt thermal power plant with super critical technology.
A decision to this effect was taken by the Board of Directors of the OPGC at a meeting here on Friday.

The meeting approved an investment of Rs 7,500 cr for the units 3 and 4 each with a 660 MW capacity at its existing thermal complex at the Ib Valley in Jharsuguda district.
A global tender would be invited for the project by September, and it is expected to achieve financial closure by March 2010, said OPGC chairman PK Jena.

CEO of the American company, AES, Paul Hanarhan is visiting Orissa to review the project on July 10.
He would meet chief minister Naveen Patnaik to reassure the support of AES for this project, said official sources.

Till date, more than Rs 100 crore has already been spent for the expansion project, said the sources.
The OPGC is a joint venture of the Orissa government and AES with 51:49 per cent of shares. Meanwhile, in a strategic move, the OPGC has decided to expedite basic work of the project, said OPGC Managing Director Vivekananda Biswal.
The project has already been allotted two coal blocks at Manoharpur and Dipside Manoharpur in the Ib Valley, Biswal said.
Though earlier it was decided to go in for 2X210 MW for units 3 and 4, the State Task Force advised the OPGC for 2X600 MW units. Later, taking into consideration use of super critical technology, the authorities decided on the 2X660 MW project, he added.

IFFCO hails Centre’s plan to decontrol fertilizer industry
Paradip: The Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has welcomed the decision of the Centre to decontrol fertilizer industry and give direct subsidy to the farmers.
IFFCO MD Udai Shanker Awasthi commended the move while reacting to the Economic Survey of the Cenre.
The fertilizer industry, he said, partnered with Indian farmers in the green revolution that enabled the country to attain self-sufficiency in food grain production to a certain extent. In the recent times, the fertilizer subsidy has captured almost everybody’s attention.
He felt that fertilizer subsidy is actually a misnomer. He has, therefore, been emphasizing time and again that the subsidy should be disbursed directly to the farmers instead of routing it through the manufacturers.
IFFCO has been advocating payment of direct subsidy to farmers and has given presentations in this regard to the ministries of finance and agriculture, the Planning Commission and the Group of Ministers (GOM).
For this purpose, Awasthi had suggested certain alternative modalities like smart card and payment through banks.
With this move, manufacturers are expected to get freedom to produce products and sell them at reasonable prices, he said, adding that this move would help increase productivity.

BDA receives 4,000 applications under Amnesty Scheme
Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has received about 4,000 applications for regularization of the unauthorized constructions under its Amnesty Scheme.
BDA has collected approximately Rs 18 crore towards compounding fee and is now preparing to take the violators to task for knowingly missing out the scheme, sources said on Friday.
The Amnesty Scheme for regularising the constructions made in deviation of the approved plan on legal land in the capital city would never be offered to people in future, said BDA vice-chairman Deoranjan Kumar Singh.
The scheme was announced as per Section 72 (2) of the Planning and Building Regulation 2001, but this clause was done away with in the BDA Regulation 2008.