Govt loses out on the complete picture

Barely a month ago, an OTDC- sponsored ad read “Destination Orissa” on a full-page glossy paper in one of the largest circulated national dailies.
The aim was to showcase the state’s tourism potential. It aptly did so, by highlighting the landmarks of the state, such as the golden triangle and other areas of coastal Orissa. A few days later, news reports highlighted the increase in tourist influx into the state. They mainly included foreigners and those on a religious vacation.
A few days before the Puri car festival, an OTDC scroll on an electronic channel reported about special trains being organised from several parts of the state for the convenience of those coming from different parts of the state. Just two days ago, Mr Devi Mishra, tourism minister, had declared that, Satyavadi Vidyalaya, and other such monuments, together with their suburbs, would be made into state tourist spots.
But the minister’s announcements only appear to be knee-jerk reactions. Not only the current ones but also many such initiatives in the past forgot the vast tourism prospect of western Orissa.
It will be a monumental blunder on the part of ministers and bureaucrats to neglect this area, rich in natural flora and fauna species, besides many other attractions for all tourists.
During a recent visit to Sambalpur, intellectuals and eminent citizens were dismayed at such neglect. “It is as if there is no proper tourist place to visit in this part of Orissa,” Mr P Behera, a Sambalpur lawyer, said. Many echoed his sentiments. “I do not understand the government’s mindset,” said Mr S Bahidar, who is doing his MBA in Bhubaneswar and thinking of getting into tourism-related business, to explore its potentialities.
Even at Rourkela, his sentiments are echoed. Mr R Kanungo, secretary, Rourkela Intellectual Forum, and also a famed columnist had once said: “The entire region, from Kalahandi-Nuapada to Rourkela is filled with potential tourist destinations, which only need to be tapped. But, who will do the hard work of exploiting these places?”
For Mr Kanungo and others, the area offers true potential, but lack of efforts on the part of intellectuals have led to its neglect. They wondered why events such as Dhanu Jatra and Sital Sasthi remain mostly of academic interest, when car festival arrangements are made with such fanfare.
Besides, they also said the tourism department does not make any genuine attempt at promoting such venues, especially religious ones, as tourist destinations.
For Mr Byomkesh Panda of Sambalpur, now residing here, “the golden triangle and other such areas of coastal Orissa are attractive but they have been exploited and over-advertised. But here we have many areas such as Khandadhar, Vedvyas, where the **Mahabharat** originated, the Ushakothi reserve forest, Gandhamardan of Bolangir, Hirakud and so on. They can easily attract tourists, thereby signalling a complete development of state tourism.” Every dark cloud, however, has a silver lining. Some tour operators are trying to exploit these possibilities by regularly attracting tourists, despite government apathy.

Baby snatcher' sends CNN-IBN notice

The Managing Director of the dubious adption agency in Pune, Preet Mandir, J S Bhasin, finally surfaced one week after CNN-IBN exposed his agency of violating all adoption laws and selling babies to foreigners.

Bhasin has sent a notice to CNN-IBN under Section 500 of Criminal Procedure Code to withdraw the reports and refused to answer any questions regarding the investigation.

He also said at a press conference that the public must not get carried away by the CNN-IBN expose on adoption.

At present the Centre and state government is inquiring into Preet Mandir's activities.

The Central Adoption Resource Agency has also issued show cause notice Preet Mandir.

Preet Mandir and J S Bhasin are accused of selling children to couples and Bhasin was caught on camera by CNN-IBN negotiating a deal.

Evidence that the racket has political and administrative patronage is mounting, but the police say they are unable to take any action.

"We are still examining the matter. We will see whether we have suo motu power or whether some other authority that has to lodge the complaint. Only then we can proceed. We need a directive from the concerned authority," said Pune Police Commissioner D N Jadhav.

According to the Juvenile Justice Act, the police can crack down on the racket only when the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) asks it to.

However, the Director of the CWC in Pune, A K Banerjee, himself runs an adoption agency accused of exploiting children.

"Bannerjee runs an adoption agency called Sampark, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Children are being sexually exploited at his agency," a social worker working for the NGO, Actions for The Right of The Child alleged Ingrid Mendonca.

CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team had also exposed in another report that only 11 agencies in Orissa have got the license to give babies in adoption, but the number of illegal adoption centres are manifold, with Rourkella having six of them.

Reacting to the expose, Orissa Women and Child Development Minister, Pramilla Mallick and Secretary Mona Sharma had said on Friday that the state government would waste no time in acting on the matter.

They went through the evidence presented by CNN-IBN, in which at least six adoption centres in Rourkela, including Global Village and Sahayog, have sold hundreds of babies in the name of adoption.

Global village is run by an IAS officer KP Sethi.

After seeing the story, Mallick has promised that not only the running of these adoption centres but also other such illegal centres will be enquired into and tough action will be taken within a week.

Mona Sharma says that the government did not have any knowledge of such illegal adoption centres thriving in the state.

She thanked CNN-IBN for their efforts in exposing the racket and said that the evidence provided by CNN-IBN will be used for taking action against fraudulent institutions.

Baby snatcher' sends CNN-IBN notice

The Managing Director of the dubious adption agency in Pune, Preet Mandir, J S Bhasin, finally surfaced one week after CNN-IBN exposed his agency of violating all adoption laws and selling babies to foreigners.

Bhasin has sent a notice to CNN-IBN under Section 500 of Criminal Procedure Code to withdraw the reports and refused to answer any questions regarding the investigation.

He also said at a press conference that the public must not get carried away by the CNN-IBN expose on adoption.

At present the Centre and state government is inquiring into Preet Mandir's activities.

The Central Adoption Resource Agency has also issued show cause notice Preet Mandir.

Preet Mandir and J S Bhasin are accused of selling children to couples and Bhasin was caught on camera by CNN-IBN negotiating a deal.

Evidence that the racket has political and administrative patronage is mounting, but the police say they are unable to take any action.

"We are still examining the matter. We will see whether we have suo motu power or whether some other authority that has to lodge the complaint. Only then we can proceed. We need a directive from the concerned authority," said Pune Police Commissioner D N Jadhav.

According to the Juvenile Justice Act, the police can crack down on the racket only when the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) asks it to.

However, the Director of the CWC in Pune, A K Banerjee, himself runs an adoption agency accused of exploiting children.

"Bannerjee runs an adoption agency called Sampark, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Children are being sexually exploited at his agency," a social worker working for the NGO, Actions for The Right of The Child alleged Ingrid Mendonca.

CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team had also exposed in another report that only 11 agencies in Orissa have got the license to give babies in adoption, but the number of illegal adoption centres are manifold, with Rourkella having six of them.

Reacting to the expose, Orissa Women and Child Development Minister, Pramilla Mallick and Secretary Mona Sharma had said on Friday that the state government would waste no time in acting on the matter.

They went through the evidence presented by CNN-IBN, in which at least six adoption centres in Rourkela, including Global Village and Sahayog, have sold hundreds of babies in the name of adoption.

Global village is run by an IAS officer KP Sethi.

After seeing the story, Mallick has promised that not only the running of these adoption centres but also other such illegal centres will be enquired into and tough action will be taken within a week.

Mona Sharma says that the government did not have any knowledge of such illegal adoption centres thriving in the state.

She thanked CNN-IBN for their efforts in exposing the racket and said that the evidence provided by CNN-IBN will be used for taking action against fraudulent institutions.

Trade unions call for 'paralysing' central units on June 30

Aiming to pressure the Centre to roll back its decision of divesting 10 per cent stake in the state-owned NALCO, as many as seven trade unions today threatened to "paralyse" functioning of central sector establishments including rail and air services on June 30 in Orissa.

The decision to "paralyse" the Central establishments was taken at a joint meeting of several trade unions and some political parties held here this morning even as NALCO Employees Unions continued to put up token protests. "All central trade unions and political parties including the CPI, CPI(M), SUCI and BJD have agreed to halt functioning of establishments on June 30. We will be picketing in front of every central offices and industrial units including Rourkela Steel Plant on June 30", AITUC General Secretary Souribandhu Kar said.

"We wanted immediate paralysing of all central sector units. Since Rath Yatra of Puri falls on June 27 and devotees could face problems, the protest had been deferred by three days", he said. "We will wait and observe the Union Government's response to our strike. If encouraging assurances did not come subsequently, we will lead an all-party and all trade unions delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his intervention". The final resort would be Orissa bandh and paralysing of NALCO operation for an indefinite period, he said.

Naveen accused of doublespeak

Former MP and INTUC leader Mr Ramachandra Khuntia charged chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik with doublespeak saying that as the steel and mines minister in the National Democratic Alliance government, Mr Patnaik had approved of Nalco divestment.
The chief minister is trying to befool the people by adopting a different public posture on Nalco and other critical issues, said Mr Khuntia at a Press conference here today.
It is true that the BJD had joined the protests here when the NDA was in power but it is also true that Mr Naveen Patnaik as the steel and mines minister had approved of divestment, said Khuntia.
“It seems to be a regular feature of the chief minister to change his stand and misguide the people. Even on the coal royalty issue, the chief minister has sent letters to the Prime Minister but when he was the minister he had said no to revision of royalty rates,” said the INTUC leader.
Mr Patnaik as Central minister had said there was no need and no proposal for revision of royalty.
“Had he forgotten the interests of the state for which he is crying hoarse today,” asked Mr Khuntia.
Citing another instance, the INTUC leader said the chief minister has been blaming the Centre for rehabilitation of the displaced in Rourkela Steel Plant, people of Orissa should ask him what had he done on this matter when he was the steel minister and had subsequently nominated Mr BK Tripathy as the steel minister, he asked.
“The chief minister writes letters to the Centre for public consumption whereas he never did anything on all these matters when he was in the NDA government,” said Khuntia.
Mr Khuntia said the state unit of the INTUC had today resolved to oppose the divestment of Nalco.
A copy of the resolution and the objections have been sent to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Union ministers for finance and mines, besides the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, he said.

Land acquisition hurdles delay work

Is Rourkela headed the Kalinga Nagar way? Going by what transpired at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik�s review meeting on land for Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) at Rourkela, it appears so.

Almost three years after President APJ Abdul Kalam laid the foundation stone for the State�s only technical varsity campus, things have not moved an inch, literally. For, acquiring the 153.5-acre has proved an uphill task with locals protesting what they call �displacement.�

The varsity authorities have not been able to complete the compound wall work as yet, let alone start the varsity construction work, which has put a question mark on establishment of the varsity.

Needless to say, the State Government is wary of the development. On Monday, Naveen convened a meeting here to review the status of the varsity establishment.

Reliable sources said the varsity authorities told Naveen that the project has been delayed well beyond schedule and time is fast running out because work has not been started in absence of land acquisition. BPUT had started construction of compound wall on a 125.5 acre area (it gave up about 28 acre from the original 153.5 acre near Chhend), but work has hit a roadblock on a stretch of 33 metre because of land dispute.

As the land once belonged to Rourkela Steel Plant and was not used, sources said, the State Government had taken it over. Locals now demand that the land should go back to the �rightful tenant�. A case on this matter is now pending before the High Court. The Chief Minister expressed concern over the delay and directed officials to initiate talks with local politicians to resolve the crisis.

The Government, sources said, is also preparing for the worst scenario. Since this patch has proved difficult, the varsity authorities have started looking for an alternative.

The sources added that Naveen has also asked the Revenue Divisional Commissioner to look for an alternative site in Rourkela to locate the varsity.

If things don�t fall into place soon, the varsity may just be shifted out of Rourkela, the sources added.

The meeting was attended by Industries Minister Biswabhusan Harichandan, senior officials of Revenue Department and BPUT VC Prof Omkar Nath Mohanty.



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REMINISCENCES OF GURUJI GOLWALKAR

Shri Guruji and his assistant Dr.Aba Thate arrived at Balasore in 1954. In the evening in a meeting of intellectuals when Shri Guruji was answering questions raised by the invitees, an advocate was just passing comments after each talk. At the end, tea was served and the advocate in assuming tone said, “so Guruji ! you want, we all should help you.” Thundered Guruji, “prostitutes are helped, Motherland is served not helped. Say I would serve the motherland”. The lawyer left the spot without uttering a single word.

After appearing in Matriculation examination in 1955 from Balasore, Orissa, I came to Nagpur to undertake first year course of OTC (Officers Training Camp) as no such facility was available in Eastern, India. We were to walk eight km every day for one month from City College to Resham Bagh a huge landmass crisscrossed by the Nag river, a narrow stream carrying sewerage water, where large number of donkeys used to loiter.

First Meeting with Shri Guruji (Punar musika bhawa)
At Hedgewar Bhawan in our first meeting with Shri Guruji, he narrated the story “Punar musika bhawa” of a ‘frightened rat transformed to a maiden by a Rishi.’

Once in the Himalaya, one Rishi noticed a frightened rat was running being chased by a predator. So the Rishi transformed the rat to a maiden. The maiden grew up and the Rishi asked her to select any body in the world whom she liked to marry since no one could defy him.

The maiden first chose the mighty sun to marry, then seeing the sun shrouded by clouds thought It to be still mightier and thus intended to marry the clouds; but when clouds were blown by the wind she thought the wind to be still mightier

When she saw the wind could not cross the Himalayas she thought Himalayas to be mightiest among all; however, at that time she saw a rat coming out of the hole in the Himalayas which she considered as the ultimate mightiest amongst all others, she finally decided to marry the mightiest-rat. Thus, the Rishi retransformed the maiden into a rat by saying, ‘punar mushika bhava’.

This story was narrated in the context of the following incident…
After the demise of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1953 the founder president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, some legislators felt desperate and resigned from Jan Sangh in Orissa Assembly and one among them was Dr. Nila Kanth Das, a pioneer in Oriya literature, who was earlier in Congress and leader of Jan Sangh in Orissa re-joined Congress declaring his full faith in the ideals of Sangh. Of course Nila Kanth Das kept his words till his death.

Pt. Nila Kanth Das, Godabaris Mishra with a revolutionary background and Jadumani Magraj, the firy orator ; the trio had tremendous influence in Orissa. The political destiny of Orissa would have taken a different route but for untimely death of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in confinement under doubtful circumstances in Kashmir.

In 1963, Baburaoji Paldhikar prant pracharak of Orissa was arrested under Defence of India Rules for defying externment order served on him for criticising state government for its inept handling of riot situation at Rourkela. During the time RSS work was microscopic.Yet I got a statement from Nila Kanth Das condemning the arrest with a warning to government which was published in newspapers of Orissa.

At Nagpur, I was picked up to read out the last speech of Dr. Hedgewar in Bengali in 1955 as no one from West-Bengal joined the O.T.C. Standing in front of Guruji I read out the speech but avoided repeating a word which Guruji immediately asked me to repeat which I did.

Lord Jagannath smiles
In the A.B.V.P conference held at Nagpur in 1964 after the death of Nehru, Guruji was among the invitees while Swami Chinmayanand was delivering the inaugural speech.

Later I went to Hedgewar Bhavan and before I could bow Guruji stopped me telling he was not so great to deserve such thing.He asked me to remove the badge of A.B.V.P from my shirt as its work was over. At that time, I was a student leader and at the vanguard of all Orissa student agitation which caused closure of all colleges in Orissa for months together.

Years later, while driving from Bhubaneswar to Puri with Thengadiji we discussed about car festival of Jagannath. Devotees of Jagannath said to Thengadiji, out of reverence touch chariot rope used for pulling the chariot and the road and offer obesance to Lord Jagannath. But the chariot, the rope and road receiving so much respect from so many people get enthralled and excited, start assuming that they are also gods. Overlooking this Lord Jagannath smiles.

Thengadiji continued, when we address public meetings witnessing a large gathering we feel that we deserve it, it signifies our influence and popularity, though it is due to Guruji is tapasya and hence Guruji might be smiling observing ourand predicament.

Rabindranath Tagore depicted the scene of Rath Yatra (car festival) in a Bengali poem which is translated thus: Chariot says I am god;

Me too claims
Statue and the path
While Almighty laughs.
Collective Bargaining

At Rourkela, Guruji asked me, “what is the difference between highway robbery and collective bargaining? Element of coercion is common.” Being the general secretary of state BMS, I replied that in case of collective bargaining we fulfill social objective, restraining exploitation etc. However, he was not convinced. He said that these were only in theory, in actual practice you employ different methods which of course I faithfully communicated to Shri Thengadiji.

At Thane, in October 1972 again, Guruji put the same question of collective bargaining and the Gherao or the illegal confinement as it’s device. Though no reply was forthcoming, Guruji remarked that trade union field was the most difficult one where Hindutwa could be introduced directly. When we asked Thengadiji what to do he replied that we will get a direct instruction from Guruji, if he is expecting anything from us

Several years later Thengadiji told us to use the words “National Commitment” instead of collective bargaining. Sydney Webb’s concept of collective bargaining has been used in different forms and variations in different countries. But national commitment with societal obligations as its substitute or alternate device is yet to be introduced in the trade union movement.

One could not reconcile to the fact that Thengadiji got a statement published in the newspapers supporting Bombay bandh call given by S.A. Dange the then chief of AITUC and undivided CPI which was a verbatim dictation by Guruji. “What would happen to Sangh if BMS starts supporting communists” was the refrain of some persons before Guruji, days after the publication.

The support was extended to the demands raised though it restrained the bandh on essential services like water works, health services etc.

The statement ended with hope of a situation in future when bandh be rendered redundant.
(The writer is All India Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and can be contacted at saroj.mitra@rediffmail.com)



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estination NASA for Indian studentsAdd to Clippings

Four students of a local school, who won second prize in the 'NASA Space Settlement Design Contest', have left for the US at the invitation of the space centre.

Vilas Mishra (Group leader), Amitav Mohanty, Soumya Ranjan Pati and Ashima Kar, who studied at the ISPAT English Medium School here, left on Friday accompanied by their guide B B Mathur after completing visa formalities in Kolkata, Rourkela steel plant (RSP) sources said.

After being invited to visit NASA, the budding scientists met Orissa Chief Minister seeking his help in facilitating their visit to the US, for which Naveen Patnaik sanctioned Rs 5.30 lakh, the sources said.

Altogether 95 teams from all over the world had participated in the contest to design a space settlement.

The quartet had come forward with a design christened 'Eden', an imaginary dwelling place in space, impressing all.

In the project, the students had visualised a settlement in space which could accomodate about 10,000 people. From the positioning of the settlement in space to its size and structure, everything had been meticulously worked out by the three boys and the girl.

It had envisaged all requirements including source of soil, water and air to tackle the gravitational force, temperature control, power requirement and suitable ecological, biological, technological and social patterns.

'Eden' had been depicted as a clean and green place free of many of the problems faced on earth.


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Man arrested for raping daughters in OrissaAdd to Clippings

A man in Orissa was arrested for allegedly raping his four daughters, two of them minors, police said on Thursday.

Rabindra Nath Sethi, 50, a resident of Rourkela in Sundergarh district, was arrested after his wife and daughters complained to the local women's police station, the station in-charge Prativa Majhi said.

The eldest daughter is 20 years old and married. The others are 18, 15 and 13 years old respectively, Majhi said.

Sethi, who sells fish in the local market, first raped his eldest daughter. After she went to her in-law's house he targeted the second daughter, who got pregnant. Fearing ostracism, the girl went to her uncle's house in Jajpur district and has been living there since.

However, Sethi's barbaric act did not end there. He began raping his two other daughters.

The girls and their mother did not dare report the matter to police as Sethi had threatened to kill them, Majhi said.

They somehow gained courage to inform police on Sunday after they could not bear the abuse any longer.

Sethi was arrested and produced in court after he admitted to the offence. The judge rejected his bail petition and sent him to judicial custody.

Rourkela plant starts health care drive

To provide a healthy environment in the neighbourhood, Rourkela Steel Plant is giving a thrust to improving health care facilities in rural areas. As a part of its efforts, a two-week training programme for female health guides and midwives, began yesterday.
While inaugurating the seminar, Dr DN Mohapatra, director, Medical and Health Services, discussed the RSP’s initiative of spreading prosperity among its neighbours.
Other senior officials spoke at length about the steps taken by the RSP in the field of health care in rural areas, as part of its corporate social responsibility.
In all, 30 women from 15 villages are participating in the programme being organised at the Institute for Peripheral Development of RSP.
The programme, to end on 24 June, will provide participants with inputs about what preventive steps to take on common diseases related to deficiencies, infections, pre- and post-natal care, prevention of AIDS, nutrition, hygiene and so on.
It will also include de-addiction eye care, management of physically and mentally challenged persons and safety.
Doctors will conduct these classes. The participants will visit a hospital to gain first-hand experience.
After the training’s completion, the women will serve as health care workers and midwives, and will counsel villagers to avail of medical facilities for preventive as well as rehabilitative purposes. It is expected that more than 17,800 persons will be benefited.

SAIL appoints Managing Directors for Rourkela, Bokaro plants

Leading integrated iron and steel producer Steel Authority of India Ltd on Wednesday said BN Singh and VK Srivastava have been appointed as Managing Directors for the Rourkela Steel Plant and Bokaro Steel Plant.

The Board of Directors approved the appointment of Singh, earlier an executive director at the Rourkela Steel facility and also gave their nod to the proposal of appointing Srivastava.

Srivastava was earlier an executive director (works) at SAIL's Bokaro Steel Plant, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The shares of the company were trading at Rs 66.70, 3.65 per cent at the BSE.

No rollback of fuel price hike: PM

Ending speculation of a partial rollback in fuel prices in the face of stiff resistance from political parties, including the Congress, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh is believed to have held firm on the government�s decision to hike petrol price by Rs 4 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.

�There will be no rollback. We will face it,� Mr Singh told the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora this afternoon, ministry sources said.

Mr Deora, who had met the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi last evening, is understood to have apprised Dr Singh about the developments related to the fuel price hike, including the feedback he got from the political arena.

Sources said that Dr Singh approved the petroleum ministry�s publicity and advertisement campaign on the circumstances that necessitated the fuel price hike, in tandem with other steps including duty cut and issuance of oil bonds, to save national oil companies from bankruptcy.

The Prime Minister is also understood to have directed Mr Deora to explain the circumstances to leaders of the Left parties, who have announced their decision to go on agitation against the cabinet decision of Monday.

In particular, Mr Deora will talk to Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Chief Minister of Left-ruled West Bengal, in this connection.

When contacted, Mr Deora said that he met the Prime Minister earlier in the day, but declined to divulge details of the discussion.

�As far as I am concerned, this issue (fuel price hike) is over,� Mr Deora told PTI.

Before meeting Ms Gandhi last evening, the minister had maintained that there was no question of a rollback.

�We have been very reasonable and so I do not think there is a need to roll back the hike at this point of time,� he had said yesterday.

But after his meeting with the Congress president, he had left the issue open, saying: �As far as we are concerned, whatever happened... in the cabinet stands... (but) nothing can be ruled out.�

The government had raised fuel prices with an aim to narrow the deficits of national oil companies that is pegged at Rs 73,500 crore. It, however, left domestic cooking gas and kerosene prices unchanged.

Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged street protests in many parts of the country against the increase in fuel prices as the party president, Mr Rajnath Singh warned of a further stir against the government�s economic policies.

Mr Singh, who joined protesters in Moti Nagar in west Delhi, said the government should immediately roll back the hike failing which the BJP would start a nation-wide agitation against its economic policies.

The protestors in Delhi shouted slogans against the Congress chief and burnt tyres while blocking roads at 13 places.

BJP workers in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh squatted on railway tracks in many towns and cities, disrupting train services.

Traffic came to a standstill in several parts of Orissa, including Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, as BJP workers blocked roads or sat at busy intersections.

The Bihar BJP president, Mr Radha Mohan Singh and over a dozen MLAs were detained briefly in Patna when they tried to �gherao� the Raj Bhavan.

There were also reports of protests in Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, where BJP workers burnt effigies of the Petroleum Minister.

Mr Singh made a scathing attack on the Left parties, accusing them of adopting �double standards� on the fuel price hike.

Citing the left�s support to the government while opposing the increase in petrol and diesel prices, Mr Singh said, �If they are true proponents of the cause of the common man, they should withdraw support from the ruling UPA. But they are not, which shows their double standards.�

No rollback of fuel price hike: PM

Ending speculation of a partial rollback in fuel prices in the face of stiff resistance from political parties, including the Congress, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh is believed to have held firm on the government�s decision to hike petrol price by Rs 4 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.

�There will be no rollback. We will face it,� Mr Singh told the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora this afternoon, ministry sources said.

Mr Deora, who had met the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi last evening, is understood to have apprised Dr Singh about the developments related to the fuel price hike, including the feedback he got from the political arena.

Sources said that Dr Singh approved the petroleum ministry�s publicity and advertisement campaign on the circumstances that necessitated the fuel price hike, in tandem with other steps including duty cut and issuance of oil bonds, to save national oil companies from bankruptcy.

The Prime Minister is also understood to have directed Mr Deora to explain the circumstances to leaders of the Left parties, who have announced their decision to go on agitation against the cabinet decision of Monday.

In particular, Mr Deora will talk to Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Chief Minister of Left-ruled West Bengal, in this connection.

When contacted, Mr Deora said that he met the Prime Minister earlier in the day, but declined to divulge details of the discussion.

�As far as I am concerned, this issue (fuel price hike) is over,� Mr Deora told PTI.

Before meeting Ms Gandhi last evening, the minister had maintained that there was no question of a rollback.

�We have been very reasonable and so I do not think there is a need to roll back the hike at this point of time,� he had said yesterday.

But after his meeting with the Congress president, he had left the issue open, saying: �As far as we are concerned, whatever happened... in the cabinet stands... (but) nothing can be ruled out.�

The government had raised fuel prices with an aim to narrow the deficits of national oil companies that is pegged at Rs 73,500 crore. It, however, left domestic cooking gas and kerosene prices unchanged.

Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged street protests in many parts of the country against the increase in fuel prices as the party president, Mr Rajnath Singh warned of a further stir against the government�s economic policies.

Mr Singh, who joined protesters in Moti Nagar in west Delhi, said the government should immediately roll back the hike failing which the BJP would start a nation-wide agitation against its economic policies.

The protestors in Delhi shouted slogans against the Congress chief and burnt tyres while blocking roads at 13 places.

BJP workers in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh squatted on railway tracks in many towns and cities, disrupting train services.

Traffic came to a standstill in several parts of Orissa, including Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, as BJP workers blocked roads or sat at busy intersections.

The Bihar BJP president, Mr Radha Mohan Singh and over a dozen MLAs were detained briefly in Patna when they tried to �gherao� the Raj Bhavan.

There were also reports of protests in Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, where BJP workers burnt effigies of the Petroleum Minister.

Mr Singh made a scathing attack on the Left parties, accusing them of adopting �double standards� on the fuel price hike.

Citing the left�s support to the government while opposing the increase in petrol and diesel prices, Mr Singh said, �If they are true proponents of the cause of the common man, they should withdraw support from the ruling UPA. But they are not, which shows their double standards.�

Rourkela plant thrust for a quality city

The Rourkela Steel Plant has given a thrust to enhancing the quality of life here . It has taken a cue from its management’s words, “A happy employee is a productive one.”
The liquidation of complaints regarding various civil jobs is given top priority by the Town Engineering (Civil) Department, to enhance the residents’ satisfaction level. In 2005-06, tar felting in 1,647 quarters and chemical treatment/screed concreting in more than 250 quarters were completed to prevent seepage .
The doors and windows of 2,513 quarters were also painted. As a pro-active measure, a door-to-door inspection of more than 5,500 quarters has been carried out so far.
This year, the department wants to pro-actively maintain 5,000 quarters, apart from taking up other repair jobs on a large scale.
The city has a 485 km-long network of sewer lines that are nearly five decades old. They need extensive maintenance and revamping for a smooth flow of waste water. Last year, revamping work was carried out over 750 metres, and this year, an ambitious plan is being implemented covering 3,000 metres.
Another significant step taken last year was to improve the general hygiene of the city through regular intensive garbage cleaning.
The door-to-door garbage collection has cleaned the heaps that used to lie on the streets for months together.

SAIL targets 8% growth; to invest Rs 25,000cr

Steel Authority of India (SAIL), anticipating an 8% growth in the domestic steel market, has charted a capital expenditure of Rs 25,000 crore to achieve a production target of 20 million tonne per annum by 2011-12.

SAIL has worked out a long-term strategy, 'Ccorporate plan - 2012', in a bid to garner a major chunk of the domestic market share and to render itself globally competitive.

SAIL plans to increase the capacity of all its 4 integrated steel plants in Bhilai, Durgapur, Rourkela and Bokaro.

The Bhilai plant will see the capacity go up from 4.9 million tonne to 7 million tonne by 2012, Durgapur from 1.98 million tonne to 3.2 million tonne per annum, Rourkela from 1.73 million tonne to 3 million tonne and Bokaro from 4.1 million tonne to 6.5 million tonne giving a total of 19.7 million tonne of steel per annum.

SAIL would achieve its targets in two stages. The current fiscal marks the completion of stage-i expansion plan whereas the second expansion stage would conclude in 2011-12.

The company would take up immediate priority schemes in the first stage of expansion and plans to invest Rs 4,300 crore in this stage. The investment, primarily to be funded by internal accruals, would be supplemented by market borrowing if need arises.

The areas broadly identified for investment are development of iron ore mines, rebuilding coke oven batteries at Bhilai and Durgapur, revamping of iron and steel making facilities at Bhilai, Durgapur and Bokara, installation of a blast furnace at Rourkela, installation of auxiliary fuel injection systems in all blast furnaces in a phased manner and installation of new finishing mills.



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Bank chief divested of powers

Perhaps for the first time in the history of cooperative banking in the state, the board of directors of the Rourkela Urban Co-operative Bank, have divested its president of all powers, creating a record of sorts in the field.
The directors, who were present at a meeting of the bank’s board on Wednesday, stripped its president Mr Thabira Mishra of all powers.
Charges of corruption and mismanagement and governance were being levelled against Mr Mishra by several board members in the past.
Still the bank managed to get the state gold medal for performance last year. Matters became critical for Mr Mishra when he disqualified the directorship of one Bishikeshan Das.
Mr Das had allegedly availed of loan in his name when he was a director. This action did not, however, go down well with the rest of the 11 directors. Charges of nepotism were immediately leveled against Mr Mishra as he failed to take any tangible action against Arabinda Puhan, another director and a close ally of him. The allegation against Mr Puhana was also the same, that he had availed of a loan.
The resentment against Mr Mishra brewed as he failed to call a general body meeting of the board of directors for three months. On Wednesday last, all the board of directors, irrespective of party line, under the stewardship of Mr Aditya Mohapatra, a former nominated director, in a resolution, took away all managerial and financial powers of the bank’s president.
The move was so harsh that even the president’s monthly travel and telephone facilities were taken away.
The president will have to seek the prior permission of the directors for discharging any financial authority and for that matter other managerial obligations.
Speaking over phone to this reporter, Mr Mishra, however, said all these moves were nothing but eyewash. “You cannot remove me by any impeachment motion as the bylaw prevents so.” Mr Mishra wanted to know whether the council of ministers and a majority of MLAs could take away the power of the chief minister.
He also said: “My conscience is clear and I have not done anything wrong.”
When this reporter contacted Mr Mohapatra, the former nominated president of the bank, he said” “Certainly we can do that as no one is willing to work under him for his highhandedness and other practices and we have done this as he cannot be removed from his post. Now he will exist as a ceremonial head as for the first time in the history a vice-president will be appointed.”
According to Mr Mohapatra and the RCS in Bhubaneswar was approached for appointing a vice-president and the apex body of the co-operative movement accepted it and soon one such appointment would be made.
Mr Mohapatra also added that since he did not attend the fourth meeting on Wednesday and prior to that he did not attend three other meeting he has no position in the bank legally.”
Interestingly, when the last election was held three years back Mr Mishra and his panel with Congress support won convincingly by snatching away 11 of the 14 directorial posts.
There were only three directors, including Mr Mohapatra, of the alliance on the board. But, in a quick turn of fate for Mr Mishra, all the directors except Mr Puhana, who was not present on that eventful day, and Mr Das rest all rallied behind Mr Mohapatra, who is a known BJP sympathiser.

Rourkela plant sets record in May

Continuing with its record-breaking momentum for the last two years, the Rourkela Steel Plant ended May, 2006 with yet another significant performance .
During May, hot metal output touched 1,87,035 tones, crude steel production (from SMS-I & SMS-II) reached 1,73,132 tons and that of saleable steel reached 1,75,997 tons.
The despatch figure of saleable steel stood at 1,69,650 tons. These figures are the highest for any month of May since the plant’s inception.
What is equally important is that, the growth as compared to May, 2005 is a phenomenal 53 per cent in hot metal, 52.6 per cent in crude steel, 64.8 per cent in saleable steel and 52.4 per cent in the dispatch of saleable steel.
Saleable steel production is also the highest for any month of May since its inception. All major departments namely, Sinter Plant-II, Blast Furnaces, Ore Bedding & Blending Plant, Steel Melting Shops I & II, Hot Strip Mill and Plate Mill are being operated at more than 100 per cent of their capacity, contributing to the outstanding performance of the plant.
RSP commenced the current fiscal adopting the strategy of maximising production with the twin objective of bringing down production cost and improving its profitability.
Thrust was also given to the plant’s performance in its techno-economic parameters which have shown a significant improvement in coke rate (per ton of hot metal) which has improved by 3.2 per cent and energy consumption (per ton of crude steel) which has improved by five per cent as compared to May, 2005 besides an improvement in the lining life of LD converters.
As a part of this strategy, thrust was also given to the production of a variety of value added products in line with market demand.
The growth as compared to May, 2005 was a phenomenal 139.4 per cent and 166 per cent in the production of hot rolled coils (for sale) and tin plates, respectively, while plates from the plate mill, hot rolled plates, galvanised sheets, silicon steel and spiral weld pipes recorded growth of 38.3 per cent, 51 per cent, 33.8 per cent, 28.2 per cent and 8.1 per cent, respectively.
With its blast furnaces performing at more than 100 per cent of their capacity, RSP is now capable of reaching and even surpassing the dream figure of 2 million tons of hot metal production during the fiscal.
This will enable the plant to fully meet the requirement of downstream units catering to the production of crude steel and finished products, which will further enhance the plant’s profitability.

NASA awardees to receive Orissa govt. assistance

Coming to the rescue of four student scientists, awarded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for their project"Eden", a space settlement project, the Orissa Government has decided to bear all their expenses to visit United States.

Four students of Rourkela Steel Plant-run Ispat English Medium School had bagged the second prize for their project for designing a space settlement at a global contest conducted by the NASA Research Centre.

These four students had received an invitation from NASA to visit their high security establishment but funds for their visit to USA was the stumbling block for accepting the invitation.

However, the government assistance came when the four students - Ashima Kar, Amitav Mohanty, Soumyaranjan Pati and Ullash Mishra, all children of Rourkela Steel Plant employees,met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at his secretariat here.

The Chief Minister not only felicitated them for their achievement but also agreed to provide Rs six lakh required for their trip to the USA.

The students had submitted a 131 page thesis suggesting an orbiting independent space colony with artificial gravity generating its own water and oxygen resources which could be taken from the earth and subjected to recycling.

The energy,the thesis paper suggested could be taken care by tapping solar power and Helium-3 available on the moon.The project developed by the students had visualised a resident colony of nearly 10,000 people in the space.

Meanwhile, RSP Executive Director B N Singh has congratulated the four students for meticulously designing their creativity and imagination of an independent settlement colony on a space station keeping in view all constraints.

Mr Singh had presented memento to the four students and wished them success for their endeavour which he hoped would one day become the reality.

Mukti, the indigenous, low-cost answer

ROURKELA: Brand names and the price tag obviously failed to change their traditional habits. But the ways of keeping oneself hygienic during those five-odd days every month is all set to change for women in rural pockets.

Mukti, they claim is already giving them the much-needed liberation with low-cost sanitary napkins produced and marketed by three women SHGs of three blocks in the Sundargarh district.

Available virtually at the doorstep of every woman in the three blocks, it is indeed a marvel that it took only three-weeks of training and exposure at the Society for Rural Industrialisation (SRI) in Ranchi for seventeen women to break the traditional belief.

Back home, they generated awareness among rural women and adolescent girls. This was followed by the selection of thirty enterprising women from Lathikata, Bisra and Nuagaon blocks, who were provided a two-week training in the manufacture of low-cost sanitary napkins at SRI.

Subsequently, three manufacturing units were set up at Pharsatola (Lathikata block), Jabapanposh (Bisra block) and Nuagaon (Nuagaon block).

Everyday after completing their household chores, these women reach the centre at 10 am and in two hours end up making and packing 70 to 80 napkins. Each packet containing 10 napkins is priced at Rupees sixteen, making it affordable for the village women.

The women selling the products have also been trained in counselling girls and other women in the use of sanitary napkins through village meetings and door-to-door campaigns.

And the response has been encouraging. At the end of the month, the entire output is sold out. Buoyed by the success, the SHGs are gearing up to increase production and supplement their income.

To sustain the programme, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), which initiated the programme as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, has contributed Rs 1.3 lakhs to the revolving fund as working capital to the three SHGs.

Approved by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, RSP now plans to popularise the product in its hospitals and health centres.



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TMedicos in no mood to backtrack

ROURKELA: The Steel City echoed with anti-reservation slogans as more than 200 students from VSS Medical, Burla took to the streets here in a bid to mobilise public opinion against the UPA Government�s move of implementing 27 percent reservation for OBCs.

Vice-president of the Junior Doctors� Association Nihar Ranjan Mohanty said the medicos were in no mood to bow to the 72-hour deadline fixed by the apex court ordering the former to return to work.

He described the court�s pronouncement as a move by the Government to weaken their agitation and observed that only merit should form the basis for reservation.

He said efforts should be made for all-round development of OBCs to bring them into the mainstream.

BERHAMPUR: Meanwhile, the medicos here have given a call for a Berhampur bandh on Thursday. They said the bandh would be observed in phases.

While in the first phase, they would block the NH-5 and NH-217, in the second they would squat on the railway track. The medicos have urged all organisations, business establishments and the general public to support their agitation.