SAIL clears Rourkela expansion
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Jamshedpur, May 23: The Steel Authority of India Ltd has approved the Rs 9,869-crore expansion plan of the Rourkela Steel Plant.
The annual hot metal capacity of the plant will be raised to 4.5 million tonnes.
A technology upgradation exercise will be undertaken to increase the production of crude steel and value-added steel, improve product quality and reduce energy consumption.
Under the modernisation programme, a fifth blast furnace will be set up with a working volume of 4,060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonnes per metre cube per day.
Besides, blast furnace No.1 in the plant will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 metre volume with high pressure and coal dust injection facilities.
The coal dust injection facility will also be incorporated in blast furnace No. 4, which will double the present hot metal capacity of the plant.
The package also envisages a seven-metre-tall coke-oven battery and a new sinter plant with 3.69mt capacity.
To augment production capacity, the Rourkela plant will install a new 150-tonne converter and a caster to produce clean steel such as ultra-low carbon steel.
Two new matching ladle heating furnaces will also be installed, raising the number of such furnaces to three. One of the existing casters will also be upgraded.
The expansion will raise the total crude steel capacity of the Rourkela plant to 4.2mt.
In view of the increasing demand for high-end products, the Rourkela plant will set up a new plate mill with 1.8mt capacity that will roll out up to 4,200 mm wide plates.


Sail board nod for RSP makeover package
BS Reporter / Bhubaneswar May 23, 2007
The board of directors of Steel Authority of India (Sail) has given an in principle approval to Rs 9,869 crore modernization and capacity expansion plan of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP).The proposal envisages to more than double the hot metal production capacity of RSP from 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) now to 4.5 MTPA.Similarly, the proposed modernisation program includes setting up of a fifth blast furnace with working volume of 4,060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonne per cubic metre per day.This apart, blast furnace - 1 of the steel plant will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 cubic metres useful volume with high top pressure and coal dust injection facilities. In blast furnace - 4, coal dust injection system will be incorporated."With the approval of the modernisation and expansion plan RSP is all set to enter a new era of productivity, profitability and quality," BN Singh, managing director, RSP said."The objectives of expansion include increase in production of crude steel through state-of-the-art technology in order to meet the productivity level of international standards, improvement in quality of products, production of more value added products, reduction in energy consumption, improvement of environment, cut in cost of production and thereby increase in net sales realization."The package also envisages the setting up of a new 7 metre tall coke oven battery and a new sinter plant with 3.69 MTPA capacity. In order to augment the steel producing capacity, RSP is going to install a new 150 tonne converter and a new caster in its steel melting shop (SMS)-II. New RH-OB unit will be introduced in SMS-II to produce clean steel such as ultra low carbon steels.Two new matching ladle heating furnaces (LHFs) are also on the cards which will take the number of LHFs to three. One of the existing casters will also be upgraded. These augmentation measures will take the total crude steel capacity of RSP to the level of 4.2 MTPA.In view of the increasing demand for high end products, RSP proposes to install a new plate mill with a capacity of 1.8 MTPA that will roll out different grades of plates up to the width of 4,200 mm, meeting the stringent specific customer requirements.In order to further improve the quality of hot rolled strips the finishing mill train of hot strip mill (HSM) will be modernized to meet the customers' requirement and to improve the operation and quality of downstream units.An entirely new mill to produce 1,80,000 tonne of cold rolled non-oriented (CRNO) steel will be coming up under the package taking the total capacity of the superior grade steel to 2.55 lakh tonne per annum.To improve the quality of cold rolled (CR) products a new hydrochloric (HCL) pickiling line of 7 lakhs tonne per annum capacity, a new 6 high reversing mill along with downstream facilities for thinner gauges are being added in the cold rolling complex. As a result of these augmentation measures the total saleable steel production will reach the level of 3.9 MTPA.

Sail approves Rs 9,869 cr RSP expansion plan
Rourkela, May 23: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has accorded its in-principle approval to the expansion plan of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) at a cost of Rs 9,869 crore, the sources said. If the project is implemented, hot metal production capacity of the plant would increase to 4.5 million tonnes per annum, the sources said. The objectives of the expansion plan include technology up-gradation to increase the production of crude steel, improvement in quality of products, production of more value added products and reduction in energy consumption, they added. The modernisation programme includes setting up of a fifth blast furnace with working volume of 4,060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonnes per metre cube per day. Besides, the blast furnace number one in the plant would be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 metre volume with high pressure and coal dust injection facilities. The coal dust injection facility would also be incorporated in blast furnace number four, which would double the present hot metal capacity of the plant, the sources said. Bureau Report

Man held for car-liftingSunday May 27 2007 11:29 IST
ROURKELA: One Harish Yadav, who was arrested by Haryana police from here, was taken to Haryana on Saturday on transit remand.Yadav is suspected be a member of a car-lifting gang and his arrest led to recovery of two Sedan cars.An eight-member Haryana police team arrived here on Friday and arrested Yadav from his rented accommodation at Civil Township under Raghunathpali police limits.He was produced in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate court, Panposh and then taken to Haryana.

Rapist marries victim in Orissa jail (May 30, 2007)
Bhubaneswar, May 26: In what may be a case of repentance or an easy way to get out of jail, a man in an Orissa prison has tied the knot with the young woman he raped.
Naukunj Sandha, 23, who has been in jail since the March 23 rape, married Munnu Bhuyan inside the Jharsuguda sub jail Wednesday, a police officer said. The families of both the bride and groom attended.
The marriage was solemnised by an official, A.B. Khatei, in the presence of jail superintendent P.N. Bag and P. Nageswari, lawyer for the accused.
"What I did was wrong," a lawyer quoted Naukunj as saying after the ceremony. "Now I am happy to get a chance to make amends."
Bhuyan, who looked happy, said she was ready to forgive her tormentor.
"For the time of rape I hated him. I wanted to tear him to pieces. But I have a different feeling now. I have forgiven him because he has chosen me as his wife," she said.
On March 23, Naukunj, who was a crane operator in Easter Power and Steel Ltd at Lehendapur, was visiting Kantapali to attend a marriage where he raped the 21-year-old.
Later, Naukunj's relatives and his advocate approached the girl with a proposal to marry him. With help from legal counselors, the two agreed to marry.
"The marriage was solemnized inside the jail and attended by parents of the boy and girl. While the bride left for her in-laws' house, the groom remained in the jail," said Nageswari.
A prison official said: "All this is part of our policies of reforms and rehabilitation." Following the marriage, a bail petition has been moved to free Naukunj.
IANS

Four killed in Orissa summer storm (26 May 2007)
BHUBANESWAR — A summer storm wreaked havoc in north Orissa yesterday killing four people, besides injuring two others and causing widespread damage to houses, shops, vehicles and communication network, police said.
According to police, Ramesh Dalei of Chhadchhadia village, Sukanti Barik (Angula), Jaga Khatual (Mulising) and Paresh Das (Routraypur) in Balasore district, nearly 200km from Bhubaneswar, were killed when a lightning struck them.
The tragedy occurred in the afternoon when the deceased were working in a paddy field. The two injured were admitted to a local hospital in critical condition," a senior police official from Balasore said.
Strong winds accompanied by hailstorm threw life out of gear disrupting traffic movement in many places of the district.
"Roofs of several thatched houses and government establishments were flown away due to the high-speed winds. Supply of electricity and telecommunication facilities to rural pockets also were disrupted for many hours," said Anup Kumar Das, a villager.

Security up for two Orissa ministers
Bhubaneswar, May 26 : Security has been beefed up for two Orissa ministers following intelligence reports that they face renewed death threats from Maoist guerrillas. More guards have been provided to Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Minister Chaitanya Prasad Majhi, a police official said."The intelligence wing gathered information about the threat a month ago when some extremists arrested in the state were being interrogated," a police officer told IANS Saturday.Majhi admitted he had been asked to take precaution while traveling in his constituency in Mayurbhanj district, where Maoists last month murdered a forest official and burnt his office.
--- IANS

Marijuana worth Rs.700,000 seized in Orissa, 3 held
Posted May 26th, 2007 by Tarique
Bhubaneswar : Three people were arrested Friday on charges of possessing marijuana worth Rs.700,000 in Orissa's Malkangiri district, an excise official said.
The accused - Prakash Debangan of Madhya Pradesh, Adu Matam of Nakamagodi and Sadhu Khila of Malkangiri, nearly 620 km from Bhubaneswar, were caught by excise officials in the evening.
"Acting on a tip-off we raided a house in Tarlakota-C colony under Orkel police station while the men were about to leave with the marijuana. While three of them were nabbed, two others fled before we could reach the spot," excise sub-inspector Ashok Kumar Seth said.
A case has been registered under section 20 (B) of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
"They (accused) are being interrogated in the police station and will be produced in the court on Saturday. We are verifying whether they have links with other gangs operating in the locality," Seth added.

Two die of anthrax in Orissa
Posted May 26th, 2007 by Tarique
Bhubaneswar : Two people have died of anthrax in Orissa's tribal dominated Koraput district, while five have contracted the deadly disease in the last two days, health officials said Friday.
Bisu Sisa, 45, of Phulba village and Nanda Jani, 35, of Padiguda village under Semliguda block in Koraput, nearly 500 km from Bhubaneswar, fell to the disease reportedly after consuming cattle meat.
K.H. Reddy, chief district medical officer (CDMO) of Koraput headquarters hospital confirmed the deaths and the anthrax infection.
"The two were brought dead. Those who have contracted the infection are undergoing treatment in hospital and their condition is said to be stable," Reddy said.
The state government has sent a team of doctors to the two villages to treat villagers and create awareness among them about the disease.
"The team will camp in the villages to monitor the situation. They have also destroyed cattle meat preserved in some houses there," the official said.
"As a precautionary measure, another health task force has been deployed in these villages to prevent further infection," he added.
Villagers however alleged that no veterinary staff were present for the vaccination of animals.
Orissa has reported cases of anthrax infection in the past too, specially from Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada where tribals often consume infected meat.
Over 200 cattle and five people lost their lives to anthrax between 1994 and 2006. In 1998, as many as 43 cattle died in Niali area of Cuttack district due to the deadly disease.
"Though 18 of the 30 districts in Orissa have been identified as endemic to the deadly anthrax, the state government is yet to launch an Anthrax Control Programme (ACP)," Parshuram Pradhan, a human right activist, told IANS.

Orissa heat death toll rises to 11 Posted at Saturday, 26 May 2007 19:05 IST
Bhubaneswar, May 26: Three more persons have died in Orissa due to sunstroke, taking the toll in heat-related deaths this season to 11 as the temperature rose to a blistering 46 degrees Celsius at Sundargarh.Reports of one heat-related death each was received from Cuttack, Kendrapara and Nuapada districts, revenue department sources said today.The highest number of three heat stroke deaths had occurred in Ganjam district followed by Kendrapara, Nuapada (two each), Balasore, Kandhamal, Cuttack and Sundargarh (one each), they said.Coastal belt of the state is bearing the brunt as the high humidity level in the atmosphere, coupled with more than normal day temperature, is leading to cases of sunstroke.Revenue control room sources said though reports of 68 deaths, allegedly caused by the heat, had been received by the department 47 cases had been investigated.Thirtysix of these deaths had been caused due to other reasons while 11 were confirmed as sunstroke casualties.The other 21 cases were presently under investigation, the sources said.Meanwhile, the meteorological station here forecast that heat wave conditions would continue in several parts of the state over the next 48 hours.The met office sources said western Orissa was experiencing temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius for the last four days.Sundargarh was the hottest at 46 degrees Celsius, while the temperature at Hirakud was 43.7 degrees c, Titilagarh 43.6 degrees c, Angul 43.5 degrees c, Jharsuguda and Balangir 43.2 degrees c and Sambalpur 42 degrees c yesterday.

Sunday 27th of May 2007
Severe Heat Claims 11 Lives In Orissa
Sunday 27th of May 2007 :- Three more people have died in Orissa due to sunstroke, taking the toll in heat-related deaths to 11, official sources said Sunday.According to a state revenue department official, one death each was reported from Kendrapara, Cuttack and Nuapada districts.So far, three heatstroke-related deaths had occurred in Ganjam district followed by two each in Kendrapara and Nuapada. Balasore, Kandhamal, Cuttack and Sundargarh districts have reported one death each, the official added.The state's coastal belt is bearing the brunt as high humidity level in the atmosphere, coupled with soaring day temperature, is leading to cases of sunstroke, he said.The meteorological office here forecast that heat wave conditions would for two more days.On Saturday, Talcher, which recorded 47 degrees Celsius, was the hottest place in the state. Hirakud recorded 43.5 degrees while Jharsuguda was at 43.2 degrees. Similarly, Titlagarh, Jharsuguda, Bolangir and Angul were just above 43 degrees while Sambalpur registered 42.3 degrees Celsius.

Chikungunya scare in Orissa: 4 dieMay 27, 2007 - 1:30:38 PM
'We have found the aedes mosquitoes in the locality. The mosquito is the carrier of chikungunya and dengue. So from the symptoms of the disease the possible outbreak of chikungunya can't be ruled out,' B Nageswar Rao, chief of the specialist team, told IANS.


Rajasthan police team expected here to arrest
Bhubaneswar, May 27: A Rajasthan police team is expected to be here by tomorrow possibly to arrest senior Orissa police officer B B Mohanti who is accused of helping his son convicted of rape. Mohanti had said yesterday that he would extend all cooperation to the police team from Rajasthan. The Rajasthan police team left for Cuttack to bring the Orissa DGP (Fire Services) after Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal rejected the Rajasthan police plea to issue a non bailable warrant against the Orissa home guard DGP but said Rajasthan police was free to arrest Mohanty. "No police team from Rajasthan has met me so far nor have I any information about their arrival in Orissa", state Director General of Police Amarananda Pattanayak said today. Pattanayak had earlier said that the Orissa police would extend all cooperation to their counterparts from Rajasthan as provided under law. Mohanti said he was not expecting the Rajasthan team to visit him after a Jaipur court had rejected their petition for issue of a non-bailable warrant against his name. "I hope they will work according to the provisions of the law". Mohanti in the meanwhile has moved the Rajasthan High Court seeking quashing of the charges against him. Mohanti had been accused of helping his son Brit Mohanty to go missing after being released on parole from a Jaipur jail on November 20 last year. He had been charged under Section 120 (criminal conspiracy), 216 (harbouring an offender who has escaped from custody) and 225 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person) of IPC. All the charges, however, are bailable. Bureau Report

Mohanty trail: No news of Rajasthan cops in Orissa(28 May, 2007 l 0052 hrs IST)
BHUBANESWAR: Two days after they left for Orissa to arrest senior IPS officer B B Mohanty for helping his son Biti, convicted of rape, jump parole, the policemen from Rajasthan seem to have gone missing. Even as their Orissa counterparts waited, the five-member Rajasthan police team did not show up in Bhubaneswar or Cuttack on Sunday. Nor did they inform the Orissa cops of alternative plans. "We're on the way. We'll start acting only after reaching our destination," Virendra Jhakkar, in-charge of the Lal Kothi police station, Jaipur, told TOI. Jhakkar is part of the team that left Jaipur to arrest Mohanty Sr. However, sources said the Rajasthan cops had already reached the state and wanted to gauge the public mood before arresting the senior IPS officer. Orissa DGP Amarananda Pattanayak said, "Rajasthan Police are yet to inform us of their plans. We have absolutely no information on this front." He added that going by legal provisions, Rajasthan police could inform their Orissa counterparts or act on their own and produce an arrested person before a local magistrate. The Rajasthan government's counsel in Orissa HC, P K Parhi, had no knowledge about the team from his state. "They have not contacted me so far," he said.

Severe heat claims 11 lives in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 27: Three more people have died in Orissa due to sunstroke, taking the toll in heat-related deaths to 11, official sources said Sunday.According to a state revenue department official, one death each was reported from Kendrapara, Cuttack and Nuapada districts.So far, three heatstroke-related deaths had occurred in Ganjam district followed by two each in Kendrapara and Nuapada. Balasore, Kandhamal, Cuttack and Sundargarh districts have reported one death each, the official added.The state's coastal belt is bearing the brunt as high humidity level in the atmosphere, coupled with soaring day temperature, is leading to cases of sunstroke, he said.The meteorological office here forecast that heat wave conditions would for two more days.On Saturday, Talcher, which recorded 47 degrees Celsius, was the hottest place in the state. Hirakud recorded 43.5 degrees while Jharsuguda was at 43.2 degrees. Similarly, Titlagarh, Jharsuguda, Bolangir and Angul were just above 43 degrees while Sambalpur registered 42.3 degrees Celsius.
--- IANS

New speci of limbless lizard found in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 28 (PTI): A new speci of limbless lizard said to be new to science has been located by group of zoologists in Orissa.
"It is an important discovery and preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus sepsophis", Prof Sushil Kumar Dutta of the North Orissa University, Baripada, said.
Dutta, who led a research team of 'Vasundhara', a policy analysis, research and action group, on a field study to the Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district found the limbless lizard during a survey recently.
The lizard, which belonged to the family 'scincidae', is new to science and is an important discovery from the biogeographic point of view, Dutta said.
Another speci of the same genus had been reported in 1870 from the golconda hills in Andhra Pradesh after which this is the first time that this limbless lizard had been found and it bears significance from the biodiversity point of view, Dutta said.
"The new speci will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more scientific data", Dutta said.
The other limbless lizards recorded from India were of the family 'dibamidae' which was found in South East Asia and Nicobar island, 'anguidae', recorded from North East India and South East India and the genus 'barkudia' (scincidae) discovered in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The closest relatives of the new discovery are found in Sri Lanka and South Africa, Dutta said adding this finding was of bio-geographic importance as Sri Lanka and South Africa were also part of Gondwanaland like India.
The new-found 19 cm long lizard looks like a small snake and has lower eyelids, rudimentary ear opening and pectoral bone holes on its shoulders, he said.
It also had scales on both sides of the body, a prominent feature of lizards, he said.
The new speci was quite specialised and preferred to live in cool retreat, soft soil and below stones.
Like its relatives, it lived in forest zones with heavy canopy and could not live in degraded forests where the soil profile changed rapidly.
The Khandadhar hills, which is known to be rich with iron ore, is presently in a controversy as the Orissa Government proposed to lease it to South Korean steel company POSCO for its mega steel project at Paradip.
The 'Vasundhara' team also had come across several other species in recent months in the eastern ghats which were not recorded in Orissa earlier.
They included a new speci of cat snake (of bioga speci), the red-bellied vine snake (ahaetulla rhodogaster), known to occur in the North East, brown whip snake (ahaetulla pulverulentus), known in the western ghats and montane trinket snake (coelognathus monticollaris).
The newly found lizards in the state included the Golden Gecko (calodactylodes auerus), which is a schedule I speci. It was recorded from several forests in Kalahandi (Niyamgiri Hills), Koraput, Kandhamal and ganjam districts.
This speci lives in the crevices of large boulders near hill streams covered with tree canopy. Due to habitat loss, there was a shifting trend in the habitat of these rare geckos, Pratyush Mohapatra, a research scholar belonging to the team said.
A new speci of skink of the genus 'asymblepharus' had also been recorded from the Niyamgiri Hills and the closest relative of the speci lived in the forests of western ghat and himalayan foothills.
Also a second speci recorded from the similipal biosphere reserve was a new record for Orissa, he said.
The Termite Hill Gecko (hemidactylus subtriedrus) had also been recorded for the first time from Orissa while two species of turtles known to occur outside the state had also been recorded by the team.
The Tricarinate Turtle (melanochelys tricarinata) had been recorded for the first time from the Similipal biosphere reserve. It was previously found in Uttaranchal and Bihar.
Similarly, the Indian Roofed Turtle (pangshura tectum) had been recorded from the Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga river systems of North Orissa, Mohapatra said.

Monday 28th of May 2007
Maoists Trigger Blast In Orissa
A landmine exploded in Orissa's Malkangiri district Monday morning partially damaging a bus but leaving its passengers unhurt.According to police officials, Maoist guerrillas triggered the blast near Laxmanguda village, about 700 km from here, at about 7 a.m. This was just a few seconds after the bus with 20 passengers inside crossed the spot.The bus was returning from Motu town of the district to the state capital Bhubaneswar.

POSCO to raise output by 11 pct with new plantMay 30, 2007POHANG, South Korea (Reuters) - POSCO Co. Ltd,
the world's fourth-largest steel maker, said on Wednesday it aims to raise its crude steel output by 11 percent to 34 million tonnes in 2008, helped mostly by a new steelmaking technology.POSCO said the increased production would push the South Korean steel maker up two notches to the No. 2 spot in the global steel sector - still well behind Arcelor Mittal's 110 million tonnes.A new steel plant in the south eastern port city of Pohang, using a self-developed technology called Finex, has just started operations with an annual output of 1.5 million tonnes, the company said.The Finex plant can cut production costs by up to 15 percent and reduce pollution emissions by more than 95 percent, compared with conventional furnaces, the company said."The Finex plant will sharply enhance POSCO's competitiveness in the face of the consolidation wave in the global steel industry," POSCO Chief Executive Lee Ku-taek said in an opening ceremony for the plant.Faced with soaring prices and raw material supply shortages, POSCO has been keen to develop cheaper steelmaking methods, investing 1.06 trillion won ($1.14 billion) over the past three years.Current blast furnace methods have been used to produce steel for almost 100 years but thigh capital and environmental costs have led steel makers to seek new technologies.POSCO said Finex eliminates the first step in the steelmaking process of sintering and coking and allows the direct use of low-cost ore fines and coal, bearing down on costs.Another advantage of Finex is the reduction of pollution, producing significantly less sulphur and nitrogen oxide than current furnaces.POSCO expected to convert its blast furnaces step by step, starting with the furnace in Pohang. POSCO has 10 furnaces in its Pohang and Gwangyang steelworks.POSCO also plans to adopt the Finex method in a $12 billion Indian project, building two Finex furnaces by 2010, each capable of producing two million tonnes of crude steel annually.Shares in POSCO fell 1.38 percent to 429,500 won by 0229 GMT, underperforming a 0.51 percent fall in the broader market.

Orissa Home Guards DGP Mohanty goes on medical leave to avoid arrestFrom our ANI Correspondent
Cuttack, May 28: Orissa Home Guard DGP B B Mohanty went on medical leave on Monday to evade arrest by a Rajasthan Police team. Mohanty is accused of helping his son Biti Mohanty, convicted of raping a German scholar in Alwar, jump parole. A day after Rajasthan Police were rapped by a Jaipur court, the state government decided to send a police team to Cuttack to bring Mohanty to Jaipur for interrogation. Last Thursday, the court in Jaipur had rejected Rajasthan Police's excuse of not having a court warrant to arrest Mohanty, saying that police had the means to proceed with an arrest without a warrant.Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal also rejected Rajasthan Police's plea to issue a non-bailable warrant against Mohanty, saying the latter was free to arrest Mohanty."We have come here to arrest B B Mohanty as per the court directions. We will take him to Rajasthan," said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jaipur, Mumkund Bihari.For almost six months now, this case has been an embarrassment for the Rajasthan Government. Not only did Biti, convicted by a fast-track court for rape, jump bail and disappear, the senior Mohanty also sees the Jaipur court's order as a breather.Meanwhile, Mohanty's lawyer has filed anticipatory bail plea in the Jaipur sessions court. The hearing is scheduled for May 30.Earlier, Orissa DGP Amranand Patnaik said that he has discussed the issue with his Rajasthan counterpart MS Gill. Asked why the Orissa cops were not cooperating with their Rajasthan counterparts in the case, Patnaik said his force would extend all possible help within the law to interrogate Mohanty.

Baosteel may invest in ferro chrome unit in Orissa: Srcs
2007-05-28 18:24:06
Chinese steel company Baoshan Iron & Steel company or Baosteel is set to invest in a ferro chrome unit in Kalinganagar in Orissa, reports CNBC-TV18
The likely capacity of the unit is expected to be 1,00,000 tonnes per annum. Sources say that the joint venture agreement is being finalized. The ferro chrome unit is likely to cost Rs 150-200 crore.

Visa Steel's 50,000 tpa ferro chrome unit in Kalinganagar is to be commissioned in June. Baosteel is likely to own 35% in the new unit and Visa Steel may own the balance 65%. Visa Steel has 525 acres in Kalinganagar and has applied to the Orissa government for an additional 675 acres.

Vishambhar Saran, Chairman, Visa Steel, said, “Discussions have been going on (with Baosteel) from time to time on various possibilities. I don't want to speak about something for which we do not have a definitive agreement."

Qian Weifeng, Baosteel's India representative, said, “We at Baosteel do not comment on anything for which we do not have an agreement."

New species of limbless lizard found in Orissa
Agencies Monday, May 28, 2007 22:13 IST

BHUBANESWAR: A species of limbless lizard said to be new to science has been located by group of zoologists in Orissa.
“It is an important discovery and preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus sepsophis”, Prof Sushil Kumar Dutta of the North Orissa University, Baripada, said.
Dutta, who led a research team of ‘Vasundhara’, a policy analysis, research and action group, on a field study to the Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district found the limbless lizard during a survey recently.
The lizard, which belonged to the family ‘scincidae’, is new to science and is an important discovery from the biogeographic point of view, Dutta said.
Another species of the same genus had been reported in 1870 from the golconda hills in Andhra Pradesh after which this is the first time that this limbless lizard had been found and it bears significance from the biodiversity point of view, Dutta said.
“The new species will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more scientific data”, Dutta said. The other limbless lizards recorded from India were of the family ‘dibamidae’ which was found in South East Asia and Nicobar island, ‘anguidae’, recorded from North East India and South East India and the genus ‘barkudia’ (scincidae) discovered in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Tuesday 29th of May 2007
Rs.20 Mn Ransom For Abducted Orissa
Businessman
Tuesday 29th of May 2007 :- An Orissa businessman has been abducted and his family has received a ransom demand of Rs.20 million, police here said Tuesday.Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra alias Chinna Barik, 34, from Keonjhar, about 200 km from here, came to Bhubaneswar Monday for work. In the evening his family got a phone call from a man demanding Rs.20 million for his release, district police chief Amitav Thakur told IANS. Mohapatra owns trucks, crushers and is involved in other businesses too.

Tuesday 29th of May 2007
Orissa High School Exam Topper Wants To Become Scientist
Tuesday 29th of May 2007 :-The girl who topped this year's Orissa high school certificate examination said she wanted to be a scientist like President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.Priyanka Das, 15, a student of district government high school at Balasore, some 200 kilometers from the state capital Bhubaneswar, topped the Class 10 examination conducted by the Orissa Board of Secondary Examination (BSE) by securing 727 marks out of 750. The results were declared Tuesday. 'Although I knew that the result will be good, I never thought I will stand first in the state,' Priyanka said.She studied for about 12 to 14 hours every day to prepare for the examination. 'I want to study in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and want to become a scientist like President Kalam,' she told IANS. 'She has been always a good student,' Priyanka's father Saktaranjan Das said.Saktaranjan is a tax consultant while Priyanka's mother Urvashi works as a zoology lecturer in a local college. 'She got a scholarship in Class three, Class five and again in Class seven. We are proud of her,' said Urvashi Das.This year about 400,000 students from 7133 state high schools had appeared for the Class 10 examination, which had been conducted simultaneously in 1713 centres across the state between March 7 and March 16, Orissa Board of Secondary Examination secretary Minaketan Pani told IANS.

Orissa cop Mohanty foxes Raj cops
Posted Tuesday , May 29, 2007 at 17:40
Updated Tuesday , May 29, 2007 at 19:36
Bhubaneswar/Jaipur: The Rajasthan Police on Tuesday yet again failed to find B B Mohanty, a senior police officer in Orissa whose son has jumped bail in a rape case.
A Rajasthan Police team searched Mohanty’s office and a hospital in Cuttack after arriving in Orissa on Monday. Mohanty’s son, Bitti, jumped parole in November 2006 days after he was found guilty of raping a German woman in Alwar.
Mohanty , a Director General of Police, has denied allegations that he is shielding Bitti. The Rajasthan Police again alleged on Tuesday that the Orissa Police are not helping it to find the officer.
"We are totally dependent on the Orissa Police to find Mohanty but they are not giving us information on his whereabouts. We only hope they will pass on this information to us soon,” said Rajasthan Police team leader Mukund Bihari.
Amarananda Patnaik, the Director General of Orissa Police, said his force would help but he couldn’t force Mohanty . "We will pass on the information on him to Rajasthan police, provided we have it. But he is an independent DG and does not have to report me,” he said.
Mohanty went on a four-day medical leave on May 27 and is supposed to be taking treatment for blood dysentery.
A PTI report said the Rajasthan team studied the records of a hospital in Buxi Bazaar, Cuttack, which had referred Mohanty to the government SCB Medical College Hospital for treatment.
The PTI report said authorities of SCB Hospital have told the Rajasthan Police clear Mohanty has not come to them for treatment.

Rare lizard found in Orissa forests
NDTV Correspondent
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 (Bubaneshwar)
A limbless lizard of an extremely rare breed was discovered by zoologists in the forests of Orissa on Tuesday. The last sighting of a limbless lizard but a different species was way back in 1870 in the Golkonda Hills of Andhra Pradesh.Professor Sushil Dutta whose team spotted the lizard says it is a find of great significance.''It is very important from the bio-geographic point of view because the closest relatives of this lizard live in South Africa and Sri Lanka,'' says Dutta of the North Orissa University. ''This is a new species to be included in a new genus and which is also a discovery after more than 130 years.''The lizard is a little longer than a palm and has all the prominent features of its family such as lower eyelids and scales. It prefers to live in cool spots under the soft soil and in shaded forests. But scientists fear that its current habitat a patch of evergreen rainforest at Khandadhar is under threat due to mining activities in this iron-ore rich belt.''From conservation point of view this occupies a heavy debt.This is an example of existence of small patches of rain forests due to degradation of forest, due to erosion of top soil perhaps most of these animals are vanishing,'' says professor Dutta.

Orissa high school exam topper wants to become scientist
Posted May 29th, 2007 by Tarique
Balasore : The girl who topped this year's Orissa high school certificate examination said she wanted to be a scientist like President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Priyanka Das, 15, a student of district government high school at Balasore, some 200 kilometers from the state capital Bhubaneswar, topped the Class 10 examination conducted by the Orissa Board of Secondary Examination (BSE) by securing 727 marks out of 750. The results were declared Tuesday.
"Although I knew that the result will be good, I never thought I will stand first in the state," Priyanka said.
She studied for about 12 to 14 hours every day to prepare for the examination.
"I want to study in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and want to become a scientist like President Kalam," she told IANS.
"She has been always a good student," Priyanka's father Saktaranjan Das said.
Saktaranjan is a tax consultant while Priyanka's mother Urvashi works as a zoology lecturer in a local college.
"She got a scholarship in Class three, Class five and again in Class seven. We are proud of her," said Urvashi Das.
This year about 400,000 students from 7133 state high schools had appeared for the Class 10 examination, which had been conducted simultaneously in 1713 centres across the state between March 7 and March 16, Orissa Board of Secondary Examination secretary Minaketan Pani told IANS.

Orissa makes changes in APMC ActPTI[ TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2007 10:55:49 PM]
NEW DELHI: Orissa has made necessary amendments in Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee Act to facilitate contract farming in private sector, state chief minister Naveen Patnaik said on Tuesday.
"Orissa has made necessary amendments in the APMC Act to permit setting up of rural market and contract farming in the private sector. The rules under the amended APMC Act are in process," he said at the National Development Council meeting.
He said the NDC sub-committee's observation not to encourage any legal provision for handing over of land for cultivation and management as it could make the farmer a mere rent collector or a labourer "is a well thought out safety measure to protect the interest of the farmers".
He sought adequate support from the Centre for resource poor states like Orissa for developing their own models of risk management in agriculture.
Patnaik suggested that a focused approach was needed for agriculture in the 11th Plan to ensure remunerative prices for the farm produce, timely agricultural credit linked to risk management besides availability of quality inputs.
He also sought increased funding under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).
The chief minister appreciated the NDC sub-committee for suggesting that for upscaling public investment both the central and state governments should invest in an equitable manner.