Archive for June, 2015
IIM at Sambalpur
Following report is from the Telegraph:
New Delhi, June 24: The Union government today put to rest the uncertainty over selection of site for an IIM in Odisha by clearing the proposal to set up the premier institute in Sambalpur.
The decision also paves the way for possible commencement of academic programme from the current session.
The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today cleared the proposal for setting up of six IIMs, including the one in Sambalpur and another in Bodhgaya in Bihar. The other IIMs will be set up at Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh, Nagpur in Maharashtra and Amritsar in Punjab.
A press statement issued by the Press Information Bureau said these IIMs would begin functioning from assigned temporary facilities and shift to their permanent sites after construction of their campuses.
“It is intended that these six new IIMs will commence their first academic session from 2015-16,” the statement said. Each institute will start with 140 students in the postgraduate programme courses.
IIM Indore, which is mentoring IIM Odisha, had earlier written to the ministry of human resource development (HRD) that it might not admit students unless the permanent site and temporary campus for the B-school are finalised at the earliest.
Last year the HRD ministry had written to the state governments asking for possible sites with around 200 acres of land with good connectivity. The Odisha government had suggested two sites in Bhubaneswar in view of its air connectivity.
A central site selection team visited the sites in Bhubaneswar last December and had picked one near Gothpatna on the city outskirts.
After petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan put his weight behind Sambalpur as the site for the IIM, the HRD ministry wrote to the Naveen Patnaik government asking for its opinion on setting up the institute in west Odisha. After the state government agreed to it, a central team visited Sambalpur on Monday and the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal today.
The Odisha government has hailed the decision to set up the IIM in Sambalpur. Welcoming the decision, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said: “This will go a long way in promoting higher education in western Odisha.”
There was jubilation In Sambalpur with people bursting crackers and distributing sweets. “This area of the state will become an educational hub after the IIM is set up,” said president of Gangadhar Meher University students’ union Milan Hota.
Additional reporting by Subrat Das in Bhubaneswar
Land hurdle continues to delay Khurda-Balangir railway line
Following is a report from TNIE:
BOUDH: The successful trial run of trains in a stretch of 32-km on Khurda Road-Balangir line on August 31 last year had raised hopes of completion of the project soon. But, the project continues to hang fire with land acquisition posing as a major hurdle.
The railway line which will pass through Khurda, Nayagarh, Boudh, Sonepur and Balangir districts would require construction of 11 tunnels measuring 6.3 km, around 435 bridges including a 660-metre bridge over river Tel besides culverts and other constructions.
Though the State Government had assured the Centre of providing the land free of cost, the acquisition process for the 289-km rail line has hit a road block.
As yet, only land for laying train tracks on 22 kms has been acquired in Balangir district while not a single inch of land has been acquired in Boudh district which has a lion’s share of 122 kms. However, in neighbouring Nayagarh district, land has been acquired from Raj Sunakhala to Nayagarh.
After connecting Khurda Road with Begunia in the first phase, work on the 46-km stretch to Raj Sunakhala was to be completed by March 31 this year and the 66-km stretch till Nayagarh has 2015-16 financial year deadline. But meeting the deadline now seems to be remote considering the slow pace of work.
As per official reports, the budget of the project which was estimated at `4.98 crore after the initial survey has shot up to a staggering `2,000 crore as it witnessed low budgetary provisions in Central Budgets and issues of land acquisition.
The rail link was first surveyed in 1945 by the then Bengal-Nagpur Railway (BNR) administration which found the route important as it connected most backward undivided districts of Balangir, Kalahandi, Koraput and Phulbani with Bhubaneswar. Smaller towns such as Daspalla, Banigochha, Manipur and Boudh were also part of the line.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 