Silk city Berhampur gets air connectivity; first flight takes off from historic Rangeilunda Airport

A new chapter was added to the state’s aviation history today with the launch of a non-scheduled air charter service from Gopalpur to Bhubaneswar. Global Avianautics (GAL), which runs the Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) for the state government in Bhubaneswar, is operating the service. “The flight will take off daily from Gopalpur’s Rangeilunda air strip for Bhubaneswar. The six-seater twin engine mini aeroplane Pipper Seneca will carry four passengers and two crew members. The cost of a flight from Gopalpur to Bhubaneswar would be between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000. The distance between the two cities, which is about 186km by road, will be covered in 40 minutes,” said O.P. Suri, CEO of GAL, and wing commander Pradeep Chakravarty. Ganjam collector V. Kartikeya Pandian inaugurated the service on the auspicious day of Ram Navami. However, there were no passengers in the inaugural flight.

GAL would provide air journey to Visakhapatnam and other nearby cities having big or small airstrips, provided the plane covers the distance within two hours. Clarifying the status of the non-scheduled air charter services, officials of the GAL said that there is no schedule journey of the flight. “When we have four passengers, we will take off,” said a GAL officer.

Although there is no air ticket booking office or enquiry counter at Rangeilunda at present, GAL is planning to open an office on the premises of the PWD office situated near the air strip, sources said.

The GAL aviation services company is providing various aviation services such as flying training for fixed and rotary wing aircrafts, development and operation of small airstrips, non-scheduled air charter services and aero sports. The officers are quite optimistic about the prospects at Rangeilunda.

GATI at Bhubaneswar is using Rangeilunda as the second flying club in Orissa. “As the Bhubaneswar airport runway suffers from traffic congestion most of the time, the civil aviation ministry was in search of a suitable substitute and considered Rangeilunda air strip as the best,” captain M.S. Mander, flight instructor in-charge of GATI, had said earlier.

Mander, who had surveyed the Rangeilunda air strip along with wing commander Pradeep Chakravarty earlier, had urged the district administration to extend the present runway of the Rangeilunda air strip so that bigger aircraft could land and take off. Gopalpur, which is a major tourist destination, could have air connectivity with Calcutta, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar.

Rangeilunda is located at a distance of around 5km from Berhampur and is adjacent to Berhampur University. The Britishers built the Rangeilunda air strip during the Second World War.

Meanwhile, Road and Building, Division-II, Berhampur has prepared an estimated Rs 27.29-crore plan for development of Rangeilunda airstrip. Further, a green filed domestic airport has been proposed to come up at Konisi on the outskurts of Berhampur city.

Source: The Telegraph, IBNLive.com

Divinity descends on Silk City

BERHAMPUR: Take a stroll down the streets of Silk City, and you are likely to run into Hanuman riding a bicycle or Lord Krishna walking along the pavements. You might even spot Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati mingling with crowds of shoppers in the city's bazaars, while his followers dance in the streets. Berhampur is celebrating the famous biannual Thakurani Yatra and the entire city is flooded with mythological characters, or rather regular people in the 'vesha' (disguise) of gods and goddesses these days. The yatra is observed to mark the visit of Goddess Budhi Thakurani, the presiding deity of the town, from the temple to her father's house at Desibehera Street here.  Residents of the town, across age-groups, dress themselves in costumes akin to characters from mythology and use body paint and other accessories to look like them. Then they roam about the streets during the festival period as part of a 'manashika' (votive) offering to the gods. "I am dressed like Sri Krishna as my mother had promised the goddess I would do so if her wish for my well-being was fulfilled," said 21-year-old Raju, a computer engineering student in the city. People do not dress only as mythological characters during the yatra but also like some social and folk dance characters.

Source: Times of India, The Hindu

RGB, Berhampur sets target of Rs1575 crore business during current financial year

Rushikulya Gramya Bank (RGB), Berhampur one of the best Regional Rural Banks (RRB) in India, has set a target of Rs1575 crore business during the current financial year. This includes Rs1050 crore deposits and Rs525 crore advances.

RGB has achieved Rs1333.89 crore business for the year ended March, 2011 registering year-on-year growth rate of 13.58%, bank source said.

Total deposits and advances included Rs922.86 crore and Rs411.03 crore respectively. Its priority sector advances stood at Rs285.45 crore, constituting 69.45% of total advances against the stipulated norm of 60%. Similarly, agriculture advances stood at Rs145.14 crore, forming 35.31% of the total advances against stipulated norms of 18%, sources said.

Credit Deposit ratio increased to 44.54% from 41.48% as on March 31, 2010. Similarly operating profit of the bank increased to Rs 10.26%, while net profit after tax rose by 93% over previous corresponding year from Rs1.88 crore to Rs3.65 crore.

There are 81 branches of the bank in Ganjam and Gajapati, the Southern Orissa districts. The RGB was also said to be the first RRB to implement the Core Banking Solutions (CBS) to all its branches.

The chairman of the bank said the RGB was signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NABARD to implement to finance the crop loan to the Joint Liability Group (JLG), the group of tenant farmers and share crops.

In Ganjam and Gajapati districts, the banks targeted to finance around 750 groups over three years.

Last year, we financed 145 JLG in both the districts, the chairman said. Since they have no land, the farmers involved in the tenant farming were not getting the crop loans from the banks. 
Source: DNA

Railway wagon factory to come up near Berhampur

Kolkata/ Berhampur: The proposed railway wagon factory of the ministry of Railways is likely to set up near Berhampur in Ganjam district. The State government has identified about 101 acres of land at Sitalapalli, about 15 km from here, for this purpose.

Union Railways minister, Mamata Banerjee had announced for setting up of a railway wagon factory in the state during her budget speech in the parliament. The proposed factory will be set up under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, where the state government will provide the required lands.

“Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik has already written to Banerjee about the selection of the site for the proposed factory” said a senior government officer. Patnaik has also asked her to take necessary steps to start work on the project.

“The Railways needed 100 acres of land for the purpose and we have identified a 101acre patch”, he added. The land coming under Berhampur tehsil is government land, sources said. The proposed site is about 1.5 km from Jagannathpur station. Tata Steel is setting up an Industrial Park near the proposed site.

The ruling BJD legislators from Ganjam district have hailed the government decision. “The government has rightly selected the site for the railway wagon factory, where several other industrial units like the steel plant and industrial park are coming up” said Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi, local MLA. “The people of the district will be benefited by the project” added MLA (Berhampur) Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik.

After joint inspection of at least four sites in different places of Ganjam district by the officials of the East Cost Railway and Ganjam district administration, finally the site near Sitalapalli was selected.

The detail project report for the proposed factory would be worked out by the Railways ministry after which the ministry would float bid inviting the companies to participate in the project.

The legislatures urged the Railways ministry to start the process for the setting up of the wagon factory without any further delay.

Lakhs of devotees throng Taratarini hill shrine on Second Tuesday of Chaitra fest

Around four lakh devotees from various parts of Orissa and from neighbouring states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh thronged the Tara Tarini hill shrine on the auspicious Second Tuesday of the month of Chaitra. Tara Tarini, an ancient Shakti shrine located on the banks of the mythologically famous river of Rushikulya, 30 km from Berhampur city, is believed to be the Sthana Pitha (Breast Shrine) of Adi Shakti. The Shrine is one of the ancient most places of Shakti worship and among the four major Shakti centers in India. It bears a history of not less then 5000 years.

It may be noted that all the Tuesdays of the month of Chaitra are days of festivity at this hill shrine and this month long fest in honour of the twin goddess is the biggest fair of India held at any religious shrine.

As per the report available, on the second Tuesday of Chaitra festival around 10,000 babies offered their hairs to the goddess and the number this year surpassed the number registered in the corresponding Tuesday of the previous years.

The festivities started at this shrine from Monday midnight itself and throughout the night there were cultural programmes to entertain the devotees. After the traditional ceremonial works, the sanctum of Maa Tara Tarini opened at around 1 a.m in the morning and darshan started after that.

Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) of Southern Division, Odisha, Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak, Secretary Fisheries Government of Odisha Shri Satyabrata Sahu, Ganjam District Collector Shri VK Pandian, Superintendent of Police Berhampur and Ganjam and many other senior state and central government officials, apart from the executive officer and all other office bearers of Tara Tarini Development Board, were present on the occasion.

Last year on the third Tuesday of Chaitra, more than 6 lakh people visited the hill shrine. Therefore, sensing that, the Tara Tarini Development Board (TTDB) is making elaborate arrangements for the smooth darshan of devotees on the upcoming 3rd and 4th Tuesdays.