BEL acquires 37025 equity shares of Orissa Sponge

Bhushan Energy Limited has announced that Bhushan Energy Limited along with Mr Brij Bhushan Singal, Mr Neeraj Singal, BNS Steel Trading Pvt Limited, BBN Transportation Pvt Limited, BNR Infotech Pvt Limited, BNR Consultancy Services Pvt Limited and Bhushan Steel Limited have issued a public announcement dated February 27th 2009 and published on February 28th 2009, to the shareholders of Orissa Sponge Iron & Steel Limited in compliance with Regulations 10 & 12 of Chapter III of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Regulations 1997 and any subsequent amendment thereto to acquire on a voluntary basis up to 6,100,000 fully paid up equity shares of INR 10 each of OSIL, representing 20% of the Diluted Capital of OSIL at a price of INR 330 per equity share of INR 10 each of OSIL, payable in cash.

On June 2nd 2009, BEL has acquired 37,025 equity shares of INR 10 each of OSIL, constituting 0.14% of the current issued and paid up share capital of INR 27,00,00,000 of OSIL at a price of INR 348.01 per equity share by way of open market purchase.

Vedanta to raise Rs 10K cr debt for Orissa project

Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) is raising a debt of Rs 10,000 crore for expansion of its aluminium project in Orissa. Sources close to the development say the State Bank of India has been signed up as the lead underwriter for the loan. SBI is talking to various bankers for the syndication of Rs 10,000 crore for Vedanta.

ICICI Bank, IDBI, PNB, BoI, Canara Bank, and Axis Bank are expected to be part of the syndicate to provide PLR-linked long-term debt to VAL, in which Sterlite Industries holds 29.5 per cent stake. Anil Agarwal’s global metal group, Vedanta Resources Plc, holds rest of the 70.5 per cent stake in VAL through Twin Star & Welter Trading. This loan is expected to be a non-recourse loan for Indian company, Sterlite Industries, to be serviced by Vedanta Resources.

VAL is raising debt for investing in its alumina and aluminium-producing units in Orissa. In the second phase of the expansion plans, the capacity of the alumina refinery will increase to 5 MTPA from 1.4 MTPA currently. The capacity of the aluminium smelter will be raised to 1.75 MTPA, from close to 0.7 MTPA. The total investment is expected to be $5.8 billion for next three years.

Reacting to the debt tie-up, Tarang Bhanushali, a senior metal analyst with India Infoline said, “That they raised the fund easily in the financial crisis is positive.” The Sterlite Industries stock is trading lower today, after trading advancing for eight straight trading sessions.

Sources in the Vedanta Group also suggest that the group is targeting to raise Rs 15,000-20,000 crore in the next six months. A large chunk of that is already tied up for the Orissa project. In April, Sterlite Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sterlite Industries, raised Rs 6,000 crore for part-investment in the 2400 MW power project at Jharsuguda in Orissa.

Orissa: Hindu extremists burn three Christian homes in Kandhamal

 Three Christian houses, were set on fire by Hindu extremists in Sirsapanga village of Kandhamal, (Orissa). The episode took place on May 31st in the evening, the very day the Central reserve police force (Crf), sent to the area to protect the Christians, began their phased withdrawal as mandated by the central government.  The incident seems aimed at stopping from Christians returning to their villages.

The three houses belong to Manoj Pradhan, Lankeswar and Sunil Digal and lie only 3 km from the headquarters of the Crpf. Eyewitnesses report that the extremist group celebrated the police withdrawal by attacking the homes.  Deployed for months across the region to halt assaults and another pogrom of the Christians, the New Delhi government decided to withdraw the Crpf. The Orissa governor, Naveen Patnaik, has however asked the Minister for Internal Affairs Chidambaram to leave the last 10 companies - circa 1000 men – at least for another three months.

The withdrawal coincides with the closure of the refugee camps and the Orissa governments appeal to the Christians to prepare for their return to their home villages.  On June 5th the district administration in Kandhamal organised a peace meeting between the Christians in the camps and the communities of their local villages.  Fr. Bijay Pradhan, parish priest in Raikia, sees in the burning of the three homes in Sirsapanga “an attempt to stop this”.

Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (Gcic), explains that “The Christians from Sirsapanga village have not returned to the village, they are still in the Refugee camps. The administration is keen that the people go back to the villages and be resettled, so occasionally, the Christians go to their homes and try to make some temporary repairs.  This is being objected to by the dominant community, and the burning of the three Christians homes is an attempt to control our people”.

The situation is still unstable.  The three owners of the burned houses in Sirsapanga have presented official reports to the police.  According to Fr.Ajay Kumar Singh, Director of Jan Vikas, Social Action Initiative “the gang was led by Dilu Mohanty, who is mastermind behind attacks against Christians in Raikia and G.Udayagiri”.  The victims identified him in First Information Report. “But the police – continues Fr. Singh – asked them to change tehir report ommitting the extremist agng leaders name”.

 “Culprits [of the violence] continue to roam about freely, - concludes Fr. Pradhan - and some of them threaten our people that if they don’t withdraw their police reports against them, they will not be able to return to their villages”.

Orissa man kills wife for not cooking meat

(IANS) 

An Orissa villager has been arrested for beating his wife to death because she did not cook meat for him, police said Monday.
Tirtha Biswal, a 38-year-old resident of Bhagirathipur village in Angul district, some 200 km from here, came home in an inebriated condition Saturday night and asked for food.

After seeing that there was no meat for dinner, he abused his wife Sukumari and beat her to death in a fit of anger. Biswal and Sukumari had three children.

“He beat her up in front of the other family members,” an officer of the local police station told IANS.

The accused was arrested after his father Kunthu Biswal lodged a complaint at the Jarpada police station, the police officer added.

Three new ultra mega power projects in Orissa

Having launched four ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) during the previous UPA rule, the Power Ministry, being headed again by Sushilkumar Shinde, is now on an overdrive with plans to launch another seven such projects in 2009-10. This would involve a total investment of Rs 1,40,000 crore in power generation under the public private partnership (PPP) model.

Of the four UMPPs awarded earlier, Reliance Power bagged three at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand. Tata Power has been awarded the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

“So far we have identified seven projects. Sites for four have been finalised. We are scouting for locations for the other three,” a government official told The Indian Express. The seven projects would see three UMPPs in Orissa, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Each project will require an investment of about Rs 20,000 crore

Oriyas in America ready for 40th convention

Art, dance, theatre and other facets of Oriya culture will be in full play at the 40th convention of the Orissa Society of the Americas (OSA) to be held in the state of New Jersey next month.

The annual event will be held at Trenton from July 2 to 5 this year. OSA is one of the oldest Indian American associations.

'There would be several special events this year starting from the classical and traditional dances of our state to drama competitions,' Dhirendra Kar, former vice president of OSA, told IANS on phone from the US.

The 40th Convention will be a milestone in OSA's history. It is expected to be the largest OSA convention, packed with cultural events, seminars, social networking, youth enrichment programmes and various symposiums.

Artists will enact 'Kali Jaai', an epic Oriya story, and perform Lok Nrutya or traditional dances like ranapa, ghoda naacha, chhou and santala dance will be the greatest attractions of the event, he said.

Artists will also depict 'Bharat Darshan', showcasing India's diversity, he said.

'We are also organizing a fashion show, an event of devotional songs, and classical dance performances such as Odissi by renowned artists,' he said.

OSA is an organisation whose goal is to promote Oriya culture in the US and facilitate the exchange of information between Orissa and North America. Founded in 1969, OSA has 14 regional chapters that operate as a social umbrella for different regions in the US.

Source: IANS

Orissa tops in tobacco consumption: NIH Survey

Orissa has the dubious distinction of being the leader state in terms of tobacco consumption. As per the National Institute of Health (NIH) survey, one-third of its population is in the habit of consuming tobacco.However, the women population in Mizoram tops the chart in consumption of tobacco closely followed by their Orissa counterparts. At least 50 percent of the Orissa women in the age group of 15 and above are addicted to tobacco. Either they chew the tobacco or take it in other form. The number of population consuming tobacco has increased over the years. Earlier, the women of the state only consumed betel, dukta and gudkhu (a form of tobacco made up of tobacco and molasses). However, with the passage of time, the number of women taking smoking has gradually taken an upward trend. It has grown at an average rate of 1.1 per cent to 2.9 per cent per annum, the survey pointed out.The survey also reveals that tobacco use during pregnancy as well as exposure of pregnant women and their young children to second-hand smoke has also pressed the alarm bells. It reveals that one-third of all pregnant women in Orissa consume smokeless tobacco and most are often exposed to second-hand smoke. Smokeless tobacco use can lead to oral and pancreatic cancers and incidentally these are on rapid rise in the state.On the other hand, the educated population of the state has taken gutkha and khani (tobacco power) in a bigger way.