Assembly Questions
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Bhubaneswar, Dec 2: The area of forests in the state has increased by 3,314 sq km between 2000 and 2013, forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh said in the Assembly Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question by Jeypore legislator Taraprasad Bahinipati, Arukh said as per India State of Forest Report-1999 and 2001 published by Forest Survey of India, the state had forests of around 47,033 sq km and 48,838 square km respectively.
Meanwhile, as per a fresh report published in 2013, the state has 50,347 sq km of forest.
“So comparatively, the state has seen a growth of 3,314 sq km forest in these years,” the minister said. Extent of forest area is measured through the help of remote sensing technology.
The minister said in order to protect forests from the timber mafia, the state government has deployed around 19 APR units in 19 such vulnerable districts.
Forest Protection Squads have been put in place in 32 vulnerable forests identified by the state government and 590 VHF stations along with 880 walkie-talkies have been set up to ensure protection of forests.
Animal attacks
As many as 244 people have died in human-animal conflict from 2011-12 to 2013-14, informed forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh to the House Tuesday. In a written reply to a question put by legislator Debyashankar Mishra, the minister said while 244 persons have died in these three years, the state government has provided compensation of around `4.45 crore to the families of the victims.
Infovalley to be functional soon
Infovalley, being developed jointly by the state’s nodal agency for land acquisition Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) and IT behemoth Infosys, is ready for entrepreneurs and will be functional soon, information technology (IT) minister Pranab Prakash Das told the Assembly Tuesday.
Replying to a question of Debasis Nayak, Das said external infrastructure of the project like a four-lane approach road from NH-5, boundary wall, power supply, and water supply for taking up construction work have been taken up in the first phase.
The project will come up over 600 acres of land. The government allotted 50.919 acres of land to anchor tenant Infosys to set up their units in the special economic zone (SEZ) notified area. The Infosys will start its operations for Infovalley very soon, Das said. Singapore-based Jurong Consultants has been engaged for preparation of master plan and the work is in progress. Till October last, Idco spent a total of `71.62 crore including `41.32 crore towards land acquisition and `30.30 crore for infrastructure development, he informed.
IIIT to come up in state at `128 crore
An Indian Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT) will be set up in the state at an estimated cost of `128 crore, IT minister Pranab Prakash Das informed the Assembly Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question by legislator Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, the minister said there is a proposal to set up the IIIT under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
The department of higher education and Union ministry of human resource development (MHRD) invited Detail Project Reports (DPR) from the states for establishment of 20 new IIITs in the country under PPP mode in 2010, the minister said. As per the proposed scheme, the Central government, state government and the industry partner/corporate partner will be the stakeholders in this project, he added.
The capital cost of each IIIT would be `128 crore, to be contributed in the ratio of 50:35:15 by the Centre, state and the industry partner respectively.
“For the establishment of IIIT in PPP mode in our state, a DPR has been prepared. The selection of the industry partner is under progress,” he said. “After selection of the industry partner, the DPR will be forwarded to MHRD for action,” he added.