Kidnap and rape of minor: Youth sentenced to 7-yrs RITuesday May 29 2007 12:25 IST
ROURKELA: A 22-year-old youth Sunil Sharma was on Monday sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,000 after being held guilty in the kidnap and rape of a minor.The Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Niranjan Sahu handing over the judgment said the convicted person would have to undergo another jail term of three months on failing to pay the fine.Sharma of Gobardhanpara under Lathikata police limits was initially accused of kidnapping the minor of his locality on November 5, 2005. Both the accused and the girl were recovered nine days later from Thateiposh under Bisra police limits.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Orissa's green woman fights environmental blues - from thatched hut
Other people begin the day with a walk or a prayer to the gods, but not Orissa's doughty Urmila Behera who starts off each morning by planting at least 10 trees in and around her village.
The 48-year-old woman from Kothapada village in Balasore district has been doing so for the last 15 years - planting more than 100,000 trees in at least 60 villages without taking any financial assistance from the government or anyone else.
Operating from her thatched hut, Behera is not a rich philanthropist with time and money to spare, nor is she an academic debating the nuances of global warming in seminar rooms across the world. She is simply a woman deeply committed to the environment.
Fondly called 'Gachha Maa' (tree mother) in the area, Behera has even sold her agricultural land for the purpose.
Her mission plantation has seen her planting trees on riverbanks, in campuses of various educational institutions and myriad other places.
Behera, who has transformed the area with all kinds of trees - neem, coconut, palm, mango, jamun, sal, teak, date palm, peepal and banyan -- doesn't stop with just planting the tree. She also takes care of them till they attain a standard height.
'I started my mission in 1992. I have never looked back since. Earlier I was focussing on my own courtyard and the roadsides of my village. Now I have expanded my vistas,' Behera told IANS.
'I have no son. I love the trees as my sons. In fact, I had started on this work only to overcome the sorrows of not having a son. But it later became a routine. Every morning, I plant at least 10 trees - on special occasions it touches hundreds,' said the mother of two proudly.
Her social work is deeply personal.
Behera actually observes the birthday of a tree by cutting a symbolic cake. Her morning routine begins by putting kajal and turmeric on a tree and showering it with water.
Her husband and daughters are with her.
'A man with blood and flesh may turn anti-social, but not the trees. I feel those who don't do anything for the society are not human beings. We will continue the mission till our death,' said her husband Pitambar Das, 62.
The couple's daughters and other girls in the village tie rakhis to trees every year.
Inspired by the Beheras' passion, president of the village development committee Ashok Behera said: 'We have decided to join hands with the mission and help her in any way we can.'
Behera has a dedicated team of supporters in her mammoth task.
One of those is Dinabandhu Mohapatra of a neighbouring village who has spent a life term in jail and is described by Behera as a 'transformed man'.
Mohapatra said the acceptance of their work hasn't come easily.
'One day, for instance, villagers didn't allow us to plant trees on the roadside. But we did the work in the night when everybody was sleeping. Nobody harmed the trees in the morning,' he recalled.
Combating the environmental blues, the woman with the green fingers has many lessons to teach from her corner of the world. We just need to learn.


Oriental Trimex acquires rights for mining decorative stone in Orissa
Oriental Trimex Ltd has announced that the Company has acquired rights from the Department of Mines, Government of Orissa, for mining of decorative stone (minor minerals) at village Potteru in Malkangiri district of Orissa through a prospecting license dated April 13, 2007 executed between the Company and Deputy Director of Mines, Koraput Circle Koraput, Government of Orissa. The decorative stone quarry is spread over an area of 10.279 hectares / 25.40 Acres. The deposits in this quarry is of black colour granite stone.The Company is in the process of complying with the terms and conditions of the prospecting lease.The stock was trading at Rs.25.45, up by Rs.0.15 or 0.59%. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.25.80 and low of Rs.25.25. The total traded quantity was 9530 compared to 2 week average of 879127.
Source: Equity Bulls

Rajasthan police fail to locate BB Mohanty
Sampad Mahapatra/PS Thakur
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 (Bhubaneswar)
Even after a two day search in Cuttack, the police team from Rajasthan failed to locate the DGP rank Orissa IPS officer BB Mohanty, who is on leave on medical grounds since Monday. The team was in Cuttack to arrest the officer on charges of helping his son and rape convict Bitti Mohanty to jump parole from a Jaipur jail. The team has looked for him at his residence and in a number of local hospitals but without any luck.There is no information about BB Mohanty's whereabouts but a source close to him revealed that he would have been available to the Rajasthan police had they not threatened to arrest him on non-bailable charges and take him to Jaipur. Incidentally, the Orissa police have made it clear that as per law Mohanty will be produced before a local magistrate and not handed over to the Rajasthan team after being arrested.The Rajasthan police say they are not getting enough support from the local police, but the Orissa Home secretary told NDTV that he is prepared to extend all necessary assistance provided the team specifies the kind of help they need.''We expect much more help from the local police. We have been trying to get to DGP BB Mohanty but so far they have not been able to help us with any helpful input or information in this regard,'' said Mukund Behari, DSP, Rajasthan Police. The Rajasthan police may find it hard to even to locate Mohanty whose leave application addressed to the Home Secretary says he may have to leave Cuttack for better treatment.''I should expect that he should be in Cuttack receiving medical treatment there. I have had no intimation or information that he has left Cuttack. Rajasthan police will be given all the support and assistance if they come to me and ask for any specific kind of help,'' said Tarun Kanti Mishra, Home Secretary, Orissa.Mohanty, it seems, is avoiding any direct contact with the local police and the team from Rajasthan till the Rajasthan High Court hears his bail plea.

Meet Subashini, the Nightingale of OrissaWednesday May 30 2007 12:15 IST
BHUBANESWAR: While Orissa has been hogging the limelight in healthcare for all the wrong reasons, an auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM) from Nuapada district has made the State proud with her recent achievement.And her reward - Florence Nightingale National Award - which she received from President A P J Abdul Kalam - speaks with in no uncertain terms.Subashini Jena began her journey in 1990 with a mission to serve the people in inaccessible 40 villages under Biswanathpur PHC in Kalahandi district.Walking more than 20 km a day, she used to cover five villages to meet people’s health-care needs.Later, she was transferred to Beltukuri PHC on Orissa-Chhattisgarh border under Khariar Road Community Health Centre (CHC) in Nuapada district, but continued her good work. For the past 14 years, she has been a Good Samaritan for the locals.Felicitating her at the State Institute of Health here on Tuesday, Health Minister Duryodhan Majhi, also Nuapada MLA, said the award recognised the services of 6,000 ANMs working across the State and showed how sheer determination and willpower can usher in change.Principal Secretary, Health, Chinmay Basu said the services rendered by Subashini, fighting all odds in Beltukuri, would serve as an inspiration for other grass-root health workers and young doctors working in inaccessible areas of the State.Subashini got a cash award of Rs 50,000 and a citation from the President on May 12 at a special ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan. In her response, she narrated how she met the challenge of helping people in need with courage.ANM workers do a lot of work at grass-roots and are involved in postnatal and infant care, institutional delivery, cold-chain maintenance for immunization, blindness eradication programmed besides maintaining 22 registers for statistics and disease surveillance, informed Basu.On compensation to ANM workers, he said the Government had granted Rs 24 crore during past two years for constructing residence-cum-sub centres for them.They have now at their disposal instruments for institutional delivery and got the sanction to spend Rs 10,000 a year in consultation with the local sarpanch, he added.

Orissa's green woman fights environmental blues - from thatched hut
By Hemant Kumar Rout May 30, 2007, 10:50 GMT
Bhubaneswar, May 30 (IANS) Other people begin the day with a walk or a prayer to the gods, but not Orissa's doughty Urmila Behera who starts off each morning by planting at least 10 trees in and around her village.
The 48-year-old woman from Kothapada village in Balasore district has been doing so for the last 15 years - planting more than 100,000 trees in at least 60 villages without taking any financial assistance from the government or anyone else.
Operating from her thatched hut, Behera is not a rich philanthropist with time and money to spare, nor is she an academic debating the nuances of global warming in seminar rooms across the world. She is simply a woman deeply committed to the environment.
Fondly called 'Gachha Maa' (tree mother) in the area, Behera has even sold her agricultural land for the purpose.
Her mission plantation has seen her planting trees on riverbanks, in campuses of various educational institutions and myriad other places.
Behera, who has transformed the area with all kinds of trees - neem, coconut, palm, mango, jamun, sal, teak, date palm, peepal and banyan -- doesn't stop with just planting the tree. She also takes care of them till they attain a standard height.
'I started my mission in 1992. I have never looked back since. Earlier I was focussing on my own courtyard and the roadsides of my village. Now I have expanded my vistas,' Behera told IANS.
'I have no son. I love the trees as my sons. In fact, I had started on this work only to overcome the sorrows of not having a son. But it later became a routine. Every morning, I plant at least 10 trees - on special occasions it touches hundreds,' said the mother of two proudly.
Her social work is deeply personal.
Behera actually observes the birthday of a tree by cutting a symbolic cake. Her morning routine begins by putting kajal and turmeric on a tree and showering it with water.
Her husband and daughters are with her.
'A man with blood and flesh may turn anti-social, but not the trees. I feel those who don't do anything for the society are not human beings. We will continue the mission till our death,' said her husband Pitambar Das, 62.
The couple's daughters and other girls in the village tie rakhis to trees every year.
Inspired by the Beheras' passion, president of the village development committee Ashok Behera said: 'We have decided to join hands with the mission and help her in any way we can.'
Behera has a dedicated team of supporters in her mammoth task.
One of those is Dinabandhu Mohapatra of a neighbouring village who has spent a life term in jail and is described by Behera as a 'transformed man'.
Mohapatra said the acceptance of their work hasn't come easily.
'One day, for instance, villagers didn't allow us to plant trees on the roadside. But we did the work in the night when everybody was sleeping. Nobody harmed the trees in the morning,' he recalled.
Combating the environmental blues, the woman with the green fingers has many lessons to teach from her corner of the world. We just need to learn.

Posco to use self-developed technology for Orissa plant30 May, 2007 l 1833 hrs
ISTlIANS
BHUBANESWAR: South Korean steel major Posco on Wednesday said that it will adopt its self-developed FINEX technology for its proposed $12 billion Greenfield integrated steel project in Orissa, coming up under the largest foreign direct investment in India. "This technology will make Posco-India steel work most competitive in Indian steel sector," Posco-India CMD Soung-Sik Cho said. It is the innovative, future generation of steel-making technologies as replacement of the blast furnace method, which so far has been evaluated as most competitive among steel making technologies in the world, the company said. FINEX eliminates the first step in the steel-making process of sintering and coking and allows the direct use of low-cost ore fines and coal, bringing down overall plant installation and operational costs. The new technology also reduces pollution, producing significantly less sulphur and nitrogen oxide than current furnaces. The Indian plant will be the world's first steel mill of the company outside South Korea to use FINEX on a large scale, Posco said. Moreover, FINEX can better utilise the Indian iron ore which contains high alumina as compared to the blast-furnace technology, and thus is expected to substantially reduce the proposed amount of swapping of iron ore required for the project. Posco, one of the world's biggest steel makers, signed a deal with the Orissa government in June 2005 to set up a plant near the port town of Paradeep, some 120 km from the state capital, by 2016. The firm started working on the development of the new technology in 1992. It celebrated the successful completion of a plant commercialising FINEX in Pohang steelworks on May 30, in the presence of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and more than 1,000 dignitaries from all over the world including a team of officials from the Orissa government. Its total investment into R&D in order to develop and commercialise FINEX process was approximately $596 million.

Orissa cops shielding Mohanty
Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 21:39
Cuttack (Orissa): For the last three days, a Rajasthan Police team has been literally hanging around in Cuttack, waiting to arrest Orissa top cop B B Mohanty.
But Mohanty has disappered again, after his office told the Rajasthan Police team that he has gone on medical leave. He's accused of helping his rape convict son Biti Mohanty jump parole.
The Rajasthan Police team met the Home Secretary and Director General of Police asking for help in arresting Mohanty. However, in a clear sign of protecting B B Mohanty, the Orissa Home Department now wants a formal request from the Rajasthan Police for his arrest.
Says Orissa DG police, Amarananda Patnaik, "We can only help in the arrest after we see the court's order. We have not seen the court's order so far. They have not sought any help relating to his arrest. They have only sought help for police security and support and that we are extending."
The Rajasthan Police team has searched for Mohanty at his office, residence and even in hospitals.
If they find him, Mohanty will be arrested under a non-bailable clause as an escaped prisoner, and flown back to Rajasthan to be produced in court. Mohanty's lawyers say its a debatable clause and he has to be produced before a local court. But the Rajasthan police seem determined.
Says Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jaipur, Mukund Bihari, "We will take him with us, but the Orissa Police should provide us with information on his whereabouts."
Mohanty has applied for anticipatory bail, which will be heard on June 1.
After Biti Mohanty it seems his top cop father B B Mohanty is on the run. And the weak stand of the Orissa Police in the matter is only making the situation more complicated.


Kerala to build Rs 4,000-cr thermal station in Orissa
ECONOMY BUREAU
Posted online: Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 0000 hours IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 30: The Kerala government is gearing up to set up Rs 4,000-crore coal-based thermal station in Orissa. The first set of allocations for this outside-state project is ready, according to KSEB sources.
Union minister of state for coal Dasari Narayana Rao has informed Kerala government of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) getting allotment of coal for captive power generation from the Baitarani coal block in Orissa. KSEB had applied for the allotment as early as in 2003.The allocation means that Kerala goverment may soon sign MoU with Coal India Ltd and Orissa government for the new venture. The proposal is for generating 1,000 mw power annually for 25 years. KSEB will have to cough up the coal mining costs near Baitarani river basin and land price to Orissa government, besides bearing the resettlement package for those displaced from the project site. Orissa is to get 12% of the power produced in the proposed thermal station.
“Considering the coal transportation costs and environmental burden, it was thought feasible to locate the KSEB power station at Orissa,” Kerala power minister AK Balan said.
PowerGrid Corporation of India’s East-South Interconnector-II HVDC Bipole Transmission System (from Talcher in Orissa to Kolar in Karnataka) will be harnessed for transmitting the power to Kerala grid.
However, KSEB sources said that it will take at least 10 years to have Kerala’s Orissa project commissioned.
Kerala is now substantially reliant on hydel resources for its power requirement. This works out to about 90 paise per unit in production costs. However, because of monsoon vagaries and environmental ire, hydel power dependency is pointed out as myopic planning. The new project is considered as a costly alternative, which Kerala government cannot brush aside as the power requirements escalate.

Orissa targets Rs 6,000cr revenue
By Our Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, May 30: The Orissa government has set an ambitious target to collect Rs 6,000 crore revenue during the year 2007-08. If successful, it would mean an increase of Rs 1,542 crores over the previous year.
Finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said on Wednesday that prudent fiscal management, administrative reforms and stress on tax collection had resulted in steady rise in the revenue collection.
"The revenue earning which stood at Rs 1,168 crores in 1999-2000, has improved a lot in the past seven years. In the year 2006-07, the state government earned Rs 4,458 crores. This year, we expect to touch the Rs 6,000-crore mark," Mr Ghadei said, adding that Orissa had metamorphosed from a revenue deficit state to a revenue surplus state in the process. Stating that around 75 per cent businessmen were not filing their returns, Mr Ghedei said state finance officials should strive to ensure that more business people understood the benefit of filing IT returns.
The minister said, "We are planning to conduct regular computer training programme for the commercial tax officers to enhance their work efficiency and streamline the entire tax collection process. Besides, each commercial officer will be required to spend at least one year in a check-gate or at similar places before his getting transfer," he said.
He pointed that if the last year’s 12 per cent growth in industry is maintained, the state would soon emerge as the most prosperous land in the eastern region.

Road accident kills four in Orissa
Posted May 30th, 2007 by Tarique
Bhubaneswar : At least four people including three of a family died and three others sustained injuries Wednesday after a car carrying them collided with a speeding truck near Kujanga town in Orissa's Jagatsingpur district, police said.
The deceased were identified as Lipa Swain, her father Dasarathi Swain, mother Pabitra Swain and their neighbour Dhruba Charana Nayak, police said, adding two people died on the spot whereas two others succumbed to their injuries on way to a hospital in Cuttack.
The injured people, said to be in a serious condition, were admitted to the same hospital.