Western Orissa News Board

2008-01-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (KM/RD)

Mangalore : "We strongly criticize the recent attacks on churches and Christian institutions in Orissa and express our concern on the flare up of communal violence in the coastal district," said B Madhava, secretary of CPI (M), DK district committee at a press conference here on Wednesday January 9.

Asked about the party's stance on the setting up of the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ), the secretary said that the party has always advocated development of the region and welcomed industrialization which it deemed has no adverse impact on the environment of the region. If it feels that developmental works will have adverse consequences on the environment in the long run, then the party would not support such projects.

Briefing media persons on its demand to the ministry of railways, the secretary added that train services should be commenced from the city to Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata via Bangalore. The train services to Bangalore from the city should be scheduled in day time. The party has also demanded train services to Subrahmanya for every two hours on South Western Railway (SWR) route and at least two train services should be commenced between the city and Kundapur, on Konkan Railway (KR) route, he added.

Conducting examinations for outsiders like those who are from Bihar is inappropriate as it may give rise to tensions and conflicts. On the other hand, showing intolerance towards the outsiders is also inhuman, he opined while making clear of his official stand towards the heated situation that prevailed in railway recruitment at Bangalore.

Grant of $7 million for Orissa Medical College from Japan

Japan Thursday announced a grant of $7 million for upgrading a medical college in Orissa.//

"The grant assistance would enable the Sardar Vallavbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics (in Cuttack) to improve its medical facilities and effectively contribute towards dispensation of healthcare to a wider population," said a statement from the Japanese embassy.

Notes concerning the project were signed and exchanged here Thursday by Japanese ambassador Yasukuni Enoki and Vivek Mehrotra, additional secretary in India's finance ministry.

The grant will help the institute - a pioneer centre in dispensing healthcare to undernourished children - to provide improved diagnostic and medical health services in Orissa and neighbouring states.

India is the largest recipient of Japanese Overseas Development Assistance. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, during his visit to India three months ago, repeated that Tokyo would continue to support New Delhi's efforts at accelerated economic development, particularly in priority areas like infrastructure, including transportation and power, and environment.

Koizumi's visit cemented growing bilateral ties and initiated an "eight-fold initiative" of cooperation in key areas spanning security, economic engagement and science and technology.

Freedom Fighter And Orissa Congress Leader Dies

Gangadhar Mohapatra who was, an active freedom fighter and a veteran Orissa Congress leader died after a brief illness at the age of 91.// His condition has deteriorated after his recent surgery and since then he was not keeping good health. He complained of chest pain Wednesday evening and died before his family doctor could reach his residence, family members said.

He is survived by six sons and four daughters. Mohapatra was elected to the Orissa assembly four times - in 1967, 1974, 1980 and 1985. He served as a cabinet minister in the Nandini Satpathy and J.B. Patnaik governments.

He had held various portfolios under different governments including those of finance, tourism and culture. Born in 1915 in Biswanathpur village in the coastal district of Puri, Mohapatra joined India's freedom movement from his school days and was jailed twice for protesting against British rule.

Orissa’s Correspondence Student Gain Entry in Toppers’ Lit

The Orissa government has included the name of a Class 10 correspondence course student in the state's toppers list, which it had earlier failed to do, an official said Saturday//.

The board of secondary education in the state had named 22 students of various private and government high schools in its list of toppers last Wednesday.

But Pravas Kumar Sahu, who secured 708 out of 750 marks, did not find his name in the list that had three others with the same score. The boy had taken the examination as a correspondence course student, as his school, Rtapalli Vidya Pitha, is not recognised by the government.

Sahu had requested the board to consider his inclusion. After examining his application, it has revised the topper list and he is now placed in the sixth position of the list, a senior board official told IANS.

The Rtapalli Vidya Pitha, located at Kanan Vihar in the state capital, is a free residential, Oriya-medium school run by non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Established on Aug 15, 1997, the school has a good academic record with a majority of students securing first division.

The state government also declared that from now on all deserving students of the correspondence course would also figure in the toppers list.

Orissa To Get New Medical Colleges Soon

It is uncertain if a second medical college will ever come up in the Western Orissa region, but there is no dearth of expression of intentions on the part of the State government. Western Orissa Development Council (WODC), after // its failed negotiation with an Andhra Pradesh based entrepreneur, struck another deal on August 17th with a Delhi based businessman to set up private medical colleges in Bolangir and Rourkela. The Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jassar Dental and Medical Education and Health Care for these two proposed medical colleges.

As per the agreement, the two medical colleges in Bolangir and Rourkela would be completed by 2007, the budget of which is tentatively fixed at Rs 200 crore. One would be a hundred-seated college while the other would have strength of 150 and private management would control both. The Council has acquiesced to supply 25-acre land to both these institutions and Rs 10 crore funds to each of the projects.

In 2004, the Council had signed an agreement with a Rajamandri based entrepreneur to set up two medical colleges, post Naveen election rhetoric on the issue. The MoU never materialized as the party backed out midway through.

2008-01-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Railways gives in to Japanese demand for electrified routes

New Delhi: In a desperate bid to revive its ambitious freight corridor project, which, though conceived two years ago, is yet to take off, the railway ministry effected a climbdown on Monday and accepted the terms proposed by Japan, which it has lined up as a financier.

The turnaround comes after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, or CCEA, declined three times to give a final clearance for the dedicated freight corridor, or DFC, after it found that the ministry had not put down a credible funding plan for the project, estimated to cost Rs28,000 crore.

Following its compromise with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the railways will have to approach CCEA for a final go-ahead.

Briefing reporters here on Monday, Railway Board chairman K.C. Jena said that he had written to JICA, the development arm of the Japanese government, stating that it was ready to electrify the western arm of the proposed route.

The railways had earlier opposed this, saying that if the route was electrified, it would not be able to move “double-stack” container trains to maximize traffic movement.

The height of the electric lines was the cause for concern as railway experts feared it would not be possible to transport stacked-up containers on an electrified line.

Jica, however, argued that this was not true. Now the railways has reversed its stand and is proposing a pilot project in Orissa.

“We will be conducting a trial run for running double-stack container train on an electrified route between Jakhapura and Daitari in Orissa,” said Jena.

DFC envisages the construction of around 2,700km of railway line between New Delhi and Mumbai on the west as well as an eastern corridor, which will begin at Ludhiana in Punjab and terminate at Sonenagar in Bihar, with a proposed extension to Kolkata.

Due to differences of opinion between Jica—which had conducted a study on the project—and the railways, the funding for the project is still to be finalized, two years after it was announced by railway minister Lalu Prasad.

The Railway Board chairman said that the ministry had placed an order to import specially designed pantographs that would make it possible to run double-stack container trains on electrified routes. A pantograph is a device that transfers power to electric locomotives from the overhead electric lines.

The challenge before the ministry is to ensure that the stacked containers can pass under the electric line. Some of the members of the Railway Board had recently travelled to China to see how they run double-stack trains on electrified routes.

However, a fundamental difference between the Chinese railway and the Indian Railways is that China uses standard gauge while trains in India run on broad gauge, which is broader.

“It is definitely an experiment,” said Jena, who also said that the Japanese loan would not come through unless the railways agreed to electrify both corridors.

According to the Railway Board chairman, Jica has also accepted the estimate put forth by the railways to fund the project. Jica officials declined comment. Earlier, the total cost of the project was also a point of contention. While Jica claimed that it would cost Rs48,000 crore, the railways argued that it would cost Rs28,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the chairman also said that the Railway Board has received proposals from several states saying that they wished to start high-speed trains.

The board has asked RITES—the survey organization under it—to appoint a consultant who would carry out studies in collaboration with the state governments concerned. But this would be premised on the state governments agreeing to bear part of the cost.

2008-01-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

Centre’s power snub

Ranchi, Jan. 4: The New Year could not have started on a worse note. In a bid to stop the erratic supply of power from hydel plants in the central pool, Jharkhand had asked the Centre to restore supply from thermal plants. But the Centre, it has been learnt now, has rejected the plea.

Jharkhand, along with representatives of electricity boards of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, met the Union power minister on December 27 demanding restoration of its power supply from the central quota through thermal power stations. But Jharkhand State Electricty Board engineer-in-chief C.D. Kumar, who attended the meeting, disclosed the bad news only now.

Since November 2007, the ministry had stopped supply from thermal power plants at Khalgoan (Bihar) and Talcher (Orissa) and started providing power from Tala hydel power plant in Bhutan. But supply from Tala has been erratic due to fluctuations in water levels.

Jharkhand’s quota from Tala is about 230 MW a day. But it is getting around 60MW on an average. The situation is likely to remain unchanged till the monsoons.

The new arrangement has hit Bihar and Jharkhand the hardest as these two states are dependent on the central allocation of power. During the meeting, state representatives expressed their annoyance that coal-bearing states were being deprived of assured power supply from the Centre.

“Power from Khalgoan and Talcher are now being linked with northern and western grids to strengthen supply. The ministry wants to boost the power supply in Delhi ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games,” these officials alleged.

The only silver lining for Jharkhand is the ministry’s assurance — it has now sent a letter to this effect — of providing 40MW of additional power to the state shortly. “We have received the ministry’s communiqué a few days back. We will start getting the additional power soon,” a board official said.

Chief minister Madhu Koda and several Congress leaders had met Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde sometime back and pleaded for more power from the central pool to tide over the gloomy power scenario in the state.

Year of water, land, religious wars

A man rummages through the rubble in a Phulbani village. Telegraph file picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan 02.: For Orissa the year was marked by a series of clashes.

The year ended with communal clashes in tribal-dominated Khandhamal, beginning from Christmas. The carnage that followed claimed three lives (two died in the clashes and one in police firing). The district remains tense despite the presence of central paramilitary forces.

The year also witnessed sustained agitation over land and water issues. During the early part of 2007, heavy police in the proposed Posco plant area in Jagatsinghpur, apparently to mount pressure on the anti-displacement brigade, was deployed. But, the state was forced to pull out forces due to adverse opinion.

Towards the end of the year, the same area witnessed strife between anti-plant protestors and supporters in November, in which more than 15 persons were injured. However, after two years, the police and officials got the opportunity to enter the proposed plant area, which was out of bounds for them. The project still remains on shaky grounds due to resistance by the locals.

In the southern district of Kalahandi, tribals carried on agitation against the alumina refinery and bauxite mining project of Vedanta Group. Their struggle received a shot in the arm with Supreme Court denying permission to the Vedanta Alumina to go ahead with the plant and project in the Niyamgiri hills.

Like land, water, too, was an issue. Farmers in western Orissa raised their voice in protest against the allocation of Hirakud water to the industries. Much to the discomfiture of the government, the police forces used lathi charge on a peasant rally at Burla in Sambalpur.

The agitation intensified with the backing of the Opposition parties, who stalled Assembly for nine days and held rallies supporting the cause. The government had to abruptly end the winter session, 18 days ahead of schedule, triggering a yet another controversy.

In July, Orissa woke up to a shocking news of discovery of female foetuses from a private nursing home in the sleepy town of Nayagarh. Subsequent raids revealed that the illegal practice of pre-natal sex determination and female foeticide was prevalent all over the state.

Smaller scandals rocked the state, too. State’s school and mass education minister Bishnu Das was embroiled with a scandal in which his son’s marksheet was found to have been fudged. Das resigned, while several senior officials of the Orissa Board of Secondary Education, were put behind bars.

That wasn’t the only resignation of the state as recently, steel and mines minister Padmanabha Behera tendered his resignation in the wake of the clashes between Pano, a Dalit community and Kondh, a tribe in his home district.

2007-12-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

Lawyers In Western Orissa Go On Strike

Wednesday 12th of December 2007
Courts in western Orissa were paralysed Wednesday when lawyers struck work, demanding a high court bench in the region to enable people to get justice faster.

Protesting under the banner of the Western Orissa Bar Association (WOBA), they boycotted the revenue and judicial courts in the region's 11 districts, staged demonstrations and also prevented judges and court employees from working.

According to Sirish Ballav Mishra, who is convenor of the central action committee (CAC) of WOBA, the two big towns of Sambalpur and Bargarh were the worst hit.

'We will continue our protest till our demand is met,' Mishra told IANS.

Last month, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court Ashok Kumar Ganguly, requesting him to set up a bench each at Sambalpur and Berhampur. While Sambalpur would serve the western part of the state, Berhampur would cover the south.

Non-finalisation of salary: Teachers pushed to brink

.........ROURKELA : The plight of the teachers of erstwhile municipal schools has once again come to the fore with the death of MS Pali Primary School headmaster Purushotam Rana, a couple of days back. He allegedly died of poverty. Yogesh, Rana’s son claimed that his father was suffering from chronic urological disorder and the end came early as they could not afford treatment. Rana was not paid for the last five months. Rana’s colleagues who share similar economic fate said an ill Rana was passing through a very lean phase.

While this remains the plight of such teachers across Orissa, around 53 erstwhile municipal schools’ teachers here are just hoping that good sense will prevail upon the School and Mass Education Department. Sources said envisaging a single pattern of school education, these schools were provisionally taken over by the department on February 28, 2004. But, nearly four years after, the State Government is yet to finalise the ‘service conditions’ which would have enabled them a pay scale at par with government teachers along with other service benefits. Presently, they are getting between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,500, while their government school counterparts are being paid just the double.

As the government is dilly-dallying in finalising the pay, both the schools and teachers are having a rough ride. No wonder, quality school education remains a distant dream. It is showing in the poor school infrastructure. Consider this: Bisra Munda Vidyapeeth (BMV), the alma mater of India’s hockey skipper Prabodh Tirkey and the John ME School, in the common campus of BMV, enrolling future hockey stars can put any authority to shame. Newly-appointed District Inspector of Schools Kapilendra Mishra said efforts would be made to improve the situation.

Huge cache of arms seized

.........SAMBALPUR : In a big haul, police seized around 2,400 rounds of ammunition from Jarang forest and arrested two hardcore Maoists, James alias Pawan Lohar and Uddhaba Putta. While James, 24, is said to be an explosives expert from Ranchi, Putta (20) alias Pandab is a local radical. Police also seized three landmines weighing more than 10 kg each, fuse wires, a GPS (Global Positioning System) gadget, a walky-talky and books. Addressing mediapersons here today, Sambalpur SP Sanjay Kumar said the ammunition, looted from Jharkhand, can cater to a company of police force.

The police forces are using 9 mm ammunition manufactured in 2001-02, whereas the seized ammunition were manufactured in 2003. James, founder-member and zonal commander of Sambalpur-Deogarh- Sundargarh committee, was involved in 24 heinous crimes including killing of cops. An expert in making landmine and conducting guerilla warfare, he had been engaged in planting landmines targeting police not only in Orissa but also in Jharkhand. James was imparting training to Naxal recruits in different camps.

He had disclosed that he had surveyed the district armoury and a few police stations in order to loot arms and ammunition, Sanjay Kumar said. The other arrested Naxal, Putta, was member of the local guerilla squad (LGS) and was involved in at least 12 cases in Sambalpur.

US team ready to develop art villages in Dhenkanal

.........DHENKANAL : A group of US development facilitators has evinced keen interest in developing art villages and some backward pockets in the district. The group comprising eight development facilitators and international development experts headed by Dr Neville S. Arachchige Don under the banner of International Research Foundation for Development visited some villages, including Gobardhanpur under Gondia block and Lambodarapur in Sadar block in June and July. Gobardhanpur is known for its tribal jewellery.

In the presence of heads of departments, Collector Zamil Ahmed Khan and mediapersons, they invited suggestions for development of the villages and uplift of artists. Now, they have sought project proposals about development needs in the district and skill development of artists whose products are exported to the US and other European countries. They also sought information on development needs in sectors like health, education, drinking water and sanitation. In response, Khan called a meeting of heads of departments, chief district medical officer, social welfare officer, Nabard officials and lead bank manager to discuss the development needs.

Later, the administration with support from a leading NGO Mission Reconstruction drew up project proposals and sent them to the US development facilitators. The Collector also sent proposals on development needs in Kankadahada and Hindol blocks. According to Neville, a meeting will be held in Los Angeles in December-end to chalk out a strategy on the project proposals. Khan said as social and economic inequality is far greater in these two blocks, they were selected for comprehensive development.

2007-12-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

Resentment over deletion of Surendra Sai's name in govt calendar

Sambalpur, Dec 8 : The absence of the birthday of Veer Surendra Sai, a prominent freedom fighter, in the government calender for 2008, has evoked resentment among the people of Western Orissa here.

Several organisation and intellectuals condemned the deletion of the birthday of Surendra Sai, the first freedom fighter of the nation, from the government calendar and demanded to rectify the calendar with special mention of the hero's birthday.

They said since 2008 was the year of the second birth centenary of the freedom fighter from Western Orissa, who spent more than two decades in exile and died in jail in 1884, his name should have figured in the state government calendar.

''It is an irony that every year his birthday finds a place in the government calendar but it has been deleted in 2008 despite the fact that the hero's second birth centenary falls on January 23, 2008,'' intellectuals said.

The Orissa Sanskritik Samaj, a leading socio-cultural organisation of the state, raised objection over such an ''irregularity'' and drew the state government's attention, including the director of the government press.

The Western Orissa Small and Medium Newspapers' Forum also expressed concern over the issue and demanded the government to take responsibility for such a ''gross mistake''.

''Just a correction or an apology will not be a proper solution.

The persons responsible for such grave mistake should be penalised,'' Forum president Mayadhar Nag and secretary Mahabir Mishra demanded.

2007-12-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 7, 2007

Anti POSCO movement gathers more support

It is reported that a number of political parties and people’s organizations in Orissa held a daylong convention to express their support to those opposing the POSCO’s steel project in the state.

Political leaders said that the agitation by people in the POSCO project site was not against the company but for protection of people’s land and livelihood sources. They underlined the need for coming together of various organizations opposing different mineral based industrial projects at Kalinga Nagar, Keonjhar and Retagged districts and the farmers of western Orissa who were opposing diversion of water from Hirakud reservoir to industry to oppose the mindless and anti people industrialization.

The political parties and organizations which participated in the convention include
1. CPI (ML)
2.CPI (ML Liberation)
3. CPI (ML New democracy)
4. Samajwadi Jana Parishad,
5. Visthapan Virodhi Janamanch
6. POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
7. Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan Samanwaya Samiti
8. Jatadhari Banchao Andolan, Loka Shakti Abhijan (Orissa)
9. Lok Mukti Sangathan
10. Basti Suraksha Manch
11. Jeeban Jibika Surakhya Samiti and Lok Pakhya
12. Prakrutika Sampad Surakhya Parishad
13. Mittal Visthapan Virodhi Manch.

The poet poverty-stricken Komna is pround of

Dec 7,2007

Komna, a remote village in Nuapada district of western Orissa, is often in news for wrong reasons: child labour and deadly epidemics. But another fact for which this village should justifiably be proud of is that it has given the State a great Oriya poet, late Gadadhar Mishra Sharma.
Born on November 7, 1906 in a conservative Brahmin family, the 54-year-old had to receive his primary education in a Hindi medium school as his birthplace at that time was part of Madhya Pradesh. He learnt Oriya language on his own efforts and started writing his feelings and experiences in poetic form, following the path of Oriya poets Radhanath Roy and Gangadhar Meher. He wrote many poems in Oriya language like Bibidhabarna, Rasamanjula, Kusumamala and Sarada Gamana, which established his poetic credentials. He composed eleven volumes of Khanda Kabya, which are compilations of many well-known poems like Mahandi, Jautuka, Premayana, Sura Sauvadra, Ramakatharu and Ramarajya and many other lesser known ones.
Mishra Sharma's writings brought about a great revolutionary change in the minds of Oriyas residing in western Orissa, and gradually he became popular among the Oriyas residing in different parts of the State. His poem Sarada Gamana was included in a book called Kabita Prabsesha, which was included as a part of the curriculum by the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa, for matriculation students.
Mahanadi is one of the great literary contributions of Mishra Sharma. In this poem, he has described the beauty of nature, the birds and the animals visiting the bank of the Mahandi and other rivers. The skillful use of Sanskrit words, Oriya words and dialects of western Orissa in his writings need to be studied carefully by the linguists and researchers of Oriya language to fully understand the impact of his contribution to the Oriya literary traditions.

India successfully tests new interceptor missile

Balasore (Orissa), Dec 6 (IANS): India Thursday successfully tested a newly developed high-speed interceptor missile over the Bay of Bengal , defence sources said.

As a part of an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) exercise, a Prithvi missile modified to "mimic" a hostile ballistic missile was fired from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea in Orissa, some 230 km from State capital Bhubaneswar , about 11 a.m.

The new missile was fired from Wheeler Island a little over two minutes later and successfully intercepted the incoming target, destroying it over the Bay of Bengal , the sources said.

The AAD tested Thursday was a new missile and not a derivative or an update of any existing missile, the sources added.

It was specially designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for this role.

In performance, the AAD is said to be slightly superior to the US PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability) in interception, altitude and range against incoming ballistic missiles, the sources said.

On Sunday, defence scientists had conducted a mock trial of the AAD system by using an electronic target fired from the ITR.

On Nov 27 last year, defence scientists had successfully conducted a similar Prithvi air defence exercise over the Bay of Bengal by using a modified version of Prithvi to destroy an incoming missile.

Orissa Woman fighting mining operation honoured

Bhopal : A 14-year old struggle against mining giants got a shot in the arm Wednesday after Mukta Jhodia, a tribal woman fighting them in Orissa, won the first Chingari Award meant for women fighting corporate crime.

The award is an initiative of two woman survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy.

The tragedy occurred Dec 2-3, 1984, when tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the now defunct Union Carbide's pesticide plant here, killing more than 3,000 people instantly and maiming several thousand others for life.

Champa Devi and Rashida Bee - who fought relentlessly for justice in one of the longest running battles against corporate crime - have set up the award from the $1,25,000 Goldman Environment Prize they received in 2004.

"This is an award out of an award, and it would be presented every year to a woman taking on corporate giants," said Rashida Bee two days after the 23rd anniversary of the Union Carbide gas disaster.

They handed over a trophy and a citation while writer Jyotsna Kamal presented a Rs.50,000 cheque to Jhodia, who has been opposing Hindalco-led Utkal Alumina's bauxite mining and processing project in Kashipur, Orissa.

"The Chingari Award is particularly relevant at this juncture, when the government has made its intentions of submitting to corporate-led globalisation extremely clear. The coming years will see some of the world's most powerful corporations pitted against some of the most marginalised people - adivasis, dalits and peasants - with the police playing hit men for the investors," said Jhodia.

"Jhodia has been awarded when communities in her home state are threatened with eviction to make way for a range of mining and mining-related industries. A resident of Sriguda Goudaguda village in Orissa's Rayagada district, the 45-year old Mukta has locked horns with a Birla-led mining consortium and has mobilised her community successfully to stave off plans to mine the bauxite-rich plateaus in her motherland", Champa Devi told IANS.

"The mother of a married son and a daughter, Mukta has been a key source of inspiration and awareness among Kashipur's tribal communities. A fiery speaker, she has tirelessly travelled to tribal villages around Rayagada, often on a bicycle with her husband or son, informing them about Birla's plans to exploit their 'bheeta mati' (home and hearth)," Champa Devi said.

A six-person jury, led by Mahashweta Devi, screened 10 nominations from rural areas around the country, and short-listed four women.

Other jury members included Ajitha George from Jharkhand, S. Usha from Kerala, Sujata Gothoskar and Mira Sadgopal from Maharashtra, and Pamela Philipose from New Delhi.

2007-12-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

Leaders of a farmers' body in Orissa Tuesday refused to talk with a ministerial team that had gone to meet them to discuss industrial use of water from the state's Hirakud dam.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik had deputed state revenue minister Manmohan Samal, steel and mines minister Padmanav Behera, road and transport minister Jaya narayan Mishra and agriculture minister Surendra Nath Nayak to talk with agitating farmers in western Orissa.

The ministers Tuesday arrived in Sambalpur, some 300 km from the state capital, and contacted some of the farmer leaders for discussion, Paschim Orissa Krushak Sangathan Samanwaya Samiti (POKSS) leader Lingaraj told IANS.

'We refused to talk to them because their intention was not clear,' he said.

'We got a letter from the administration that says that the team wants to discuss with us about the use of dam water for industrial use,' Lingaraj added.

The government seems to be more concerned for industries than farmers, he alleged. That is why we refused to meet the team, he said.

Hundreds of farmers have been opposing industrial use of water from the 25.8-km long Hirakud dam - one of the longest dams in the world, located about 15 km from Sambalpur.

Farmers have been holding rallies in the state's western districts under the banner of POKSS. They built a 15-ft long and five-ft high brick wall near Jamadarpali airstrip located close to the Hirakud dam Sunday.

The wall, described as 'chasi rekha' (farmer's line), has been built near the pipes Vedanta Resources Plc has constructed to draw water from the dam for its plant in Jharsuguda district.

Vedanta is building a $2.1-billion greenfield aluminium smelter plant together with an associated 1,215 MW captive thermal power plant.

The company will draw at least 172 cusecs of water per day from the dam, which could provide irrigation to at least 17,200 acres, Lingaraj told IANS.

'The state government is already diverting irrigation water from the dam to at least eight industries,' he alleged.

As a result, more than 50,000 farmers in the command areas do not get water for their farms, the farmer leader said.

The government had decided to divert more water from the dam for mega industries in the region in the coming days, Lingaraj alleged, adding that would deprive more farmers of water.

The state government has already permitted 20 more industries to draw at least 348.755 cusec of water in the coming days, he alleged.

'We will not allow any industry to use the dam water for industrial purposes,' Lingaraj said.

'The wall we have built is to stop Vedanta from drawing dam water. The fight is not against Vedanta alone but also against all upcoming industries that are planning to draw water from the dam,' he added.

More than a dozen people were injured last week when police baton charged thousands of farmers attempting to enter a prohibited area of Hirakud dam while protesting the alleged diversion of irrigation water to industries.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered a probe into the police action and had announced that his government would not divert irrigation water from the dam for industrial purposes.

He also offered to talk to farmers opposing use of water from Hirakud dam for industrial purposes.

'The government is ready to discuss with western Orissa farmers,' Patnaik said here Monday.

'We will not divert water meant for agriculture for industrial use,' he asserted.

'First we will use water for irrigation. If there is a surplus, then we will decide how they can be used best,' he said.

Water new hurdle for Orissa's industrialisation drive

BHUBANESWAR: The industrialisation process in Orissa which has attracted investment proposals worth over Rs 4 lakh crore, was facing a new problem, water.

After land and mines, it was water that emerged as a major hurdle before the government to implement several projects, officials in industries department said.

The recent farmers' agitation in western Orissa has come as a major headache for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who immediately announced several measures to assure farmers that no one could divert water meant for irrigation,'' a senior official of the department said.

While opposition of local people to land acquisition process had already delayed implementation of Posco project in Jagatsinghpur, the district officials in Keonjhar were also worried about arranging land for Arcelor-Mittal's 12 mtpa greenfield project.

This apart, the land acquisition for Tata Steel's six mtpa project at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur had sparked a nationwide protest following killing of some people in police firing last year.

The people of Sundergarh district led by BJP's national vice-president and MP Jual Oram were also agitating against the state government's move to sanction prospective license (PL) to Posco for mining at Khandadhar iron ore reserve.

Similarly, Vedanta Alumina Limited is also facing local people's ire over mining bauxite at Niyamgiri hills, considered as eco-fragile.

Worried over agitation against land acquisition and mining, steel giant Arcelor-Mittal has sought a tie-up with the state owned Orissa Mining Corporatoion (OMC) to ensure uninterrupted raw material linkage, a senior official said.

The farmers' agitation opposing use of Hirakud reservoir for industrial use had added to the woes of the government.

Official sources said proposals for at least 10 major industries includiung some power units could not materialise unless they drew water from Hirakud reservoir.

The industries which would be affected if water supply from Hirakud was denied, include Bhusan Steel, Vedanta Alumina Limited, Mahanadi Coalfield, Posco, a cement manufacturing unit, a paper unit and many small units.

Apart from this, Kalinga Nagar industrial complex which housed nearly 20 steel units like Tata Steel, Jindal Stainless, Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, Mesco and others would also face water crisis, if they were denied water from the river Brahmani.

While Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera said the government would soon evolve a strategy to provide water to both agriculture and industries, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made it clear that agriculture would get priority over industries regarding water related issues.

The Western Orissa Krushak Surakshya Samanawya Samiti (WOKSSS), an organising fighting for farmers' rights, has said it would not allow any industry to draw water from Hirakud.

''Let the government increase water bearing capacity of the reservoir first and then talk of allowing water to industries,'' WOKSSS leader Lingaraj said.

The post of Resident Commissioner, Government of Orissa, New Delhi is declared equivalent in status and responsibility to the post of Commissioner-cum- Secretary to Government provided in the IAS cadre of the State.

According to a release Shri Upendra Prasad Singh, IAS ,Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government, Steel & Mines Department is allowed to remain in additional charge of the office of the Commissioner-cum- Secretary to Government, Energy Department vice Shri L.N. Gupta,IAS transferred.

Shri Laxmi Narayan Gupta, IAS at present Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government, Energy Department is appointed as Resident Commissioner, Government of Orissa, New Delhi until further orders.

The post of Resident Commissioner, Government of Orissa, New Delhi is declared equivalent in status and responsibility to the post of Commissioner-cum- Secretary to Government provided in the IAS cadre of the
State.

Shri Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, IAS who has been appointed as Resident Commissioner, Government of Orissa, New Delhi vide G.A. Department Notification is appointed as Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government, I.T Department until further orders.

The additional appointment of Shri Surendra Nath Tripathi, IAS as Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government, I.T Department shall stand terminated from the date Shri P.K. Mohapatra, IAS takes over.

Shri Vir Vikram Yadav, IASwho is under orders of transfer as Executive Director, Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bhubaneswar and ex-officio Additional Secretary to Government, H & UD
Department is appointed as Director, Rural Development and ex-officio Additional Secretary to Government, Rural Development Department.

The post of Director, Rural Development is declared equivalent in status and responsibility to the post of Additional Secretary to Government provided in the IAS cadre of the State.

The appointment of Shri Vir Vikram Yadav, IAS as Executive Director, Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bhubaneswar and ex-officio Additional Secretary to Government, H & UD Department is hereby
cancelled.

Sri Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, IAS as Resident Commissioner, Government of Orissa, New Delhi is hereby cancelled.

2007-11-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

Orissa To Get New Medical Colleges Soon

It is uncertain if a second medical college will ever come up in the Western Orissa region, but there is no dearth of expression of intentions on the part of the State government. Western Orissa Development Council (WODC), after // its failed negotiation with an Andhra Pradesh based entrepreneur, struck another deal on August 17th with a Delhi based businessman to set up private medical colleges in Bolangir and Rourkela. The Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jassar Dental and Medical Education and Health Care for these two proposed medical colleges.

As per the agreement, the two medical colleges in Bolangir and Rourkela would be completed by 2007, the budget of which is tentatively fixed at Rs 200 crore. One would be a hundred-seated college while the other would have strength of 150 and private management would control both. The Council has acquiesced to supply 25-acre land to both these institutions and Rs 10 crore funds to each of the projects.

In 2004, the Council had signed an agreement with a Rajamandri based entrepreneur to set up two medical colleges, post Naveen election rhetoric on the issue. The MoU never materialized as the party backed out midway through.

Grant of $7 million for Orissa Medical College from Japan

"The grant assistance would enable the Sardar Vallavbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics (in Cuttack) to improve its medical facilities and effectively contribute towards dispensation of healthcare to a wider population," said a statement from the Japanese embassy.

Notes concerning the project were signed and exchanged here Thursday by Japanese ambassador Yasukuni Enoki and Vivek Mehrotra, additional secretary in India's finance ministry.

The grant will help the institute - a pioneer centre in dispensing healthcare to undernourished children - to provide improved diagnostic and medical health services in Orissa and neighbouring states.

India is the largest recipient of Japanese Overseas Development Assistance. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, during his visit to India three months ago, repeated that Tokyo would continue to support New Delhi's efforts at accelerated economic development, particularly in priority areas like infrastructure, including transportation and power, and environment.

Koizumi's visit cemented growing bilateral ties and initiated an "eight-fold initiative" of cooperation in key areas spanning security, economic engagement and science and technology.

Campaign Against Witchcraft In Orissa

Narendra Naik, the President of Federation of All India Rationalists Association, is presently on a 13-day campaign in the villages of Orissa to spread awareness against witchcraft.

In a typical example Naik, asks them to applaud the "mother" – a 11-year-old girl when her "supernatural" strength ignites the contents of a vessel on its own. Naik explains to them how the "link" is achieved.

The campaign was started from Sundergarh, district which is reported to be accounting for nearly 60 percent of these cases.

The Government of Orissa has a law, which prohibits anybody practicing witchcraft and includes a fine and even imprisonment. Interestingly, the majority of practitioners and victims of witchcraft are women.

But while actual instances of practicing occult are known, innocent women are the ones who are usually branded as witches by a few individuals. Many of these women are widowed or with no familes and have their own lands.

Naik, who is heading the campaign, says he is optimistic that his entertaining way of communication will bear results and create awareness among the primarily tribal region.

"The main benefit of this campaign is that people will now try to understand the cause and effect relationship of any issue. Now, if anybody is sick in their house, they will rethink whether that ailment was actually caused by a witch or due to some other reason," says Naik.

The campaign will travel to other regions of the State in the coming days and is getting the cooperation of police authorities. "It has come down now and we hope that after awareness is created the situation will definitely improve," says S. Saini, Superintendent of Police, Sundergarh.

2007-11-26T01:25:00.000-08:00

Delhi, NCR hit by “mild intensity” earthquake

New Delhi, Nov 26: The residents of Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR) had a harrowing start to the week as an earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale rattled the region early Monday. The Indian Meteorological Department, classified the quake that struck at about 4.43 am as a “light intensity” one. Despite the early morning chill terrified residents fled to open spaces, however there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

There have always been worries about Delhi as it lies in Zone 4 of an earthquake danger chart on which Zone 5 the category for areas most prone to quakes.

The epicentre of the tremor was at the Delhi-Haryana border at 28.6 N latitude and 77.9 E longitude. It was centred around 10 kms from Bahadurgarh in Haryana. Today’s quake was due to the re-alignment of the Sohana tectonic plate fault line that has been in the past lead to mild tremors in the region.

Although, the Sohana fault line is not as serious a problem as the fault lines in the Himalayan region nevertheless its resurgent activities lead credence to the claims that a major earthquake can happen anytime in the region.

Besides the capital, the tremor was felt in surrounding areas such as Noida (UP), Faridabad and Gurgaon (both in Haryana). Even people in areas as far as Meerut said that they felt the early morning tremors.

A tremor of a similar magnitude had hit Mumbai and the surrounding Konkan region on Saturday but caused no damage.

The last earthquake of any significant proportions to hit the area owing to the Sohana tectonic plate shift was in October 2005. However, the national capital had been also hit by the high-intensity quake that hit Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), completely devastating its capital Muzaffarabad.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck Gujarat in 2001, killing nearly 20,000 people and causing damage in neighbouring Pakistan. The quake affected 15.9 million people in 7,900 villages.

Mideast Summit: Sibal leading Indian delegation

Washington, Nov 26: Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, who is leading the Indian delegation at this week's international Middle East Peace Conference, has arrived in the US capital, where he will be attending a dinner party addressed by President George W Bush on Monday night.

The other members of the Indian delegation are the Prime Minister's special envoy for West Asia, Chinmoy Gharekhan and the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs dealing with West Asia and North Africa, Manimekalai.

The Indian delegation, who will attend a dinner hosted by the State Department tonight, will be participating at the main plenary of the International Conference on the Middle East at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday.

The summit, which aims to revive the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations, is broken down into three sessions after the working lunch which will be chaired by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"The conference itself... Is a signal opportunity... To launch the bilateral negotiations between the parties," said David Welch, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

More than 100 delegates from 50 nations and international and regional organisations like the Arab League, World Bank the International Monetary Fund, the quartet group and members of the UN Security Council are attending the conclave.

Washington has said the ultimate goal is the realisation of a Palestinian state. Key players in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and Syria are attending the conference.

"...It's been the US policy. It's been the Israeli policy, that they would agree to a Palestinian state, as part of a comprehensive, complete peace agreement," senior Republican Senator and Presidential hopeful John McCain said on ABC News.

UP serial blasts rock Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Nov 26: Serial bomb blasts in Uttar Pradesh rocked Rajya Sabha on Monday leading to adjournment of the Upper House till noon.

As soon as the House met for the day, Opposition NDA and Samajwadi Party members raised the issue demanding resignation of Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

They raised slogans and trooped into the well even as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri said the government was willing to make a statement on the blasts.

Chairman Mohammad Ansari said the government was ready for a discussion on the issue today itself.

This failed to pacify the Opposition members who raised slogans demanding Patil's resignation.

As the din continued, the Chairman adjourned the House till noon.

2007-11-26T01:17:00.000-08:00

'ICL a chance to guide young players'

It has been more than three years since Lance Klusener stepped onto a cricket field in the South African colours. Still such is the aura surrounding this 36-year-old, who was the Player of the tournament in the 1999 World Cup, that he remains the most high profile signing by the Indian Cricket League after Brian Lara (whose participation is still unsure).

During his eight-year international stint, Klusener did not believe in talking to the media. Instead, his performance spoke for him. But times have changed. And so has Klusener.

"I had my share of international cricket. I don't have any regrets about not being able to play more international cricket," Klusener, who quit international cricket in 2004 after disputes with the authorities and the team management and moved to England to play county cricket, told the Hindustan Times on the sidelines of a warm-up tie between the Kolkata Jets and the Mumbai Champs at the Western Railway ground on Friday.

After having a fairly long stint with Northamptonshire as a professional, Klusener has put his county future in doubt by joining ICL, which is not recognised by the Indian cricket board.

"I don't think I will have any problems in continuing to play in England," Klusener said. "But the decision of a couple of boards not to allow the ICL players to participate in first-class is not fair."

There are reports that the England and Wales Cricket Board would strike a balance to appease their affiliated units as well as their counterparts by deciding to bar the ICL signings from their Twenty20 Cup.

Then what draws Klusener to the ICL?

"Well, first the opportunity to come back and play in India," Klusener said, reminiscing about his Test match debut in Calcutta in 1998, where he took eight for 64 - his best Test figures.

"It is also an opportunity to guide some of the young players. I believe coaching is something I am good at."

Does that mean he is looking forward to coaching as his next career option? "I am not sure," Klusener said. "I am good at it, but I don't think I can do it for a longer period of time."

Klusener has come to India after being associated with organised and professional first-class structure in South Africa and England. Does he think the Indian first-class cricketers are as professional as those in some of the other countries?

"It's a difficult question to answer," he said. "A lot of these cricketers have never tasted top quality cricket, so it would be difficult for me to compare them with others.

"There are some who have played a lot of first-class cricket, and they are professionals."

Done with international cricket, says Klusener

MUMBAI: The idea of Twenty20 and Lance Klusener has an instant connect. Few would forget his batting in the 1999 World Cup that nearly helped South Africa break their World Cup jinx of entering the final. Wouldn’t he have loved to play Twenty20 at the international arena? Much as the fans would have liked to see him wielding his willow at this format of the game, Klusener remains circumspect about it.

“Who is to say I would have done well at Twenty20 internationally. I am done with international cricket. I don’t miss international cricket anymore and am looking forward to playing in the ICL,” he says in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact manner.

His team in the ICL, Kolkata Tigers, are stretching and limbering after their practice match win over Mumbai champs. Seeing his enthusiasm, one will find it hard to believe that he’s the one of the senior members of his team, which also has Craig Macmillan, Upul Chandana, Darren Maddy and Rohan Gavaskar.

When asked about the responsibility that comes along with being among the seniors, he says, “I look at it as a challenge, the youngsters seem eager. I expect them to push me to perform, this is different. I take this as an opportunity to have fun and I hope I’ll be able to provide entertainment to my fans.”

Of course, this will be different. There will be no one speaking Zulu or Afrikaans in the dressing room, and it will take a little time before they establish a bond between them. “There can be some communication problems. There are people in the dressing room whose English is not that good and conversely my Indian is not breathtaking,” he said. “It looks like a batsman’s game, though that doesn’t mean bowlers here are lambs to the slaughter,” he says. Being an all-rounder he will have a balanced perspective on the issue.

“I’m sure if bowlers bowl well, stick to the basics there’s plenty that one can do as a bowler even in such batter-friendly conditions,” he adds.

Speaking of all-rounders, were the South African selectors right to drop Jacques Kallis from the Twenty20 squad? “It’s not right for me to comment on that but I think if I were a selector I would have picked Jacques in my Twenty20 squad,” he says straddling diplomacy and forthrightness. He’s optimistic about South African cricket, which he confesses he hasn’t seen much of late.

“I think they have been performing well with Dale Steyn and other youngsters coming good,” he said before getting into another bout of training.

2007-11-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

2 arrested for train dacoity

JAJPUR ROAD, Nov.22: The Keonjhar Railway police arrested two persons on charges of looting a railway passenger on board the East Coast Express today. They are Babuli Mohapatra (38) and Pabitra Rout (35). According to sources, one Shaik Sultan, was returning to his home in Bada Biruan when the duo befriended him. The looters forced him to take a cold drink with intoxicants and fled with his luggage. A vendor raised an alarm. n sns

CM demands inclusion in ICDP project

BHUBANESWAR, Nov. 22: The chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik today expressed deep concern over the exclusion of Orissa in the World Bank-sponsored Integrated Child Development Programme and demanded immediate inclusion of the state in the project. In a missive to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the chief minister wrote that the state government has always emphasised on combating malnutrition. The state government’s effort should be strengthened, Mr Patnaik stated and added that the inclusion of the state in the programme will be an appropriate step in that direction.
It may be mentioned here that 7,83,535 women and 42,01,526 children of the state are included under the programme. At present, there are 41,697 anganwadis functioning in the state.
The state government has sent a proposal to the union government to open 22,000 more anganwadi centres.
n sns

Firing by MCC alarms

Statesman News Service
ROURKELA, Nov. 22: Blank firing by the MCC on the bordering villages has panicked the villagers and they are reported to be in a state of constant fear.
According to information, the MCC is reportedly trying to re-establish itself and gain some of the lost grounds in the bordering villages. The cadres are going around the villages like Badmal, Sadhumunda, Tarkera and others and are collecting facts and figures regarding the movement of the forces. And this movement of the cadres has continued for three days in these areas. Yesterday evening, they resorted to blank fire in some of these areas. Villagers were threatened with dire consequences if they divulge any information regarding the cadres. However, some of the villagers, were reported to have lodged complaints at the Kutra PS. The villagers requested not to disclose their identities fearing reprisal from the MCC.
Meanwhile, a police officer, on condition of anonymity, said: “It is yet to be ascertained whether they were real cadres or dacoits trying to capitalise in the name of MCC.” The villagers of Lanjiberna and other nearby areas are also scared as MCC posters were found to be pasted in some of the areas.

Voting or (for) farmers?

Statesman News Service
BHUBANESWAR, Nov. 22: The Opposition is only interested in votes, whereas the government is interested in the farmers problems, claimed the ruling BJD leaders, only to evoke a curt snub from the Congress which said that one can pin down this government to keep its promise only through a vote in the House.
Nobody trusts this government when it says that not a single drop of water meant for irrigation will be diverted for industrial use. Hence the only option is to have the issue voted in the House and get a commitment from the government, stated the leader of the Opposition Mr JB Patnaik.
How else can one make this government keep its promises? Mr Patnaik countered. The leader of the Opposition wondered why the chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik is shying away from a vote on this issue.
Mr Patnaik said that not a drop of water will be diverted, he has the numbers in the House, so let him agree for a debate and get a vote on the motion. Once this is done everybody, including the farmers of the state, will be duly assured, Mr JB Patnaik observed.
The chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik, however, insisted that his government accords top priority to agriculture and to the farmers. Right from day one we were eager to discuss the issue of the Hirakud waters in the House, but it is the Opposition which is confusing matters and continuing with their rowdy behaviour, Mr Patnaik charged.
When asked about the demands for the motion to be under the provisions of seeking a vote, the chief minister quipped that they (Opposition) are interested only in voting, we are interested in the farmers.
Meanwhile, for the fourth successive day no business, not even the Question Hour, could take place in the Assembly today.
With both the ruling and the opposition parties refusing to budge from their respective stands on the motion to discuss the use of Hirakud waters, nothing moved in the House.
The only step forward was in terms of a motion figuring in the order paper for the day’s business.
But even this sparked a heated debate with the Opposition members Mr SB Sahu and Mr Narasingha Mishra questioning the powers of the Speaker to change the wording of the motion submitted by them.
It has been tailored to suit the provisions under which it is to be moved, contended the Speaker, but this did not satisfy Mr Mishra.
Several members from both the sides, Mr Nalinikanta Mohanty, Mr Arun Dey (Oppn), Mr Raghunath Mohanty, Mr D Rout ( treasury bench) tried to clarify the position as per their perceptions.
The Opposition trooped into the Well carrying posters against the government, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House without transacting any business.
Outside the Assembly, political circles felt that the coalition partners-the BJP in particular is in a fix over the Hirakud waters issue. Once there is a vote, the BJP will have to vote against the Opposition motion and this will be politically counterproductive to them in the western parts of Orissa.
On the Congress side, chances of dropping guard on the issue were sealed with the AICC, dashing off a letter asking the state leadership to stick to their stand on getting the motion voted.

2007-11-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

Mittals to make own arrangement
Saturday November 17 2007 08:02 IST

Express News Service

Window2India: Sports News
Get free fuel worth Rs.1000

BHUBANESWAR: In the backdrop of Orissa farmers agitating against supply of water to industries, world�s largest steel maker Arcelor-Mittal has decided to prepare a long term plan to meet requirement of its proposed 12 metric tonne per annum greenfield steel plant in the State.

Arcelor-Mittal�s group management board member Malay Mukherjee said provision of water was a major problem for industries in Orissa. Mukherjee and other senior executives of the steel major, on Friday, discussed the progress of the Orissa project with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy.

The company had signed a MoU with the State Government for setting up a 12 mt pa steel unit with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in Keonjhar district.

Replying to queries, Mukherjee said the steel major is aware of the recent developments where farmers in Western Orissa have strongly opposed the government�s decision to supply water from Hirakud reservoir to industries.

Though the steel major would make its own arrangement, it felt that this might to not be enough to meet the requirement of a mega steel plant.

Therefore, it is planning a permanent solution to overcome water scarcity, he said. Expressing satisfaction over the project�s progress, Mukherjee said the detailed project report (DPR) will be completed by June 2008. Though the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package of the company has been finalised, it will be made public after transfer of land.

A high-level team from the company had finalised Patna tehsil as the site of the plant. Out of the 16, land acquisition is going ahead in 15 villages.

The company will soon open district office at Keonjhar. An ITI will be set up to train the youth of the area. Mobile health vans will also be pressed into service, he added.

2007-06-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Orissa 'Marathon Boy' Budhia stopped from attempting 500-km walkathon
Bhubaneshwar (Orissa), June 6 : The Orissa Government today stopped marathon kid Budhia Singh from undertaking a 500-kilometer walkathon, saying he would not be able to walk that long.Five year-old Budhia had planned to walk from Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata.'We have come to execute the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) order which says that the wonder kid cannot be engaged in the proposed walkathon by any person. If they try to do it forcibly, we will take preventive action,' Amitabh Thakur, Superintendent of Police, said. The administration had also moved two platoons of armed police to the spot. Higher-ranking administrative officials thereafter began discussion with Budhia's coach and mentor Biranchi Das and mother Sukanti Singh who had moved court last week after the CWC executed a stay order. The ban was imposed by the CWC on the ground that Budhia would not be able to undertake the 11-day walk at the peak of summer.Das and Sukanti Singh are on an indefinite strike against the CWC decision.'He would have undertaken 10-15 minutes of walk as it is. They should actually see the real motive behind such an act,' said Das. Officials here had earlier praised the boy as the media raced to cover his every step. But leading rights bodies later criticised the State Government and Budhia's coach for endangering the boy's health.Doctors of a state-run hospital, who had examined Budhia's health after a 65 km run last year, said his protein catabolism rate was high and he was under 'cardiological stress.'Doctors opined that if the child continued to run such long distances, he could experience renal failure.Budhia, who surprisingly does not feel pain or exhaustion, has often said running comes naturally to him.

Orissa prevents Budhia's walk to Kolkata, coach moves court
Bhubaneswar, June 6: Five-year-old Budhia Singh was about to begin his 500 km walk to Kolkata on this hot Wednesday morning when police and Orissa government officials turned up to prevent the 'summer marathon' - a move the child's coach has challenged in a court."I as a guardian of the kid have moved the court of the district judge at Bhubaneswar against the government's move," Budhia's mentor and coach Biranchi Das told IANS. Budhia's mother Sukanti Singh too moved the same court on behalf of the Budhia Singh Trust, the organiser of the marathon, he said. "The government is deliberately out to humiliate Budhia when hundreds of thousands children in the state are left without care and the government never takes any steps," added Das who has adopted Budhia after paying Rs.800 to his impoverished mother. Das and Sukanti Singh along with about a hundred people including children staged a sit-in protest near the Judo Hall where the Orissa government, represented by a full force of police, child welfare personnel and senior officials, stopped the marathon kid from marching to Kolkata.Budhia, who has been at the centre of an escalating controversy over child rights and exploitation, was attempting to walk the 500 km between Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in an incredible 10 days.This would have entailed at least 50 km of walking a day under a relentless sun in these days of peak summer.The Khordha District Child Welfare Committee, which had formally banned the walk last week, had Tuesday night also passed an order specifying that nobody could use or engage Budhia for walking the long distance."As per the order, we can't allow any person to take Budhia on his long distance journey to Kolkata," Khordha police chief Amitav Thakur, who had reached the hall at 9 a.m. to stop the march, told IANS.Thakur was accompanied by Khordha Collector Narayan Chandra Jena - in charge of this state capital which falls in Khordha district - and other police personnel.The boy said his walk was intended to create awareness among the youth about sports. Child Welfare Committee chief Rabisankar Mishra said he was empowered to protect the interests of children in the state.Clearly unhappy with the move, Das said Budhia's mother, who lives in a slum, was to "take him on the long walk"."Some 500 others were to accompany them with medicines and food items. But the government is not cooperating with us. What can we do?" Das said.Budhia became a celebrity last year after he earned a place in the Limca Book of World Records for his 60 km run between Puri and Bhubaneswar. Budhia runs 45 km twice a week and 20 km on other days.

Orissa prevents Budhia's walk to Kolkata
Bhubaneswar, June 6 (IANS) Five-year-old Budhia Singh was about to begin his 500 km walk to Kolkata on this hot Wednesday morning when police and Orissa government officials turned up to prevent the 'summer marathon' - a move the child's coach has challenged in a court.
"I as a guardian of the kid have moved the court of the district judge at Bhubaneswar against the government's move," Budhia's mentor and coach Biranchi Das told IANS.
Budhia's mother Sukanti Singh too moved the same court on behalf of the Budhia Singh Trust, the organiser of the marathon, he said.
"The government is deliberately out to humiliate Budhia when hundreds of thousands children in the state are left without care and the government never takes any steps," added Das who has adopted Budhia after paying Rs.800 to his impoverished mother.
Das and Sukanti Singh along with about a hundred people including children staged a sit-in protest near the Judo Hall where the Orissa government, represented by a full force of police, child welfare personnel and senior officials, stopped the marathon kid from marching to Kolkata.
Budhia, who has been at the centre of an escalating controversy over child rights and exploitation, was attempting to walk the 500 km between Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in an incredible 10 days.
This would have entailed at least 50 km of walking a day under a relentless sun in these days of peak summer.
The Khordha District Child Welfare Committee, which had formally banned the walk last week, had Tuesday night also passed an order specifying that nobody could use or engage Budhia for walking the long distance.
"As per the order, we can't allow any person to take Budhia on his long distance journey to Kolkata," Khordha police chief Amitav Thakur, who had reached the hall at 9 a.m. to stop the march, told IANS.
Thakur was accompanied by Khordha Collector Narayan Chandra Jena - in charge of this state capital which falls in Khordha district - and other police personnel.
The boy said his walk was intended to create awareness among the youth about sports.
Child Welfare Committee chief Rabisankar Mishra said he was empowered to protect the interests of children in the state.
Clearly unhappy with the move, Das said Budhia's mother, who lives in a slum, was to "take him on the long walk".
"Some 500 others were to accompany them with medicines and food items. But the government is not cooperating with us. What can we do?" Das said.
Budhia became a celebrity last year after he earned a place in the Limca Book of World Records for his 60 km run between Puri and Bhubaneswar. Budhia runs 45 km twice a week and 20 km on other days.

Pay 'road tax' to an elephant on Orissa highwayBy Sarada Lahangir
Barbil (Orissa), June 6: An elephant in Orissa is charging 'road tax' in an unusual way on the highway.Blocking the traffic for hours at times, the pachyderm ensures that the cars passing by him are personally inspected and no one goes through without sharing his or her lunch. Everyday, many passengers roll down their window panes to pass on lunch. At times, they have to come out of their vehicle in submission. Many commuters complain that if anyone turns adamant by not sharing food, the elephant would stand in front of the car. People accept that the pachyderm has no choice but to resort to such acts after losing their homes in the dense forests."The elephant blocks the road for eight to nine hours. Their plight can be understood thinking their lives are not safe anymore in the jungles, "said Sailesh Karmarkar, a commuter.Forest officials, however, say the elephant is old and is, therefore, looking for easy food.hey are planning to shift the elephant to a nearby forest where he could get enough food."This is a short-term measure. It is not practical round the year. We keep it under vigil. We want to immobilise the elephant and shift to the nearby forest," said Bimal Kumar Acharya, District Forest Official.Elephants are a protected and endangered species in India, which has nearly half of the world's 60,000 Asian elephants.But conservationists say its population has fallen rapidly in recent years because of loss of habitat as a result of human encroachment into forest areas.

Sita, the tigress struggles in Orissa zoo Sita,
Posted Wednesday, June 06, 2007 at 15:59
New Delhi: In the Nandankana Zoo in Orissa a tigress is struggling to survive after she was shot by poachers more than two months back.
Sita (as she is known in the Zoo) is rapidly deteriorating. Now the Nandankana authorities made an appeal to veterinarians in the hope that an expert can save the tigress.
Sita who has been in agony ever since, is admitted in the Nandankanan Veterinary Hospital. For the seven-year-old, the hospital is now her home as she has been here since the last two months.
The Royal Bengal tigress had suffered eleven gunshots and one bullet is still stuck in her body.
Though the best vets in the state are treating her, it cannot be ascertained whether she would survive.
"Her condition is very critical. She cannot move her posterior portion and the bed sores have compounded her condition,” says Veterinary Surgeon of the Nandankanan Zoo, Dr Ranjit Samantaray.
Meanwhile, the Nandankanan authorities are getting in touch with veterinary experts in India as well as abroad. And more than a lakh of rupees have already been spent despite the fact that the tigress has not really improved.
"I want to make an appeal to all medical experts who can share their expertise to save the tiger. They may please approach us and we will accordingly precede if we find that the treatment will help her to recover,” says Director of the Nandankanan Zoo, Ajit Patnaik.

PMO calls for review meet on Posco’s Orissa project
ABHISHEK ANAND
Posted online: Thursday, June 07, 2007 at 0000 hours IST
NEW DELHI, JUN 6: The prime minister’s office (PMO) will convene yet another meeting to discuss the progress of South Korean major Posco’s steel project in Orissa on June 15.
“The PMO has called for a quarterly review meeting on the progress on Posco’s project and is likely to discuss steps which could expedite the progress of the project,” said a senior Orissa government official.
The meeting is likely to be attended by senior officials from various ministries including mines and steel as well as by the principal secretary of Orissa. But, unlike the last meeting, Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Orissa will not attend the meeting.
Steel major’s 12 million tonne project likely to come up with an investment of Rs 52,000 is facing stiff resistance from the local people on account of land acquisition.
The Orissa government has recently asked the company to negotiate directly with the land owners of 438 acres of private land.
Also, delay in the processing of the mining lease application has turned out to be a major stumbling block for the 12-million tonne capacity steel plant proposed to be set up at Paradip.
Orissa government has recommended mining lease for Posco on which centre has to take a final call.
However, two of the three mines located by the State Government for Posco-India are under litigation.
The Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), a public sector undertaking, has filed a writ petition against the State Government in the Orissa High Court after the Khandadhar iron ore mines was recommended for Posco-India.

Orissa power plants may face coal shortage
STATE BUREAU
Posted online: Thursday, June 07, 2007 at 0009 hours IST
BHUABANESWAR, JUN 6: Coal-fired power plants in Orissa and southern states may face shortage in the supply of coal as production at Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) has been hit by agitation.
According to MCL sources, daily production from Talcher coalfields has come down to 1.06 lakh tonne from the targeted 1.4 lakh tonne. Similarly, production from the IB Valley coalfields has dropped from 2.5 lakh tonne to 1.77 lakh tonne.
Production at the Jagannath, Bharatpur and Balaram open cast mines has virtually stopped owing to resistance from local people, sources said.
Power plants of NTPC, TTPS, Nalco and those located in southern India have stocks that will last less than four days.
The MCL authority has sought the state government's help to sort out the problem.

2007-06-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 06, 2007
3 killed, 12 injured in road mishap
Three persons were killed and twelve others injured, two of them critically, when a bus turned turtle near Chota Kudna village on Manoharpur-Ranchi route under Manoharpur police station in West Singhbhum district last evening.
While two of the critically injured passengers were referred to Rourkela for treatment, the rest were undergoing treatment at nearby Manoharpur Primary Health Centre, police said.
The driver of the Manoharpur-bound bus, with 45 passengers on board, lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a turn after the brake failed, sources said.
Three persons, including the 50-year-old bus owner, Bidmohan Kandulna were killed on the spot.

Brajrajnagar sizzles at 45Tuesday June 5 2007 12:26 IST
ROURKELA/JHARSUGUDA: While Steel City Rourkela recorded 44.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the hottest of the season, the mercury in Brajrajnagar hovered around 45, instiling the fear of a harsh weather among the people.Although Jharsuguda and Belpahar towns recorded a degree less than Brajrajnagar, the blistering heat conditions continued to prevail paralysing normal life in Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts.Humidity made life worse which was never associated with heat in Jharsuguda.Rourkela recorded 85 per cent humidity, official sources said. This has forced people to remain indoors. The few seen in the afternoon are labourers, who sweat it out in the sun despite the ban on manual labour between 11 am and 3 pm.While the vegetable market opened in the evening, the few who open shops during the morning hours admit that they hardly do any business. In fact, the town wears deserted look from 8 am to 5 pm.Although the people of Jharsuguda district had experienced similar heat in the past, intermittent drizzle and cool breeze often brought the temperature down. But this time, there is no sign of drizzle or the storm making life unbearable.And if it is the heat which prohibits people from moving out, unscheduled power cuts have made life miserable for people indoors.Although Sub-Divisional Officer, Wesco, P Pradhan said all steps were being taken to provide uninterrupted power supply, frequent breakdowns are being reported from all over the district.The power cut is also having a bearing on drinking water supply by the PHED even as Pradhan said all efforts had been made to ensure power supply to the PHED.However, with the District Collector personally monitoring drinking water supply and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, OPGC and Brajrajnagar Truck Owners Association working overtime to provide drinking water through tankers, it’s hoped that the crisis won’t be too hard.

328 people killed by elephants in Orissa in 7 years
Bhubaneswar, June 5: In all 328 people were trampled to death by elephants in Orissa while 90 elephants were killed by human beings during the last seven years in Orissa.Replying to a question of Ulaka Ram Chandra (Congress) and Atanu Sabyasachi (BJD) in the State Assembly, Chief Minister Patnaik said a maximum 64 people were killed by elephants in 2004-05 followed by 59 in 2001-2002.The year wise break up was 2000-01 (39), 2001-02 (59), 2002-03 (43), 2003-04 (37), 2004-05 (64), 2005-06 (42) and 2006-07 (44).The Chief Minister said during the period also as many as 90 elephants were killed and offence cases had been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 against 171 people.However, none of these cases has been finalised.Mr Patnaik said a maximum 19 elephants were killed during 2002-03 followed by 16 in 2006-07.While 11 pachyderms were shot dead during 2000-01, ten each elephants were eliminated in 2001-02 and 2003-04.During 2004-05 as many as 15 elephants were killed.The casualty, however, reduced to nine in the subsequent year but again increased to 16 during the year.Mr Patnaik said the government had so far paid Rs 1,75,44,500 as compensation grant to the local heirs of the persons killed by the elephants during the last seven years.In 2006-07, the government, he said had paid Rs 69.37 lakh as compensation.

Kidnapped Orissa trader dead in Jharkhand
Bhubaneswar, June 5: A businessman abducted from Orissa's capital last week has been found dead in neighbouring Jharkhand, the police said Tuesday.Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra alias Chinna Barik, 34, from Keonjhar, about 200 km from the state capital, was in Bhubaneswar May 27 for work and did not return home.The same evening, Mohapatra's family said they got a telephone call from a man demanding Rs.20 million for his release.The Jharkhand Police spotted Mohapatra's vehicle parked near the Dhanbad railway station May 28 and found two bodies from two different spots the next day, said Amitav Thakur, the Khordha district police chief. Thakur said both the bodies bore bullet injuries. The Orissa Police identified them as Mohapatra and his driver Naba Kishore Mahanta. The relatives of Mohapatra and Mahanta have been called to Jharkhand for further investigation.

Worker from Orissa dies of food poisoningTuesday June 5 2007 13:37 IST
TIRUCHY: A 23-yearold man hailing from Orissa and employed in a steel and alloy factory near here died of alleged food poisoning on Sunday. Nine others, who also developed a similar symptom, were admitted to a private hospital here.All the 10 persons, hailing from Narasingpur in Cuttack district and employed in the factory in Manikandam near here, complained of dysentery after eating “chappati with sabji” on Saturday and were treated as outpatients at a private hospital in Nagamangalam.Meanwhile, Thippashetty died despite treatment. Manikandam police have registered a case..

Orissa to levy entertainment tax on DTH operators
BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa government is proposing to impose entertainment tax on DTH (direct to home) operators in the state. State finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said the government was taking steps to amend the entertainment tax laws to bring DTH operators under its fold. At present, Tata Sky, Zee TV and Dish TV have started their operations in Orissa. The minister said the government was conducting a survey to ascertain customer base of these operators.

Officer who failed to arrest Orissa DGP transferred
Jaipur, June. 5 (PTI): The Rajasthan Police officer who was sent to arrest Orissa DGP B B Mohanti but failed to apprehend him was today transferred, officials said.
Virendra Jhakar, the Station House Officer of Lalkothi police station, who returned from Bhubaneswar on June one after failing to arrest Mohanti -- accused of helping his son Biti to jump parole after being convicted for rape -- has been transferred to Banswara.
Inspector General of Police O P Galhotra told PTI that Jhakhar's transfer was a routine affair.
When asked whether there was any pressure from any quarter to transfer Jhakhar, he said nothing should be attributed to the government's move.
Galhotra, however, admitted that Jhakhar was posted at Lalkothi police station just one year ago.
Jhakar had gone to Orissa last week with a police team to arrest Mohanti, the Orissa DGP(Fire services), but returned empty-handed as the official had gone on medical leave.
Jhakar was not immediately available for comments.

Rajasthan officer who failed to arrest Orissa DG transferred
Jaipur, June 05: The Rajasthan police officer who was sent to arrest Orissa DG B B Mohanti but failed to apprehend him was today transferred, officials said. Virendra Jhakar, the Station House Officer of Lalkothi Police Station, who returned from Bhubaneswar on June 01 after failing to arrest Mohanti -- accused of helping his son Biti to jump parole after being convicted for rape -- has been transferred to Banswara. Inspector General of Police O P Galhotra told that Jhakhar's transfer was a routine affair. When asked whether there was any pressure from any quarter to transfer Jhakhar, he said nothing should be attributed to the government's move. Galhotra, however, admitted that Jhakhar was posted at Lalkothi Police Station just one year ago. Jhakar had gone to Orissa last week with a police team to arrest Mohanti, the Orissa DGP(fire services), but returned empty-handed as the official had gone on medical leave. Jhakar was not immediately available for comments. Bureau Report

Three Orissa Fishermen Missing
Tuesday 05th of June 2007 At least three fishermen from Orissa's Balasore district have been missing since Monday night after a trawler carrying them was caught in a storm in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Tuesday.Five fishermen from the Balaramgad fishing base, about 20 km from this district headquarters, had gone to the sea for fishing.While a group of fishermen in another trawler rescued two of them Tuesday morning, the other three were still missing, Balaramgad Trawler Owners Association president Badal Das told IANS. Search and rescue efforts are on.

Three Orissa fishermen missing
Balasore (Orissa), June 5: At least three fishermen from Orissa's Balasore district have been missing since Monday night after a trawler carrying them was caught in a storm in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Tuesday.Five fishermen from the Balaramgad fishing base, about 20 km from this district headquarters, had gone to the sea for fishing.While a group of fishermen in another trawler rescued two of them Tuesday morning, the other three were still missing, Balaramgad Trawler Owners Association president Badal Das told IANS. Search and rescue efforts are on.

TCS recruits 1,100 in Orissa
KOLKATA: IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has made job offers to more than 1,100 students from 10 engineering colleges in Orissa in the current recruitment season. This is the largest campus recruitment of fresh talent in Orissa by any IT services firm till date, a release issued by TCS said. Nearly 65% of these job offers were made to students from four educational institutes in Bhubaneswar which includes Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology & Science, ITER, and College of Technology & Engineering. A TCS spokesperson said the number of offers made this year has been more than eight times of the previous year. “The record recruitment from Orissa establishes the state as a significant source for engineering talent for TCS. The students will be joining the company as trainees next year,” the spokesperson said. It may be noted TCS already operates a delivery centre at Bhubaneswar since 2001. However, the fresh recruits from the state can be placed in any of the global centres which the company operates in over 50 countries. TCS is yet to decide on the verticals where these fresh recruits will work. “This is decided after a 50-days mandatory training programme which transforms a fresh graduate to a professional. Post completion of the training, associates can be absorbed in any practise/project/vertical depending on the manpower requirement,” the spokesperson said. TCS, which currently has a headcount of 89,000 employees, recruited over 32,000 people in 2006-07 and has set itself an ambitious recruitment plan this year as well. A bulk of such recruitment will be from educational institutes across India as part of the company’s campus recruitment initiative.

Orissa is better place than neighbouring states: Naveen
Bhubaneswar, Jun 5: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today claimed the extremist violence in Orissa was much less compared to other neighbouring states.Replying to a motion moved by the Opposition on the law and order situation in the state, Mr Patnaik said there has been a substantial improvement in the overall situation.The extremist violence was much less compared to states like Chhatishgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, Mr Patnaik said.He said while only 22 Naxalite related incidents were reported during the year in Orissa, 169 cases were registered in Chhatisgarh followed by 118 in Jharkhand, 40 in Bihar and 38 in Andhra Pradesh.The Chief Minister said the security forces have arrested 35 Naxal activists during the year and recovered 15 arms and 21 improvised explosive devices. This apart the security forces, Mr Patnaik said have busted two arms manufacturing units of CPI(ML) during January next. He, however, said the government was not complacent about the situation and was continuing all efforts in maintaining law and order situation in the state.

Railway projects in AP, Orissa get clearance
Posted online: Wednesday, June 06, 2007
The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has got clearance for 84 projects to be set up in the private sector Out of this 56 are under its Khurda division, while 15 are in Waltair and 13 in Sambalpur. Also, 41 projects are in various stages of completion. According to the railways. with this clearance, the authorities of the projects will set up private railway sidings to facilitate movement of raw materials and finished products.
The railways will bear part of the cost of the sidings depending on the guaranteed cargo support, especially the cost of superstructure, which are called assisted sidings. Almost every new siding is being set up as assisted sidings, said ECoR sources.
Bride Groom 18 - 24 25 - 30 31 - 35 36 - 45 46 - 50 50+India USA United Kingdom UAE Canada Australia Pakistan Saudi Arabia Kuwait South Africa
The cost of a siding comes to about Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 6 crore per km. This is mostly dependent on the topography of the area. Needless to say, the length of the siding is different for different projects. Some are less than one km but others could be as long as 27-km.

2007-06-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

Farmers lose out in paddy procurement
Statesman News ServiceSAMBALPUR, June 4: As expected, the pani panchayats have been kept away from the process of paddy procurement once again. And though the price of paddy is much higher than the minimum support price (MSP) in the Hirakud command area, the benefit continues to elude the farmers with middlemen increasing their profit margin. Not only the farmers have nothing to do with the increasing rate, the market yards doing business have once again proved to be the centres of corruption.In a particular market yard at Gosala,a lot of irregularities have come to light including the purchase of more paddy than the target. “This is also the situation in all the market yards of the district,” according to Mr Prasna Pradhan, a conscious farmer of the area. “And people here don’t have confidence in any enquiry since old enquiries were nothing but good dramas,” he commented.When media persons brought to the notice of the collector, Mr LN Nayak about the issue of fake farmers’ identity card (FIC), he was not in a mood to buy the idea, maybe because he trusts his juniors. But with the seizure of 9 FICs from the various market yards, the fact has been again established. But all these could have been prevented, if the pani panchayats would have been given the entire responsibility in paddy procurement, since its members are well aware of the farmers, their land content and the production capacity. But a group under the banner of farmers’ organisation, who have been minting money in crores from paddy transactions protested against the involvement of the pani panchayats for the reason now well understood. They were even successful in passing a resolution to protest against the idea with the help of a handful of members. The collector who has got a soft corner for these people succumbed to the pressure, and did what they wanted in the name of farmers’ organisation, the result being the misuse of the FIC and the benefit of higher rates to the middlemen. There has been a lot of improvement in paddy transactions over the past few years. The role played by the ex revenue divisional commissioners (RDCs) Mr Gagan Kumar Dhal and Mr Ashok Dalwai, and former collectors Mr Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Mr Surendra Kumar and Mr Vishal Gagan to ensure MSP, and to prevent increase in rates is unforgettable. Still, there is lot of room for improvement. When the benefits of higher rates go to the middlemen, the auction of paddy to the village head like that of the Punjab is the only solution to safe guard farmers’ interest,” suggested Mr Ram Sagar Sahu, a leading farmer cum a pani panchayat activist of the district.

20 industries get nod for river water consumption
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, June 4: The state government has allowed 20 industrial units to draw 187.65 million gallon water daily, of which 32 million gallon water is from Hirakud reservoir by 13 industries, said chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik. Replying to a question raised by Mr Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and Mr Sanatan Bisi, Mr Patnaik asserted that agriculture and flood control were priority water use areas and supply of water for industrial use would take place only after ensuring that it did not disrupt agricultural requirements. The Hirakud water reservoir was constructed for flood-control, irrigation and production of electricity. After fulfilling all those purposes, the surplus water is supplied to industries and for drinking water purposes keeping the state’s development in mind. Mr Patnaik also said that the electricity charge for supplying water to industries is to be collected. A section of people in Sambalpur region had voiced deep concern over the use of Hirakud waters by industrial houses. Apprehensions were that it will adversely affect supply of water for irrigation purposes.

OGP slams CM on fund use
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, June 4: A government which shouts from rooftops about Central neglected and announces programmes to fill up the shortfall in Central allocation is unable to provide figures amount of Central funds and its expenditure in rural electrification sector, charged OGP MLA Mr Arun Dey. Moving a breach of privilege notice against energy minister Mr SN Patra in the Assembly today Mr Dey said Mr Patra had replied to two questions on rural electrification saying data are under collection. One of the questions was details of funds given by the Centre from 2000-07 towards rural electrification and expenditure of such funds, the answer given by Mr Patra is “ information is under collection.” The second relates to what steps have been taken by the government to cover hamlets which do not fall under the RGGVY scheme ~ again the answer was the same. This proves that either the CM who spoke of Central neglect and announced new schemes was fooling the people or the energy minister is totally ignorant, chided Mr Dey. If the government is unable to give figures of Central allocations for rural electrification, how can it raise the issue of Central neglect, he wondered. Even worse was the fact that the reply given by Mr Patra is a day after the finance minister, Mr PC Ghadei, placed the budget and said Rs 50 crore had been allotted for the new Biju Gramin Jyoti yojana for rural electrification. If Mr Patra is a member of the Cabinet and the Cabinet had approved the budget he ought to have replied to the question on what steps were being taken by the government by saying that a new programme had been launched, stated Mr Dey. Mr Dey went on the charge that of the 90 per cent of the questions asked the CM, the reply is “ information is under collection.” While the same information can be availed of by spending just Rs 20 under the RTI Act, why should MLAs be paid a hefty sum to come to the Assembly where they they get such a response, he quipped sarcastically.

Abducted driver found murdered in Ranchi
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, June 4: Businessman Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra and his driver Naba have reportedly been killed by their abductors and their bodies found in Ranchi. While police sources confirmed the murder of Naba, the other body found in Ranchi has not yet been identified, they said. It is believed that the kidnappers had eliminated both on 29 May , two days after conducting the abduction from Bhubaneswar. The vehicle was found abandoned in Dhanbad and today two bodies recovered from Ranchi. One of the bodies was burnt and hence, difficult to identify, said police sources. While business rivalry and contract work are said to be the cause of the kidnapping and subsequent murder, a fresh angle with regards to involvement of a pimp and a call girl racket is coming to the fore. It is suspected that a girl was used to lure the victim at a prominent hotel in the state capital here. Mohapatra, who has business interests in Keonjhar district, had come to Bhubaneswar on 27 May. He failed to return to Keonjhar and his family claimed to have received a ransom call seeking Rs 2 crore. Since then, the police have been on the hunt for Mohapatra and his driver Naba. Constant search for Mohapatra had led to tracing the vehicle at Dhanbad and today, the Ranchi police said about two unidentified bodies being found. They had sustained bullet wounds and one of them was burnt, said police sources. Reliable sources said the police had already identified a person who was key to the entire case but was absconding. “It is taking time only because everybody in the family seems to prefer remaining silent and the case is linked to Keonjhar and neighbouring state but we will crack it soon,” said highly placed police sources.

Forest force of ex-Army jawans contemplated
Statesman News ServiceBHUBANESWAR, June 4: The state government is contemplating on setting up an Orissa state forest protection force with the help of ex-Army personnel. Experts will be invited for the protection of wild animals. An ‘Elephant Management Plan’ is under active consideration and examination of the government. The chief minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, today said that the government was also keen on making the criminal procedure under the Orissa forest law more stringent, and has advised the district authorities to book forest Mafia under the National Security Act (NSA), if the situation warrants such action. Replying to questions in the Assembly today, Mr Patnaik said that he had received five memoranda with suggestions over the past six years with regards to the prevention of deforestation and for the safety, food and shelter of wild animals. Providing figures, Mr Patnaik said that poachers had killed 20 elephants, 63 deer, 19 sambars and 92 other wild animals. A total of 394 persons have been arrested in connection with such cases, he said. The chief minister pointed out that the total forest area in the state is 58,136.87 square km, and it has increased due to afforestation and regeneration of degraded forest. Replying to a question by Mr Pratap Sarangi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, the chief minister said that 19 APR. forces have been deployed in different forests divisions. A total of 739 very high frequency (VHF) sets have been set up for better communication, and 408 guns and 104 revolvers have been supplied to the range personnel.

Congmen ransack office
DHENKANAL, June 4: Protesting against town police inaction and demanding the arrest of BJP district unit’s senior member and state Krushak Morcha secretary Mr Rama Chandra Patra, Congress workers attacked and ransacked Sadar block office today. According to sources, Mr Patra had allegedly abused and assaulted Valiabolkateni grama panchayat sarpanch Mr Biswanath Pratihari on Saturday at the block office in the presence of officials. The assaulted sarpanch lodged an FIR with the police who are yet to take action. Meanwhile, Mr Patra has also lodged a complaint against Mr Pratihari. Block office has filed complaints against Congress men for attacking office. n SNS

Triple issues rock House
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, June 4: The unprecedented act of slapping sedition charges against two journalists, the bizarre developments relating to two top notch IPS officers and collapse of the law-and-order machinery rocked the Assembly today. Opposition members trooped into the Well of the House demanding discussion on the law-and-order situation. They charged that the government was shying away from debate even as the parliamentary affairs minister Mr Raghunath Mohanty was trying to state that the government was prepared for a discussion provided it was brought in the right format and time. Raising the issue, former law minister and deputy leader of the Congress party Mr Narasingha Mishra ripped apart the claims of the government. What wonderful logic is this? The co-accused is behind bars, while the matter relating to the accused is referred to the Lok Pal, he chided. Taking pot shots at chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik’s oft repeated lines “law will take its own course,” Mr Mishra said it was apparent that law was being interpreted in two different ways one relating to “own officers and colleagues” and the other for the rest. He wondered how the government could remain silent when two of its senior-most IPS officers were in media focus across the nation. The entire police administration is demoralised and it stands condemned in the eyes of the nation, he charged. Mr Mishra started off by referring to the appalling instance of two reporters being charged of sedition or waging a war against the state. “This reminds us of the dark past,” he said in an implicit reference to the days of Emergency. Turning on to the case relating to IG Mr Sanjiv Marik, he said Mr KC Behera (one who was sent by Mr Marik) was jailed and charged under Section-120 (B) whereas the IPS officer’s case was referred to the Lok Pal. The infamous tender fixing racket continues to claim lives and even as the Assembly is in session, a contractor was killed in the state capital he said, while driving home his point that the law-and-order machinery had crumbled. He also cited the instance of a signed editorial written by a BJD MP in a local Oriya daily. Mr Mishra urged upon the Chair to take up discussion on the law-and-order situation in the state. He said a motion had already been submitted by the Opposition and it needs to be taken up immediately. Treasury bench members started voicing protests and the Opposition marched into the Well forcing the House to be adjourned for lunch.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007 (Three dead as bus tips over)
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Jamshedpur, June 4: Three passengers were killed and eight others injured when a bus they were travelling in overturned at Manoharpur in West Singhbhum district at 4.30 am today.
The bus was on its way from Goelkera to Manoharpur when the mishap occurred.
The deceased include B. Mohan Kandulna (45), B. Bhengra (50) and Baisakhu Mahto (65). Kandulna, the owner of the bus, died on the spot.
The other two deceased were writhing in pain for a long time before succumbing to injuries.
Two of the injured, who sustained serious head injuries, have been rushed to Rourkela. The rest have been admitted to a local hospital at Manoharpur. These include a five-year-old girl child who sustained multiple injuries.
According to eyewitnesses, the mishap occurred when the brakes of the bus failed while negotiating a slope.
“The bus was travelling at moderate speed when the driver of the vehicle applied the brakes to drop off some passengers at a place seven km from Manoharpur. As the road was sloping, the bus overturned while trying to stop,” said a source.
The driver of the bus, however, fled the spot soon after the mishap occurred.
As the mishap occurred early in the morning, the injured had to languish at the spot for over an hour without aid. By the time a police patrol team arrived on the spot, three of the victims had died.
“Had two of them been provided medical treatment in time, they could have been saved,” said an eyewitness.
In this connection, the police have registered a case of rash driving against the driver and seized the vehicle.

Monday, June 4, 2007 : 2200 Hrs
Heat wave death toll rises to 16 in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, June 4 (PTI): As many as 16 people have lost their lives in the heat wave currently sweeping through different parts of Orissa.
However, unconfirmed reports have put the death toll at 78.
Official sources said while five people had died in Ganjam district, two persons each died in Nuapada, Sundargarh and Kendrapara districts. One person each died in Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Kandhamal districts. At least four deaths had been reported in the last four days in the state.
The sources said while the coastal districts were suffering from a humidity level touching 90 per cent, normal life had been severely affected in the western parts of the state with mercury rising above 44 degrees Celsius there.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 45.1 degrees c at Jharsuguda in western Orissa, a MET office spokesman said.
The director of the IMD office here, S C Sahu, predicted that the monsoon would arrive by June 10 in the state.

328 people killed by elephants in Orissa in 7 years
Bhubaneswar, Jun 04: In all 328 people were trampled to death by elephants in Orissa while 90 elephants were killed by human beings during the last seven years in Orissa.Replying to a question of Ulaka Ram Chandra (Congress) and Atanu Sabyasachi (BJD) in the State Assembly, Mr Patnaik said a maximum 64 people were killed by elephants in 2004-05 followed by 59 in 2001-2002.The year wise break up was 2000-01 (39), 2001-02 (59), 2002-03 (43), 2003-04 (37), 2004-05 (64), 2005-06 (42) and 2006-07 (44).The Chief Minister said during the period also as many as 90 elephants were killed and offence cases had been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 against 171 people.However, none of these cases has been finalised.Mr Patnaik said a maximum 19 elephants were killed during 2002-03 followed by 16 in 2006-07.While 11 pachyderms were shot dead during 2000-01, ten each elephants were eliminated in 2001-02 and 2003-04.During 2004-05 as many as 15 elephants were killed.The casualty, however, reduced to nine in the subsequent year but again increased to 16 during the year.Mr Patnaik said the government had so far paid Rs 1,75,44,500 as compensation grant to the local heirs of the persons killed by the elephants during the last seven years.In 2006-07, the government, he said had paid Rs 69.37 lakh as compensation.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Orissa: 328 persons, 90 elephants have died
Bhubaneswar, June 4: The man-animal conflict in Orissa has claimed 328 human and 90 elephant lives since 2000-01.
Chief minister Navin Patnaik, while replying to a query in the state Assembly on Monday, said 39 persons were killed by elephants across the state during 2000-01, 59 in 2001-02, 43 in 2002-03, 37 in 2003-04, 64 in 2004-05, 42 in 2005-06 and 44 in 2006-07. Similarly, 11 elephants were killed in 2000-01, 10 in 2001-02, 19 in 2002-03, 10 in 2003-04, 15 in 2004-05, 9 in 2005-06 and 16 in 2006-07 in human attack. During the past seven years, a total of 90 elephant poaching cases have been registered under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Orissa to levy entertainment tax on DTH operators
STATE BUREAU (Posted online: Tuesday, June 05, 2007)
BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 4: The Orissa government is proposing to impose entertainment tax on DTH (direct to home) operators in the state.
State finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said the government was taking steps to amend the entertainment tax laws to bring DTH operators under its fold. At present, Tata Sky, Zee TV and Dish TV have started their operations in Orissa. The minister said the government was conducting a survey to ascertain customer base of these operators.
The state government has brought cable television operators within the ambit of the entertainment tax from October 1, 2006. Cable operators pay 5% of their gross receipt as entertainment tax.

Heat wave death toll rises to 16 in Orissa PTI[ MONDAY, JUNE 04, 2007 BHUBANESWAR: As many as 16 people have lost their lives in the heat wave currently sweeping through different parts of Orissa. However, unconfirmed reports have put the death toll at 78. Official sources said while five people had died in Ganjam district, two persons each died in Nuapada, Sundargarh and Kendrapara districts. One person each died in Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Kandhamal districts. At least four deaths had been reported in the last four days in the state. The sources said while the coastal districts were suffering from a humidity level touching 90 per cent, normal life had been severely affected in the western parts of the state with mercury rising above 44 degrees Celsius there. The maximum temperature was recorded at 45.1 degrees c at Jharsuguda in western Orissa, a MET office spokesman said. The director of the IMD office here, S C Sahu, predicted that the monsoon would arrive by June 10 in the state.

2007-06-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 03, 2007
Ortel plans Rs 30cr investment to ramp up its cable, broadband & tele capacity
STATE BUREAU
Posted online: Sunday, June 03, 2007 at 0148 hours IST
BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 2 : Ortel Communications Ltd, the only triple player in Orissa (cable, broadband and telephone), will invest Rs 30 crore during the current fiscal.
"We are committed to investing heavily in our core business of broadband networking with a view to optimising our top line," said Ortel vice-president BP Rath. According to him, the total cumulative investment will touch Rs 100 crore by the end of the fiscal.
Rath said the Rs 30 crore will be a mix of equity and debt components and that the promoter company will chip in Rs 10 crore as equity. He said the investment would be for expansion and upgrading of the cable and broadband network.
Ortel, which is currently providing triple services in nine cities and towns of Orissa, is planning to enter Berhampur, the biggest city in southern Orissa.
The company has a virtual monopoly in cable operations in cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Paradip, Rourkela, Puri, Khurda, Sambalpur, Balasore, and Angul with a subscriber base of 1.55 lakh. Its broadband customer base is 15,000.

Sunday, June 03, 2007
Next weekend you can be at ... Darjing
Blue hills and green forests surround Darjing, 47 km north-west of Rourkela. But the tribal settlement itself is rocky and barren. Mostly Santhals and Mundas live here.
National Highway (NH) 23 touches Darjing. The river Brahmni also flows past the settlement to disappear into the forest of sal, segun, mahua, kendu, palash and akashmoni.
On the bank, there’s a wonderful bungalow of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). From its balcony, you can hear the wind rustling the leaves in the forest. Spring is pleasant with palash and simul in bloom.
Nor’westers are common during spring. The rain and storm reduce the temperature to around 15 degree Celsius in the evening.
There are wild animals in the forest. Elephants are common. There are also bears, wolves, jackals, wild cats and boars. There are several types of birds, including the migratory ones that fly over in winter.
The lovely sunset ushers in the tranquil night. During festivals, the tribal villages reverberate with the sound of the madal in the evening.

2007-06-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Indian pride may kill rare lions
Wed, May 30 2007
Indian pride may kill rare lions
An Indian state housing the world’s only natural habitat for the rare Asiatic lion is refusing to relocate the big cats despite calls from conservationists who say it is the only way to save the species. More than a dozen lions have died - mainly due to increased poaching - in the last two months in Gir National Park. Yet authorities in Gujarat in western India are resisting calls to shift some of the population to a neighbouring state.
“The lions are a symbol of Gujarat’s uniqueness in the world,” Chief Minister Narendra Modi said. “Why should we share it when we are capable enough?”
Environmentalists say pride is coming before the interests of the lions. A second home is needed, they say, because it is too risky to keep all the world’s Asiatic lions in one place.
Since March, 14 lions have died - seven were killed by poachers, four drowned in wells dug by villagers living inside the park, two died due to infighting and one died of natural causes.The carcasses of those killed by poachers had claws, skulls and bones missing. The bones are used for traditional Chinese medicine and the claws are worn by some men as pendants in the hope of increasing their virility.The Federal Government says it wants the lions moved fast, for the sake of the animals and the entire country. “It is a matter of the pride of India,” central Environment Minister A. Raja said.
Bride and prejudice
Turned down for marriage due to his dark complexion, an Indian man staged a hunger strike outside his would-be bride’s house for two days before she finally relented. Saral Prasad, the 23-year-old groom in eastern Bihar state, said he would not budge from the girl’s village home after she refused to marry him in an arranged marriage because he was too dark. Rajani, 19, changed her mind after two days and the couple got married. Most Indian women, especially those in rural areas, often have no choice in matters of marriage, and are coerced into it by relatives and parents.
Marathon boy banned
Budhia Singh, India’s famous child marathon runner, was told that he will not be allowed to participate in a 500-kilometre walk taking place on June 6. “Use of a child, be it for a marathon run or a walk, amounts to torture and we are here to stop that,” a welfare official said. Budhia, age five, became a celebrity last year after a 60-km run. between Puri and Bhubaneswar. Budhia runs 45 km twice a week and 20 km on other days. Biranchi Das, Budhia’s coach and adoptive father adopted Budhia after paying Rs.800 to his impoverished mother, who lives in a slum.
Wife killer gets death
A court in Orissa yesterday awarded death sentence to a man for killing his wife and their one-year-old son in the steel city of Rourkela last year over a family quarrel.
The judge of a Rourkela fast track court, Sobhan Kumar Das, handed down the sentence to Mohan Mohant, a tribal, for killing his wife and their son at their residence in Rourkela, 470km from here, on January 12 last year. Mohant was arrested on July 23 and charge-sheeted after he confessed to have committed the crime. At least 21 witnesses were tried in the court.
No ‘new’ Al Qaeda
Bangladesh’s police chief says his force has so far found no trace of a group calling itself Zadid (new) Al Qaeda, which is suspected of carrying out bomb blasts at three railway stations across the country in early May. Metal plates found at the railway stations following the simultaneous blasts on May 1 bored scribbled Islamist slogans signed ‘Zadid Al Qaeda’, police said. One man was injured in the explosion in the southern port city of Chittagong. No one was hurt in the other two explosions, in Dhaka and the northeastern city of Sylhet, which were apparently intended to announce the group’s existence. Bangladesh has about half a dozen known Islamic militant outfits including the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh.

Govt okays Tata's Orissa SEZ
Press Trust of IndiaThursday, May 31, 2007 (New Delhi):Awaiting reports from the Maharashtra Government and developers, the Board of Approval (BoA) deferred decision on Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZ but approved the Tata's Gopalpur SEZ in Orissa.Commerce Secretary and BoA Chairman G K Pillai stated that the government had received a report from the Revenue Department on the Navi Mumbai project, but was awaiting views from the State Government and the developers."We wanted to get comments from the developers and the state government on the report of the Revenue Department," Pillai said.The Revenue Department wanted to know whether arrangements had been made for plugging possible revenue leakages because of a road passing through the zone being promoted by Ambani and his close aide Anand Jain.The 1,173 hectare Gopalpur SEZ, promoted by Tatas in Ganjam district of Orissa, was deferred in September last year as the BoA wanted to ensure that it posed no problem to a security facility nearby.

Maoists sneak into South OrissaThursday May 31 2007 12:58 IST
JEYPORE: The reported sneaking in of over 100 hardcore Maoists from neighbouring Chhattisgarh to Malkangiri and Koraput districts has put the cops on their toes.A red alert has been sounded in the tribal pockets of these districts. Four days back, police received an intelligence input from Bastar district of Chhattisgarh that armed Maoists are moving towards Malkangiri and Jeypore subdivision in Koraput.The subdivision had been considered a non-Naxal bastion till now. Sources said the Naxalites had entered Jeypore sub-division through the river route near Ghadaghat, bordering Orissa and Chhattisgarh.Although the motive of the Naxalites is yet to be known, police are apprehending attacks in major establishments. The region has seen several major attacks over the past few years and cops are not taking any chances.Armed police have been deployed at check points and patrolling increased Boipariguda and Kundra areas where the ultras are reportedly camping now.The Maoists are likely to hold a meeting to spread their tentacles in the State to create an ‘administration-free zone.’

Orissa family hoping for miracle to retrieve dead sonBy Sarada Lahangir
Bhejapadar (Orissa), May 31: An Orissa family that lost its son to a snake bite a few days ago is trying hard to revive his dead body with the help of sorcery. The incident happened last week in the Bhejapadar Village of Orissa's Kalahandi district, when Arun, a young child, went into the jungle to collect firewood. He was bitten by some poisonous snake and died on the spot. His family took his body to the doctor who declared him dead on arrival. The relatives buried the body in the jungle and left for home. But three days later Arun's mother claimed to have seen an image of her son with a snake standing near his grave, as if protecting the child. She interpreted the dream as something that indicated the child cannot die and was prematurely accepted as dead. She started believing that her deceased son could be retrieved. But led by illiteracy and superstition, the mother along with her husband approached a local witchcraft hunter for help. "We believe in the Ojha (or, the witchcraft practitioner) and have taken the body out of the grave for him. We want him to exorcise it and bring it back to life," said Bibhisan Majhi, the dead boy's father. "He has been exorcising for the last two days and I am sitting beside my son waiting for him to come back to life," said According to the witchcraft practitioner, the revival of the dead is possible by treating the snake bite. "Somebody in Arun's family had a dream after his death. That time his body had already been buried for three days. The family came to me and I told them I would try and treat him. They took out the body from the grave and I have been trying to treat it since then," said Natabara Sahu, the witchcraft practitioner. Sahu has been trying to treat the snake bite for over two days. He is still optimistic about the dead child's recovery.

Bangladeshi Nationals Arrested For Orissa Robberies
Thursday 31st of May 2007 :- Six Bangladeshi nationals were arrested here Thursday on charges of accosting and looting people on highways.The group had reached Basta, about 200 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, from neighbouring West Bengal on May 13 and had been living with a relative. According to police, they had planned to commit at least 15 robberies in the district before going home.'However, they were caught by city police after committing seven robberies,' Deputy Inspector General (DIG) B.P. Mohapatra told IANS.Police has recovered goods worth Rs.700,000, including Rs.70,000 in cash, 40 mobile phones, and about 300 grams of gold ornaments from the group, all of whom are from Hamid village in Bangladesh's Haridpur district.Investigations are also underway to see if they have violated the immigration law, Mohapatra said.

HSC results: One excels, another commits suicide
(Thursday May 31 2007 12:35 IST )
BHADRAK: The High School Certificate (HSC) examination results as usual brought happiness and sorrow for both students and their parents here.Hurdananda Pati and his family were on cloud nine when he came to know that his daughter Elisha Padhi, had secured fifth position in the State by scoring 715 out of 800 marks in the examination.Elisha, a student of Bhadrak Zilla School, attributed her success to the blessings of her parents and guidance by her teachers and brother.‘‘My brother who unfortunately could not be the topper for two marks, was my source of inspiration,’’ she said, adding, she wants to be a software engineer.On the other extreme is Dinabandhu Nayak of Talagopabindha village who fell unconscious when he learnt that his daughter Rashmilata committed suicide after failing in the examination.Rashmilata, a student of Chandi High School, hanged herself on Tuesday. Another girl of Barikpur High School under Thidi police limits attempted to end her life by consuming poison after she failed.Jajpur: Of the 22,185 regular students who appeared for the HSC examination across 115 centres in Jajpur, 11,300 students cleared it. Out of 2,318 ex-regular students who took the exam, 832 passed.In the regular stream, 2,018 students secured first class, 3,907 got second class and 5,374 students passed in third division.Rourkela: In the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district, of the total 14,855 regular examinees, as many as 8,268 cleared the HSC examination.In the regular category, the pass percentage was 55.96 against the previous year’s 46.79. Of the 14,855 regular students of Sundargarh, Rourkela and Bonai, 1,564 notched first division.Similarly, 2,887 and 3,806 students bagged second and third divisions respectively. Of the 5,479 students in ex-regular category, 2,403 cleared the examination.CHSE toppersRayagada: ‘‘With strong will, anything can be achieved,’’ says K Sunita, the 18th rank holder in Plus Two Commerce of Council of Higher Secondary Board Examination.A student of Rayagada College, Sunita has secured 827 out of 900 marks.The only daughter of Venket Rao, who is working as a diesel driver in Indian Railways, Rayagada, Sunita is keen to pursue MBA in future.Sambalpur: ‘‘My sincerity and the support that I received from my parents and teachers helped me achieve this feat,’’ said an overjoyed Priyanka Dalwani of Gangadhar Meher Junior College, Sambalpur who has secured 15th position in the Higher Secondary (Science) Examination. Priyanka aims to become a mechanical Engineer.

Family in Orissa exhumes son's corpse to revive him
Thu May 31, 2007 8:56 PM IST
BHEJAPADAR, India (Reuters) - The corpse of a man was exhumed by his family in a remote village in Orissa in the belief that a witch doctor could bring him back to life, three days after he died.
Arun Majhi, 21, died after he was bitten by a snake while scouring the jungle near his home for firewood last Thursday and his grieving family buried him the same day.
But two days later, Majhi's mother dreamt that her son could come back to life. On Sunday, they dug his grave, exhumed the corpse and hired Natabara Sahu, a local witch doctor, who promised to do his best.
"I am sitting beside my son waiting for him to come back to life," Bibhisan Majhi, Arun's father, told Reuters Television as he fanned Arun's corpse, which was covered with a mosquito net.
But with Arun still dead two days after the witch doctor was hired, the family gave up and reburied him in Bhejapadar village.
Superstitions are widespread in India, especially in rural areas where an ineffectual schooling system has left millions illiterate and uneducated.

Government defers decision on Navi Mumbai SEZ, clears Tata project in Orissa
(31 May 2007) Mumbai:
The board of approval (BoA) has deferred a decision on Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZ following objections from the revenue department, but cleared Tata's Gopalpur SEZ project in Orissa.
The revenue department had serious reservations about the fencing of five villages and water bodies in the zone. Moreover, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust has raised objections on the ground that the national highway passing through Navi Mumbai SEZ was proposed to be upgraded to four-lane, the BoA pointed out.
Commerce secretary and BoA chairman G K Pillai said the government had received a report from the revenue department on the Navi Mumbai project, but was awaiting views from the state government and the developers.
"We wanted to get comments from the developers and the state government on the report of the revenue department," Pillai said.
The revenue department wanted to know whether arrangements had been made for plugging possible revenue leakages because of a road passing through the zone being promoted by Ambani and his close aide Anand Jain.
A decision on the 1,173 hectare Gopalpur SEZ, promoted by Tatas in Ganjam district of Orissa, was deferred in September last year as the BoA wanted to ensure that it posed no problem to a security facility nearby.
Decision on five zones in Uttar Pradesh, where the new BSP government has assumed office was deferred while two SEZ proposals in Kanpur promoted by state government agencies were cleared. Two SEZ proposals from Madhya Pradesh were also deferred but one in Chhindwara was cleared.
In all, 24 SEZs were given formal approval and six were given in-principle clearance.

Orissa CM finally breaks silence, raps Mohanty Sr1 Jun, 2007 l 0250 hrs IST
BHUBANESWAR:
Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik finally broke his silence on the B B Mohanty issue. With the Orissa DG — wanted for helping his rapist son Biti escape from judicial custody — managing to evade arrest by the visiting Rajasthan cops, Patnaik, for the first time after Biti jumped parole in December last year, on Thursday criticised Mohanty. In an interview to TOI, Patnaik said, "It is unbecoming on the part of B B Mohanty to act in this manner." "The issue is now before Rajasthan High Court. We are awaiting the outcome. If necessary, we will initiate appropriate action against him (Mohanty)," the CM said. The CM, however, denied allegations that the Orissa cops were shielding their senior-most IPS officer. "We have given all support to Rajasthan police to trace B B Mohanty. Our response has been very prompt." Patnaik also refused to admit that the DGP-rank officer had gone into hiding to evade arrest and said, "Mohanty has proceeded on leave on medical grounds (from May 27 to 31)." Meanwhile, two police associations in Orissa came out in support of the IPS officer. "We will not endure this farce any longer. Nor will we allow them (Rajasthan cops) to arrest him (Mohanty). We will launch an agitation if a senior IPS officer like him continues to be harassed," Orissa Police Association president Sagarmal Sharma said. DGP Amarananda Pattanayak, however, said the associations would not be allowed to interfere. "It is a legal issue and Orissa police will abide by law."

Bangladeshi nationals arrested for Orissa robberies
Posted May 31st, 2007 by Tarique
Balasore (Orissa) : Six Bangladeshi nationals were arrested here Thursday on charges of accosting and looting people on highways.
The group had reached Basta, about 200 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, from neighbouring West Bengal on May 13 and had been living with a relative.
According to police, they had planned to commit at least 15 robberies in the district before going home.
"However, they were caught by city police after committing seven robberies," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) B.P. Mohapatra told IANS.
Police has recovered goods worth Rs.700,000, including Rs.70,000 in cash, 40 mobile phones, and about 300 grams of gold ornaments from the group, all of whom are from Hamid village in Bangladesh's Haridpur district.

Friday, June 01, 2007
Best Western chain touches Orissa shores
Bhubaneswar, May 31: Cabana Group, the master licensee of the world-renowned chain of hotels — Best Western International — today announced its plans to set up a premier hotel and a management institute here.
The group has lined up investments worth US $1.2 billion in India over the next 10 years.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who presided over the ground-breaking ceremony of the hotel and the institute, hoped that the move would “set new standards of service and related training”.
Co-chairman of Cabana Hotel Management Private Limited and venture capitalist, Prabhu Goel, said the institute will be the group’s first training venture anywhere in the world. “Since the industry demand is huge, we hope that all students will be absorbed after training,” Goel added.
The institute, for which the government has allotted a seven-acre plot near Dumduma, will have hostels for 1,500 students, classrooms, labs, kitchens, along with a an attached 200-bed hotel. The group will represent Best Western brand in India, provide hotel management services and consultancy, he said.
Over the next 10 years, the group intends to add more than 100 hotels and 10,000 rooms to the growing Indian hospitality market. “We have visited places like Chilika, Puri, Konark and Paradip. We are interested to set up hotels there. We have plans to invest around Rs 350 crores in developing properties in the state,” said Goel.
The co-chairman of the group also gave a presentation of upcoming Best Western properties in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ooty, Rameswaram, Kaniyakumari and Jaisalmer.
“We are planning premier hotels in tier-I and tier-II cities. Later, we would set up 3-5 star hotels depending on the traffic,” Goel said, adding that he is now pulling out of the technology sector. “I have been in technology for 25 years, now I want to get into something more exciting,” he said.
David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western International, said everyday Best Western hotels host nearly 4,00,000 guests. “Some of them would definitely like to come to India. And we hope, by expanding our chain here, international travellers would be interested to visit the country.”
Established in 1946, Best Western International claims to be world’s largest hotel chain operating under a single brand name.Having 4,164 properties in 80 countries worldwide, the group’s global gross revenue for 2006 touched $ 8.15 billion. Cabana Hotel Management Private Ltd was incorporated in India in November 2006.

Rajasthan police leave OrissaFriday, June 01, 2007 07:57:57 am
The Rajasthan police's search operation for Orissa top cop B B Mohanti seems to have suffered a setback. The police team has reportedly left for Rajasthan without arresting the DG. B B Mohanti is accused of helping his son, convicted rapist Bitti Mohanti jump parole and has been evading arrest. He has been on casual leave ever since the four-member Rajasthan police team landed in Orissa. B B Mohanti's leave had expired yesterday (May 31) and he was expected to re-join office from today. The police team would now be filing a report to a local Rajasthan court on Monday, and perhaps increase efforts to obtain a non-bailable warrant for arresting the DG. Sources: Orissa police know Mohanti’s whereabouts Rajasthan police sources said that the team failed to find the DG mainly because of continued lack of cooperation by the Orissa police department. Without sufficient cues and clues as to his whereabouts, sources said, it became virtually impossible catch him. Mohanti This is ironic, since sources within the Orissa police have told TIMES NOW that everyone there knows where their much-loved officer’s whereabouts.

Monsoon hopes elude Orissa farmers
Friday, June 1, 2007 (Khurda District)
The monsoon is likely to hit Orissa in the next seven to 10 days but for farmers there's hardly anything to look forward to. Met predictions suggest it will be less than an average monsoon and that can spell doom for most farmers in the state who depend almost entirely on rains for their staple crop paddy. Nabkishore Bhutia, a farmer of Shampur village in Orissa's Khurda district is ready for a brand new paddy season. The first monsoon showers are expected sooner than later. The 38-year-old owns less than an acre of land, which is entirely rain-fed but he's worried.''If you have 100 days of rain it's a good monsoon. But if it's a 50-day affair you will have uneven rains resulting in drought and crop loss,'' says Nabakishore.Blame policiesNabkishore feels the state government's policies have never favoured farmers.Farmers say the daily wage for labourers has been hiked to Rs 70-80 but there is no relief for them. ''The government offers subsidies worth thousands of crores to big industries but not a pie to farmers. So we have to sell paddy and rice to be able to invest money in farming. And in bad times we are forced to sell it at throw away prices.'' ''Many farmers are selling off their plots because agriculture has become a loss-making and debt ridden business. I think in the next few years, agriculture will perish completely,'' he further says. Faced with uncertain monsoon and lack of incentives. Nabkishore can only see a future clouded by uncertainty.

Friday, June 01, 2007
Anthrax infection spreads in Orissa
Two people in Orissa's Koraput district have died of anthrax, a fairly uncommon disease while many people have been infected by the virus, health officials said Friday.
Bisu Sisa, 45 and Nanda Jani, 35, of Koraput district, nearly 500 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, reportedly showed signs of infection after consuming cattle meat and died last week, Chief District Medical Officer K. Haribandhu Reddy told IANS.
Reddy said five other people from the same village contracted the infection last week and four more have been hospitalised Friday.
'We are providing treatment at the government hospital at Laxmipur while a team of doctors is camping in the affected villages to monitor the situation,' he added.
Anthrax usually affects cattle but some time passes to humans if they eat contaminated meat. Antibiotics often cure the disease if it is diagnosed early.
However, many people do not know they have anthrax until it is too late to cure it. A vaccine to prevent anthrax is available for military personnel and those at high risk.

Anthrax infection spreads in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, June 1: Two people in Orissa's Koraput district have died of anthrax, a fairly uncommon disease while many people have been infected by the virus, health officials said Friday.Bisu Sisa, 45 and Nanda Jani, 35, of Koraput district, nearly 500 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, reportedly showed signs of infection after consuming cattle meat and died last week, Chief District Medical Officer K. Haribandhu Reddy told IANS.Reddy said five other people from the same village contracted the infection last week and four more have been hospitalised Friday."We are providing treatment at the government hospital at Laxmipur while a team of doctors is camping in the affected villages to monitor the situation," he added.Anthrax usually affects cattle but some time passes to humans if they eat contaminated meat. Antibiotics often cure the disease if it is diagnosed early. However, many people do not know they have anthrax until it is too late to cure it. A vaccine to prevent anthrax is available for military personnel and those at high risk.

Orissa DGP Mohanty resumes duty after exit of Rajasthan Police officials
Bhubaneswar, June 1: Orissa Director General of Police (Home Guards) B B Mohanty resumed his duties today after the exit of Rajasthan Police which had been camping in the State for his arrest.
Mohanty joined his office after being on medical leave for five days. He came to office in an ambulanceMeanwhile, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that he would look into the situation arising out of the Mohanty episode. Meanwhile, Mohanty had told a TV channel that offences against him were not sustainable."I also respect the executing agency, whether they belong to any other state," he said, adding, "Offences against me are not sustainable in the present case." "When a person is cooperating with law whey do you arrest an individual," he said. On May 23, Patnaik had asked the State Home Department to take an unbiased stand on a case involving Mohanty, who has reportedly helped his son jump parole in the case of a rape of a German national in Alwar, Rajasthan.The Rajasthan Police went to Cuttack to bring Mohanty to Rajasthan in connection with a case registered at Lal Kothi police station on January 10.Mohanty's son Biti was convicted for raping a German researcher on March 20, 2006. He has been missing since getting parole on November 20, 2006.

Hunger death issue rocks Orissa Assembly
Bhubaneswar, June 1: Opposition demand for discussion on poverty and hunger death in Sinapali block in Nuapada district raised furore on the opening day of Orissa Assembly forcing the Chair to adjourn the House thrice without transacting the Question Hour business.The trouble started when Leader of Opposition in the house J B Pattnaik, raised the issue through a point of order soon after the House passed obituary references on five former members.Mr Pattnaik amid opposition from the treasury bench members, said despite all tall claims of the state government, the tribals in the Sinapali Block in Nuapada district were dying of hunger and were forced to consume stone powders in the absence of any rice.He demanded that the issue being very serious should be debated first suspending the business of the House. Speaker Maheswar Mohanty, however, asked the Leader of Opposition to raise the issue after the question hour.Mr Pattnaik insisted that the matter be discussed first in view of the seriousness of the issue, the Speaker questioned him as to why he did not bring the issue through an adjournment motion. This irked the Congress members who shouted slogan against the Chief Minister by holding him responsible for the hunger deaths and acute poverty in the state.The House again witnessed furore as the treasury bench members started shouting at the Opposition for disrupting the business of the House during the question hour.State Panchyat Raj and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty, rising on a point of order, said the state government was ready to discuss any issue raised by the Opposition members and advised the Opposition to bring the matter in proper forum.But the agitated Opposition continued to occupy the well and raised anti-government slogans demanding discussion on the hunger deaths in Sinapali block.Sensing the Opposition mood, the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes. The House reassembled after the adjournment but no business was taken up as Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora again adjourned the House for 30 minutes.The House was finally adjourned for the third time by Mr Dora till 1700 hrs to take up the annual budget.

Rajasthan cops leave, Mahanti surfaces
Posted Friday , June 01, 2007 at 15:47
Updated Friday , June 01, 2007 at 21:51 Bhubaneshwar: Orissa Director General of Police (Fire Service) and Director General (Home Guards) BB Mahanti has rejoined work just hours after a Rajasthan Police team returned from Cuttack after having failed to trace him.
The senior Indian Police Service Officer has been accused of helping his convict son Bittihotra Mahanti alias Bitti Mahanti jump parole in December last year.
The four-member Rajasthan Police team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Mukund Bihari had reached Orissa on May 28 to arrest BB Mahanti. However, he went on a sudden medical leave as soon as the Rajasthan Police team arrived.
After remaining untraceable for the last four days, he came to office in an ambulance on Friday.
His son was convicted by a Rajasthan court for raping a German tourist and there has been no trace of him since he jumped parole.
The Rajasthan Police team had returned home on Thursday night after failing to find the officer in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
They returned due to the prevailing tension in Rajasthan where the Gurjars are demanding inclusion in the list of Schedule Tribe.
After resuming his duties Mahanti also attended a meeting at his office where other senior police officers were also present.

Saturday, June 02, 2007
Orissa Budget Rs 40,744 cr
By Our Correspondent, Bhubaneswar, June 1: Orissa finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei on Friday presented a Rs 40,744-crore Budget in the state Assembly here for the year 2007-08, underscoring the need for further fiscal consolidation and efficient fiscal management by reducing non-plan revenue expenditure and enhancing own revenue, besides prioritising budgetary allocation to social sector and infrastructure development.
Earlier on March 29, Mr Ghadei had presented a vote-on-account budget for four months and on Friday, he presented a full-fledged budget. "The thrust of our budget for 2006-07 is on growth, development, efficiency and social equity," Mr Ghadei said. Presenting a balanced budget, Mr Ghadei said, the government has taken many reform measures like expenditure rationalisation measures, revenue step-up measures, improvement in delivery system and proper utilisation of limited resources.

Tribals eating stone in Orissa2 Jun, 2007
BHUBANESWAR: Despite a denial by the Orissa government, Speaker Maheswar Mohanty on Friday ordered a House committee probe into media reports that a group of tribals at Sinapalli in Nuapada district were forced to survive on limestone to fight starvation. The panel, comprising members from the ruling BJD-BJP alliance and opposition Congress, was asked to submit its report a week before the present budget session comes to an end. The Speaker asked revenue minister Manmohan Samal to head the committee though the latter dismissed the reports as "baseless". A few private TV channels had aired reports that some impoverished tribals were compelled to dig out a particular kind of limestone to survive. Later Congress stalled House proceedings and demanded a discussion on the "grave issue". After the House was adjourned thrice, the revenue minister came up with the government’s reply, rubbishing the media reports. He said rice under the public distribution system was being made available in the area at regular intervals and those who appeared on the TV channel reports had been getting their quota of subsidised rice and other foodgrains. Samal claimed that the tribals had been "instigated" to claim that they were eating stones. He said a criminal case had been filed against the journalists who compiled the reports. The minister based his reply on a field inquiry report submitted by a team of district officials.

No fresh taxes in Orissa budget
STATE BUREAU (Saturday, June 02, 2007 at 0049 hours IST)
BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 1 : Orissa finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei on Friday presented a revenue surplus balanced full-fledged state budget of Rs 24133.69 crore for the financial year 2007-08. He has not proposed any fresh taxes.
Ghadei said while the state's total revenue receipt during 2007-08 has been estimated at Rs 19467.20 crore, the revenue expenditure has been pegged at Rs 18421.44 crore, making a revenue surplus of Rs 1045.76 crore. However, he added, that the expenditure in capital account would be Rs 1220.43 crore more than the receipt.
The finance minister told reporters that the government has laid more stress on agriculture, water resources, health, infrastructure development, rural development, poverty eradication, education of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students besides welfare of the aged and invalid people.
He said the budget has made provisions for special programmes like the Biju Grama Jyoti Yojna, the Biju KBK Yonjna, and the Gopabandhu Gramin Yojna announced by the Naveen Patnaik government.
Funds have been provided for implementation of new schemes such as the 'Intensive Mineral Exploration and Assessment of Mineral Resources', and the 'On line file movement & tracking system'.

2007-05-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

SAIL clears Rourkela expansion
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Jamshedpur, May 23: The Steel Authority of India Ltd has approved the Rs 9,869-crore expansion plan of the Rourkela Steel Plant.
The annual hot metal capacity of the plant will be raised to 4.5 million tonnes.
A technology upgradation exercise will be undertaken to increase the production of crude steel and value-added steel, improve product quality and reduce energy consumption.
Under the modernisation programme, a fifth blast furnace will be set up with a working volume of 4,060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonnes per metre cube per day.
Besides, blast furnace No.1 in the plant will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 metre volume with high pressure and coal dust injection facilities.
The coal dust injection facility will also be incorporated in blast furnace No. 4, which will double the present hot metal capacity of the plant.
The package also envisages a seven-metre-tall coke-oven battery and a new sinter plant with 3.69mt capacity.
To augment production capacity, the Rourkela plant will install a new 150-tonne converter and a caster to produce clean steel such as ultra-low carbon steel.
Two new matching ladle heating furnaces will also be installed, raising the number of such furnaces to three. One of the existing casters will also be upgraded.
The expansion will raise the total crude steel capacity of the Rourkela plant to 4.2mt.
In view of the increasing demand for high-end products, the Rourkela plant will set up a new plate mill with 1.8mt capacity that will roll out up to 4,200 mm wide plates.

Sail board nod for RSP makeover package
BS Reporter / Bhubaneswar May 23, 2007
The board of directors of Steel Authority of India (Sail) has given an in principle approval to Rs 9,869 crore modernization and capacity expansion plan of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP).The proposal envisages to more than double the hot metal production capacity of RSP from 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) now to 4.5 MTPA.Similarly, the proposed modernisation program includes setting up of a fifth blast furnace with working volume of 4,060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonne per cubic metre per day.This apart, blast furnace - 1 of the steel plant will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 cubic metres useful volume with high top pressure and coal dust injection facilities. In blast furnace - 4, coal dust injection system will be incorporated."With the approval of the modernisation and expansion plan RSP is all set to enter a new era of productivity, profitability and quality," BN Singh, managing director, RSP said."The objectives of expansion include increase in production of crude steel through state-of-the-art technology in order to meet the productivity level of international standards, improvement in quality of products, production of more value added products, reduction in energy consumption, improvement of environment, cut in cost of production and thereby increase in net sales realization."The package also envisages the setting up of a new 7 metre tall coke oven battery and a new sinter plant with 3.69 MTPA capacity. In order to augment the steel producing capacity, RSP is going to install a new 150 tonne converter and a new caster in its steel melting shop (SMS)-II. New RH-OB unit will be introduced in SMS-II to produce clean steel such as ultra low carbon steels.Two new matching ladle heating furnaces (LHFs) are also on the cards which will take the number of LHFs to three. One of the existing casters will also be upgraded. These augmentation measures will take the total crude steel capacity of RSP to the level of 4.2 MTPA.In view of the increasing demand for high end products, RSP proposes to install a new plate mill with a capacity of 1.8 MTPA that will roll out different grades of plates up to the width of 4,200 mm, meeting the stringent specific customer requirements.In order to further improve the quality of hot rolled strips the finishing mill train of hot strip mill (HSM) will be modernized to meet the customers' requirement and to improve the operation and quality of downstream units.An entirely new mill to produce 1,80,000 tonne of cold rolled non-oriented (CRNO) steel will be coming up under the package taking the total capacity of the superior grade steel to 2.55 lakh tonne per annum.To improve the quality of cold rolled (CR) products a new hydrochloric (HCL) pickiling line of 7 lakhs tonne per annum capacity, a new 6 high reversing mill along with downstream facilities for thinner gauges are being added in the cold rolling complex. As a result of these augmentation measures the total saleable steel production will reach the level of 3.9 MTPA.

Sail approves Rs 9,869 cr RSP expansion plan
Rourkela, May 23: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has accorded its in-principle approval to the expansion plan of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) at a cost of Rs 9,869 crore, the sources said. If the project is implemented, hot metal production capacity of the plant would increase to 4.5 million tonnes per annum, the sources said. The objectives of the expansion plan include technology up-gradation to increase the production of crude steel, improvement in quality of products, production of more value added products and reduction in energy consumption, they added. The modernisation programme includes setting up of a fifth blast furnace with working volume of 4,060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonnes per metre cube per day. Besides, the blast furnace number one in the plant would be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 metre volume with high pressure and coal dust injection facilities. The coal dust injection facility would also be incorporated in blast furnace number four, which would double the present hot metal capacity of the plant, the sources said. Bureau Report

Man held for car-liftingSunday May 27 2007 11:29 IST
ROURKELA: One Harish Yadav, who was arrested by Haryana police from here, was taken to Haryana on Saturday on transit remand.Yadav is suspected be a member of a car-lifting gang and his arrest led to recovery of two Sedan cars.An eight-member Haryana police team arrived here on Friday and arrested Yadav from his rented accommodation at Civil Township under Raghunathpali police limits.He was produced in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate court, Panposh and then taken to Haryana.

Rapist marries victim in Orissa jail (May 30, 2007)
Bhubaneswar, May 26: In what may be a case of repentance or an easy way to get out of jail, a man in an Orissa prison has tied the knot with the young woman he raped.
Naukunj Sandha, 23, who has been in jail since the March 23 rape, married Munnu Bhuyan inside the Jharsuguda sub jail Wednesday, a police officer said. The families of both the bride and groom attended.
The marriage was solemnised by an official, A.B. Khatei, in the presence of jail superintendent P.N. Bag and P. Nageswari, lawyer for the accused.
"What I did was wrong," a lawyer quoted Naukunj as saying after the ceremony. "Now I am happy to get a chance to make amends."
Bhuyan, who looked happy, said she was ready to forgive her tormentor.
"For the time of rape I hated him. I wanted to tear him to pieces. But I have a different feeling now. I have forgiven him because he has chosen me as his wife," she said.
On March 23, Naukunj, who was a crane operator in Easter Power and Steel Ltd at Lehendapur, was visiting Kantapali to attend a marriage where he raped the 21-year-old.
Later, Naukunj's relatives and his advocate approached the girl with a proposal to marry him. With help from legal counselors, the two agreed to marry.
"The marriage was solemnized inside the jail and attended by parents of the boy and girl. While the bride left for her in-laws' house, the groom remained in the jail," said Nageswari.
A prison official said: "All this is part of our policies of reforms and rehabilitation." Following the marriage, a bail petition has been moved to free Naukunj.
IANS

Four killed in Orissa summer storm (26 May 2007)
BHUBANESWAR — A summer storm wreaked havoc in north Orissa yesterday killing four people, besides injuring two others and causing widespread damage to houses, shops, vehicles and communication network, police said.
According to police, Ramesh Dalei of Chhadchhadia village, Sukanti Barik (Angula), Jaga Khatual (Mulising) and Paresh Das (Routraypur) in Balasore district, nearly 200km from Bhubaneswar, were killed when a lightning struck them.
The tragedy occurred in the afternoon when the deceased were working in a paddy field. The two injured were admitted to a local hospital in critical condition," a senior police official from Balasore said.
Strong winds accompanied by hailstorm threw life out of gear disrupting traffic movement in many places of the district.
"Roofs of several thatched houses and government establishments were flown away due to the high-speed winds. Supply of electricity and telecommunication facilities to rural pockets also were disrupted for many hours," said Anup Kumar Das, a villager.

Security up for two Orissa ministers
Bhubaneswar, May 26 : Security has been beefed up for two Orissa ministers following intelligence reports that they face renewed death threats from Maoist guerrillas. More guards have been provided to Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Minister Chaitanya Prasad Majhi, a police official said."The intelligence wing gathered information about the threat a month ago when some extremists arrested in the state were being interrogated," a police officer told IANS Saturday.Majhi admitted he had been asked to take precaution while traveling in his constituency in Mayurbhanj district, where Maoists last month murdered a forest official and burnt his office.
--- IANS

Marijuana worth Rs.700,000 seized in Orissa, 3 held
Posted May 26th, 2007 by Tarique
Bhubaneswar : Three people were arrested Friday on charges of possessing marijuana worth Rs.700,000 in Orissa's Malkangiri district, an excise official said.
The accused - Prakash Debangan of Madhya Pradesh, Adu Matam of Nakamagodi and Sadhu Khila of Malkangiri, nearly 620 km from Bhubaneswar, were caught by excise officials in the evening.
"Acting on a tip-off we raided a house in Tarlakota-C colony under Orkel police station while the men were about to leave with the marijuana. While three of them were nabbed, two others fled before we could reach the spot," excise sub-inspector Ashok Kumar Seth said.
A case has been registered under section 20 (B) of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
"They (accused) are being interrogated in the police station and will be produced in the court on Saturday. We are verifying whether they have links with other gangs operating in the locality," Seth added.

Two die of anthrax in Orissa
Posted May 26th, 2007 by Tarique
Bhubaneswar : Two people have died of anthrax in Orissa's tribal dominated Koraput district, while five have contracted the deadly disease in the last two days, health officials said Friday.
Bisu Sisa, 45, of Phulba village and Nanda Jani, 35, of Padiguda village under Semliguda block in Koraput, nearly 500 km from Bhubaneswar, fell to the disease reportedly after consuming cattle meat.
K.H. Reddy, chief district medical officer (CDMO) of Koraput headquarters hospital confirmed the deaths and the anthrax infection.
"The two were brought dead. Those who have contracted the infection are undergoing treatment in hospital and their condition is said to be stable," Reddy said.
The state government has sent a team of doctors to the two villages to treat villagers and create awareness among them about the disease.
"The team will camp in the villages to monitor the situation. They have also destroyed cattle meat preserved in some houses there," the official said.
"As a precautionary measure, another health task force has been deployed in these villages to prevent further infection," he added.
Villagers however alleged that no veterinary staff were present for the vaccination of animals.
Orissa has reported cases of anthrax infection in the past too, specially from Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada where tribals often consume infected meat.
Over 200 cattle and five people lost their lives to anthrax between 1994 and 2006. In 1998, as many as 43 cattle died in Niali area of Cuttack district due to the deadly disease.
"Though 18 of the 30 districts in Orissa have been identified as endemic to the deadly anthrax, the state government is yet to launch an Anthrax Control Programme (ACP)," Parshuram Pradhan, a human right activist, told IANS.

Orissa heat death toll rises to 11 Posted at Saturday, 26 May 2007 19:05 IST
Bhubaneswar, May 26: Three more persons have died in Orissa due to sunstroke, taking the toll in heat-related deaths this season to 11 as the temperature rose to a blistering 46 degrees Celsius at Sundargarh.Reports of one heat-related death each was received from Cuttack, Kendrapara and Nuapada districts, revenue department sources said today.The highest number of three heat stroke deaths had occurred in Ganjam district followed by Kendrapara, Nuapada (two each), Balasore, Kandhamal, Cuttack and Sundargarh (one each), they said.Coastal belt of the state is bearing the brunt as the high humidity level in the atmosphere, coupled with more than normal day temperature, is leading to cases of sunstroke.Revenue control room sources said though reports of 68 deaths, allegedly caused by the heat, had been received by the department 47 cases had been investigated.Thirtysix of these deaths had been caused due to other reasons while 11 were confirmed as sunstroke casualties.The other 21 cases were presently under investigation, the sources said.Meanwhile, the meteorological station here forecast that heat wave conditions would continue in several parts of the state over the next 48 hours.The met office sources said western Orissa was experiencing temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius for the last four days.Sundargarh was the hottest at 46 degrees Celsius, while the temperature at Hirakud was 43.7 degrees c, Titilagarh 43.6 degrees c, Angul 43.5 degrees c, Jharsuguda and Balangir 43.2 degrees c and Sambalpur 42 degrees c yesterday.

Sunday 27th of May 2007
Severe Heat Claims 11 Lives In Orissa
Sunday 27th of May 2007 :- Three more people have died in Orissa due to sunstroke, taking the toll in heat-related deaths to 11, official sources said Sunday.According to a state revenue department official, one death each was reported from Kendrapara, Cuttack and Nuapada districts.So far, three heatstroke-related deaths had occurred in Ganjam district followed by two each in Kendrapara and Nuapada. Balasore, Kandhamal, Cuttack and Sundargarh districts have reported one death each, the official added.The state's coastal belt is bearing the brunt as high humidity level in the atmosphere, coupled with soaring day temperature, is leading to cases of sunstroke, he said.The meteorological office here forecast that heat wave conditions would for two more days.On Saturday, Talcher, which recorded 47 degrees Celsius, was the hottest place in the state. Hirakud recorded 43.5 degrees while Jharsuguda was at 43.2 degrees. Similarly, Titlagarh, Jharsuguda, Bolangir and Angul were just above 43 degrees while Sambalpur registered 42.3 degrees Celsius.

Chikungunya scare in Orissa: 4 dieMay 27, 2007 - 1:30:38 PM
'We have found the aedes mosquitoes in the locality. The mosquito is the carrier of chikungunya and dengue. So from the symptoms of the disease the possible outbreak of chikungunya can't be ruled out,' B Nageswar Rao, chief of the specialist team, told IANS.

Rajasthan police team expected here to arrest
Bhubaneswar, May 27: A Rajasthan police team is expected to be here by tomorrow possibly to arrest senior Orissa police officer B B Mohanti who is accused of helping his son convicted of rape. Mohanti had said yesterday that he would extend all cooperation to the police team from Rajasthan. The Rajasthan police team left for Cuttack to bring the Orissa DGP (Fire Services) after Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal rejected the Rajasthan police plea to issue a non bailable warrant against the Orissa home guard DGP but said Rajasthan police was free to arrest Mohanty. "No police team from Rajasthan has met me so far nor have I any information about their arrival in Orissa", state Director General of Police Amarananda Pattanayak said today. Pattanayak had earlier said that the Orissa police would extend all cooperation to their counterparts from Rajasthan as provided under law. Mohanti said he was not expecting the Rajasthan team to visit him after a Jaipur court had rejected their petition for issue of a non-bailable warrant against his name. "I hope they will work according to the provisions of the law". Mohanti in the meanwhile has moved the Rajasthan High Court seeking quashing of the charges against him. Mohanti had been accused of helping his son Brit Mohanty to go missing after being released on parole from a Jaipur jail on November 20 last year. He had been charged under Section 120 (criminal conspiracy), 216 (harbouring an offender who has escaped from custody) and 225 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person) of IPC. All the charges, however, are bailable. Bureau Report

Mohanty trail: No news of Rajasthan cops in Orissa(28 May, 2007 l 0052 hrs IST)
BHUBANESWAR: Two days after they left for Orissa to arrest senior IPS officer B B Mohanty for helping his son Biti, convicted of rape, jump parole, the policemen from Rajasthan seem to have gone missing. Even as their Orissa counterparts waited, the five-member Rajasthan police team did not show up in Bhubaneswar or Cuttack on Sunday. Nor did they inform the Orissa cops of alternative plans. "We're on the way. We'll start acting only after reaching our destination," Virendra Jhakkar, in-charge of the Lal Kothi police station, Jaipur, told TOI. Jhakkar is part of the team that left Jaipur to arrest Mohanty Sr. However, sources said the Rajasthan cops had already reached the state and wanted to gauge the public mood before arresting the senior IPS officer. Orissa DGP Amarananda Pattanayak said, "Rajasthan Police are yet to inform us of their plans. We have absolutely no information on this front." He added that going by legal provisions, Rajasthan police could inform their Orissa counterparts or act on their own and produce an arrested person before a local magistrate. The Rajasthan government's counsel in Orissa HC, P K Parhi, had no knowledge about the team from his state. "They have not contacted me so far," he said.

Severe heat claims 11 lives in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 27: Three more people have died in Orissa due to sunstroke, taking the toll in heat-related deaths to 11, official sources said Sunday.According to a state revenue department official, one death each was reported from Kendrapara, Cuttack and Nuapada districts.So far, three heatstroke-related deaths had occurred in Ganjam district followed by two each in Kendrapara and Nuapada. Balasore, Kandhamal, Cuttack and Sundargarh districts have reported one death each, the official added.The state's coastal belt is bearing the brunt as high humidity level in the atmosphere, coupled with soaring day temperature, is leading to cases of sunstroke, he said.The meteorological office here forecast that heat wave conditions would for two more days.On Saturday, Talcher, which recorded 47 degrees Celsius, was the hottest place in the state. Hirakud recorded 43.5 degrees while Jharsuguda was at 43.2 degrees. Similarly, Titlagarh, Jharsuguda, Bolangir and Angul were just above 43 degrees while Sambalpur registered 42.3 degrees Celsius.
--- IANS

New speci of limbless lizard found in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 28 (PTI): A new speci of limbless lizard said to be new to science has been located by group of zoologists in Orissa.
"It is an important discovery and preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus sepsophis", Prof Sushil Kumar Dutta of the North Orissa University, Baripada, said.
Dutta, who led a research team of 'Vasundhara', a policy analysis, research and action group, on a field study to the Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district found the limbless lizard during a survey recently.
The lizard, which belonged to the family 'scincidae', is new to science and is an important discovery from the biogeographic point of view, Dutta said.
Another speci of the same genus had been reported in 1870 from the golconda hills in Andhra Pradesh after which this is the first time that this limbless lizard had been found and it bears significance from the biodiversity point of view, Dutta said.
"The new speci will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more scientific data", Dutta said.
The other limbless lizards recorded from India were of the family 'dibamidae' which was found in South East Asia and Nicobar island, 'anguidae', recorded from North East India and South East India and the genus 'barkudia' (scincidae) discovered in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The closest relatives of the new discovery are found in Sri Lanka and South Africa, Dutta said adding this finding was of bio-geographic importance as Sri Lanka and South Africa were also part of Gondwanaland like India.
The new-found 19 cm long lizard looks like a small snake and has lower eyelids, rudimentary ear opening and pectoral bone holes on its shoulders, he said.
It also had scales on both sides of the body, a prominent feature of lizards, he said.
The new speci was quite specialised and preferred to live in cool retreat, soft soil and below stones.
Like its relatives, it lived in forest zones with heavy canopy and could not live in degraded forests where the soil profile changed rapidly.
The Khandadhar hills, which is known to be rich with iron ore, is presently in a controversy as the Orissa Government proposed to lease it to South Korean steel company POSCO for its mega steel project at Paradip.
The 'Vasundhara' team also had come across several other species in recent months in the eastern ghats which were not recorded in Orissa earlier.
They included a new speci of cat snake (of bioga speci), the red-bellied vine snake (ahaetulla rhodogaster), known to occur in the North East, brown whip snake (ahaetulla pulverulentus), known in the western ghats and montane trinket snake (coelognathus monticollaris).
The newly found lizards in the state included the Golden Gecko (calodactylodes auerus), which is a schedule I speci. It was recorded from several forests in Kalahandi (Niyamgiri Hills), Koraput, Kandhamal and ganjam districts.
This speci lives in the crevices of large boulders near hill streams covered with tree canopy. Due to habitat loss, there was a shifting trend in the habitat of these rare geckos, Pratyush Mohapatra, a research scholar belonging to the team said.
A new speci of skink of the genus 'asymblepharus' had also been recorded from the Niyamgiri Hills and the closest relative of the speci lived in the forests of western ghat and himalayan foothills.
Also a second speci recorded from the similipal biosphere reserve was a new record for Orissa, he said.
The Termite Hill Gecko (hemidactylus subtriedrus) had also been recorded for the first time from Orissa while two species of turtles known to occur outside the state had also been recorded by the team.
The Tricarinate Turtle (melanochelys tricarinata) had been recorded for the first time from the Similipal biosphere reserve. It was previously found in Uttaranchal and Bihar.
Similarly, the Indian Roofed Turtle (pangshura tectum) had been recorded from the Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga river systems of North Orissa, Mohapatra said.

Monday 28th of May 2007
Maoists Trigger Blast In Orissa
A landmine exploded in Orissa's Malkangiri district Monday morning partially damaging a bus but leaving its passengers unhurt.According to police officials, Maoist guerrillas triggered the blast near Laxmanguda village, about 700 km from here, at about 7 a.m. This was just a few seconds after the bus with 20 passengers inside crossed the spot.The bus was returning from Motu town of the district to the state capital Bhubaneswar.

POSCO to raise output by 11 pct with new plantMay 30, 2007POHANG, South Korea (Reuters) - POSCO Co. Ltd,
the world's fourth-largest steel maker, said on Wednesday it aims to raise its crude steel output by 11 percent to 34 million tonnes in 2008, helped mostly by a new steelmaking technology.POSCO said the increased production would push the South Korean steel maker up two notches to the No. 2 spot in the global steel sector - still well behind Arcelor Mittal's 110 million tonnes.A new steel plant in the south eastern port city of Pohang, using a self-developed technology called Finex, has just started operations with an annual output of 1.5 million tonnes, the company said.The Finex plant can cut production costs by up to 15 percent and reduce pollution emissions by more than 95 percent, compared with conventional furnaces, the company said."The Finex plant will sharply enhance POSCO's competitiveness in the face of the consolidation wave in the global steel industry," POSCO Chief Executive Lee Ku-taek said in an opening ceremony for the plant.Faced with soaring prices and raw material supply shortages, POSCO has been keen to develop cheaper steelmaking methods, investing 1.06 trillion won ($1.14 billion) over the past three years.Current blast furnace methods have been used to produce steel for almost 100 years but thigh capital and environmental costs have led steel makers to seek new technologies.POSCO said Finex eliminates the first step in the steelmaking process of sintering and coking and allows the direct use of low-cost ore fines and coal, bearing down on costs.Another advantage of Finex is the reduction of pollution, producing significantly less sulphur and nitrogen oxide than current furnaces.POSCO expected to convert its blast furnaces step by step, starting with the furnace in Pohang. POSCO has 10 furnaces in its Pohang and Gwangyang steelworks.POSCO also plans to adopt the Finex method in a $12 billion Indian project, building two Finex furnaces by 2010, each capable of producing two million tonnes of crude steel annually.Shares in POSCO fell 1.38 percent to 429,500 won by 0229 GMT, underperforming a 0.51 percent fall in the broader market.

Orissa Home Guards DGP Mohanty goes on medical leave to avoid arrestFrom our ANI Correspondent
Cuttack, May 28: Orissa Home Guard DGP B B Mohanty went on medical leave on Monday to evade arrest by a Rajasthan Police team. Mohanty is accused of helping his son Biti Mohanty, convicted of raping a German scholar in Alwar, jump parole. A day after Rajasthan Police were rapped by a Jaipur court, the state government decided to send a police team to Cuttack to bring Mohanty to Jaipur for interrogation. Last Thursday, the court in Jaipur had rejected Rajasthan Police's excuse of not having a court warrant to arrest Mohanty, saying that police had the means to proceed with an arrest without a warrant.Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal also rejected Rajasthan Police's plea to issue a non-bailable warrant against Mohanty, saying the latter was free to arrest Mohanty."We have come here to arrest B B Mohanty as per the court directions. We will take him to Rajasthan," said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jaipur, Mumkund Bihari.For almost six months now, this case has been an embarrassment for the Rajasthan Government. Not only did Biti, convicted by a fast-track court for rape, jump bail and disappear, the senior Mohanty also sees the Jaipur court's order as a breather.Meanwhile, Mohanty's lawyer has filed anticipatory bail plea in the Jaipur sessions court. The hearing is scheduled for May 30.Earlier, Orissa DGP Amranand Patnaik said that he has discussed the issue with his Rajasthan counterpart MS Gill. Asked why the Orissa cops were not cooperating with their Rajasthan counterparts in the case, Patnaik said his force would extend all possible help within the law to interrogate Mohanty.

Baosteel may invest in ferro chrome unit in Orissa: Srcs
2007-05-28 18:24:06
Chinese steel company Baoshan Iron & Steel company or Baosteel is set to invest in a ferro chrome unit in Kalinganagar in Orissa, reports CNBC-TV18
The likely capacity of the unit is expected to be 1,00,000 tonnes per annum. Sources say that the joint venture agreement is being finalized. The ferro chrome unit is likely to cost Rs 150-200 crore.

Visa Steel's 50,000 tpa ferro chrome unit in Kalinganagar is to be commissioned in June. Baosteel is likely to own 35% in the new unit and Visa Steel may own the balance 65%. Visa Steel has 525 acres in Kalinganagar and has applied to the Orissa government for an additional 675 acres.

Vishambhar Saran, Chairman, Visa Steel, said, “Discussions have been going on (with Baosteel) from time to time on various possibilities. I don't want to speak about something for which we do not have a definitive agreement."

Qian Weifeng, Baosteel's India representative, said, “We at Baosteel do not comment on anything for which we do not have an agreement."

New species of limbless lizard found in Orissa
Agencies Monday, May 28, 2007 22:13 IST

BHUBANESWAR: A species of limbless lizard said to be new to science has been located by group of zoologists in Orissa.
“It is an important discovery and preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus sepsophis”, Prof Sushil Kumar Dutta of the North Orissa University, Baripada, said.
Dutta, who led a research team of ‘Vasundhara’, a policy analysis, research and action group, on a field study to the Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district found the limbless lizard during a survey recently.
The lizard, which belonged to the family ‘scincidae’, is new to science and is an important discovery from the biogeographic point of view, Dutta said.
Another species of the same genus had been reported in 1870 from the golconda hills in Andhra Pradesh after which this is the first time that this limbless lizard had been found and it bears significance from the biodiversity point of view, Dutta said.
“The new species will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more scientific data”, Dutta said. The other limbless lizards recorded from India were of the family ‘dibamidae’ which was found in South East Asia and Nicobar island, ‘anguidae’, recorded from North East India and South East India and the genus ‘barkudia’ (scincidae) discovered in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Tuesday 29th of May 2007
Rs.20 Mn Ransom For Abducted Orissa
Businessman
Tuesday 29th of May 2007 :- An Orissa businessman has been abducted and his family has received a ransom demand of Rs.20 million, police here said Tuesday.Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra alias Chinna Barik, 34, from Keonjhar, about 200 km from here, came to Bhubaneswar Monday for work. In the evening his family got a phone call from a man demanding Rs.20 million for his release, district police chief Amitav Thakur told IANS. Mohapatra owns trucks, crushers and is involved in other businesses too.

Tuesday 29th of May 2007
Orissa High School Exam Topper Wants To Become Scientist
Tuesday 29th of May 2007 :-The girl who topped this year's Orissa high school certificate examination said she wanted to be a scientist like President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.Priyanka Das, 15, a student of district government high school at Balasore, some 200 kilometers from the state capital Bhubaneswar, topped the Class 10 examination conducted by the Orissa Board of Secondary Examination (BSE) by securing 727 marks out of 750. The results were declared Tuesday. 'Although I knew that the result will be good, I never thought I will stand first in the state,' Priyanka said.She studied for about 12 to 14 hours every day to prepare for the examination. 'I want to study in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and want to become a scientist like President Kalam,' she told IANS. 'She has been always a good student,' Priyanka's father Saktaranjan Das said.Saktaranjan is a tax consultant while Priyanka's mother Urvashi works as a zoology lecturer in a local college. 'She got a scholarship in Class three, Class five and again in Class seven. We are proud of her,' said Urvashi Das.This year about 400,000 students from 7133 state high schools had appeared for the Class 10 examination, which had been conducted simultaneously in 1713 centres across the state between March 7 and March 16, Orissa Board of Secondary Examination secretary Minaketan Pani told IANS.

Orissa cop Mohanty foxes Raj cops
Posted Tuesday , May 29, 2007 at 17:40
Updated Tuesday , May 29, 2007 at 19:36
Bhubaneswar/Jaipur: The Rajasthan Police on Tuesday yet again failed to find B B Mohanty, a senior police officer in Orissa whose son has jumped bail in a rape case.
A Rajasthan Police team searched Mohanty’s office and a hospital in Cuttack after arriving in Orissa on Monday. Mohanty’s son, Bitti, jumped parole in November 2006 days after he was found guilty of raping a German woman in Alwar.
Mohanty , a Director General of Police, has denied allegations that he is shielding Bitti. The Rajasthan Police again alleged on Tuesday that the Orissa Police are not helping it to find the officer.
"We are totally dependent on the Orissa Police to find Mohanty but they are not giving us information on his whereabouts. We only hope they will pass on this information to us soon,” said Rajasthan Police team leader Mukund Bihari.
Amarananda Patnaik, the Director General of Orissa Police, said his force would help but he couldn’t force Mohanty . "We will pass on the information on him to Rajasthan police, provided we have it. But he is an independent DG and does not have to report me,” he said.
Mohanty went on a four-day medical leave on May 27 and is supposed to be taking treatment for blood dysentery.
A PTI report said the Rajasthan team studied the records of a hospital in Buxi Bazaar, Cuttack, which had referred Mohanty to the government SCB Medical College Hospital for treatment.
The PTI report said authorities of SCB Hospital have told the Rajasthan Police clear Mohanty has not come to them for treatment.

Rare lizard found in Orissa forests
NDTV Correspondent
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 (Bubaneshwar)
A limbless lizard of an extremely rare breed was discovered by zoologists in the forests of Orissa on Tuesday. The last sighting of a limbless lizard but a different species was way back in 1870 in the Golkonda Hills of Andhra Pradesh.Professor Sushil Dutta whose team spotted the lizard says it is a find of great significance.''It is very important from the bio-geographic point of view because the closest relatives of this lizard live in South Africa and Sri Lanka,'' says Dutta of the North Orissa University. ''This is a new species to be included in a new genus and which is also a discovery after more than 130 years.''The lizard is a little longer than a palm and has all the prominent features of its family such as lower eyelids and scales. It prefers to live in cool spots under the soft soil and in shaded forests. But scientists fear that its current habitat a patch of evergreen rainforest at Khandadhar is under threat due to mining activities in this iron-ore rich belt.''From conservation point of view this occupies a heavy debt.This is an example of existence of small patches of rain forests due to degradation of forest, due to erosion of top soil perhaps most of these animals are vanishing,'' says professor Dutta.

Orissa high school exam topper wants to become scientist
Posted May 29th, 2007 by Tarique
Balasore : The girl who topped this year's Orissa high school certificate examination said she wanted to be a scientist like President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Priyanka Das, 15, a student of district government high school at Balasore, some 200 kilometers from the state capital Bhubaneswar, topped the Class 10 examination conducted by the Orissa Board of Secondary Examination (BSE) by securing 727 marks out of 750. The results were declared Tuesday.
"Although I knew that the result will be good, I never thought I will stand first in the state," Priyanka said.
She studied for about 12 to 14 hours every day to prepare for the examination.
"I want to study in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and want to become a scientist like President Kalam," she told IANS.
"She has been always a good student," Priyanka's father Saktaranjan Das said.
Saktaranjan is a tax consultant while Priyanka's mother Urvashi works as a zoology lecturer in a local college.
"She got a scholarship in Class three, Class five and again in Class seven. We are proud of her," said Urvashi Das.
This year about 400,000 students from 7133 state high schools had appeared for the Class 10 examination, which had been conducted simultaneously in 1713 centres across the state between March 7 and March 16, Orissa Board of Secondary Examination secretary Minaketan Pani told IANS.

Orissa makes changes in APMC ActPTI[ TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2007 10:55:49 PM]
NEW DELHI: Orissa has made necessary amendments in Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee Act to facilitate contract farming in private sector, state chief minister Naveen Patnaik said on Tuesday.
"Orissa has made necessary amendments in the APMC Act to permit setting up of rural market and contract farming in the private sector. The rules under the amended APMC Act are in process," he said at the National Development Council meeting.
He said the NDC sub-committee's observation not to encourage any legal provision for handing over of land for cultivation and management as it could make the farmer a mere rent collector or a labourer "is a well thought out safety measure to protect the interest of the farmers".
He sought adequate support from the Centre for resource poor states like Orissa for developing their own models of risk management in agriculture.
Patnaik suggested that a focused approach was needed for agriculture in the 11th Plan to ensure remunerative prices for the farm produce, timely agricultural credit linked to risk management besides availability of quality inputs.
He also sought increased funding under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).
The chief minister appreciated the NDC sub-committee for suggesting that for upscaling public investment both the central and state governments should invest in an equitable manner.

2007-05-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Child dies after consuming prasad in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 25: A child died while over 50 people, mostly women and children, fell sick in an Orissa village after consuming prasad, a health official said Thursday.
As many as 30 people were admitted to the Dharmasala hospital and one of them, Chandan Mallick, 8, died in the afternoon.
Residents of Sarei village in Jajpur district, about 130 km from here, had taken Sirini - a religious offering made of rice, milk, coconut, and sugar - during a village festival Tuesday.
After 48 hours many of them complained of giddiness and acute stomachache. Many vomited and complained of diarrhoea, a medical officer of the hospital said.

Friday, May 25, 2007
Rapist marries victim in Orissa jail
In what may be a case of repentance or an easy way to get out of jail, a man in an Orissa prison has tied the knot with the young woman he raped.
Naukunj Sandha, 23, who has been in jail since the March 23 rape, married Munnu Bhuyan inside the Jharsuguda sub jail Wednesday, a police officer said. The families of both the bride and groom attended.
The marriage was solemnised by an official, A.B. Khatei, in the presence of jail superintendent P.N. Bag and P. Nageswari, lawyer for the accused.
'What I did was wrong,' a lawyer quoted Naukunj as saying after the ceremony. 'Now I am happy to get a chance to make amends.'
Bhuyan, who looked happy, said she was ready to forgive her tormentor.
'For the time of rape I hated him. I wanted to tear him to pieces. But I have a different feeling now. I have forgiven him because he has chosen me as his wife,' she said.
On March 23, Naukunj, who was a crane operator in Easter Power and Steel Ltd at Lehendapur, was visiting Kantapali to attend a marriage where he raped the 21-year-old.
Later, Naukunj's relatives and his advocate approached the girl with a proposal to marry him. With help from legal counselors, the two agreed to marry.
'The marriage was solemnized inside the jail and attended by parents of the boy and girl. While the bride left for her in-laws' house, the groom remained in the jail,' said Nageswari.
A prison official said: 'All this is part of our policies of reforms and rehabilitation.' Following the marriage, a bail petition has been moved to free Naukunj.

WB to provide Rs 1,406 cr for Orissa roads
AGENCIES
Posted online: Friday, May 25, 2007 at 1316 hours IST
BHUBANESWAR, MAY 25: The World Bank has agreed to provide Rs 1,406 crore as assistance for implementation of Rs 2,121 crore Orissa State Roads Project (OSRP), official sources said.
Under the project 200 km of road would be constructed within the current fiscal, sources added.
Of the total amount, Rs 415 crore would be invested during the current financial year to build the 68 km Bhawanipatna- Khariar road, 95 km stretch of Chandbali- Bhadrak-Anandapur road and 41 km Berhampur-Taptapani road.
About 700 km of roads would be constructed during the next fiscal.
The matter was discussed at a meeting between the state's Works Minister A U Singh Deo and a World Bank team comprising B Raja and A K Swaminathan here yesterday, the sources said.
A proposal was also mooted to set up a construction academy in Orissa modelled after the one present at Hyderabad to contribute towards capacity building of contractors and workers by imparting training in modern construction technique, they said.
Steps would also be taken to develop a core road network system for undertaking urgent repair works. The Sambalpur-Rourkela, Joda-Bambri and Koira-Tensa-Rajamunda roads were being taken up for expansion and widening under the public-private-partnership mode, the sources said.

Robbers flee with Rs.250,000 in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 24: Robbers looted a total of Rs.250,000 in two separate incidents in western Orissa, police said Thursday.Three masked men decamped with Rs.133,000 after threatening an insurance firm employee at gunpoint at Mangalbazar in Jharsuguda town."Dileswar Bag, an employee of National Insurance, had gone to a bank to deposit the money. When he parked his bike in front of the bank, three youths accosted him and snatched the bag carrying money," said a police officer from Jharsuguda."The trio fled away on a motorcycle. This was the fourth such incident in the town in two months."In another incident, a phone booth owner was robbed of Rs.117,000 by unknown miscreants in the Sambalpur Court premises, 320 km from here.Mangtu Ram Agarwal had withdrawn the money to buy a piece of land at Badbazar and had gone to the court for its registration."Keeping the money in the side-box of his bike, he went to buy stamp papers for documentation. On his return, he found the side box broken and the bag containing the money missing," police said.Police launched investigations to nab the culprits.

Friday, May 25, 2007
Couple commits suicide in Orissa
From correspondents in India, 03:30 PM IST
Driven to desperation by acute poverty and family tensions, a couple allegedly committed suicide in their village home here.
Santosh Jena, 28, and his wife Laxmipriya Jena, 24, allegedly consumed poison Thursday evening in their home in Chaitana village, about 80 km from Bhubaneshwar.
Jitendra Dalasi, officer-in-charge of the Naugaon police station, said the couple were in dire straits after their marriage and many times did not have enough money to purchase daily rations and clothes, even though Santosh worked as a daily labourer.
The couple got married after many years of a steady relationship in July 2006 and were living separately from Santosh's parents and brother.
'Both husband and wife committed suicide owing to acute poverty. Even the district administration and panchayat representative didn't pay heed towards them. They were grossly neglected,' states the first information report (FIR) in the case.
A police official said poverty was not the sole cause: 'They must have family problems and altercations with other family members.'

Orissa team studies welfare schemes
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Chennai, May 25: A five-member delegation from Orissa, led by Information and Public Relations Minister Debasis Nayak, today studied various welfare schemes being implemented by the Tamil Nadu government for journalists.
The team held talks with Tamil Nadu Information Minister Parithi Ilamvazhuthi and department officials with regard to provisions laid down for journalist pension scheme in the state.
Besides studying the structure and functions of the state Press Academy, the delegations also looked into procedures like identification of journalists eligible for pension scheme, contribution to the pension fund, investment of the fund and disbursement of the pension.
The team comprised Information and Public Relations Commissioner-cum-Secretary Digambar Mohanty and three journalists from Orissa, an official press release said. (Our Correspondent)
Published: Friday, May 25, 2007

Two Die Of Anthrax In Orissa
Friday 25th of May 2007 :- Two people have died of anthrax in Orissa's tribal dominated Koraput district, while five have contracted the deadly disease in the last two days, health officials said Friday.Bisu Sisa, 45, of Phulba village and Nanda Jani, 35, of Padiguda village under Semliguda block in Koraput, nearly 500 km from Bhubaneswar, fell to the disease reportedly after consuming cattle meat.K.H. Reddy, chief district medical officer (CDMO) of Koraput headquarters hospital confirmed the deaths and the anthrax infection. 'The two were brought dead. Those who have contracted the infection are undergoing treatment in hospital and their condition is said to be stable,' Reddy said.The state government has sent a team of doctors to the two villages to treat villagers and create awareness among them about the disease.'The team will camp in the villages to monitor the situation. They have also destroyed cattle meat preserved in some houses there,' the official said.'As a precautionary measure, another health task force has been deployed in these villages to prevent further infection,' he added.Villagers however alleged that no veterinary staff were present for the vaccination of animals.Orissa has reported cases of anthrax infection in the past too, specially from Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada where tribals often consume infected meat.Over 200 cattle and five people lost their lives to anthrax between 1994 and 2006. In 1998, as many as 43 cattle died in Niali area of Cuttack district due to the deadly disease.'Though 18 of the 30 districts in Orissa have been identified as endemic to the deadly anthrax, the state government is yet to launch an Anthrax Control Programme (ACP),' Parshuram Pradhan, a human right activist, told IANS.

Friday, May 25, 2007
Summer storm leaves four dead in Orissa
A summer storm wreaked havoc in north Orissa Friday killing four people, besides injuring two others and causing widespread damage to houses, shops, vehicles and communication network, police said.
According to police, Ramesh Dalei of Chhadchhadia village, Sukanti Barik (Angula), Jaga Khatual (Mulising) and Paresh Das (Routraypur) in Balasore district, nearly 200 km from Bhubaneswar, were killed when a lightning struck them.
The tragedy occurred in the afternoon when the deceased were working in a paddy field. The two injured were admitted to a local hospital in critical condition,' a senior police official from Balasore said.
Strong winds accompanied by hailstorm threw life out of gear disrupting traffic movement in many places of the district.
'Roofs of several thatched houses and government establishments were flown away due to the high-speed winds. Supply of electricity and telecommunication facilities to rural pockets also were disrupted for many hours,' said Anup Kumar Das, a villager.
Balasore Collector A.C. Padhiary confirmed the deaths, adding, 'besides, some thatched houses agricultural establishments have been damaged. But the actual loss is yet to be ascertained.'

Orissa cop gets reprieve from Rajasthan court
Posted May 24th, 2007 by Tarique
Jaipur : B.B. Mohanty, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Orissa whose rape-convict son has escaped from a jail, got a reprieve from a court here Thursday as it refused to issue a non-bailable warrant against him.
The court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate said that the Rajasthan Government's plea for a non-bailable warrant against Mohanty cannot be entertained as police should arrest him in the normal course.
"It seems that police were seeking non-bailable warrant against Mohanty without making any efforts to arrest him," the court observed.
"Mohanty is a senior police officer. He has not absconded fearing his arrest and is attending his office regularly," it said.
"Under such circumstances when the person in question has not absconded or shown any inclination to avert his arrest there is no need to grant a non-bailable warrant against him."
A police official said: "We are examining the judgement and we my approach a higher court with our plea."
The Rajasthan government had approached the court Tuesday against Mohanty in connection with a case registered at the Lal Kothi police station on Jan 10 for allegedly helping his son Bitti Hotra jump parole.
Mohanty had been directed by the Supreme Court to surrender before a Jaipur court.
Bitti was convicted of raping a 26-year-old German tourist in Alwar in March 2006. An Alwar court sentenced him to seven years in jail. On Nov 20, 2006, He was allowed a 15-day parole to meet his ailing mother but he jumped parole and has not returned.
The Rajasthan police after a probe into the incident filed a case against the convict's father for allegedly helping and abetting his son escape and harbouring him since then.

Saturday, May 26, 2007 : 0300 Hrs
Minor re-shuffle in Orissa police administration
Bhubaneswar, May 26 (PTI): In a minor re-shuffle in the top police administration, the Orissa government has transferred Anup Patnaik, additional director general of police (ADG), human rights protection cell, as ADG, vigilance.
As per the notification issued here last night, S.S. Hansda, inspector general of police, intelligence-cum- operations, has been posted as IGP (operations).
While Arun Kumar Ray, DIG of police (south), Berhampur, was promoted and posted as additional director cum IGP (intelligence), S.K.Upadhyay, DIG of police (central), Cuttack has been promoted and posted as IGP (central) at Cuttack.
S.K.Nath, DIG of police, south-western range, Sunabeda had been given additional charge of southern range.
A.Bothra, superintendent of police, Koraput, has been transferred as commandant, special operation group (SOG) at Bhubaneswar. He would also hold the post of superintendent of police, Special Intelligence Wing (SIW), Bhubaneswar.
U.R.Rao, additional SP, Rayagada, has been posted as SP, Koraput.

(Saturday, May 26, 2007)
Orissa plans Rs 1000cr rural electrification
By Our Correspondent, Bhubaneswar, May 25:
In a rebuff to the Union government’s apathetic attitude towards Orissa, chief minister Navin Patnaik on Wednesday announced a Rs 1,000-crore Biju Gramya Jyoti Yojana (BGJY) for rural electrification in the state.
Under the scheme, at least 10,000 villages with a minimum population of 300 will be supplied electricity in next five years. The money for the programme will be allocated in the coming budget.
The programme was announced after a high level meeting held here at the state secretariat.
While announcing the programme, the chief minister told the media that although the state government had been asking the Centre for release funds for rural electrification in the state, the Centre was not paying any heed to it.
As per the direction of the Centre, the state government had submitted electrification plans for all villages in the 30 districts of the state under RGGVY programme.

Saturday, May 26, 2007
Marijuana worth Rs 700,000 seized in Orissa, 3 held
First Published: 23:49 IST(25/5/2007)Last Updated: 23:51 IST(25/5/2007)
Three people were arrested on Friday on charges of possessing marijuana worth Rs 700,000 in Orissa's Malkangiri district, an excise official said.
The accused - Prakash Debangan of Madhya Pradesh, Adu Matam of Nakamagodi and Sadhu Khila of Malkangiri, nearly 620 kms from Bhubaneswar, were caught by excise officials in the evening.
"Acting on a tip-off we raided a house in Tarlakota-C colony under Orkel police station while the men were about to leave with the marijuana. While three of them were nabbed, two others fled before we could reach the spot," excise sub-inspector Ashok Kumar Seth said.
A case has been registered under section 20 (B) of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
"They (accused) are being interrogated in the police station and will be produced in the court on Saturday. We are verifying whether they have links with other gangs operating in the locality," Seth added.

Saturday, May 26, 2007 : 0300 Hrs
World Bank to provide assistance for Orissa roads
Bhubaneswar, May 26 (PTI): The World Bank has agreed to provide Rs 1,406 crore as assistance for implementation of Rs 2,121 crore Orissa State Roads Project (OSRP), official sources said on Friday here.
Under the project 200 km of road would be constructed within the current fiscal, sources added. Of the total amount, Rs 415 crore would be invested during the current financial year to build the 68 km Bhawanipatna- Khariar road, 95 km stretch of Chandbali- Bhadrak-Anandapur road and 41 km Berhampur-Taptapani road.
About 700 km of roads would be constructed during the next fiscal.
The matter was discussed at a meeting between the state's Works Minister A U Singh Deo and a World Bank team comprising B Raja and A K Swaminathan here on Thursday, the sources said.
A proposal was also mooted to set up a construction academy in Orissa modelled after the one present at Hyderabad to contribute towards capacity building of contractors and workers by imparting training in modern construction technique, they said.
Steps would also be taken to develop a core road network system for undertaking urgent repair works. The Sambalpur-Rourkela, Joda-Bambri and Koira-Tensa-Rajamunda roads were being taken up for expansion and widening under the public-private-partnership mode, the sources said.

BOC India board recommends 25% dividend
The board of directors of BOC (Q, N,C,F)* India recommended a dividend of 25% for the financial year ended Mar. 31, 2007. The above decision was taken in the board meeting held on May 18, 2007.
In February 2007, the company inked a 10 year long term agreement with Adhunik Metaliks for setting up and operating 100 tons a day air separation unit at their steel works at Rourkela, Orissa for supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon to them. BOC India is a member of the BOC Group, the second largest industrial gases company in the world. The company supplies about 20,000 gases and mixtures in three broad categories: industrial, medical and special gases. The UK parent, the BOC Group, owns 54.8% equity stake in the company.
Shares of the company were last trading up Rs 0.25, or 0.18%, at Rs 138.50. Total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 17,346 (3 p.m, Friday).

2007-05-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

Worker falls from height, dies(Wednesday May 23 2007 12:03 IST )
JHARSUGUDA: A contractual worker of SPS Steel and Power Ltd at Barmal, Ganesh Majhi, died after falling from a height on Monday on the plant premises.Although, he was immediately shifted to Ispat General Hospital, Rourkela, he succumbed at around 10.30 p m on Monday.Following the incident, Congress supporters led by their leaders Tarun Pandey and Girish Panda staged a demonstration in front of the SPS plant and also detained SPS duty buses.However, the agitation was called off on Tuesday after general manager of the plant S P Sanyal announced a compensation of Rs 5.51 lakh besides employment to the kin of the deceased.Earlier, apprehending trouble, two platoons of police forces were deployed at the spot. A case has been registered.

SAIL Rourkela plant to get Rs 9869 cr facelift
BS Reporter / Bhubaneswar May 24, 2007
The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) board has in principle given approval to Rs 9869-crore modernisation and capacity expansion plan of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP).
The proposal envisages to more than double the hot metal production capacity of RSP from 2 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes a year (MTPA). The project is expected to be completed by 2010 .
The proposed modernisation programme also includes setting up of a blast furnace with working volume of 4060 cubic metres and productivity of 2.3 tonne a metre cube daily.
Besides, blast furnace- I of the steel plant will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1250 metre cube useful volume with high top pressure and coal dust injection facilities, while in blast furnace-4, coal dust injection system will be incorporated.

Orissa cop's rapist son in UP?
Posted Thursday , May 24, 2007 at 00:53
Updated Thursday , May 24, 2007 at 01:21
Bhubaneswar: Despite Rajasthan government saying they would arrest Orissa to cop BB Mohanty - accused of helping his son escape the law - there was no arrest on Wednesday.
While the police are none the wiser about the whereabouts of Mohanty’s son Biti convicted of rape, CNN-IBN has learnt from sources that rape convict Biti Mohanty is somewhere in Uttar Pradesh.
While some police sources say he is still in Orissa, it’s even speculated that Biti might have fled the country.
While father Mohanty is capable of answering these questions, he continues to maintain a syoic silence.
"I do not want to answer about his whereabouts. I do not know where he is otherwise my mother would not have suffered. I am ready to cooperate with the law to catch him," he says.
If Biti - who was convicted for raping a German scholar in Rajasthan last year is in Orissa - he cannot be traced, unless Orissa police cooperates.
But the Orissa police seem to be adopting a passive role.
"We will search him only if we get the court's order to find Biti or Rajasthan police come here and seek our help in the matter," says Orissa Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra.
Rajasthan police say Biti can be traced once Mohanty is arrested. But Orissa government claims Rajasthan has not communicated with them.
"I think if the Rajasthan government need any help from us in this regard they should communicate," said Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik.
B B Mohanty has said that his rape convict son Biti Mohanty had seen the appeal made by him to surrender three months back on CNN-IBN. But as he was in the process of doing so he was stopped by his friends. Mohanty says he was never in touch with this son again after that.

CM power plan tribute to papa (DEBABRATA MOHANTY)
Bhubaneswar, May 23: With an eye on the forthcoming Assembly polls, now rumoured to be scheduled in late 2008, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today planned a rural electrification scheme naming it after his father and former chief minister Biju Patnaik, under which 10,000 villages would be electrified in next five years.
Raising the bogey of step-motherly treatment of Orissa at the Centre’s hands, Patnaik on Sunday had indicated that his government would try to electrify all villages across Orissa with the state’s money.
After sitting through a meeting of senior officials and ministers, Patnaik gave a name to the scheme: Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana.
Under the scheme Rs 1,000 crore would be spent during the next five years in electrifying 10,000 villages vis-à-vis 18,000 un-electrified ones.
Energy minister Suryo Patro, who attended the meeting, said the scheme would target villages that can’t be covered by the central scheme.
The Biju Yojana would specifically focus on villages that have a population of less than 300.
BJD insiders believe that the rural electrification drive is a step in enlisting popular support in case early polls are called in 2008 and not March 2009, when state Assembly election is due.
Patro added that the villages electrified under the new programme would sport an emblem showing that they have met the parameters of electrification.
He further added that the newly-formed power transmission utility, Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL), will be given Rs 550 crore bank guarantee to shore up the transmission infrastructure.
Transmission lines such as the Ib-Meramunduli 400 KVA line and the Bargarh-Bolangir 220 KVA line would be built by the OPTCL. Patro further added that the funds for the Biju rural electrification scheme would be made available in the State Budget.
The Budget session of the Orissa Assembly starts next month.
The energy minister said the government is trying to bring down the transmission and distribution loss from a whopping 40-42 per cent.
The department will alsp set up 34 energy police stations to check incidences of power theft. Besides an IG-ranked police officer would be appointed to oversee the functioning of the police stations.

Essar's Orissa plans face heat (TIMES NEWS NETWORK
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007 02:10:58 AM]
MUMBAI: The Essar group’s plans of entering the aluminium sector is facing hurdles of a different kind, religious and mythological. The Ruia-controlled group, along with Canada’s Balaton Power, has planned to set up a fully-integrated aluminium project in Orissa which will need an investment of over Rs 4,500 crore. The two companies have also planned to team up with Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) to develop the Gandhamardan mines, which contain India’s second-largest bauxite reserves with 230MT. However, the companies have been facing various challenges. One of them being convincing the local population who are sensitive to the “mythical value” of the Gandhamardan mountains. It is believed that in Ramayana, Hanuman got herbs for Lakshman from these mountains. “Because of this, the local population is yet to give its support for the project, for which Balaton had earlier formed a JV with the Kolkata-based VISA Steel,” sources close to the development told ET. The delay in the project seems to have prompted Balaton to search for other partners. Other than Essar, Balaton is believed to have also approached Australian major BHP Billiton. The mining major, however, declined. Unhappy with the latest development, VISA has sent an arbitration notice to the Balaton Power. The Kolkata company has alleged that it had signed a similar agreement with Balaton’s subsidiary Continental Resources (CRL) in April 2005, but was not informed by the Canadian firm’s intention to join hands with Essar. VISA has also sent a notification to the Essar group. VISA Steel’s Chairman Vishambhar Saran confirmed the development. “But Balaton is yet to respond to the arbitration notice. So we have approached the Supreme Court to appoint an independent arbitrator in the case. We have been working on the project, but looks like someone has instigated Balaton,” he said. Incidentally, Balaton Power in a statement said, “Essar is the ideal partner for this venture given its local knowledge, expertise and track record.” An Essar spokesperson, confirming the initiative, added, “This is part of the Group’s exploratory activities and we are talking to various parties. Everything depends on the realisation of various conditions.” Balaton’s subsidiary CRL had signed “an agreement in principle” with Essar Aluminium Orissa earlier this month. One of the conditions, according to sources, could include Balaton sorting out the issues with VISA Steel.

Court rejects police plea seeking NBW against Orissa DGP24 May, 2007 l 1405 hrs ISTlPTI
JAIPUR: A local court on Thursday rejected Rajasthan Police's petition seeking a non-bailable warrant against Orissa DGP B B Mohanty, who has been accused of helping his son Biti, convict of rape, jump parole. Turning down the request after two days of arguments, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal asked the police to make serious efforts to arrest Mohanty as the Supreme Court's stay his favour ended on May 21. "It is quite possible that DGP Mohanty be on duty in Orissa and Rajasthan Police should make attempts to arrest him instead of procuring the non-bailable warrant," said Virendra Jhakhar, a police official associated with the investigation, quoting the order.

Man shot dead in Orissa24 May, 2007 l 1306 hrs ISTlPTI
SAMBALPUR (Orissa): A 32-year-old was killed when he was allegedly fired at by another person in the busy Khetrajpur area of this city on Wednesday night, police said. Charan Das had an altercation with another man who whipped out a country made pistol and chased the former and fired twice. Seriously injured, Das was first taken to the headquarter hospital for treatment and latter shifted to the VSS Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead. Tension gripped the area following the incident as about 50 persons gathered from Charan's basti to look out for the attacker. However, police reached the spot in time to defuse the tension in the locality. But shops and business establishments in the area, the city's biggest business area, remained closed on Thursday. The body was sent for post-mortem on Thursday. The person who fired the shots was yet to be arrested. "We are looking for the man," police said.

Orissa man gunned down by assailants
Bhubaneswar, May 24: Unidentified assailants shot dead a 32-year-old man in Orissa's Sambalpur district over alleged enmity, police said Thursday.The deceased has been identified as Charan Das alias Mundu of Khetrajpur area on the outskirts of Sambalpur town. The miscreants fired two rounds of bullets at him at Khetrajpur vegetable market, a senior police officer of Sambalpur police station said."Though he was rushed to the VSS Medical College Hospital doctors declared him brought dead," the police officer said. Charan had an altercation with a man whose associates whipped out a locally made pistol and chased him, he added.The incident occurred at the town's biggest business area and tension prevailed as hundreds of local villagers congregated at the hospital demanding action against the attackers.The police have registered a case and investigations are on to nab the criminals.

Jaipur court rejects plea seeking NBW against Orissa DGP (Friday, May 25, 2007 )
Jaipur, May 24: A local court on Thursday refused to issue a non-bailable warrant against a defiant Orissa DGP B B Mohanty accused of helping his son convicted of rape jump parole but said the Rajasthan police was free to arrest the top cop. Rejecting the Rajasthan police`s petition for a NBW after two days of arguments, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal said the police can arrest Mohanty as the Supreme Court`s six-week deadline for the top cop to surrender before the Chief Judicial Magistrate`s court had ended on May 21. The Apex court had also ordered that Mohanty be not arrested till that date. "It is quite possible that DGP Mohanty is on duty in Orissa and Rajasthan Police should make attempts to arrest him instead of procuring the non-bailable warrant," said Virendra Jhakhar, a police official associated with the investigation, quoting the order. Reacting to the court order, Mohanty said he did not want to comment on the plan of action of Rajasthan police but said any move to arrest him would be beyond its legitimate powers. The court had yesterday postponed the proceedings till today after the police sought a fresh warrant saying it was studying all documents including the proceedings in the Orissa High Court and Supreme Court proceedings related to the case. A team of Rajasthan police is ready to proceed to Orissa to arrest the DGP and bring him here in connection with a case registered at Lal Kothi police station on January 10 for allegedly sheltering and helping his son Biti, who is convicted for raping a German tourist, an official said. On March 20 last year, a German woman had alleged that she was raped in a hotel in Alwar by Biti Mohanty, an MBA student. On March 21, he was arrested and a fast track court convicted Mohanty on April 11. However, since December 4 he has jumped the parole, granted to meet his ailing mother, and went missing. Early this year, Rajasthan police filed a case against the Orissa DGP on the charge of sheltering his son and help him jump the parole. The senior Mohanty was, however, granted bail by Orissa High Court. On April 9, the Supreme Court, however, quashed senior Mohanty`s bail and gave him six weeks to surrender before the chief judicial magistrate`s court in Jaipur and ordered that he be not arrested till then. Court verdict has re-established my faith in judiciary: MohantyOrissa`s DGP (Home Guards)today said the verdict of a Jaipur court which rejected the Rajasthan police petition seeking NBW against him has re-established his faith on the judiciary.The judgment has been fair and judicious, Mohanty told reporters after he came to know that the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Jaipur had turned down the plea of the Rajasthan police for issuing a non-bailable warrant against his name.Mohanty, who has moved the Rajasthan High Court seeking quashing of charges against him made by the police, hoped that Rajastahn police would also uphold the court`s verdict. They should now understand that the allegations against me were not accepted by the court of law, Mohanty said. Bureau Report

Heat wave warning in parts of Orissa
Bhubaneswar, May 24 (PTI): With day temperatures rising in most places, the Meteorological office here today issued a heat wave warning for several parts of Orissa.
"Heat wave conditions are likely to prevail in some parts of Orissa during the next 48 hours," the Met office bulletin said.
This is the second such warning from the weather office during this summer.
Sizzling heat has prevailed in the western and southern districts with maximum temperatures soaring beyond 40 degree Celsius.
While Malkangiri recorded the highest temperature of 44.5 degrees C yesterday, it was 42.6 in Balangir, 41.2 in Titilagarh, 41.8 in Sambalpur, 41.1 in Sundargarh, 41 in Bhawanipatna and 40 degree C in Jharsuguda.
Hirakud, which is located next to the massive Hirakud reservoir, recorded 42.1 degrees C.
The capital city registered 40 degrees Celsius during the day while neighbouring Cuttack recorded 40.5 degrees C, the weather office said.

Orissa Man Gunned Down By Assailants
Thursday 24th of May 2007:- Unidentified assailants shot dead a 32-year-old man in Orissa's Sambalpur district over alleged enmity, police said Thursday.The deceased has been identified as Charan Das alias Mundu of Khetrajpur area on the outskirts of Sambalpur town. The miscreants fired two rounds of bullets at him at Khetrajpur vegetable market, a senior police officer of Sambalpur police station said.'Though he was rushed to the VSS Medical College Hospital doctors declared him brought dead,' the police officer said. Charan had an altercation with a man whose associates whipped out a locally made pistol and chased him, he added.The incident occurred at the town's biggest business area and tension prevailed as hundreds of local villagers congregated at the hospital demanding action against the attackers.The police have registered a case and investigations are on to nab the criminals.

Thursday, May 24, 2007
Court refuses arrest warrant against Orissa DGP
Jaipur, PTI: Police can arrest Mohanty as the Supreme Court's six-week deadline for the top cop to surrender before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court had ended on May 21, says Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal.
A local court today refused to issue a non-bailable warrant against a defiant Orissa DGP B B Mohanty accused of helping his son convicted of rape jump parole but said the Rajasthan police was free to arrest the top cop.Rejecting the Rajasthan police's petition for a NBW after two days of arguments, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Bansal said the police can arrest Mohanty as the Supreme Court's six-week deadline for the top cop to surrender before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court had ended on May 21. The Apex court had also ordered that Mohanty be not arrested till that date."It is quite possible that DGP Mohanty is on duty in Orissa and Rajasthan Police should make attempts to arrest him instead of procuring the non-bailable warrant," said Virendra Jhakhar, a police official associated with the investigation, quoting the order.
Reacting to the court order, Mohanty said he did not want to comment on the plan of action of Rajasthan police but said any move to arrest him would be beyond its legitimate powers.The court had yesterday postponed the proceedings till today after the police sought a fresh warrant saying it was studying all documents including the proceedings in the Orissa High Court and Supreme Court proceedings related to the case.A team of Rajasthan police is ready to proceed to Orissa to arrest the DGP and bring him here in connection with a case registered at Lal Kothi police station on January 10 for allegedly sheltering and helping his son Biti, who is convicted for raping a German tourist, an official said. On March 20 last year, a German woman had alleged that she was raped in a hotel in Alwar by Biti Mohanty, an MBA student. On March 21, he was arrested and a fast track court convicted Mohanty on April 11. However, since December 4 he has jumped the parole, granted to meet his ailing mother, and went missing.Early this year, Rajasthan police filed a case against the Orissa DGP on the charge of sheltering his son and help him jump the parole. The senior Mohanty was, however, granted bail by Orissa High Court.On April 9, the Supreme Court, however, quashed senior Mohanty's bail and gave him six weeks to surrender before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Jaipur and ordered that he be not arrested till then.

Orissa employee suspended for polygamy
Bhubaneswar, May 24: An Orissa government employee has been suspended for polygamy, an official said Thursday, adding he could even be sacked.Manas Rout, 32, of Gayasapur village in Kendrapada district, about 100 km from here, was employed as a surveyor in 1999.He married the first time in 2000 and fathered two children. In 2003, he married another girl of Jajpur district and stayed in a rented house, police said.His first wife filed a case in the family court in Cuttack. While the case was being heard, he again married on May 5 by claiming himself as a bachelor, Patita Paban Choudhury of Dharmasala police station told IANS Thursday.Rout was suspended following an official enquiry.Tehsildar Harischandra Nayak conducted an inquiry and pressed for Manas under suspension. "After an inquiry I found the allegations to be true. I have produced my inquiry report before the district collector besides urging him to terminate Manas from his service," Nayak said.Police said Manas is absconding and efforts are on to nab him.

Child dies after consuming prasad in Orissa
Indo-Asian News Service
Bhubaneswar, May 24, 2007
A child died while over 50 people, mostly women and children, fell sick in an Orissa village after consuming prasad, a health official said on Thursday.
As many as 30 people were admitted to the Dharmasala hospital and one of them, Chandan Mallick, 8, died in the afternoon.
Residents of Sarei village in Jajpur district, about 130 kms from Bhubaneswar, had taken Sirini - a religious offering made of rice, milk, coconut, and sugar - during a village festival on Tuesday.
After 48 hours many of them complained of giddiness and acute stomachache. Many vomited and complained of diarrhoea, a medical officer of the hospital said.

Rourkela steel plant set to enter new era
Statesman News Service ROURKELA, May 24: Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is all set to enter a new era of productivity, profitability and quality as the Board of Steel Authority of India Limited (Sail) has formally given approval in principle to a proposal for its modernisation and capacity expansion at an indicative cost of Rs 9,869 crore. The objectives of expansion include increase in production of crude steel through state-of-the-art technology in order to meet the productivity level of international standards, improvement in quality of products, production of more value-added products, reduction in energy consumption, improvement of environment, cut in cost of production and thereby increase in net sales realisation. As per the approval, the hot metal production capacity of the steel plant will soar to 4.5 million tons per annum (MTPA). The massive modernisation programme of RSP includes setting up of a fifth blast furnace with working volume of 4,060 cubic meters and productivity of 2.3 tons per meter cube per day. This apart, blast furnace-1 will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 meter cube useful volume with high top pressure and coal dust injection facilities, while in blast furnace-4, coal dust injection system will be incorporated, thereby more than doubling the present hot metal capacity of the plant. The package also envisages the setting up of a new seven m tall coke oven battery and a new sinter plant with 3.69 MTPA capacities. In order to augment the steel producing capacity, RSP is going to install a new 150 ton converter and a new caster in its SMS-II. New RH-OB unit will be introduced in SMS-II to produce clean steel such as ultra low carbon steels. Two new matching ladle heating furnaces (LHF) are also on the cards, which will take the number of LHFs to three. One of the existing casters will also be upgraded. These augmentation measures will take the total crude steel capacity of RSP to the level of 4.2 MTPA. In view of the increasing demand for high end products, the RSP will be going in for a new plate mill with a capacity of 1.8 MTPA that will roll out different grades of plates up to the width of 4,200 MM meeting the stringent specific customer requirements. In order to further improve the quality of hot rolled strips, the finishing mill train of HSM will be modernised to meet the customers’ requirement and to improve the operation and quality of downstream units. An entirely new mill to produce 1,80,000 tons of CRNO steel will be coming up under this modernisation package, taking the total capacity of this superior grade steel to 2.55 lakh tons per annum.

A case dusted off after 30 yrs
Statesman News Service BHADRAK, May 24: Believe it or not. A poor man had left home two months back leaving his family members behind when he came to know that the Chandabali police would arrest him for an alleged crime he had committed 30 years ago. He is Rabindra Nayak (46) of Pratappur village under Chandabali police station jurisdiction. The Bhadrak SDJM had issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Rabindra on 21 March. To execute the NBW, Chandabali police had conducted raid on Rabindra’s house. At first, the illiterate Rabindra could not know why the police conducted raid on his house. Fearing police, he had left the village. Then, he came to know that he had been victimised in a theft that had taken place 30 years back. Rabindra met with some media persons here and said: “I was eking a livelihood on tending cows when I was 16. One Bidyadhar Bal of my village had given a hen while I was herding cows near my village. But after Bal’s departure, some villagers came in and took me to police station alleging that the hen I had was stolen by Bidyadhar from Gayadhar Rout’s house. Police released me after enquiry, seized the stolen hen and also arrested Bidyadhar Bal, the real culprit. A case was registered by police on 16 April 1977. After that, I had forgotten the incident.”When contacted, Mr Sriballav Sahoo, OIC, Chandabali police station, said that as per criminal proceedings, a man would be treated as a criminal if he possessed stolen articles. However, It s not a non-bailable case. But as he had not appeared in the court after repeated summons, the judge directed cops to execute the NBW and ordered to produce him. On the other hand, the complaint of the case, Gayadhar Rout, had died two years back. The son of the complaint, Mr Natabar, said that the case should be dropped and the police should not arrest Rabindra.

‘Enough iron ore for Posco’
NEW DELHI, May 23: With foreign steel giants making a beeline for the mineral-rich states of the country, steel minister Mr Ram Vilas Paswan today said there was no dearth of iron ore for Pohang Steel Company (Posco) to set up its 12 million ton steel plant in Orissa. Mr Paswan pointed out that these steel companies could also explore the possibility of setting up their projects outside the iron ore rich states. n PTI

WB fund for road works
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, May 24: Orissa is all set for massive investment in the road sector and the World Bank has agreed to assist by providing Rs 1,406 crore for various road projects. It has also agreed to help establish a Construction Academy on lines of the one existing in Hyderabad, said works minister Mr AU Singhdeo. Mr Singhdeo, who had detailed discussions with a World Bank delegation comprising Mr B Raja and Mr AK Swaminathan , said the state was looking forward to invest Rs 2,121 crore on state roads over the next five years and the World Bank would provide Rs 1,406 crore. This year, 204 KM of road length with an investment of Rs 415 crore will be taken up. The Bhawanipatna-Kharia, Chandbali-Bhadrak-Anandpur, Berhampur-Taptapani stretch will be taken up. Of the total project cost in this first phase, at least 80 per cent will be by way of WB assistance, said Mr Singhdeo. The minister pointed out that Orissa was witness to a massive development spree on different fronts and the road sector was the most visible of the development process that was taking place. Mr Raja appreciated the minister’s stress on this crucial infrastructure and also concurred with the idea of establishing a Construction Academy where contractors as well as unskilled workers could be trained and exposed to latest technology. The PPP mode is also making headway as far as the road section between Sambalpur-Rourkela, Joda, Koira-Rajamunda widening was concerned, observed those present during the discussions. Mr Singhdeo impressed upon the WB team that repair and maintainance of roads were critical aspects of the sector and some special arrangement needed to be done for this purpose. Mr Swaminathan suggested developing a core road network with special systemic arrangements to undertake repair of busy roads.

Coal mining digs Talcher into a hot spot
Statesman News ServiceTALCHER, May 24: With northwesterly winds blowing since Monday the temperature in Talcher industrial belt touched 46 degree Celsius today, the highest so far this summer, bringing fears of a heat wave similar to 2005. After midday the excessive heat and humidity forced most people to stay indoors giving streets a deserted look. Temperatures hit 45 degrees on Tuesday and 44 degrees on Wednesday according to the local sub-collector’s office. As the temperature is always measured in the shade, it can be expected to be two to three degrees above 46 degrees in the sun. According to mining officials the heat inside the coal mines has remained more than 50 degrees. Northwesterly winds are always a matter of concern for local residents as all the operating open cast coal mines are situated either to the west or north of residential areas. The heat, dust and smoke from the mines begin to blow towards the inhabited areas causing temperatures to rise. The exposed coal bed of the mines, spread over several kilometres, absorbs the heat in the daytime and emits heat during the night. There are other contributing factors for the abnormal temperature in Talcher. Angul, nearby, for example, always remains two to three degrees lower. For one thing, forest cover has almost been depleted in Talcher due to coal mining and no effort has been made to reforest the area. Although hundreds of crores of rupees have been deposited with state forest department for compulsory afforestation they have yet to do anything. Mounds of earth resembling hills, created by coal mining excavation in the area, are barren. There are about 20 of these earth dumps. In addition, around 80,000 tons of coal are burnt everyday for the boilers of the power plants and sponge units about 30 km away from the town, also increasing the overall temperature. The 2000 coal transporting heavy vehicles also add to the problem. In the past, apart from Talcher achieving the status of being one of the 14 most polluted spots in the country, it has also had the distinction of being the one of the hottest spots.

Halt to mining
Statesman News Service TALCHER, May 24: Coal production and dispatch in three mega mines here came to a grinding halt today following the indefinite agitation by some land oustees of Danara village which is affected by Balaram mine. At least 30 agitating people of the village blocked the coal output and transportation of Balaram, Bharatapur and Hingula mines since Thursday morning demanding job in MCL in lieu of their land acquired for first two mines in 1990. They demand 26 jobs before they withdraw their stir. The three mines together produce about 80000 tons per day. Coal transportation in and outside the mines were also paralysed due to the stir. Local administrative and police officers have rushed to the spot to persuade the striking villagers to call off their agitation.

Budhia mom challenges govt ban
Press Trust of India BHUBANESWAR, May 24: Wonder kid Budhia Singh’s mother Miss Sukanti Singh today challenged the Khurda District Child Welfare Committee’s (CWC) decision to restrict the little boy’s proposed walkathon from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata. Miss Sukanti’s statement came amidst the controversy as to whether the kid should be allowed to undertake a marathon walk covering 500 km during the peak summer or not. She questioned the CWC’s authority to put such a restriction on the event planned by the Budhia Singh Trust (BST). “Who is the CWC to ban Budhia’s marathon walk? The Orissa government had never come to our rescue when Budhia and two of my daughters were starving,” she told reporters here. She said she had put ten questions to the government through RTI (Right to Information) Act. She submitted her questionnaire with the women and child development department asking how much money the CWC or the government had spent on the welfare of her son. “If they have not spent a single pie for the child, how can the government or the CWC put restriction without consulting me,” she asked. “Budhia is my only son and I hope that the boy would bring laurel for the nation by sticking to long distance running. As a mother, I have no objection to his running or walking long distances. I do not understand why the government puts so many hurdles to the child’s growth,” she said. Ms Sukanti Singh, presently working in a private educational institution, said she was contemplating moving court if the government did not stop “meddling” in the activities of Budhia and his mentor Ms Biranchi Das. “I will take a decision after getting reply to my ten questions,” she said. Replying to a query, Ms Sukanti said she did not feel that her son was either being “used” or “exploited” by the BST members. Budhia would undertake walk only during the early morning and evening hours when the atmosphere was cool, she said. Biranchi Das, managing trustee of the BST, said there would be no change in the boy’s schedule in the face of the CWC ban. It would commence from here on 6 June and culminate in Kolkata on 16 June covering 22 towns en route. Mr Das, however, said that of the total 500 KM walk programme, Budhia would walk only in urban areas which would be nearly 100 km in all. Most of the roads would be covered by cars and other vehicles. BST’s lawyer Mr BP Tripathy, who was present at the news conference, argued that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act did not apply in the Budhia case. “Budhia does not come under the purview of the Act because none of his conditions suits to the provisions therein.” Meanwhile, the CWC, Khurda, has asked the BST to appear before its sitting tomorrow to explain why the interim restriction on the child’s walking would not be absolute.

Rourkela steel plant set to enter new era
Statesman News Service ROURKELA, May 24: Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is all set to enter a new era of productivity, profitability and quality as the Board of Steel Authority of India Limited (Sail) has formally given approval in principle to a proposal for its modernisation and capacity expansion at an indicative cost of Rs 9,869 crore. The objectives of expansion include increase in production of crude steel through state-of-the-art technology in order to meet the productivity level of international standards, improvement in quality of products, production of more value-added products, reduction in energy consumption, improvement of environment, cut in cost of production and thereby increase in net sales realisation. As per the approval, the hot metal production capacity of the steel plant will soar to 4.5 million tons per annum (MTPA). The massive modernisation programme of RSP includes setting up of a fifth blast furnace with working volume of 4,060 cubic meters and productivity of 2.3 tons per meter cube per day. This apart, blast furnace-1 will be reconstructed and upgraded to 1,250 meter cube useful volume with high top pressure and coal dust injection facilities, while in blast furnace-4, coal dust injection system will be incorporated, thereby more than doubling the present hot metal capacity of the plant. The package also envisages the setting up of a new seven m tall coke oven battery and a new sinter plant with 3.69 MTPA capacities. In order to augment the steel producing capacity, RSP is going to install a new 150 ton converter and a new caster in its SMS-II. New RH-OB unit will be introduced in SMS-II to produce clean steel such as ultra low carbon steels. Two new matching ladle heating furnaces (LHF) are also on the cards, which will take the number of LHFs to three. One of the existing casters will also be upgraded. These augmentation measures will take the total crude steel capacity of RSP to the level of 4.2 MTPA. In view of the increasing demand for high end products, the RSP will be going in for a new plate mill with a capacity of 1.8 MTPA that will roll out different grades of plates up to the width of 4,200 MM meeting the stringent specific customer requirements. In order to further improve the quality of hot rolled strips, the finishing mill train of HSM will be modernised to meet the customers’ requirement and to improve the operation and quality of downstream units. An entirely new mill to produce 1,80,000 tons of CRNO steel will be coming up under this modernisation package, taking the total capacity of this superior grade steel to 2.55 lakh tons per annum.

Demand for a separate Dalit state too!
BALASORE, May 24: In an apparent gimmick to woo the voters of particular sections of the society, the former Union minister and president of Mukti Morcha, Mr Bhajaman Behera, has demanded a separate state for Dalits in order to implement the justice delivery system effectively as enshrined in the Constitution. Talking to reporters here yesterday, Mr Behera said that exploitations in various forms were occurring across the state, despite provisions in the Constitution and law to prevent them. He also quoted some of the instances of atrocities on and harassment of the underprivileged, admitting that some Dalit leaders were exploiting their own community and some were working for vested interest. The former MLA, Mr Sura Sethi and former MP Mr Anchala Das were among others present with him.

Briefs
Man shot SAMBALPUR, May 24: A 32-year-old man was killed when he was allegedly fired at by another person in the busy Khetrajpur area of this city last night, police said. Charan Das had an altercation with another man who whipped out a country-made pistol and chased the former and fired twice. Seriously injured, Das was first taken to the District Headquarters Hospital for treatment and later shifted to the VSS Medical College and Hospital where he was declared dead. Tension gripped the area following the incident as about 50 persons gathered from Charan’s basti to look out for the attacker. However, police reached the spot on time to defuse the tension in the locality. But shops and business establishments in the area, the city’s biggest business area, remained closed today. The body of Das was sent for postmortem today. The person who fired the shots was yet to be arrested. “We are looking for the man,”’ police said. PTI Coal stirANGUL, May 24: Protesting against their “illegal” transfer from the closed Deulbera colliery to Ib Valley Coalfields, 18 employees under the banner of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) have been on an indefinite hunger-strike in front of the Talcher area general manager’s office for the past three days.SNS

Balasore Cong charts out agitations
Statesman News Service BALASORE, May 24: Buoyed by the success of the centenary celebration of Satyagraha, which was attended by AICC leaders such as Mr Digvijay Singh and Mr V Narayanswami, the district Congress here is now gearing up for a series of agitations against the ruling BJD-BJP combine. Demonstrations are planned across all blocks and district headquarters from next month on various issues. This was disclosed by the DCC president, Mr Jaynarayan Mohanty, here. The law-and-order has deteriorated alarmingly, police have failed to arrest criminals, especially robbers who strike frequently. Government officers have become the agents of ruling party. There are irregularities in the allotment of IAY and flaws in public distribution system for BPL families, Mr Mohanty alleged. Alleging that local industries, mainly of medium and large scale, are not offering employment to the local people, Mr Mohanty said that there would be agitations in front of some industries in near future. Alleging that local representatives of ruling coalition were toothless, he asked why they were not raising the demand for the establishment of a government medical college before the chief minister when agitations were held by various groups for that cause. Expressing concern over the failure of police to arrest the crime, Mr Mohanty alleged that hike in the umber of robberies was mainly due to patrolling police personnel whose main duty was to collect bribes.

DGP: Plea for NBW rejected
Press Trust of India JAIPUR, May 24: A local court today refused to issue a non-bailable warrant against a defiant Orissa DGP Mr BB Mohanty accused of helping his son convicted of rape jump parole but said the Rajasthan police was free to arrest the top cop. Rejecting the Rajasthan police’s petition for a NBW after two days of arguments, additional chief judicial magistrate Mr Rajendra Bansal said the police could arrest Mr Mohanty as the Supreme Court’s six-week deadline for the top cop to surrender before the chief judicial magistrate’s court had ended on 21 May. The Supreme Court had also ordered that Mr Mohanty be not arrested till that date. “It is quite possible that DGP Mr Mohanty is on duty in Orissa and Rajasthan police should make attempts to arrest him instead of procuring the non-bailable warrant,” said Mr Virendra Jhakhar, a police officer associated with the investigation, quoting the order. Reacting to the court order, Mr Mohanty said he did not want to comment on the plan of action of Rajasthan police but said any move to arrest him would be beyond its legitimate powers. The court had yesterday postponed the proceedings till today after the police sought a fresh warrant saying it was studying all documents, including the proceedings in the Orissa High Court and Supreme Court proceedings related to the case. A team of Rajasthan police is ready to proceed to Orissa to arrest the DGP and bring him here in connection with a case registered at Lal Kothi police station on 10 January for allegedly sheltering and helping his son Biti, who is convicted for raping a German tourist, an official said. On 20 March last year, a German woman had alleged that she was raped in a hotel in Alwar by Biti Mohanty, an MBA student. On 21 March, he was arrested and a fast track court convicted Mohanty on 11 April. However, since December 4 he has jumped the parole, granted to meet his ailing mother, and went missing.

2007-05-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

SAIL chief says steel prices have hit a ceiling
Jyoti Mukul Tuesday, May 22, 2007 06:36 IST

NEW DELHI: India's second largest steel producer Steel Authority of India (SAIL) sees no scope for further increase in steel prices. Its chairman and managing director S K Roongta, however, foresees a robust demand in the domestic market. The steel major plans to ramp up its capacity to 24 million tonnes from the present 12.6 million tonnes by 2021.
With India's GDP growing at 9%, demand for steel will accelerate, said Roongta, adding that the steel sector is likely to witness a growth rate of 12-13%.
Roongta said steel prices were 16-20% higher this year than last year. "I think prices are at a firmed up level. I don't see any scope for further rise. It is healthy for the industry and consumers if prices stabilise at this level," he said.
Strong demand, market-driven product mix, higher value-added special steel production have helped SAIL achieve a 72% increase in profit after tax at Rs 1,902 crore for the January-March 2006-07 quarter compared to same period the previous year. Announcing the highest-ever turnover and profit before tax, Roongta said the company has set in motion the process for preparing a perspective plan beyond 2021.
"Upgradation schemes for Rourkela and Durgapur will be considered shortly," he said.
SAIL's annual turnover rose 21% to Rs 39,189 crore during 2006-07 and PAT rose 55% to Rs 6,202 crore. With this, the board has recommended 31% dividend amounting to over Rs 1,280 crore including a 16% interim dividend announced in March 2007.

Orissa DGP fails to appear before court, may face arrest
Jaipur, May 22: Orissa DGP B B Mohanthy, who has been accused of helping his son convicted of rape jump the parole, failed to appear in a court here as per the deadline set by the Supreme Court and may face arrest. Superintendent of Police (East) V K Singh said the DGP did not turn up in the court on Monday. "We will be getting fresh arrest warrants against him tommorow from the local court since the timeframe of not to arrest him upto six weeks since April 9 by the Supreme Court directive ended today," he said. A battery of mediapersons, policemen and others thronged the chief judicial magistrate court here amidst speculation that the Orissa DGP would surrender. But there was no sign of the DGP till the closing hours of the court or at the police station where a case was registered against him by Rajasthan police early this year for allegedly sheltering his son Beeti Hotra Mohanty and helping his son jump the parole, Singh said. On March 20 last year, a German lady had alleged that she was raped in a hotel in Alwar by B H Mohanty, an MBA student. On March 21, the son was arrested and a fast track court convicted Mohanty on April 11. However, since December 4 he has jumped the parole, granted to meet her ailing mother, and went missing. Early this year, Rajasthan police filed a case against the Orissa DGP on the charge of sheltering his son and help him jump the parole. The senior Mohanty was, however, granted bail by Orissa High Court. On April 9, the Supreme Court, however, quashed senior Mohanty's bail and gave him six weeks to surrender before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Jaipur and ordered that he be not arrested till then. The deadline expired on Monday. (Bureau Report )

Coach prepares Budhia for long walk
Posted May 22nd, 2007 by Tarique
Sports By IANS
Bhubaneswar : Orissa's boy marathon runner Budhia Singh is being trained by his coach for a 500 km walk despite a ban on his running by the state government.
Budhia shot to fame last year for his ability to run long distances and is planning to embark on a long walk to Kolkata on June 6.
The Khurda district child welfare committee, a semi-judicial juvenile welfare body of the state, took notice of the plan after newspapers reported it. The committee summoned the boy's coach and adoptive father Biranchi Das Monday to appear before it on May 25.
The panel also served him and members of the Budhia Trust, which is organizing the event, a warning notice alleging that the committee will take action against them if they "misuse" the boy.
The five-member panel led by Rabisankar Mishra declared that it was illegal to make the five-year-old boy go on such a long walk for the purpose of gaining fame as it violates the child's basic rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.
"The boy will walk from June 6 to 16 and he will have to walk at least 50 km daily on foot to complete the journey. This is an act of subjecting the child to unnecessary suffering," Mishra told IANS.
"This event will not be cancelled. Budhia will walk as per schedule and we are preparing for it," Biranchi Das told IANS.
Heading towards a confrontation with the committee, he said, "Nobody can stop us. We are ready to face any consequences. Let them do whatever they want to do"
Das and his wife adopted Budhia after paying Rs.800 to his impoverished mother, who lives in a slum.
The boy became a celebrity last year after he earned a place in the Limca Book of World Records for his 60 km run between Puri and Bhubaneswar. Budhia runs 45 km twice a week and 20 km on other days.
"I am talking to legal counsel for further course of action on the notice and summon," Das said.
"The boy will walk only during morning to avoid the summer heat, while an ambulance, a team of doctors, a water tanker and a mobile toilet would follow him. The purpose of the walk is to create awareness among the youth about sports," he added.

Law ministry to decide Posco mine fateSUBHASH NARAYANTIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007 01:37:31 AM]
NEW DELHI: The law ministry is now set to take a final call on the fate of the captive mine for Posco’s proposed 12-million-tonne Orissa project. The ministry of mines has sought legal opinion from the law ministry on whether the Orissa government could use discretionary powers available to it under Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to offer mines to Posco disregarding claims of other applicants over the same block. Section 11(5) of the MMDR Act envisages that a state government may for any “special reasons” grant mining rights to an applicant whose application was received later, in preference to other applicants whose applications came earlier. However, in doing so the state has to justify in writing why a particular applicant was allowed to jump the queue overriding the principle of first-come-first-serve. “The Orissa government feels that Posco is a more deserving candidate for the iron ore mining block as it would not only pump in huge investment and create jobs, but would also undertake value addition of the iron ore into steel. This is not the case with other applicants for Khandadhar iron ore block, including Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL), which wants to mine ore for sales without any further value-addition,” a government source said. However, the law ministry’s opinion has been sought as the state government wants to avoid its decision being challenged in court by other applicants for the same mining block. KIOCL has already taken the matter to court. But being a government company, it is understood that the Centre is using its influence to get KIOCL withdraw its case in favour of Posco. Earlier, the Centre had asked the Orissa government to consider Posco India’s mining proposal in light of existing provisions of the MMDR Act that permits clubbing together all applications for a notified mining block, irrespective of their date of receipt. However, sources said the state is not sure whether the entire area of Khandadhar mines is notified or not. This is because the power to club together all applications can be used only in case of notified mining areas, which means some sort of geological survey would have had to be carried out earlier by a government agency. Even if a portion remains outside the notified area, this could get embroiled in litigation. So the state is now exploring the legality of invoking its powers under Section 11(5). The Orissa government has thrown open an area of 83.65 square kilometre (Khandadhar mines) for iron ore mining in 1991. Since then about 252 applications have been received for the block that has reserves of about 180 million tonne. Posco India’s application, which was filed in September 2005, is among the last for this block.

Over 50 crocodile nesting sites spotted in Orissa
Kendrapada (Orissa), May 23 : At least 53 crocodile nesting sites have been found in Orissa's Bhitarkanika national park, home to the largest population of giant salt water crocodiles in India.Officials made the discovery in the past week near the creeks and canals in the park in Kendrapada district. "At least 50-60 eggs were found in each nest," A. Mishra, a park official, told IANS. The government has imposed a five-month ban, from May 15 to July 31, on entry of tourists to the park, about 170 km from Bhubaneswar, during the nesting and breeding season of the reptiles."We have deployed around 25 forest guards to protect the crocodiles and their eggs," Mishra said."We will collect some eggs that will hatch. The hatchlings will be released in to the wild," he explained.The reptiles become more violent during the mating and nesting periods and may even attack humans, he noted. After mating on the surface of the water, the female crocodiles lay eggs in forest areas near rivers and creeks. They guard the eggs from jackals, fishing cats, wild dogs and vultures. The crocodiles also cover the eggs with leaves to prevent harm from rain.The animals make their nests with twigs and leaves on high ground to prevent floodwaters from entering them during the rainy season.According to this year's reptile census report, 1,482 estuarine crocodiles were found in Bhitarakanika. Last year, the Guinness Book on World Record said a 23-feet-long salt-water crocodile living in the Bhitarkanika park was the world's largest crocodile. The national park is also the only place in India where white albino crocodiles are found though their population is very small, Mishra said.

Orissa govt to take neutral stand on Mohanti
Bhubaneswar, May 23: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked the state home department to maintain a neutral stand on Director General (Home Guard) B B Mohanti who has been accused of helping his son, convicted of raping a German national at Bikaner last year, jump parole. Senior officials in the department were closely watching the developments taking place in the cases involving Mohanti, official sources said. State Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy told reporters here that the state government has nothing to do with the cases involving the senior police official. State Home Secretary T K Mishra also said the government has no role in the controversy surrounding Mohanti. ''We have not received any communication either from any court or from Rajasthan government in Mohanti's case.'' Sources, however, said a palpable tension was seen among the police fraternity at the police headquarters in Cuttack after the media reported that the Rajasthan Police would arrive here soon to arrest Mohanti. ''It would be a shame for the Orissa Police if junior police officers from Rajasthan manage to arrest a top policeman here,'' a senior IPS officer said on condition of anonymity. Rajasthan Police could not obtain the non-bailable arrest warrant from the additional chief judicial magistrate court in Jaipur as it was going through documents. The NBW is expected to be issued on Wednesday. Bureau Report

POSCO says to start Orissa project as scheduled
Wed May 23, 2007 1:12 PM IST
SEOUL (Reuters) - POSCO, the world's third-largest steel maker, said on Wednesday it will start building a steel complex project in India in October as scheduled despite encountering local opposition.
"We expect to solve the problem soon in securing land and start construction in October," Lee Dong-hee, POSCO's chief financial officer, told Reuters.
In 2005, POSCO signed a contract to build a $12 billion integrated steel complex in Orissa, the largest single foreign investment in India. But the project has been hampered by local protests.
Lee also expected global steel product prices to remain strong during the remainder of 2007, backed by healthy demand.
He declined to comment on a possible bid for Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co.
POSCO supplies 40-50 percent of Daewoo's steel needs. State-run Korea Development Bank and restructuring agency Kamco jointly own half the shipbuilder, a former unit of the bankrupt Daewoo Group with a market value of $5.7 billion.
Shares in POSCO rose 0.70 percent to 429,500 won, outperforming a 0.23 percent gain in the broader market.

Orissa DG B B Mohanti clarifiesWednesday, May 23, 2007 02:42:36 pm
Orissa DG (Home Guards) B B Mohanti is accused of helping his son convicted of rape to jump parole and the Rajasthan police is contemplating to seek an arrest warrant against him. However, Mohanti is not a worried man. Speaking to TIMES NOW, he says there are only two bailable offences against him now. "The hearing will come up before the Supreme Court after the summer vacations. The Rajasthan govt in an affidavit to the SC has deleted section 130 of IPC from the original FIR. Now, there are only two bailable offences," he says. "The Rajasthan police have registered a case and already interrogated me. The rule of law clearly says equality before the law and equal protection of the law. I'm committed to upholding the rule of law." In the gaze of 1,000 eyes B B Mohanti has constantly been under the media's watchful eye ever since his son Bitti Mohanti, convicted of raping a German tourist, jumped parole. But Mohanti says that the media is only doing its job and he’s more concerned about the way in which his son was treated after being arrested. "The media is not hounding me; it's feeding the news hungry people of our country. I'm more concerned with the sense of justice. My son, who was studying in Delhi, was not taking orders from me. I had no knowledge of his whereabouts. When he went to Alwar, did the Rajasthan police intimate me? He was lodged in jail without his parents being intimated. Did a lawyer go defend him? No. Here, the basic rights of an ordinary citizen were violated. He was not even given a reasonable opportunity to be heard," he says. “Bitti accountable for his actions” As far as his son is concerned, B B Mohanti feels that as an adult he is responsible for his own actions. "Why Bitti, anyone who has jumped parole has committed an offence. That's a separate story. Let the law take its own course and punish the accused. We don't object to that. What we are trying to say is how is the father responsible for an alleged offence committed by his adult son, who was staying so far away," he says. Meanwhile in Jaipur, order on an arrest warrant against DG B B Mohanti has been held by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate till tomorrow.

HCL to set up 100 Career Development Centres in India
Bhubaneswar, May 23: HCL Infosystems Ltd today announced to establish 100 HCL Career Development Centres across the country to fill the severe dearth of skilled IT engineers.Speaking at the launch of the HCL CDC Bhubaneswar Centre here, HCL Infosystem Ltd Vice-President Ranjendra Kumar said while there will be an estimated annual demand of two lakh networking professional, the supply would only cater to 60 per cent of the demand.He said that since the deficit of the IT professionals would further grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate(CAGR) of 28 per cent till 2010, the HCL Infosystem had taken the latest initiative to create highly skilled IT professionals to meet the increasing demand.Mr Kumar said the HCL CDS would provide specially designed courses in high-end software, hardware and networking integration to groom students into industry-ready professionals.Inaugurating the HCL CDC, state Information and Technology Minister S N Patra said the country would require nearly two to three million IT professionals in the next three years both in the software and BPO sectors.He said Orissa, which occupied the fifth position in the country in the export of softwares, planned to set up 5,000 IT kiosks under the Public Private Partnership(PPP) mode and set up Rural Knowledge Information Centre in every village in the state.Mr Patra said with the all major IT companies establishing their development centres, Orissa would produce nearly 15,000 young trained IT professional in the next three years.''Keeping in view the interest shown by various IT companies to have their centre in Orissa, the state government has decided to set up a second Info City on the outskirt of the capital city spread over an area of 670 acres'' he added.HCL CDC Career Development Centre Head STM Eswar said ''our mission would be to transform students into industry-ready professionals, who would be able to take on enterprise wide IT deployment and integration assignments.He further said the HCL would offer a three months and a full time one-year course titled HCL Certified Network Engineers(HCNE) and announced that three more CDC would soon be set up in Orissa, one each in Berhampur, Rourkela and Balasore.Orissa Information Technology Director Vishal Dev export of software from Orissa had registered a 58 per cent growth as against national average growth of 28 per cent.He hoped that the export in IT sector from Orissa which stood at Rs 732 crores this year would touch Rs 4,500 crores by the end of 2012.

State Pulse: ORISSA: Channels blocked-II (Thursday May 24, 2007 )
Orissa pani panchayat bedevilled by bureaucracy - report of Ranjan K Panda
"The collector asked us to form a small committee for close interaction between pani panchayats and the administration," said Pattanaik. "But even after we formed it, the collector has twice asked us to form small committees. We failed to understand him," said Govindu. "Can there be a smaller committee for a project as big as Hirakud?" Actually they were not required to form a small committee.
Under the provisions of the Act there should be an executive committee for every distributary committee, not exceeding nine members. Similarly, the general body of the project committee should elect an executive committee of nine or less. The state committee is supposed to consist of "such numbers of Presidents of the Project Committees as may be considered necessary, but not exceeding ten".
Despite these grey areas, the government claims the Orissa model is the most successful. Dipak K Das of the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI), Aurangabad, says the Orissa model is an "in-between process", better than the "big bang top-to-down approach of pani panchayat formation in states like Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh" and the "bottom-up approach adopted by Maharashtra and Gujarat". "In the implementation of participatory irrigation management for a certain period, a bottom-up approach with motivational strategy was adopted. Later on, when the movement attained a certain momentum, the state adopted a somewhat top-down strategy by enacting the Orissa Pani Panchayat Act, 2002," says Das.
WALMI had been pursuing a participatory approach in Orissa since the 1980s, first through the USAID-assisted Water Resources Management and Training Project, which failed Later, pani panchayats were pushed as the most important item on the policy agenda under the World Bank-sponsored Orissa Water Resources Consolidation Project, through limited legislation. When this did not work, the government gave legal recognition to the panchayats. walmi is at the forefront of implementing this initiative. Other agencies, too, were earlier involved. The European Commission had initiated pani panchayats in 56 minor irrigation projects, 20 of them have been handed over full responsibility and exempted from water taxes. WUAS were also central to the Asian Development Bank-assisted Orissa Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management Project and projects supported by the UK's Department for International Development. The Orissa Water Policy, 2007, too supports WUAS.
Das's claims were, however, contested. Farmers have a long list of complaints. "We are not informed of the time and quantity of water that is being released into the canal," said Panda. "That's why we are hardening our stance against the government," added Pattanaik. The pani panchayats have started a movement against the government, with a four-point agenda: power transfer to panchayats; consultation while deciding on water allocation from the Hirakud reservoir and other irrigation sources; no contract farming; and respeect for pani panchayats. Pani panchayat members were enraged that the chief engineer of the Mahanadi Basin did not even offer a chair to distributary committee presidents when they had gone to invite him to a meeting. Instead he questioned the authority of pani panchayats to discuss issues with him.
Pani panchayats in Orissa drew mixed lessons from Sason. "We don't think the government will recognise such efforts, since officials consider us as threats to their corrupt practices," said Govindu. "When I became president of our pani panchayat in 2004, I was asked to sign bills by the departmental engineer. I found there were bills for painting gates though our canal did not have any," said Shyam Sundar Pradhan, secretary of VSS panchayat, Parmanpur. "The officials warned they would stop grants to our pani panchayat. In fact, we are yet to receive any." "We will harden further," were Govindu's final, ominous words.

Posco likely to get iron ore mining permit by August
Bloomberg / Mumbai May 24, 2007
South Korea’s Posco may get an iron ore mining licence by August for the $12 billion plant in India, three years after it agreed to invest in the South Asian nation.

“We had asked the Orissa state for some clarifications and we hope the licence will be granted in three months,’’ said J P Singh, secretary at the ministry of mines, in an interview in New Delhi yesterday. “The process is on.”

Construction on the 12 million tonnes plant, the country’s largest foreign direct investment, would start in October, six months later than planned, because of delays in allocating land and mining permits, Posco said on May 15. Three officials at the steelmaker’s India unit were detained by activists on May 11, demanding the plant be moved to another location.

Posco said last June it would scrap the Indian investment unless it’s granted exclusive access to an iron ore mine. The project would proceed “only if we are given a captive mine,’’ Jeong Tae Hyun, former deputy managing director of the India unit, said on June 22.

The Orissa government in December agreed to give Posco a 30-year lease to mine 600 million tonnes of iron ore, the state’s Steel Minister Padmanabha Behera said. Additional approval has yet to come from the central government, Behera said. The state holds a quarter of the country’s iron ore reserves.

India may grant companies exclusive mining rights — so-called captive mines — after a government review panel submits its suggestions to revamp the nation’s 50-year-old mining law. The panel is scheduled to meet May 28, Singh said.

“On that day, we will have a clearer idea as to when the mining policy will be announced,’’ Singh said.

Meantime, Posco received environmental clearance from the government to build a port in Orissa, the company said May 20.

The steelmaker in July 2005 agreed to invest $900 million to build a port in Jatadhari in Orissa. The $12 billion includes the cost of developing an iron ore mine, building a railway line and securing water supplies.

2007-05-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

Woman Arrested For Killing Her Newborn In Orissa
Monday 21st of May 2007 :-
Police arrested a woman from Orissa's Nuapada district Monday for allegedly killing her newborn baby in the hospital where she gave birth to a healthy girl child, police said.The 18-year-old woman Kanaka Rana, a resident of Pandelbahal was admitted at the government maternity at Komna, some 570 kilometers from the state capital early Sunday morning. She gave birth to a healthy girl child, assistant sub-inspector of the local police station, Trilochan Das told IANS. However, less than an hour after the delivery, staff and doctors at the hospital found the baby dead. The child was bleeding from the nose and mouth, said Das.The woman was arrested after the hospital doctor Pabitra Mohan Rout lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the newborn child was killed by some one when he was away from the labour room along with the staff, Das added.The woman, who was married last March, was said to have had the child from a pre-marital relationship. The woman allegedly killed her baby in the hospital, fearing ostracism from the villagers.

2007-05-21T05:15:00.000-07:00

BIG 92.7 FM enters Bhubaneswar
Friday - May 18, 2007
Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
Within a fortnight, Bhubaneswar got the taste of second private FM channel. Big 92.7 FM, the initiative of Adlabs Films, launched its Orissa operation by formally airing programmes from its Bhubaneswar station.Bhubaneswar is the ninth station to become operational of the 17 places in the country for which Big FM has got licence's in the first round of bidding. The radio station has come up with a 19-hour non-stop programmes, which are blend of information and entertainment. Besides music, the station will keep listeners updated with city traffic positions, weather and health tips."The programming mix of station has been put together after much research and understanding of our listeners' requirements. It is our aim to create content that is relevant, credible and has an aspirational value to the listeners," Sudden Dutta, Associate Vice-President, East Region said.Though trial run was going on since April 14, the company formally launched the channel presenting its radio jockeys before media. Dutta also informed that Big FM's second station in Orissa will come up by September at Rourkela.Earlier on May 3, city-based Eastern Media Limited had launched its channel, Radio Choklate, first private FM channel in the State of Orissa.

Man gets death sentence for killing wife, son
Bhubaneswar, May 19: A court in Orissa Saturday awarded death sentence to a man for killing his wife and their one-year-old son in the steel city of Rourkela last year over a family quarrel.The judge of a Rourkela fast track court, Sobhan Kumar Das, handed down the sentence to Mohan Mohant, a tribal, for killing his wife and their son at their residence in Rourkela, 470 km from here, on Jan 12 last year.Mohant was arrested July 23 and charge-sheeted after he confessed to have committed the crime. At least 21 witnesses were tried in the court.

Death sentence for killing wife, son(IANS)20 May 2007
BHUBANESWAR — A court in Orissa yesterday awarded death sentence to a man for killing his wife and their one-year-old son in the steel city of Rourkela last year over a family quarrel.
The judge of a Rourkela fast track court, Sobhan Kumar Das, handed down the sentence to Mohan Mohant, a tribal, for killing his wife and their son at their residence in Rourkela, 470km from here, on January 12 last year. Mohant was arrested on July 23 and charge-sheeted after he confessed to have committed the crime. At least 21 witnesses were tried in the court.

Gallows for killings
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, May 19: A fast-track court in Rourkela today ordered that a man be hanged to death for killing his wife and one-year old son on the night of January 12, 2006.
The judge also fined Mohan Mahanta (36), the convict, to pay a fine of Rs 5,000.
Bishra police said Mohan Mahanta (36), a construction worker and vegetable trader hailing from Teterkela, lived in a rented house in Bishra daily market.
Mohan had married Muni — it was his second wedding — and had a son, Babu, out of the relationship.
On the midnight of January 12 last year, Mohan slit the throat of his wife with a sharp weapon and strangled his son using a handkerchief before fleeing the spot.
R.K. Chauhan, a home guard and a neighbour of Mohan had heard screams coming from the house of the killer and went to investigate, but Mohan had escaped after committing the murders.
He remained at large for about seven months and was arrested on July 30, 2006.
After hearing of as many as 10 witnesses, ad-hoc additional sessions judge (fast-track) Sobhan Kumar Das today awarded capital punishment and the fine.
Assistant public prosecutor Chandramani Jena, who represented the state, said: “Circumstantial evidence collected by the police as well as the testimonies given by the witnesses proved it beyond doubt that Mahanta committed the crime.”
But Mohan’s lawyer P.C. Das said: “Mahanta’s presence at his home on the fateful night has not been conclusively proved.
He will appeal in the high court against today’s judgment.”
Though Mohan did not react when the sentence was read out, he later broke down and protested against the sentence.

Orissa High Court strikes down Act
Cuttack, PTI:
The Orissa Professional Educational Institution (regulation of admission and fixation of fee) Act, 2007, aims to regulate the admission, prohibition of capitation fee and course fee structure in privately-run educational institutions.
In a setback to the state government, the Orissa High Court has struck down the Orissa Professional Educational Institution (regulation of admission and fixation of fee) Act, 2007, which aimed to regulate the admission, prohibition of capitation fee and course fee structure in privately-run educational institutions.A bench comprising Chief Justice A K Ganguly and Justice Nityananda Prusty said in their order yesterday that the act was unconstitutional, inoperative, invalid and not binding on the petitioners."The state government does not have the legislative competence to promulgate such an act," the bench said.The act had already received Orissa government's assent in March after the bill was passed in the Assembly.It was, however, challenged by four different bodies under the umbrella organisation of association of private management colleges, engineering colleges and medical colleges in the high court.The association had said in four separate writ petitions that "the state government lacks the legislative competence to enforce such an Act."

2007-05-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

JK Paper-World Bank deal on emission reduction
Statesman News ServiceRayagada, May 18:
JK Paper Limited signed an Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank in New Delhi on 8 May. Mr AK Sharda, vice-president of the JK Paper Limited, signed the ERPA on behalf of the company and Mr Shekhar Shah, acting as the country director of the World Bank, Ms Saima Qadir, bio-carbon fund deal manager from Washington DC also attended the signing ceremony.The project will enable small and marginal farmers in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to earn additional revenues through carbon credits by afforesting their severely degraded lands. Under the agreement, the Bio CF will purchase 276,000 t CO2e (tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) between 2008 and 2017, with an option for an additional purchase of 370,200 tCO2e. The project is the first of its kind in India, said Mr Sharda. It is India’s first LULUCF (land use and land use change and forestry) project to sell emission reductions (ERs) earned through carbon sequestration in newly established agro-forestry plantations. This will not only create additional income for resource-poor farmers, but will also contribute to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). In the first phase, the project will cover 3500 hectares of severely degraded lands mainly owned by small and marginal farmers in three districts of Rayagada, Klahandi and Koraput in Orissa and three district Vizainagram, Viskhapatnam and Srikakulam in Andhra Prasesh. In this project, company will provide quality saplings, buy-back guarantee and technical guidance to farmers, if requires some farmers will get loan from Regional Rural Banks to take up plantation.

Jindal plant workers attacked
Statesman News Service JAJPUR, May 18: Tension gripped Kalinga Nagar steel hub after labourers working with Jindal Stainless were attacked today allegedly by some members of the Jindal Stainless Workers’ Union, an unregistered labourer forum. Many labourers of the plant, who were on the way to the plant for duty, were chased away by the self-styled union leaders. Erection of a power plant being carried out by eight companies, including L & T, Bhel and Volta, for the Jindal Stainless was partly disrupted as workers did not turn up following the attack. According to sources, the miscreants attacked a team of labourers near railway level-crossing at Manapur, just few yards from the Jindal Stainless Ltd. Fearing attack, the labourers were passing through the alternative passage to the plant for reporting duty. They were chased away by the miscreants, armed with lethal weapons, sources added. Kalinga Nagar police station inspector-in-charge Mr Sarat Kumar Mahapatra said one Sangram Biswal was engaged through contractor SR Brothers for construction works of a power plant by the L&T Company. L&T authorities had suspended Sangram for dereliction of duty. Later, Sangram petitioned the authorities concerned seeking the revoking of the suspension. After his plea was turned down, Sangram, along with some of his aides, chased away the labourers on their way to the plant and even attacked them. Jindal Stainless Ltd general manager Mr MD Burma said that works on the power plant were affected following the clash between labourer unions. “If the situation continues, we will be forced to stop the work of the Rs 300 crore power plant,” he said. A handful of labourers and their so called leaders had threatened the senior officials of the plant with dire consequence, he added.

Power projects modified
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, May 18: The high power project clearance committee which met here today approved modification of three existing MoUs and another new project. Tata Power had applied for revision of its MoU as it wanted to add another 1000 MW to its proposed 1000 MW power plant at Naraj. The project cost has been revised and the second phase entails an investment of Rs 4,866 crore, Significantly, the state will get 450 MW from the plant. Similarly, Adhunik Metalic, which signed an MoU in 2003 for a 0.15 MT steel plant, will increase it to 0. 26 MT, the KVK Nilachal Power will no be a 1200 MW power plant and not a 600 MW one as envisaged earlier. The project cost is revised to Rs 5,000 crore and the state will get 270 MW power. Monet Ispat Energy Ltd will sign an MoU for a 1000 MW power plant at Angul. The project will entail an investment of Rs 4107 crore and the state is assured of 225 MW of power. The MoUs will also have clauses relating to fly ash use and downstream industries in terms of use of fly ash. Certain construction activity near the plant region will be listed out for use of fly ash bricks.

HC quashes college Act
Statesman News Service CUTTACK, May 18: The Orissa High Court today quashed the Orissa Professional Education Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AK Ganguly and Justice N Prusty declared the Act “invalid” on grounds of “legislative competence.” The Act enforced recently had empowered the state government to regulate admission, fixation of fee, prohibition of capitation, reservation in admission and for other measures to ensure equity and excellence in professional educational institutions. The Orissa Management Colleges Association (OMCA), Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association (OPECA), Orissa Private Medical Colleges Association (OPMCA) and others had challenged the constitutional validity of the Act. The petitions had stated that the Act was “Draconian,” “oppressive” in nature, “transgressed all its limit” and tends to become “a leviathan.” OMCA counsel Mr Gangadhar Rath contended that the legislature lacked competence in framing law on coordination and determination of standards in institutions for higher education or research and scientific technical institutions. “The state does not have the legislative competence to promulgate such an Act,” the High Court observed while disposing off the petitions. The state government, in its bid, to regulate such private institutions had promulgated an Ordinance and then enacted the law in Assembly.

More coaches to trains
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, May 17: For the convenience of traveling public and keeping in view of the demands of passengers, East Coast Railway has decided to augment additional four coaches each on Puri-Patna Baidyanathdham Express and Puri-Jodhpur Express permanently from 21 and 23 May respectively. After permanent augmentation of four coaches ~ that is ~ one sleeper class coach, two general second class coaches and one composite coach of both AC-2 and AC-3 tier ~ 8449/8450 Puri-Patna-Puri Baidyanathdham Express will run with 17 coaches instead of earlier 13 coaches from 21 May from Bhubaneswar and from 23 May from Patna. The revised composition of Puri-Patna and Puri Baidyanathdham Express will be one AC-2 and AC-3 tier composite coach, one AC-3 tier, nine sleeper classes, four general second classes coaches and two guard-cum-luggage vans. Similarly, Puri-Jodhpur-Puri Express will be augmented permanently with one sleeper class coach, two general second class coaches and one composite coach on 26 May from Jodhpur. Railway Board has also decided to increase the frequency of 850918510 Visakhapatnm-Nizambad-Visakhapatnam from bi-weekly to tri-weekly from 3 July from Visakhapatnam and 4 July from Nizamabad. This train will leave Visakhapatnam on every Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, in the return direction; this train will leave Nizamabad on every Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Postmortem rules out lock-up murder
SNS & PTI ROURKELA, May 18: The cloud of custodial death that was hovering over Sundergarh police has probably been erased after the autopsy report of the deceased. According to the postmortem conducted at the Panposh morgue, the deceased, Chnuilal, who was found dead in the bathroom of the female lock-up at the Brahmanitaranga police station here, had all the marks of suicide. Meanwhile, government has asked the State Human Rights Cell to inquire into the death of a 30-year-old man while in police custody and suspended three police personnel for “negligence and dereliction of duty” in connection with the incident. According to sources, assistant sub-inspector of police Mr Natabar Samal and two constables, including two women, had been placed under suspension in this connection. “My office was yet to receive any official communique in this regard. However, three persons have been placed under suspension,” DIG Mr Pranabindu Acharya said. The postmortem, which was carried out in the presence of the magistrate and the officials of the district administration, established the fact that Chunilal had hung himself inside the bathroom of the female lock-up. The postmortem conducted yesterday established that there was no sign of any torture. Chunilal had a case against him pending since 2004. He was wanted in connection with robbery. Chunilal’s all other accomplishes were, however, acquitted, while he was absconding. His wife, Mali, alleged that some five months back, he was caught by the same police, but managed to give them a slip. And for this reason, he was brought to the police station, tortured and killed, his wife alleged. The body of Chunilal was handed over to his family after the postmortem. There was a large contingent of police at the Brahamanitaranga station apprehending public unrest. Chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik had sanctioned Rs 50,000 from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the next of kin of the deceased. A sum of Rs 5,000 was given from the Red Cross fund to the deceased’s wife for performing the last rites.

Kathantara best movie
BHUBANESWAR, May 18: Ms Iti Samant’s maiden production Kathantara and Basanta Sahu’s Sasu Ghara Chali Jibe cornered as many as eight awards each in the 18th Orissa State Film Awards which were announced today. The award ceremony will be held on 30 May. Announcing the award winners for 2005, culture minister Mr SN Patra said Kathantara was adjudged the best Oriya film, while Sidhanta Mohapatra was declared best actor for his performance in Sasu Ghara Chali Jibe. The best actress award was bagged by Anu Choudhury for her role in the same film. The best director, story, music, supporting actor and supporting actress awards were all bagged by the star cast of Kathantara. The special jury award will be given to Basant Sahu for Sasu Ghara Chali Jibe. The Jayadev Award, the highest award for lifetime achievements and contributions to Oriya films, was, however, held back as the jury did not find any suitable candidature and decided to undertake a re-look. It will be given along with the awards for 2006, said the minister. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has been invited as chief guest for the awards function on 30 May, he added. n SNS

Congress blames all on govt
Statesman News Service BALASORE, May 18: Armed with statistics on the poverty index and unemployment and other parameters which put Orissa at the bottom, Congress leaders hammered home their charge that in the seven-year Naveen Patnaik regime, the state had slipped to ignominious depths. The government has miserably failed to address the basic needs of the poor, distressed and underprivileged, while the state has been pushed down to the poorest in the country, they charged. Not a single megawatt of power has been added and industries have come up only on pen and paper, while the unemployment rate is going up, they said. AICC leader Mr Digvijay Singh, Mr V Narayanswami, Mr JB Patnaik, Mr Jayadev Jena, Mr Sarat Patnaik, Mr Sarat Kar, Mr Lulu Mohapatra and a host of others, including OGP MLA Mr Arun Dey, lambasted the government. They were addressing a gathering at the Gandhi Smrithi Bhavan on the occasion of centenary celebrations of satyagraha movement here. The Congress leaders also referred to the Kalinga Nagar incident where 13 tribals were gunned down by the police to facilitate industrialisation. MNCs are funding the BJD and elections are fought with money bags, they said while pointing out huge expenditure incurred by ruling party candidates during the recent panchayat elections. The speakers, who wanted the government to be dethroned at any cost, urged the party workers to start movement like satyagraha across all the districts to bring the Congress back to power. The leader of the Opposition and former chief minister, Mr JB Patnaik, said that he had no lust for power and position and had only one mission ~ ouster of the BJD-BJP government. He added that the moment for change had begun from Balasore with magnificent result in the last panchayat election. Earlier in the day, the delegates held meetings at Inchudi and Sunduri, where satyagraha was held in the district, and, accompanied by Seva Dal persons, paid tributes to those who had associated with the salt moment. Later, a rally of over 7,000 workers was held from Gadagadia to the venue where satyagraha celebration was held.

Orissa IG suspended for ‘misconduct’
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, May 18: Mr Naveen Patnaik today suspended top IPS officer Mr Sanjiv Marik, IG, following a probe report on allegations that the officer had helped certain people from Jharkhand meet the accused persons in Bhadrak jail. It is for the first time that such an action was taken against an officer of the rank of IG. In fact, Mr Marik was due for promotion to the rank of additional director general within a couple of months. Mr Patnaik refused to elaborate on the charges or the findings of the inquiry conducted by DGP Mr Amarananda Patnaik. He merely repeated disciplinary action has been taken and Mr Marik has been suspended. The DGP on his part refused to share his findings with the media and said he had submitted his report to the government. “It was for the government to take necessary action. I am yet to receive the official order of suspension,” he said. A visibly shocked Mr Marik said that he was not aware of the action. He, however, maintained that he was innocent. “I was not asked or questioned about the allegation after the government had ordered the probe,” he said. Reliable sources said an explanation had been sought from Mr Marik on 16 April, much before the government ordered a probe. The explanation was regarding the visit of three persons from Patna to Mr Marik’s house in Bhubaneswar. Mr Marik had provided them with an escort as they wanted to meet those w ho had been arrested in connection with a robbery case. The four persons were intercepted by Bhadrak police and arrested. Mr Marik had sent his explanation to the DGP. The matter had died down till the media picked it up and raised questions prompting the government to order an inquiry. DGP Mr Patnaik conducted the inquiry and interrogated the jailed persons in connection with the matter. He submitted his report to the government today. However, the fact that no such action had been taken by the same Naveen Patnaik government in certain other cases, including the infamous police constable recruitment scam, raised eyebrows on today’s suspension. Moreover, reliable sources said the inquiry did not find any criminal nexus or liability or conspiracy involving the IG. At best, it was a case of being indiscreet and conduct unbecoming for a highly placed officer. Misconduct was all that had been made out, said the sources while noting that it did not warrant suspension. It found that Mr Marik had been contacted by the three who had come from Patna and he had deputed an escort for them to go to Bhadrak. Police are yet to establish any criminal record of the visitors from Patna. Viewed in this context, the fact that some people wanted to meet those jailed in the robbery case per se cannot be treated as an offence. With no criminal record or intent being established as yet, Mr Marik’s suspension on grounds of his having been contacted by the persons concerned is being interpreted as harsh and demoralising for the police force.

Briefs
Lynch Dhenkanal, May 18: One Antarjami Nayak (33), alleged to be an anti-social, was beaten to death by a group of people at Karmul village under Gondia police station jurisdiction today. According to police, Nayak was terrorising locals who expressed resentment against him. Some people alleged that the incident occurred due to political rivalry. Nayak had created panic in recent cooperative election. Police said when Nayak had threatened some locals and terrorised them today locals beat him to death. n SNSStorm Bhawanipatna, May 18: A hoarding erected over a two-storied building near Ghodaghat was uprooted from its base and fell over a house below, killing a 14-year-old boy Md Kalam on the spot during a storm in Bhawanipatna and neighbouring areas last night. The midnight storm affected many places and paralysed normal life. Trees were uprooted in several places and power supply and water supply disrupted. By Saturday, power supply may be restored, the Wesco officials said. n SNSLandless BHUBANESWAR, May 18: The State Human Rights Commission had asked the government to provide homestead land to the green card holders who did not have land. But, the president of the state green card holders’ development council, Mr Dev Raj Nayak, has told the Press that due to the non-cooperation of the state government, the landless families had not got homestead land from the government. He also added that the state government should devise some programmes for the landless couples who had undergone vasectomy. They should be provided with health and education by the government. Such plans and programmes are necessary in a poverty-stricken state like Orissa. But due to lack of cooperation from the government side, the slum dwellers are still waiting for the implementation of the programmes. n SNS

Tidal waves lash Orissa district
Kendrapara, May 17 (PTI): Huge tidal waves battered the coastline in Kendrapara district inundating agricultural land in three different points since yesterday, official sources said.
The sea turned violent on the new moon's day yesterday and kept smashing against the saline embankments even as heavy rains lashed Mahakalapada block accompanied by strong wind causing panic in villages of the area.
The sources said over 700 hectares of agricultural land under Suniti gram panchayat had been inundated by the leaping tidal waves which spilled over the embankments at Atharabanki, Gabajidiha and Jagatjori.
Similar saline ingress was also reported from Chakada, Gogua and Tantiapala villages.
There, however, was no report of any loss of life or property, the sources said.
Frequent batterings by the sea had partially eaten up Satbhaya village in the area over the last few years forcing the people to shift inland.
A 32-km saline embankment had been constructed in the 1970s to protect the coastal villages in the aftermath of the severe cyclone that hit the Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks of the district, located slightly north of the Paradip port killing around 10,000 people in 1971.
The super cyclone of 1999 hit the Ersama block of neighbouring Jagatsinghpur district, little south of Paradip, with disastrous effect. The sea had surged into the mainland several kilometers on both occasions.

Jindal Stainless plans Orissa steel plant
Thu May 17, 2007 8:33 PM IST
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Jindal Stainless Ltd. said on Thursday it plans to set up a 1.6-million tonne integrated stainless steel plant in Orissa in phases, and will invest 56 billion rupees for the first 0.8 million tonnes.
The company is already implementing one round of expansion, which includes setting up a 150,000 tonne ferro alloy unit and 250 megawatt power plant.
The new investment would mark the second phase and there would also be a third phase involving the balance 0.8 million tonnes of steel capacity and another 250 MW of power capacity.
"Most of the equipment for the entire 1.6 million tonne would come in this phase," Director N.C. Mathur told Reuters.
The company would fund the second phase investment mostly through debt, an official said.
Jindal Stainless also said it was increasing the capacity of its Hisar plant to 0.9 million tonnes from 0.6 million tonnes.
Shares in the company ended 0.4 percent lower at 153.65 rupees in the Mumbai market.

Source: IRIS NEWS DIGEST (18 May 2007)Jindal Stainless to set up Rs 56 bn plant in Orissa Jindal Stainless plans to set up a 1.6-million ton integrated stainless steel plant in Orissa state with an investment of Rs 56 billion, reports Economic Times. This project will include a 500 megawatt power plant.The company is also planning to increase the capacity of its Hisar plant to 0.9 million tons from the current capacity of 0.6 million tons.
In January, 2007, the company announced that it is planning to invest an additional Rs 50 billion in its Orissa plant to double its production capacity to 1.5 million tons annually. The company operates through its three plants in Hisar, Visakhapatnam and Jaipur.Shares of the company closed up Rs 0.65, or 0.42%, at Rs 153.65. The total volume of share traded was 84,556 at the BSE (Thursday).

Centre okays proposal for IIHT in OrissaFriday May 18 2007 11:38 IST
BERHAMPUR: Even as the proposal for establishment of an IIT in Orissa was scrapped leading to protests throughout the State, the Centre has decided to establish the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) at Bargarh.According to Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandrasekhar Sahu, IIHT would materialise during the next visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Orissa.Sahu had detailed talks with Union Textile Minister Sankar Singh Vaghela in Delhi on Tuesday regarding the developments needed for Orissa.A release issued by Sahu‘s office stated that Sahu had also proposed to the Textile Minister for a National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) centre at Bhubaneswar.The proposal was accepted by Vaghela who promised to open the centre.

Big FM enters Orissa
STATE BUREAU (Posted online: Friday, May 18, 2007 at 0000 hours IST)
BHUBANESWAR, MAY 17: Big 92.3 FM, the initiative of Reliance's Adlabs Films Ltd, launched its Orissa operation on Thursday by formally airing programmes from its Bhubaneswar station.
Bhubaneswar is the ninth station to become operational of the 17 places in the country for which Big FM has got licences in the first round of bidding. The Bhubaneswar station will be heard over a radius of 60km, covering most parts of the central districts of Puri, Khorda, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal and Angul.
Besides music, the station will keep listeners updated with city traffic positions, weather and health tips.
Sudev Datta, associate vice-president, east, told reporters that Big FM is soon going to spread all over the country with an investment of about Rs 40 crore.
In nine months, the station has started airing programmes from nine stations including Bhubaneswar.
Datta said Big FM is expecting licences for some more places in the next round of bidding.
He said Big FM's second station in Orissa will come up by September at Rourkela.

Coach: 5-year-old Indian boy to walk 500km
BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The five-year-old Indian marathon runner Budhia Singh whose running last year sparked an outcry from rights activists is planning to walk 500 kilometers, according to his coach quoted by media reports Friday.
"I have spoken to West Bengal DG police, Mamata Banerjee, Mithun Chakraborty and lot many IAS and IPS officers in West Bengal. They have all encouraged Budhia for this walk and are ready to give me permission," said Biranchi Das, Budhia's coach.
Budhia will begin in Bhubaneswar in the eastern state of Orissa and finish in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state. The walk is to begin on June 6 and should take about 10 days, said Das.
While Das argued that the boy's walk would serve as an inspiration to other young athletes, child rights advocates decried the news.
The Women and Child Development Minister has categorically denied permission, and has declared strict action against those who will make Budhia walk such a long distance.
"Orissa High Court has given us full power to take decision for the welfare of Budhia and by no means will we allow Budhia to walk such long distance," said Pramilla Mallick, the minister.
Last year, he attempted to run a 70-kilometre marathon, but doctors stopped him after 65 kilometres when he showed signs of extreme exhaustion.
Afterward, doctors found the boy to be undernourished, anemic and under cardiac stress, and the Orissa state government banned him from running until he is older.
But Das insisted he is looking after the best interests of the boy, whose father died when he was seven months old.
His mother, unable to support him, was about to sell him to another villager for Rs800 (18 U.S. dollars) when the family met Das two years ago.
"I have raised him as my son and I introduced him into running after observing his endurance," Das said, adding that he is an inspiration to other children.
"The aim is to make our children and children all over the world to know that if they start now they can qualify for the 2016 Olympics," he said.

Friday, May 18, 2007
Orissa suspends top cop for alleged criminal links
The Orissa government Friday suspended Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Marik for alleged links with criminals in Bihar, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here.
Marik, who is also director of the Orissa Police Academy, has been accused of helping a gang of criminals allegedly involved in several bank robberies in the state. This includes a Rs.2.3 million robbery from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) office in Bhadrak district on Feb 23.
The state government had ordered Director General of Police Amarananda Patnaik to probe the allegations. He submitted his report Thursday.
Marik has been suspended on the basis of Amarananda Patnaik's report, the chief minister said.

Friday, May 18, 2007
Top Orissa cop suspended for alleged criminal links
Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Marik was Friday suspended by the Orissa government for his alleged links with criminals in Bihar, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here.
Marik has been accused of helping a gang of criminals allegedly involved in several bank robberies in Orissa. This includes a Rs.2.3 million robbery from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) office at Bhadrak town, 140 km from here, on Feb 23.
Marik, 52, is also director of the Biju Patnaik State Police Academy.
The suspension order was issued after Director General of Police Amarananda Patnaik submitted report of a probe into the allegations against Marik Thursday night.
Marik has been suspended on the basis of Patnaik's report, the chief minister said.
'No police case has been registered against Marik in this connection,' Amarananda told IANS.
Marik, who had earlier refuted the allegations, was not available for comment. His office staff said he had not come in for work.

Top Orissa cop suspended for alleged criminal links
Bhubaneswar, May 18: Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Marik was Friday suspended by the Orissa government for his alleged links with criminals in Bihar, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here. Marik has been accused of helping a gang of criminals allegedly involved in several bank robberies in Orissa. This includes a Rs.2.3 million robbery from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) office at Bhadrak town, 140 km from here, on Feb 23.Marik, 52, is also director of the Biju Patnaik State Police Academy.The suspension order was issued after Director General of Police Amarananda Patnaik submitted report of a probe into the allegations against Marik Thursday night.Marik has been suspended on the basis of Patnaik's report, the chief minister said."No police case has been registered against Marik in this connection," Amarananda told IANS. Marik, who had earlier refuted the allegations, was not available for comment. His office staff said he had not come in for work.

Orissa IGP suspended for alleged links with criminalsPosted at Friday, 18 May 2007 18:05 IST
Bhubaneswar, May 18: Orissa's Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Marik was today suspended for alleged links with criminals from Bihar in the first such disciplinary action against any top officer of the state.The decision to suspend Marik, a 1981 batch IPS officer, was taken after Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra and Director General of Police (DGP) Amarananda Pattanayak met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat."I have passed orders to start departmental disciplinary proceedings. He has been suspended from service today," Patnaik told newsmen later.The Chief Minister declined to comment on the charges against the police officer. But police sources said one of the charges was that Marik had helped four persons from Bihar who wanted to meet their relatives in Bhadrak jail.The suspension came after the government asked the DGP to inquire and submit a report within seven days.Pattanayak had also visited the jail at Bhadrak to interrogate persons arrested in connection with the IGP's alleged links with criminals and submitted his report to the government last night.Pattanayak had also interrogated Marik on Wednesday during which he reportedly admitted some of the charges levelled against him.Marik had come into the spotlight after a robbery at Bhadrak in February. The robbers opened fire killing two persons while looting over Rs. 20 lakh from two bank employees.In investigations that followed it came to light that some of the criminals had contact with the IPS officer.

Orissa IG suspended for alleged criminals linksFrom our ANI CorrespondentBhubaneswar,
May 18:
Sanjeev Marik, Inspector General of Police, Orissa was today suspended for having alleged links with criminals.
The decision was taken after Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra and Director General of Police Amarananda Pattanayak met and briefed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat about the issue.Patnaik told media persons that he had ordered disciplinary action against Marik and suspended him from service.Patnaik declined to comment on the charges against the Marik, who is a 1981 batch police officer.Marik's name surfaced after a robbery in Orissa's Bhadrak District in February. Over 20 lakh rupees were looted from two bank employees in the theft.Investigations that followed revealed that some criminals had contact with Marik.

Orissa nod to projects worth Rs 7,225 crore
BS Reporter / Bhubaneswar May 19, 2007
The Orissa government has approved four projects in the steel and power sector involving investment worth Rs 7,225 crore.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the high level clearance authority (HLCA), chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here today.
The projects approved include the second-phase expansion of Adhunik Metalics, capacity expansion of KVK Nilachal Power Ltd, setting up of a power plant by Monet Ispat and Energy Ltd and capacity expansion of Tata Power Company Ltd.
While a fresh memorandum of understanding (MoU) would be required for Monet Ispat to set up the power plant, for others, the existing MoUs would be modified, said Industry Secretary Ashok Dalwai.
Dalwai said Adhunik Metalics had signed the MoU with the state government to set up a steel plant with 0.15 million tonne a year capacity at Kuanarmunda, near Rourkela.
The company has proposed a second-phase expansion which will take the production capacity to 0.26 million tonne a year. Post-expansion, the total project cost will go up to Rs 437 crore from Rs 197 earlier.
For steel production, the company will shift to a mini blast furnace route from the present sponge iron route, post-expansion, he said.
KVK Nilachal Power’s proposal seeks expansion of capacity from the existing 600 Mw to 1,200 Mw. This will take the total cost of the project to Rs 5,000 crore from Rs 2,580 crore earlier.
The state is likely to get Rs 180 crore in the form of taxes and other levies. That apart, Orissa can purchase 270 Mw power at the rate decided by the power regulator. About 1,320 persons will be employed in the project.

Bar on walking
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, May 18: Marathon runner Budhia Singh’s forthcoming padyatra from Bhubaneswar to Calcutta may be stalled if Orissa women and child welfare minister Pramila Mallick decides to have her way.
Budhia’s coach Biranchi Das had announced that the child would not run, but “walk” all the way to Calcutta, covering a distance of 500 km in a huge padyatra. Sulabh International, the lavatory chain, had pledged its support to the padyatra.
However, today Mallick said the Khurda child welfare committee, which has challenged Budhia’s coach’s decision of a marathon in high court, has the authority to decide whether Budhia may be permitted to undertake such an arduous task. “They would decide if the little boy can be allowed to undertake such a long journey by foot,” she emphasised.
Mallick, who has long been engaged in a bitter war of words with Budhia’s coach Biranchi, said the committee will shortly take a decision on the matter. The Orissa High Court has already ruled on January 25 that the CWC has authority to summon Biranchi Das for probing alleged cruelty to the child.
But Das seems unperturbed and says the padyatra will go on as per schedule. He says he has already faxed a letter to the West Bengal DGP seeking his permission. And that leaders of Trinamool Congress have expressed their interest in felicitating the child in Calcutta.
Das said the boy has already started practising for the big day on June 6.
The 10-day-long padyatra will terminate at Dharamtala in Calcutta.