News from Bhubaneswar

As per reports, some of the hybrid toilets for which the government has spent at least Rs 18 lakh per unit, have either gone bad due to non-maintenance or their parts and machinery have been stolen by thieves.

Misra was one of the rare HR heads in India Inc. who led some of the business units as well, and was group director for Birla Carbon and director, chemicals at the Birla group.

The survey claimed that the BJP will increase its seat share from 8 in 2019 to 10 in 2024 polls, while BJD's seat share would decline from 12 to 11.  Moreover, the BJP-led NDA is projected to garner 40 percent vote share while the BJD will grab 41 per cent vote share. In the 2019 elections, the BJD’s vote share was 43 percent and that of BJP-led NDA was 38 percent. 

BJD MLA Sambit Routray said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP will have no impact in Odisha. What will make a difference are Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the Jagannath culture. No other thing will come into play. We are least worried about what TIMES NOW says. All will see how the Chief Minister and the BJD will come out with flying colours in the upcoming elections.”    

The Minister said that the condition of the Ratna Bhandar will be assessed after the laser scanning and it can be opened and repaired during the Rath Yatra. 

They demanded regularisation of their jobs and said that the government should recognize them as fourth-grade employees in the School and Mass Education department. They also demanded a monthly salary of Rs 26,000 and to raise their retirement age to 62.

The BJP legislator observed that idols of Lord Jagannath were made from thermocol and tied in vehicles while Arpan Raths were being moved in villages. “All such things are against the Jagannath culture. Gajapti Maharaj has already made it clear that deploying the Arpan Raths in villages to collect rice was not the decision of the Srimandir Management Committee,” he said.

The highest resource allocation has been proposed for the School & Mass Education department with a 9.71% share in total budget size for the financial year 2024-25.

All the five accused had procured the Ganja from Kandhamal district and had reached Bhubaneswar via bus. As liquor is now banned in Bihar, there is a rise in demand for Ganja, especially sourced from Odisha.

During the Zero Hour, the senior Congress leader further demanded that the Odisha government should implement a pension scheme for the journalists like the provision made by other states.

The top officials are scheduled to review the 2024 general election preparedness in Odisha for two days till February 17

It is pertinent to mention here that the election will be conducted for three Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha held by Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prashanta Nanda, and Amar Patnaik, whose terms end on April 3, 2024.

As per initial reports, the raids are being conducted at 10 places in Odisha including Ganjam and Bhubaneswar. Apart from this, raids are also underway on the properties linked to Golden Land Developers Limited which is a Delhi-based company.

BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said that political statements should be confined to election issues. “Our priority is the development of the state. Sensitive issues should not be sensationalised. It will damage the reputation of the state. That should not be done. The Chief Minister has appealed to the opposition parties to carry forward the development works,” he added.   

As per the survey, out of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, the BJP will win 11 seats while 9 seats will go to BJD's kitty and Congress will end up with one seat.