The department, in a letter, requested for the filling up of vacancies required for the patrolling duty especially on the Jaleswar-Icchapuram, Bhubaneswar-Puri, Sambalpur-Sohelam, Manguli-Sambalpur and Sambalpur-Rourkela routes where the number of road mishaps have gone up during the last year.
The Transport department also sought suggestions to reduce the frequency of such accidents.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had expressed concern over the "frightening" number of accident deaths caused due to potholes on roads across the country. The number of fatalities in such incidents was more than those in terror attacks, the apex court had said.
As per reports more than 1/3rd of the accidents take place on national highways.
As per sources, the Town Police had arrested one Abhay Singh, a resident of Palampur in Purulia district of West Bengal, who had come to Sambalpur to sell handicraft items.
Singh was then taken to police station and later produced in the court on allegations of smuggling ganja in Jujumura police limits. A few days later Singh fell sick and was admitted to VIMSAR Burla where he died while undergoing treatment on June 19 last year.
However, his wife alleged that he died due to physical torture in police custody. Later, the family filed a petition with the NHRC over Singh’s death, acting on which, the rights body had also directed the Additional DG of HRPC to submit a report on the issue.
The Centre today rushed 2,000 paramilitary personnel to Odisha to assist the local administration in maintaining law and order in Bhadrak district which has witnessed violence and tension in last few days.
"Central forces rushed to Bhadrak district of Odisha in view of the prevailing tension there," a Home Ministry spokesperson said.
Official sources said 20 companies of paramilitary personnel were dispatched to Odisha to help restore normalcy in the district.
A company of paramilitary force comprises of around 100 personnel.
Around 35 platoons of police force are deployed in Bhadrak town and police have arrested as many as 36 persons and seized nine motorcycles. Both Home Secretary, Asit Tripathy and DGP, KB Singh are camping in Bhadrak to keep a close tab on the situation.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also appealed to the people to maintain calm and peace in the town.
"I sincerely appeal to all in Bhadrak for peace & harmony; have directed stringent action against any attempt to disrupt peace," Patnaik tweeted.
Also Read: Bhadrak situation under control, says DGP
Appealing to the people, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said he had apprised the Home Minister Rajnath Singh of the situation, and assured all possible help to the state from the central government. At a press meeting in Delhi, Pradhan urged Naveen to handle the issue in a sensitive manner.
Similarly, BJD MP Baijayant Panda appeald for peace in Bhadrak and urged everyone to safeguard years’ of brotherhood.
On the other hand, Odisha BJP’s Pratap Sarangi alleged the ruling-BJD’s role in instigating unrest and violence in Bhadrak. Sarangi at a press meet held in Bhubaneswar said that one of the local leaders of the ruling party is provoking people. Sarangi also slammed Naveen saying, the CM’s decision to visit Delhi instead of Bhadrak is grossly irresponsible.
As per the complaint lodged by the RTI activist Jayant Das, Special DG of Odisha Crime Branch, BK Sharma has grossly misused his power authority.
According to Das, Sharma had taken admission in Bacheloar in Law (LLB) in the University Law College, Vani Vihar in 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic sessions. His attendance in the first and second year was 75% and 85% respectively.
Stating that Sharma had attended the classes while he was on duty in gross violation of the rules and misuse of his power and authority, Das urged the Ministry to take appropriation action against the IPS officer.
In response to the complaint, the Home ministry, in a letter, has asked the Principal Secretary of the State Home department to probe into the matter and initiate appropriate action against Sharma. Besides, it has also asked Sharma to reply to the allegation brought against him in 15 days.
The Commission has recommended the Home department for a Crime Branch probe into the case on the basis of the report of the Dhenkanal collector Rupa Roshan Sahu, SEC secretary Rabindranath Sahu told the media here today.
The recommendation of the Commission came in response to the demands by the Opposition BJP and Congress demanding a Crime Branch probe into the case.
Talking to the media yesterday, the SEC secretary had said the Commission is aware of all poll related violence and has taken all possible measures in this regard in consultation with the district collector and SP.
“If any such incidents take place in future, the Commission will take steps accordingly on the basis of the recommendation of the collector and SP. If necessary, efforts would be taken to resolve the issue with the help of the top police officials, Sahu added.
Protesting the murder of its party member, the BJP today staged demonstration in all district sub divisional headquarters today demanding immediate arrest of Kamakhyanagar BJD MLA and minister Prafulla Mallick for his complicity in the murder of the 23-year-old youth.
In Balasore, the saffron party leaders and workers burnt the effigy of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and demanded ouster of minister Prafulla Mallick from his post and his immediate arrest.
Das told newsmen, “The standing order for the department is to follow the SOPs. But whether officers in the area have followed the SOPs or not will be ascertained only after the inquiry.”
He added, “The IG operations and Intelligence director have met the injured OSAP personnel at the Vishakhapatnam hospital where they are undergoing treatment. They will also visit the spot in Koraput and submit a report after undertaking an inquiry.”
Asked about whether anyone has claimed responsibility for the landmine blast, Das replied, “We don’t have any information regarding this.”
Also read: Sunki landmine blast: Death toll mounts 8
Meanwhile, a crucial meeting was held today at the Koraput police headquarters in which the Intelligence director, IG Operations, SOG Commandant, DIG and SP were present.
Earlier in the day, moral remains of the eight martyrs kept in coffins wrapped in the national flag were given a guard of honour by the State police at the Koraput parade ground.
Notably, the eight police personnel died and five were injured in the landmine blast yesterday afternoon in Sunki ghat while 13 assistant drivers and driver havildar were travelling in a police vehicle towards Angul to attend a training programme.
According to a Home department notification, Special Secretary, Home, Lalit Das has been promoted to the ADG rank. However, he will continue in his present posting.
Besides, Binayanand Jha, who is presently posted as ADG (Law and Order) will hold additional charge of ADG (Communication), the notification added.
Talking to news men, Tripathy said, “The Havildars, Constables and Sepoys will be benefitted with the hike in the special diet allowance.”
Tripathy further stated, “The State government has paid one month additional salary to the Havildars, Constables and Sepoys recently with maximum limit of Rs 20,000.”
Besides, the State has given the special allowance for completion of work to SOG, SIW, DVF personnel and constables, sepoys engaged on contract basis in naxal-hit areas at a predetermined rate, Tripathy informed.
According to a General Administration notification, Debendra Prasad Das and Ranjan Kumar Das have been posted as collector of Kendrapada and Jajpur respectively.
Apart from this, Hemant Kumar Padhi is the new director, Panchayati Raj while Debaraj Senapati will take charge is secretary, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).
The state government has also appointed Taranisen Sethi as additional secretary, Home and Meghanad Nayak as managing director, Bargarh Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd, the notification added.
Notably, the convoy of the Union Minister was attacked by a group of workers of the ruling BJD workers while he was on his way to address a function in Bargarh on June 24. The BJD workers also showed black flags to the Minister and ransacked the Minister's car though Gangwar escaped unhurt.
On June 27, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered an RDC inquiry into the incident.
Designed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the portal has been developed with accessibility guidelines so as to enable the differently-abled persons to see and hear the website.
This is a bilingual website available in both English and Odia language. The portal, hosted in National Cloud MeghRaj and audited for cyber security, facilitates access to all directorates of departments along with various citizen services like Secretariat Pass, Tracking the Missing Child, Reservation of Odisha Bhawan, CCTNS and other such services.
Besides, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are available through the portal which has also a women and employee corner.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi, Additional Chief Secretary to chief minister UN Behera, Principal Secretary Home, Asit Kumar Tripathy, Special Secretary, Home Lalit Das and other senior officers were present on the occasion.
According to a notification issued by the Home Department, Sudhanshu Sarangi, CMD, of Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OSPHWC) has been posted as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Home Department.
Similarly, AdGP, Headquarters, Lalit Das is the new Director, Intelligence, while Sanjeeb Panda, at present the Transport Commissioner, has been transferred and posted as AdGP, Crime Branch. He will however continue to handle charge of OSPHWC in addition to his own duties, the notification read.
R. K. Sharma, Intelligence Director has been transferred and posted as Additional DG of Police, Law and Order. CMD of OSRTC & CEO CRUT, Arun Bothra has been posted as Transport Commissioner.
Asheet Kumar Panigrahi, IG, Home Guards and Fire Services has been posted as IG, Vigilance, the notification stated.
“I am highly indebted to the people of the State and will continue to work hard to fulfill the aspirations of our people. In a democracy, people are the masters and we all exist to serve them. I take this opportunity to announce that ‘Sachivalaya’ or Secretariat will be called as Lok Seva Bhawan,” said Patnaik.
Patnaik made this announcement while moving the expenditure relating to Home Department in Assembly today.
The CM further stated that his government has enunciated 5T mantra (Technology, Teamwork, Transparency and Time leading to Transformation) to take the delivery of services and governance to the next level.
#LISTEN to LoP Pradipta Naik and Congress leader Narasingha Mishra's reaction on #Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik's decision to change the name of State Secretariat to Lok Seva Bhawan pic.twitter.com/Rl2gYwVyAz
— OTV (@otvnews) July 29, 2019
On the other hand, the Opposition parties- BJP and Congress, during discussion on Home department’s expenditure, targeted Odisha government over the deteriorating law and order situation in the State.
Leader of Opposition, Pradipta Naik said that several innocent people have been killed on suspicion of being police informers. Neither the State government is taking steps to contain crime, nor is it reviewing the report of the House Committee, Naik alleged.
The State government needs to be extra vigilant as the law and order situation has gone for a toss, added Naik.
Senior Congress leader, Narasingha Mishra said, “I have advised Odisha government to adopt Uttar Pradesh Model- for police modernisation. The State government should take steps to arrange Rs 4,000 crore to implement the model, which is being followed by several States.”
However, CM Naveen stated that the overall law and order and crime situation in the State had remained largely under control.
According to Patnaik, the situation relating to Left wing extremism has improved substantially during the last few years. Only a few pockets in the hilly and difficult terrains and those bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh remained the areas of concern, he said and added, 19 hardcore CPI (Maoist) cadres were killed in 2018 and 7 this year.
Maintaining that protection of women, children and weaker sections is top priorities of the government, he said specialised investigation units for dealing with crimes against women have been constituted in 29 districts in addition to women and children desks and integrated anti-human trafficking Units.
He said all rape cases involving minors were being treated as red-flag cases for better monitoring of investigation, leading to increase in conviction rate.
The tenure of the Commission was scheduled to end on August 4, a notification of the Home Department said.
"State Government extends the tenure of the Commission of Inquiry on unauthorised collection of public deposits for a further period of six months beyond August 4, 2019," tweeted the Home department.
Since its inception in 2013, the Commission has submitted seven interim reports to the government.
In its seventh interim report submitted last month, the Commission furnished the details of over one lakh small investors, who had invested less than Rs 10,000 in various chit fund companies.
The Commission recommended that the state government refund money to the small depositors duped by chit fund companies in the state.
Bishnupada Sethi, who was serving as the SRC, has been posted as Energy Department Secretary with additional charge as CMD of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC).
Mona Sharma currently posted as principal secretary of Rural Development Department has been appointed principal secretary of Forest and Environment Department.
As per the notification, Sanjeev Chopra has been appointed principal secretary of the Home Department. He has also been given additional charge as principal secretary of GA and PG department.
Saurabh Garg, the current principal secretary of the Agriculture department will assume additional charge as CMD of GRIDCO and OPTCL and CEO of OCPL.
Chairman-cum-managing Director, GRIDCO, Hemant Sharma has been appointed Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Industries department with additional charge as Commissioner-cum-Secretary of MSME department and CMD of IPICOL.
Chithra Arumugam, Special secretary P&C department has been appointed Commissioner-cum-secretary of School and Mass Education Department.
Arvind Agarwal, who is currently posted as Director Social Welfare with additional charge of MD Mahila Vikas Samabaya Nigam, has been given additional charge as secretary of GA and PG department.
Water Resources Department Special Secretary, Vishal Gagan has been given additional charge as Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the same department.
He will replace Sangram Keshari Mohapatra, who has been transferred and posted as OSD, G.A. & P.G. Department.
More details are awaited.