According to reports, the State government will enforce the ban on manufacturing, selling, trading, importing, storing, carrying, transporting and distributing with help of single-use plastics in all cities of the State from tomorrow.
Earlier, the State government had imposed the ban only in six cities- Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Puri in October last year.
Sources said that plastic bags with a thickness less than 50 microns and bottles with a larger size than 200 ml have also been banned.
Likewise, prohibition has also been imposed on single-use plastic items including plastic cups, plates, spoons, forks, bowls, glasses and pouches to store liquid objects. Thermocol decorative items also have been banned, informed the sources.
Secretary of the Forest and Environment department of the State government has asked the concerned officials to avoid the use of plastic items in their respective offices and ensure strict compliance of the rule by others in the State.
Sources, however, said that any organisation willing to prepare or use plastic bags that are of more than 50 microns can do so after getting prior permission from the Central Pollution Control Board.
It is worthwhile to mention here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged for ban on the use of plastic materials across the country for successful implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
After the Odisha government expressed its inability to run the Mahanadi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (MIMSAR), the company has taken the initiative to invite reputed medical institutions for running the medical college in Talcher, said a statement on Wednesday.
"As entire infrastructure for the medical college and hospital is ready, MCL has constituted a high powered committee to speedily complete the process for running the medial institute from next session," said B.N. Shukla, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of MCL.
Built at a cost of 492 crore under Corporate Social Responsibly (CSR), MIMSAR will have 100 seats for MBBS selections which will be done through National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG), which is likely to commence with the session beginning 2020-21.
The committee has gathered inputs from various organisations, like PSUs running medical colleges, super specialty institutes, charitable trusts, healthcare foundations, and hospital chains for preparation of selection criteria for inviting Expression of Interest (EoI).
"Preparation of matrix for calling EoI is in final stage and shortly we will be issuing notification for the same through leading newspapers and website," the CMD said.
He said that many organisations in healthcare services and business have shown interest in running the medical college.
The state-of-the-art facilities to run complete 19 departments for MBBS classes are already in place, with hostel accommodation for students and residential complex for faculty and non-teaching staff of the MIMSAR.
"We want medical aspirants from Ib Valley and Talcher coalfields in Angul, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh districts must prepare in advance through coaching so that they can secure admission in the medical college," Shukla said.
As per data uploaded on the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) website, a total of 66,83,148 toilets have been constructed since October 2, 2014, an increase of 86.22 per cent in terms of households with toilets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014, had announced the SBM for five years. The SBM is aimed to achieve universal sanitation coverage in the country as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
During the current fiscal 2019-20, a total of 9,34,406 toilets were built in the state.
The data revealed that 46,785 villages coming under 6,801 gram panchayats in 30 districts have been declared ODF.
Notably, Odisha was one of the worst performing state in construction of individual household latrines under the SBM. However, it has successfully achieved the ODF status after failing to meet several deadlines of the Centre.
While the toilet coverage percentage was 13.75 per cent in 2014, it increased to 32.37 per cent in 2015-16. It was 48.73 per cent in 2016-17 and 59.31 per cent in 2017-18.
In 2018-19, the toilet coverage increased to 87.86 per cent, which jumped to 100 per cent this financial year, thus achieving the ODF status.
The one-stop portal that tracks the complete life cycle of an investment, received its 1,000th proposal from a Mumbai-based chemical manufacturer Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd.
The company has proposed to invest Rs 162 crore to set up a manufacturing unit to produce chemicals to be used in water treatment with an annual capacity of 72,000 cubic meters per annum, said a statement on Thursday.
The project has the potential to generate direct and indirect employment for 125 people.
Industries Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra said GO-SWIFT was launched in November 2017 to provide a one-stop-shop for all industries throughout their investment life cycle.
"In a span of less than two years, the portal has received its 1000th application, which is a testament to its tremendous success for facilitating industrial projects in Odisha. We will definitely continue to raise the bar for Ease of Doing Business and are focused on speedy implementation of projects on the ground," said the Minister.
Some of the leading companies whose proposals were received in the GO-SWIFT portal include Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Haldia Petrochemicals, Aditya Birla Fashion, Manpasand Beverages, ITC Foods, Apar Industries Ltd, Vedanta, JSW Cement, Gokul Agro and Jindal Aluminum among others.
The proposal of IOCL to set up one of the largest petrochemical complexes in its existing base at Paradip, amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore was approved at the recent High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting held in August.
The proposal of Haldia Petrochemical to set up another petrochemical complex in Balasore district costing more than Rs 78,000 crore was also approved in the same meeting.
GO-SWIFT provides all the information and clearances that investors require in a time-bound, hassle-free, paperless and transparent manner. Entirely online, the launch of GO-SWIFT has improved the efficiency of the approval process for both new and existing industries across 32 services from 15 state departments.
With this, the total number of people arrested in connection with the incident at Goparpur village under Khallikote police station area has gone up to 34, Inspector In-Charge (IIC) of Khallikote police station, Satya Narayan Pradhan said.
Police had earlier arrested 29 people, including 22 women, for their involvement in the incident, he said.
Efforts are on to arrest some more people, who were involved in the incident. "We have the names of other accused persons and they will be nabbed soon", the IIC said.
A group of people of Goparpur village suspected that the six elderly men practised witchcraft which caused the death of at least three women and sickness of seven others in the locality, police said.
They forcibly dragged the six men from their houses on Tuesday night and forced them to consume human excreta before pulling out their teeth, the police said.
The pleas of the six victims for help failed to evoke any response from other villagers.
As the information reached the district headquarters, Superintendent of Police Brijesh Rai along with a police team rushed to the village and rescued them.
The injured persons, all aged over 60 years, have been admitted at the hospital where their condition is stated to be stable.
The police arrested 29 people including 22 women in this connection on Wednesday.
Fearing arrest almost all the male persons had fled from the village, the IIC said.
There was no tension in the area, but police were keeping a strict vigil on the situation. Patrolling was intensified in the area to nab other accused persons, police said.
What's more shocking is that the trio had opened offices at Nabarangpur and Umerkote in the name of National Human Rights Citizens Commission to operate the racket.
The accused couple Asish Patra and his wife Ranjana Verma were found to be residents of Gulipatna Street in Umerkote while the third person Anil Kumar Banerjee belongs to Bhubaneswar, police sources said.
One Premashila Nayak of Singirikari village says that she decided to battle out the financial constraints as her husband’s earnings were not enough to run the family. When the accused promised her a job with a monthly salary of Rs 7000, provided she deposits a sum of Rs 40000 at the beginning, Nayak took loan from her relatives and handed it over to them.
After Nayak, several youths from Raighar, Umerkote, Jharigaon and even people from Kalahandi district deposited Rs 40000 to as much as Rs 10 lakh at the fake office on false assurance of being given lucrative jobs.
Though the applicants received appointment letters, they did not get any job neither was there any development regarding their postings.
Months passed and when nothing materialised, the job aspirants asked the ‘NHRCC staff’ to refund their money. It was when they were denied a reimbursement, they smelled something fishy and lodged a complaint with police in this connection, sources said.
Acting on the complaint, police registered a case and immediately arrested the accused. This apart, police have seized a car, two laptops and several fake job letters from their possession.
Nabarangpur SP, Nitin Kusalkar said, “The three accused duped people with a promise of providing them jobs. An investigation is underway to find out if any other person/persons are involved in the racket.”
As per reports, Jena was working as a domestic help at the house of one Syed Liaquat Ali at Thiruvanmiyur in Chennai.
On August 14, Ali lodged a police complaint in connection with the theft of cash, gold ornaments and some foreign currency from his house.
Senior Police officials informed that a case was registered against two persons- Gauranga Jena and Shiba Nayak in connection with the incident. Both Jena and Nayak of Taradipal village under Ghasipura Police limits were working as domestic helps in Chennai.
Though Jena was arrested after raids by the special police team from Tamil Nadu, Nayak is still absconding.
After completing engineering, Ashwini was working in an IT company in Bengaluru. Later, he left the profession to open a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centre in Cuttack. However, inspired by his parents Sudam Padhi and Runa Panda, who are teachers by profession, Ashwini decided to spend some time after his work and provide free education to the students mostly from slum areas that are unable to afford education. Apart from teaching the students, Ashwini also provides them study materials.
"I have been teaching the financially weak students from the slum areas for the last three years because I believe that education only can bring a change in the society," said Ashwini.
"I was influenced by my parents for this mission since my childhood," he added.
Students receiving education from Ashwini also expressed their gratitude and hailed him for his noble deed. "I am very happy that Ashwini sir is teaching us English, Hindi, Odia and Mathematics. While teaching he ensures that we learn properly," said Rahul Das, a student.
"It is almost a year that I am coming for the classes here. He teaches us very well without taking any money from us," said Puja Nayak, another student.
Well Done ! #Odisha IT engineer quits lucrative job to light the way for poor & needy slum children in #Bhubaneswar. Here’s an #OTV report. pic.twitter.com/AeseW3ff5b
— OTV (@otvnews) October 5, 2019
Citing preliminary investigation reports, the police said that the youth, Krushna Champatiray, a resident of Kanchanpur village under Chandpur police limits in Nayagarh district, could have committed suicide by setting himself on fire after pouring liquor or any other inflammable substance on him.
“Preliminary inquiry and the circumstantial evidence hint that the youth committed suicide. He poured some inflammable liquid on him before setting him on fire. He had also cut his hand and wrote ‘Madhu’ with blood,” Jagatsinghpur SDPO, Prakash Chandra Pal said.
“We are also probing the murder angle and have questioned the suspect woman, wife and mother of the deceased. The autopsy report is yet to come. We are waiting for the report to ascertain the exact cause behind death,” Pal added.
Earlier, the wife of the youth had alleged that he was set on fire over an illicit affair. She has alleged that the girl with whom he was having a love affair was the mastermind behind his murder.
The accused have been arrested, they said.
"The duo have confessed to the crime. They gangraped her while the 14-year-old girl had gone to a field to answer to nature's call.
"The arrest was made on the basis of a complaint lodged by her father," a police officer said.
The incident took place on Sunday night at a village under the jurisdiction of Aul Police Station.
There were evidences of sexual abuse of the girl, a Class 9 student of a government-run school, as per the medical report, police said.
Lipika from Dalab village of Bargarh district scaled the mountain and unfurled the tricolour at the top. She also sang the national anthem after scaling Mount Elbrus, which has an elevation of 5,642 m (18,510 ft).
Lipika began her trip from advance base camp at 1 am (local time) on October 5 and reached the summit at 9 am (local time), informed mountaineer Nrusingha Sahu.
Sahu had guided Lipika for the mountain expedition.
Mount Elbrus expedition, which had started on September 28, has concluded on October 8. Participants from several countries took part in this expedition.
A Matter Of Pride & Honour!#Odisha woman Lipika Seth successfully scales Mount Elbrus (5,642 metre), the highest peak in Russia. Lipika reportedly reached the summit on October 5 pic.twitter.com/BXoUTPb427
— OTV (@otvnews) October 10, 2019
Earlier, Lipika had scaled Africa's highest peak Mt Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) in 2018. She has also set a target to climb South America's top peak Mt Aconcagua (6,962 m) in December this year.
Sources said the funds were sanctioned to Pipilia panchayat to carry out various developmental works. However, the entire money was allegedly embezzled by Nayak and the then PEO Soubhagya Rout, who was earlier suspended over a vigilance case against him.
After conducting an enquiry, the BDO of Ghatagaon block lodged a complaint at local police station based on which Nayak has been detained.
Udhhav Chandra Majhi, Project Director of DRDA Keonjhar said, “Soubhagya Rout was the Ex-PEO of Pipilia Panchayat. The misappropriation came to light after he failed to handover the pass book and cashbook of the Panchayat to the new PEO. A preliminary enquiry by our team revealed that the money was transferred to his bank account.”
While police have launched an investigation into the incident, the Ex-PEO is reportedly absconding.
The officials have been directed to closely follow up on the 49 indicators across five sectors -- health and nutrition, education, agriculture, and water resources, financial inclusion and skill upgradation and basic infrastructures like irrigation, rural electrification, potable drinking water and access to toilets -- in these districts.
While Agriculture Production Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra has been assigned to oversee the development in Dhenkanal district, Women and Child Development Secretary Anu Garg will look after the Rayagada district, an official notification said.
Agriculture Secretary Sourabh Garg will oversee the development works in Koraput district, Panchayati Raj Secretary D.R.K Singh in Kalahandi district, Home Secretary Sanjeev Chopra in Kandhamal district, Industries Secretary Hemanta Sharma in Nabarangpur district, and Higher Education Secretary Saswat Mishra will oversee the development work in Nuapada district.
Skill Development and Technical Education Secretary S.K. Singh has been assigned for Gajapati district, Health Secretary Pramod Mumar Meherda for Bolangir district and Cooperation Secretary V.V. Yadav for Malkangiri district.
During the visit, he will attend the maiden meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal in Odisha, along with Bhayaji Joshi, the second in command in the RSS.
Bhagwat is scheduled to address a meeting of intellectuals on October 12, they said.
RSS' working committee meeting will be held from October 16-18 at a private university here.
BJP national working president J P Nadda, who is also slated to visit Odisha on a four-day tour from October 15, is likely attend the RSS events, the sources said.
In an attempt to put an end to this, it was none other than the Registrar of the Orissa HC himself who filed a petition alleging delay in court proceedings due to such protests.
Acting on the petition, a 14-member full bench of the Orissa High Court today issued show cause notice to the bar associations across all districts seeking a reply by October 21 on why lawyers boycotting court proceedings shouldn't be held contempt of court.
This apart, the bench has also served notices to Chief Secretary, Secretaries of Home & Law Departments, Presidents of National and State Bar Council and High Court Bar Association President and Secretary.
"Today's contempt proceeding was in connection with the agitation of lawyers over various irregularities. However, it was surprising to see under what provision of law was a 14-member full bench formed to hear a contempt proceeding. We will hold another general body meeting tomorrow and all the members of the HC will abide by whatever decision the body takes," said Gopal Krushna Mohanty, President, High Court Bar Association.
It is for the first time in history of the Orissa HC that a full bench was constituted to hear a case.
It is to be noted that different district bar associations like Koraput, Kalahandi, Sambalpur and Berhampur have been staging cease-work agitations demanding establishment of a bench of the High Court in their respective regions.
While the Sambalpur bar association observes cease-work on last three working days every month, similar agitation in the undivided Koraput district has been continuing for the last 11 months.
Likewise, the Berhampur bar association holds cease-work demonstration on four working days every month. The High Court Bar Association has also launched a cease work strike since Monday protesting the collegium system and demanding formation of National Judicial Appointments Commission.
On the other hand, the agitating lawyers' body said that it would decide its next course of action after getting notice of the Orissa HC full bench.
"As of now we don't know what issues have been raised in the notice. Therefore, we will decide our next course of action only after getting the notice," informed, president of Sambalpur District Bar Association, Bijitendriya Pradhan.
"Our future course of action will be based on the opinion of every member of the bar association," said Rabi Panigrahi, president of Ganjam District Bar Association.
Rakesh Tripathy, IIC, Pattamundai Police Station informed that police swung into action after getting a written complaint from the girls' parents and detained the accused from Palasingha area on charges of abducting the minor girls.
"We rescued the girls and apprehended the accused who had abducted them on the pretext of offering them lift to their school in Bangalipada village. We are now looking into the motive of the kidnapper. Further investigation into the matter is underway,” Tripathy said adding we have also seized the two-wheeler which the man used to abduct the girls.
The accused, whose identity was not known immediately, had allegedly kidnapped Anita Barik, a student of class III, and Annapurna Mondal, a class V student, on the pretext of offering them lift to school.
The mater came to light after the girls raised alarm when the accused did not drop them in front of their school.
However, after Pandian's visit, deplorable condition of majority of the hospital which wore refurbished looks for few days are now back to square one putting a big question mark on the effectiveness of Odisha government's roadmap for implementation of ‘Mo Sarkar’.
An OTV reality check at Keonjhar and Rayagada district headquarters hospitals have opened up glaring examples of mismanagement.
Narrating his bad experience in the Keonjhar DHH, Sunil Munda, a relative of a patient said, “I came to the hospital with my grandfather after his skin developed some infection. After I got a ticket, I learnt that the doctor was absent. Yesterday also I visited the hospital, but returned without meeting the doctor.”
Coming from far-off places, patients are facing considerable inconvenience due to lack of adequate facilities, prevailing unhygienic conditions, standing in queue for long hours due to inadequate staff at the district headquarters hospital.
Keonjhar Collector Ashish Thakare, however, clarified that the hospital is in upgradation mode and linking it up with the new medical college is underway. We are also trying to rope in more doctors for the welfare of patients so it is a continuous process.
Similar situation prevails at Rayagada district headquarters hospital where there is no waiting room in the maternity ward and relatives are seen seating for hours on the verandah with children. Besides, the ultrasound unit at the hospital is lying defunct for the last four years due to lack of proper equipments and doctors.
“I have come to the hospital with my son as he suffering from infection. The hospital staff told me that the doctor will come on Wednesday. However, the doctor did not turn up,” said Sahadev Tandi a resident of Gotipada in Rayagada district.
As per reports, the concerned teacher had allegedly misbehaved with a class VI student inside the school premises. The matter came to light after the girl somehow managed to escape and later informed the hostel warden. Irate over the incident, locals reportedly locked up the assistant teacher and ransacked his car today.
As per the allegations, the teacher tried to misbehave with the girl student by touching her inappropriately.
"As per instructions of higher officials, we have informed police for necessary action," informed Hemanta Dutta, Head Master of Bada Brahmanmara Govt UP School.
"It is a matter of shame for the area. Stringent action should be taken against the teacher," said Bidio Bhakta, Sarpanch, Bankisole gram panchayat .
Following the tension at the school, Additional SP, SDPO, BDO and a team of Fire Services personnel reached the spot and held discussions with the agitators. Besides, one platoon police force has been deployed to maintain law and order.
More details awaited.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who held several roadshows in the constituency seeking votes for party candidate Sanath Gartia, attacked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for vacating the seat and failing to ensure development in the region.
"The local BJD leaders had invited the Chief Minister to contest from Bijepur constituency to ensure development in Odisha. But he vacated the seat after winning the election. The Bijepur people, who have been burdened with another election, will give a befitting reply on October 21," said Pradhan.
"The Chief Minister had promised inclusive development of the constituency. Where is development? The by-election will be between truth and untruth," said the Union Minister.
Reacting to the jibe, BJD MP Prasanna Acharya pointed finger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had contested from two Lok Sabha seats.
"Prime Minister Modi also vacated a seat and Naveen Patnaik vacating Bijepur seat is a part of the democratic process. As far as development is concerned, the government is executing the works announced by the Chief Minister," said Acharya.
The Chief Minister campaigned for the second consecutive day in the constituency for party candidate Rita Sahu. He held roadshows in the Assembly segment.
Joining the chorus, the Congress said both BJP and BJD are doing drama before the public.
"Naveen Patnaik has always supported Narendra Modi and vice-versa. While both the parties are fighting here, they show bonhomie in New Delhi. The BJP is working as BJD's B team," said Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati.
The campaign for the by-poll will conclude on Saturday. The election will be held on October 21. The counting will be held on October 24.
The by-poll was necessitated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who won from both Bijepur and Hinjili Assembly constituencies, vacated the Bijepur seat.
The video which was reportedly shot in the principal’s chamber shows the college principal, Manoj Sahu, and the accountant engaged in a heated argument with the student, Debasish Mohanty.
While the accountant, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, is seen arguing with the student, the principal suddenly snatches Debasish’s cellphone and smashes it against the ground.
According to sources, Debasish, a Plus III third year student of the college, had applied for college leaving certificate (CLC). But the college principal had allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 as bribe from him for issuing the certificate and later increased the amount to Rs 7,500. As the student refused to pay the bribe, an argument ensued.
“When the principal refused to issue me the CLC, I asked him to give it in written which angered him. Later, the principal and accountant attacked me. When I took out my cellphone to call my parents, he snatched it and smashed it against the ground. Then they detained me in the room,” the student alleged.
On the other hand, the principal brushed aside the allegations and accused the student of misbehaviour.
“As he was behaving rudely I had to close the cabin door to call the IIC. While taking away his cellphone, I dropped it inadvertently. I will convene a meeting and resolve the issue mutually,” the principal said.
Following the incident, tension erupted at the college with students resorting to agitation. The students blocked the main gate of the college and burnt tyres protesting the alleged highhandedness of the principal and accountant. They also demanded immediate transfer of the principal.
Senior police officials informed that the accused, Pavitra Mohan Mohanty had created a fake Facebook ID in the name of a girl and sent a friend request to a youth in 2017.
After becoming friends, Mohanty started to share obscene pictures and messages with the youth.
"After chatting and sharing obscene pictures, the accused had closed the Facebook account. Later, posing as Cuttack DCP, he started to blackmail the youth by sharing his chat messages," said Semiliguda SDPO, Niranjan Behera.
Behera further informed that the accused had threatened to arrest the youth by implicating him in a false case. With no other option, the youth had transferred over Rs 7.13 lakh in two years in the bank account of the accused.
"The matter came to light after the youth refused to pay Rs 57,000 as demanded by the accused recently and lodged a complaint in connection with the incident. We have arrested the accused," said Behera.
These are parts of the proposed standard operating procedure (SOP) to strengthen the 'golden hour management' system in a bid to reduce the death rate in road accidents in the state.
Chief Secretary AK Tripathy issued a direction in this regard while reviewing the system at a meeting here.
While 4790 people were killed in road accidents in 2017, it increased to 5315 in 2018. At least 2532 people have been killed from January to May this year.
Tripathy asked the health and family welfare department to bring all private and government ambulance services under the umbrella of a common call centre to provide the earliest service to the victims.
The chief secretary directed all the private and government hospitals to provide the best quality life-saving treatment to accident victims for first 48 hours free of cost since that period is crucial for the lives of accident victims.
Health & Family Welfare department would soon issue the SOP in this matter, department Secretary P K Meherda said.
Official sources said presently 512 vehicles operate as '108-Ambulances' in the state besides 19 fire station ambulances. Besides, the National High Way Authorities of India has also deployed one ambulance for a stretch of 50 kms of NH.
Besides, there are around 1562 private ambulances run by hospitals, charitable institutions and corporate houses, the sources said.
It was decided at the meeting that technical standards for the registration of an ambulance would be prepared by Health & Family Welfare department keeping in view the National Ambulance Code.
This would specify the equipment, paramedic staff, medicines and other life-saving gadgets for an ambulance. Each ambulance would also have one GPS tracking device for indicating its exact location and movement so that necessary assistance and instructions could be given to the personnel in the vehicle as and when required, the sources said.
Dipti, who originally hails from Rajasthan, reportedly set the unique record after typing alphabets A to Z blindfolded in just 3.54 seconds on August 3, 2019. This apart she has won the fastest junior blindfold typist in India tag.
"I broke the record in 3. 54 seconds to enter the India Book Of Records. My aim is now to create the Guinness World Records and become a scientist in the future," said Dipti, who is currently studying in class III at Jharsuguda-based Mykidz school.
Delighted over Dipti's achievement, her mother Jyoti Sharma said, "It feels very happy that my daughter set the record for the fastest typing by a kid. It is only due to her own strong willpower that she has been able to achieve success. Now she aims the Guinness World Records by completing the task in 1.80 seconds."
"Initially, I asked the parents to buy laptops for their children, but they disagreed. However, after Dipti's success, almost every one of them is showing interest. It is because of her practice, Dipti has achieved the feat," informed Vikash Kedia, principal of Mykidz school.
The minor girl, identified as Poonam Sa, was reportedly playing in front her house yesterday morning when she suddenly went missing. Though her family members searched for her in and around the village, they couldn't trace her.
Later, suspecting a woman of the village of practising superstition, some locals along with Poonam's family members barged into her house and allegedly found the minor girl inside a box with multiple bite marks on her body.
Poonam was rushed to Govindpur Community Health Centre in a critical condition but doctor declared her brought dead. Irate over her death, some locals thrashed the woman.
"My father-in-law traced my daughter whom the woman had kept in a box. We found several bite marks on Poonam's neck and hands," alleged Hirabati Sa, mother of the deceased girl.
"We suspect it to be a case of sorcery as there were several bite marks on Poonam's body. Stringent action should be taken against the woman," said one of Poonam's relatives.
Meanwhile, local police reached the spot after getting information and rescued the accused woman. Two platoons of police force have been deployed in the village as tension still prevail in the area.
What's more shocking is that the contraband smuggling which roots from Cuttack, involved many college students.
The incident came to the light after a 2.23 minute video purportedly showing a group of college students taking brown sugar went viral on social media.
According to sources, the brown sugar is being hidden in the clusters of banana and smuggled to Rajnagar from Cuttack during every weekly market.
While it is yet to be known whether police is aware of this, locals have raised questions over cops' inaction in the matter. They alleged that the students are able to get access to the brown sugar easily citing that police have turned a mute spectator.
“We have alerted the excise department. The staff from Rajnagar excise office have rushed to the spot and inquiring into the matter. This is for the first time such incident came to light in Kendrapara. We will investigate from where and how the brown sugar was smuggled and take a step to curb it,” said Kendrapara additional collector Basanta Rout.
Voting will take place in Chhatrapur of Ganjam district, Danagadi of Jajpur district, Pottangi and Dasmantapur in Koraput district, the SEC said on Tuesday.
It said that polling will be conducted from 7 am till 12 noon in these zones, and the results will be declared on November 28.
Candidates can file their nomination papers between October 31 and November 2.
On November 7, the final list of candidates will be announced, the notification said.
By-polls to 17 sarpanches, 21 panchayat samitis and 303 wards will also be held on the same day, the SEC added.
The departments were asked to make a "realistic reassessment" of their financial requirements for the current year, said state finance secretary A K Meena while briefing all secretaries of departments at a meet, held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy on Tuesday.
"The supplementary budget will be presented around mid-November, 2019. The departments were asked to submit their requirements within a day," Meena said.
The secretaries of various departments were also instructed that the "anticipated savings, if any, should be surrendered by them for re-allocations", he said.
State finance minister Niranjan Pujari had presented Rs 1.39 lakh crore budget for the current fiscal in June this year and the supplementary estimates will be in addition to the annual budget.
Chief Secretary also reviewed the performances of the state departments up to September, 2019.
According to officials, revenue generation from non- tax sources grew by 10.46 per cent by end of September, 2019, in comparison to the corresponding period of the last year, with a total collection of Rs 6,186.48 crore.
The revenue from mining royalty and water rent increased by around 14 per cent and 46 per cent respectively, Meena said adding that the total collection from mining sector was around Rs 5,207 crore as against Rs 4,580 crore in the last year, up to September.
Compared to last year's collection of Rs 14,049 crore from own-tax revenue, the same had increased by 7.16 per cent to about Rs 15,055 crore, he said.
The budget utilisation by end of September, 2019 grew by 9.15 per cent over the same period last fiscal and the total expenditure in the first six months of the current year was around Rs 46,819 crore, the officials said.
During the meeting, Tripathy directed the state departments' officials to rearrange their spending pattern so as to scale up utilisation level to at least sixty percent of the budget estimates by end of December.
State officials were also apprised about the fiscal strategy paper for the financial year 2020-21, which will be presented by December, 2019 and the pre-budget consultation for the budget of next fiscal will be held between December 16 and 31, Meena said.
Further, the departments were asked to complete their online submission of Annual Establishment Review in the official portal by November 15.
"The guest house has been constructed illegally in forest land. Sarpanch's husband Rupesh was able to manage this only with the support of ruling party. The guest house should be immediately demolished and the government needs to take the land under its possession," said Manoj Rout, Jajpur district Congress president.
It is pertinent to mention that Mahila Congress today gheraoed Jajpur SP office demanding a CBI enquiry into the death case of Smitarani Biswal.
On the other hand, Jajpur BJP district unit president Goutam Ray informed that the party will lodge FIRs at all police stations of the district on October 26 demanding a criminal case against Jajpur SP Charan Singh Meena.
At a presser, BJP State vice-president Samir Mohanty alleged, "Jajpur SP looked into the personal angle of the deceased Smitarani Biswal for probe but overlooked the professional aspect of her life. Police are also yet to clarify on the role of five others who were present at the spot during her death."
Later in the day, a delegation of BJP met Chief Secretary and submitted a memorandum seeking an impartial probe into the incident. The delegation mentioned that justice to Smitarani would be a morale booster for other low-level employees.
However, BJD Minister Sameer Ranjan Dash requested the Opposition not to politicise the matter. If they have any evidence, they should rather submit it before the investigating agency, stated Dash.
Meanwhile, Jajpur Collector Ranjan Kumar Das has directed local Tehsildar for a thorough inspection. "The Tehsildar would first measure the land and see if the concerned guest house has been constructed on government land. Necessary action would be taken based on the report," said Das.
According to sources, one Chandrakanta Gochhayat of Nachipur village under Daspalla block took his daughter Rinki to Daspalla CHC on September 29 after she suffered a minor injury in her right eye. However, as there were no eye doctors available at the community hospital, Chandrakanta rushed her to Nayagarh DHH.
As per the prescription provided by the doctor there, Chandrakanta collected the required medicine drop from the Niramaya store. The doctor then suggested to use 3-5 drops twice a day. After returning home, when he instilled the drop, Rinki lost her vision, alleged Chandrakanta.
Tensed, Chandrakanta again rushed her to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar where he was told by a doctor that the medicine prescribed was an ear drop.
Nayagarh CDMO Sweta Mohapatra said, "We'll have to see the composition of the ear drop that was reportedly prescribed by the doctor and find out if it was harmful. Let the patient's family come with the medicine and treatment record, so that we can gauge where exactly the lacunae was. If the allegations are true, we will seek an explanation from the doctor."
Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Sahoo informed that the city police swung into action and arrested the accused based on the written complaint filed by the actress at Nayapalli Police station.
“The two accused in the incident involving some actors on 20-21 October intervening night under Nayapalli PS limit have been arrested, as per law, after a written complaint was received,” said the Commissionerate Police in a tweet.
A constable Priya Ranjan Sahoo was also felicitated by the police for handling the case efficiently.
For providing excellent police help to a group of actors (4 women, 2 men & 1 driver) on 20-21 Oct early hours Dial 100 Operator Priya Ranjan Sahoo was appreciated by CP @SarangiSudhansu today.
Our staff serve you to the best of their ability 24X7@dcpbbsr @odisha_police pic.twitter.com/Sp2S2z7fL6— COMMISSIONERATE POLICE (@cpbbsrctc) October 24, 2019
As per reports, two bike-borne miscreants allegedly attempted to waylay and attack the actress while she was returning from Khandagiri along with her colleagues in a car on Monday night. One of the accused had also allegedly tried to throw an alcohol bottle set on fire at the actress’ vehicle.
The viral video was shot by one of the occupants of the car. The incident had sparked an outrage raising concern over safety of women in the capital city.
Patnaik, who handed over placement orders to 299 lecturers out of 833 selected candidates, told reporters here that the socio-economic value of education can be realised by dedicated and committed teachers.
The Odisha government has started the process of recruiting lecturers for a total of around 3,400 vacant posts in the State.
"We are establishing centres of excellence in universities with research funds for young educators. Our focus is on strengthening research capacity in disciplines that are relevant to the socio-economic development of Odisha," the CM said.
The state government is committed to improve the quality of education, he added.
Acting on a tip-off, a team comprising SP and IIC along with police force raided the units and seized firecrackers worth lakhs of rupees. Later, police detained three persons in this connection.
While it is being said that the firecrackers were supplied to Cuttack and its periphery areas, an investigation is currently underway to ascertain from where the raw materials were being supplied to these illegal cracker units.
Last week, police had busted cracker units at Trilochanpur and Mahajanpur villages under Jagatpur police limits and seized huge cache of firecrackers and explosive raw materials like gun powder, iron dust and potassium nitrate worth around Rs 50 lakh from the illegal units. Subsequently, 12 persons were arrested.
Based on a complaint filed by a victim, police initiated an investigation and arrested Kartik Routray from Cuttack. "Kartik Routray is a veteran cheat who defrauded many by persuading them to transfer money, impersonating as CID officer. The inter-district fraud was arrested by Chauliaganj police. He has cheated money from the victim through account transfer impersonating himself as Additional SP Crime Branch," said police.
Police also seized seven mobile phones, 21 SIM cards, 14 bank passbooks, and nine chequebooks, 17 ATM cards and a gold chain from Routray's possession.
One inter district fraud/cheater namely Kartik Routaray @ Behera was arrested in Chauliaganj PS Case No. 330/2019. He has cheated money from the victim through account transfer impersonating himself as Addl. SP Crime Branch. @cpbbsrctc @SarangiSudhansu. pic.twitter.com/dxKYc4osrK
— DCP CUTTACK (@DCP_CUTTACK) October 25, 2019
Meanwhile, the cops are interrogating him to find out whether he is involved in any other fraud case.
Sarbeswar Senapati, Executive Engineer and Deputy Director in the office of the Engineer-in-Chief (EIC), Water Resources, was arrested on Thursday after raids on his house, office and other premises were conducted, a vigilance officer said on Saturday.
Senapati's residential house at Balasore, government quarter at Bhubaneswar, house at his native village in Balasore district, flat at Bhubaneswar, house of relatives at Balasore and office room at Bhubaneswar were simultaneously searched on Wednesday by vigilance officers.
In course of search, Senapati was found to be in possession of assets worth Rs 2,06,12,252 including one three-storied building, one single-storied building, two of flats, three plots of land, a car, two two-wheelers, deposits in different banks and post offices, gold ornaments, cash of about 12 lakh and costly household articles, he said.
After the search, inventory and further enquiry, the income, expenditure and assets of Senapati were calculated and he was found in possession of assets disproportionate to the known sources of income to the tune of Rs 1,90,90,067.
As the Executive Engineer was found in possession of huge disproportionate assets which he could not account for satisfactorily, a case was registered under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 for detailed investigation.
Senapati was arrested and investigation of the case is in progress, the officer added.
"According to the deceased Asish Ranjan Samal's wife, he wanted a job transfer to Odisha from Guwahati. Samal was in depression after he did not get the transfer," said Deepak Kumar Jena, Inspector in-Charge at Barachana police station.
Samal allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at a hotel room in Chandikhola in Jajpur.
He had come to his native village Naraharipur on October 23 to meet his mother. The next day, he was scheduled to leave for Bhubaneswar to meet his wife, a doctor, and son, a Class 12 student.
"The bank officials told his mother that he was going to Bhubaneswar. However, he checked into a hotel in Chandikhola instead. By late October 24 evening, his family members began getting anxious after he did not answer phone calls," said Jena.
On Friday morning, when the hotel staff knocked at the door of the room, Samal did not answer, following which the employees called the police. Upon arrival, the Badachana police found him hanging from the ceiling fan of the room.
"An autopsy has been conducted and we are waiting for the report. We are also analysing the call details of Samal," said Jena.
"The low pressure system over Bay of Bengal has weakened. Odisha will not witness major rainfall activity. However, light to moderate rainfall accompanied with lightning may occur today in some isolated places in the coastal and interior parts of the State including Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Khurda and Ganjam districts as a trough line still passes through Odisha up to central Assam across Gangetic West Bengal," said Madan Mohan Das, Duty Officer, Regional Met Centre, Bhubaneswar.
"The above districts along with one or two places in the North and South Odisha will receive light to moderate rainfall tomorrow. But there will not be heavy rainfall. Winter onset in Odisha will be soon after the rain subsides," he added.
Patnaik had also advised the Chief Secretary, the Development Commissioner, the Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) and officers in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) to visit childcare institutions and celebrate the festival of lights with children.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy visited Chetna, an institution of special education, and interacted with the inmates. Following the Chief Minister's advice, all Collectors celebrated the day by visiting childcare institutions in their districts.
Similarly, the Director General of Police (DGP) and all senior police officers, including Superintendents of Police (SPs), had been advised to spend time in battalions and celebrate Diwali with jawans and their family members.
"Celebrated Diwali with family members, including children of police personnel at RP Lines, Bhubaneswar, in presence of CP & others. Innovative & maiden connect of the sort," tweeted DGP Bijay Kumar Sharma.
The father was arrested from Kerikerijhola village under Sheragada police station limit on the charge of the killing that occurred on Monday night.
Inspector in-charge of Sheragada police station Ramesh Chandra Pradhan said 25-year-old Pintu Gouda used to come home drunk and create nuisance in the house.
Gouda, who was married, also regularly demanded money from his father. He had attacked his father for refusing to give him around two months ago, Pradhan said.
On Monday night, Gouda demanded Rs 10,000 from his father who told him to quit liquor first. That led to an argument and he was hacked to death.
The police registered a murder case against the accused.
Patnaik said this while addressing a function marking the observance of Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day and the National Day for Disaster Reduction.
"Odisha has already set a global benchmark in handling disasters. The recent disasters demonstrate the need for integrating the principle of resilience in every area of development planning and recovery process to achieve a substantial reduction in economic losses," he said.
The day is observed every year on October 29 as the state was ravaged by the Super Cyclone killing at least 10,000 people in 1999. The state has since emerged as a pioneer in managing disasters, especially cyclones by reducing the human loss in calamities.
Patnaik said cyclone Fani hit the state this year on May 3 in which 64 people were killed and a population of 1.65 crore affected. Cyclone Fani also damaged more than 5 lakh houses and severely damaged power and telecom infrastructure in the coastal districts.
"In coming years, the disaster management efforts of the state will be to build resilience at all levels with focus of disaster resilience of public infrastructure and services, disaster resilience housing for all and resilient livelihood and sustainable environment to reduce the risk of future disasters," the chief minister said.
Patnaik felicitated Dr Mrutunjay Mahapatra, the director general of India Meteorological Department (IMD), NGOs and individuals in recognisation of their commendable work during disaster. He praised the personnel of NDRF, ODARF, Fire Service and Odisha Police for their dedicated service during the cyclone Fani.
Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Jena speaking at the function said the state government has decided to identify landslide-prone areas to establish the critically vulnerable areas.
Jena said landslide has emerged as a major natural disaster in the state. The IIT, Mumbai has been assigned the responsibility to identify places in Odisha most vulnerable to landslides.
The state government also organized several events to mark the occasion.
The state governments proposal regarding setting up of another CIPET in the state was accepted by the secretary of Chemicals and Petrochemicals P Raghabendra Rao, they said.
Rao was here to review the implementation of the proposed Petroleum and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) in Odisha's Paradip.
"Once the formal letter is received from the state government, the team will be sent to Koraput," Rao told reporters after the meeting.
The CIPET has one centre here and the state government had requested for another such facility keeping in view the employability of the project.
The CIPET centre here, Institute of Plastics Technology at Patia was established in 1986.
The DGP told the commandants of the armed police battalions to guide armed personnel to maintain discipline.
"Rise to the expectations of common people and guide the armed police personnel to maintain discipline while performing law and order duty in the field," Sharma told senior officers while addressing the 3rd Commandants Conference here.
Sharma inaugurated the e-office initiative of five battalions located at Malkangiri, Dhenkanal, Rourkela, Khorda, and Cuttack. The rest of the battalions will adopt the e- office system by March 2020, the DGP said.
"The introduction of the e-Office system in all the state battalions will help in delivering services much faster," he said.
The DGP also released the logo of OSAP Battalion, IR Battalion, SS Battalion and OISF Battalion on the occasion.
As many as 25 Commandants and 50 Dy Commandants from OSAP Battalions, IR Battalions, SS Battalions, SOG, SIW, OISF, UP & TTI, Bhubaneswar and BTI, Burla participated in the day-long deliberations.
A 24-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly prompting the two girls, aged around 15 years, to escape from the shelter home run by an NGO here on September 24, Kalahandi Superintendent of Police B Gangadhar said.
Police teams rescued one girl and arrested the accused, identified as Purna Chandra Chatria, from the outskirt of Bengaluru. Another girl was rescued from near Chennai on Sunday. All of them were brought here on Tuesday, the SP said.
The Police had launched an investigation after the girls, who belong to different villages under Jaipatna Police Station limits, went missing.
While one girl was traced on the outskirt of Bengaluru, the other was found near Chennai where they were engaged in a brick kiln and a tailoring unit respectively, police said.
Accused Chatria, who belongs to Tentulikhunti village under Jaipatna area, was responsible for the whole episode and he assisted the two girls to escape with him, they said.
With detailed planning, Chatria brainwashed the girls, helped them to escape from the shelter home and took them with him, the SP said.
The accused engaged one girl in the brick kiln near Bengaluru where he is also working and engaged the other girl in a tailoring unit at Tirupur near Chennai.
The statements of the two girls will be recorded and investigation is in progress, he said
The SP said the management of the shelter home has been asked to ensure proper security and monitoring at the centre.
As per the announcement, the district Redcross Societies will receive an amount of 10 lakh each for this purpose.
Basing on the additional requirements of districts like Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Balasore, Keonjhar, Sundergarh and Sambalpur, an additional Rs 10 lakh will be given to these districts, said a statement from Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
This amount will be given from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) and other sources.
It has been done keeping in view the welfare and comfort of children residing in various childcare institutions in the state, the statement said.
The Chief Minister had earlier directed Ministers and senior officers visiting districts to have lunch in these institutions and enquire about the well-being of the children.
In another development, the Odisha government-appointed senior bureaucrats to improve overall performance, infrastructure, development and functioning of medical colleges and hospitals and to oversee progress of proposed medical colleges.
A total of 10 senior IAS officers appointed as coordinating officers for 13 medical colleges and hospitals, said the CMO.
The accused were apprehended from Kuliana, close to Similipal National Park, on Tuesday when they tried to transport the animal to Kolkata, the forest official said.
The pangolin, weighing about 17kg, was rescued from a roadside 'dhaba' along the National Highway-18, the official said.
"Acting on a tip-off, a group of forest officials raided the 'dhaba' and the culprits, who had captured the animal from Similipal, were nabbed. A car and a jeep were seized," Baripada DFO Swayam Mallick said.
Pangolins or scaly anteaters have large, protective keratin scales covering their skin and are the only known mammals with this feature. The species now fall under the endangered list.
Mallick said the animal will soon be released in the national park.
The arrested persons were identified as Premkhela Murmu (42), Krushna Chandra Hansda(30), Pradip Kumar Mohakud (60) and Sarat Kumar Mohanta (20), he said adding that they were booked under various sections of Wildlife Protection Act.
The population of pangolin inside the Similipal is on the wane with the increasing number of poaching cases being reported, the official added.
The mining activities at all the projects in Talcher coalfields were stopped on Wednesday "mostly by supporters" of local MLA B K Pradhan" after an eviction drive was conducted on government land at Naikshahi of Bhalugadia village, the miner said in a statement.
The mining operations, which were stopped in Talcher coalfields in the first shift following the eviction drive, have been resumed from Wednesday afternoon (second shift) after talks, the miner said.
MCL, a subsidiary of Coal India, said that the land was acquired by the company under Coal Bearing (Acquisition and Development) Act in 2007 and the locals were compensated as per Odisha's Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2006.
Though they are demanding benefits which are beyond the scope of the policy, the miner claimed.
There were 41 families living at Naikshahi of Bhalugadia and 33 of them were provided complete compensation package, including employment in MCL, under the policy against their tenancy land in Bhalugadia village, a company spokesperson said.
The remaining eight families were landless and occupied the government land, he said.
However, MCL had sanctioned Rs 1.2 lakh as per Indira Awas Yojana for these landless families, along with Rs one lakh as relocation assistance, he said.
Local MLA B K Pradhan, on the other hand, said steps must be taken for "proper settlement" of the people and they should be given adequate compensation.
Rising demand for coal from the industry and constraint of space to operate at Hingula opencast project had necessitated the possession of the land.
The partnership targets to maximise the impact of anti-poverty programmes of the state across a wide range of sectors.
J-PAL is co-founded by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, joint winners of 2019 Nobel Prize in economics for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.
Under this partnership, J-PAL South Asia will provide the Odisha government technical assistance for scaling up evidence-backed programmes to improve development outcomes across the state, said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) here.
Commensurate with the 5T programme of the state government, this partnership aims at bringing transformation in the lives of people through research-based intervention in policy formulation.
The partnership also establishes an overarching collaboration between J-PAL South Asia and the state government under which J-PAL will work with several departments to conduct policy-relevant randomised evaluations of new anti-poverty and development programmes, the statement said.
Additionally, a diagnostic exercise and subsequent workshops will be conducted to build state capacity in the area of monitoring and evaluation.
The MoU was signed by Odisha Development Commissioner Suresh Mahapatra and Executive Director of J-PAL South Asia Shobhini Mukerji in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.
The Chief Minister expressed hope that this partnership will result in actualising Team Odisha's efforts to transform the state by addressing its growing aspirations.
"J-PAL South Asia is very excited to enter into collaboration with the government of Odisha, which has been focusing on transforming outcomes and improving efficiency through a number of initiatives," said Shobhini Mukerji.
"We look forward to working closely with them on this journey of advancing evidence-informed policymaking in the state," she added.
J-PAL and the state government will conduct an annual policy dialogue to identify the government's top policy priorities, conduct discussions to share evidence, and jointly come up with innovative solutions that can be field-tested through rigorous randomised evaluations.
Topics for the policy dialogues include malnutrition, women's empowerment, distress migration, health-worker performance, and improving agricultural productivity.
The state government should also take immediate steps to ensure early completion of rail and road projects and strengthen logistics which can cut transportation cost by up to 40 per cent, industry leaders told reporters at the end of a two-day conclave organised by Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC).
As per the MMDR Amendment in 2015, the leases which have completed period of 50 years or more will lapse on March 31, 2020 and in Odisha 21 operating iron ore mines with capacity of 80 mtpa are lapsing that day, Manish Kharbanda, Convenor of Steel and Mines Committee of ICC Odisha state Council said.
He said the balance 45 mtpa mine capacity operating beyond 2020 will not be sufficient to meet the domestic requirement and production in industries will be hit hard unless pro-active actions are taken by the government.
Even though the state government has promised to complete mining auction process on time to ensure uninterrupted supply of iron ore and other minerals, tender document of 20 operating iron ore and manganese mines put for auction leaves ambiguity on transfer of clearances, valuation of stocks and mine infrastructure and continuity of employment of people engaged, Kharbanda said.
As per tender document, the timeline prescribed for obtaining clearances is 2.6 years from LOI and 2 years to resume production which would result in huge demand-supply imbalance for a long time, he said adding it will take two to three years for the successful bidder to get fresh environment and forest clearances and bring production to a halt.
Therefore, the state government should seriously pursue the matter with the centre to ensure transfer of these statutory clearances to the successful bidder in auction so that production continues uninterrupted and there is no disruption in supply of raw material to downstream industries from these mines, he said.
Both the state and central governments should ensure smooth transition of forest clearance (FC) and environmental clearance (EC) post-mineral block auction process, he said.
Citing an example, Kharbanda said there is provision of transfer of existing statutory clearances to the successful bidder as per an order of the Supreme Court in July 2015 relating to auction of iron ore blocks in Karnataka.
The same principle may be adopted in case of Odisha to ensure continuity in production and prevent any disruption.
This apart, the government should also take appropriate steps to keep non-serious players out of the process, he said.
ICC was also of the view that the same rule should be followed for non-coal blocks like auction of coal blocks where net worth of a company has been taken into consideration.
If government allows same company to participate multiple times in the auction process and that company gets a few mines but due to low net worth it fails to develop the mines in a stipulated time frame. There are also chances that low net worth company may go bankrupt, he said.
On mineral exploration, Kharbanda said only ten per cent available minerals in the country has been explored, while there is a huge scope for exploration ramp up. Beneficiation is another area where mining industry can give more emphasis and focus.
The conclave also expressed the hope that state government will take steps so that latest technologies are adopted by its Odisha Mineral Exploration Ltd.
The ICC conclave also noted that India produces 150 million tonnes of low-grade minerals out of which 80 million tonne is produced only in Odisha.
"If we are able to add values to these minerals, then iron ore shortage will get over in a few years," Kharbanda said.
On transportation of minerals, the ICC viewed that logistics cost in Odisha is very high in range of 25 per cent to 30 per cent. Transport tariff for steel and steel-related products should be reduced and government can help by holding talks with various stakeholders to improve this which directly help in making domestic industries cost-competitive.
"Waterways transportation and slurry pipelines are few more ideas on which he discussed compressively," Kharbanda said.
On technology, ICC suggested that mining industry can use various digital ideas like drone and telemetric tech to increase efficiency in operation.
ICC also requested the government to consider participation of mining companies in district level District Mineral Foundation (DMF) committees and said the government should address the local challenges owing to blockades, strikes and restrictions on movement of mineral transporting vehicles.
Other officials of ICC, who spoke in the press meet were Chairman of ICC Odisha state Council M C Thomas and Co-chairman J B Pany.
Champua Additional District and Sessions judge Dolagobinda Barik also sentenced a woman to rigorous imprisonment for three years in the same case and acquitted two due to lack of evidence.
The judge imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of those sentenced to life imprisonment. They will have to undergo jail term for an additional year in case of non-payment of the fine.
The accused hacked six members of the family of Guru Munda to death on the night of July 13, 2015, at Lahanda village under Joda police station limits as they suspected that the Munda family practised witchcraft to harm them.
Two minor boys of the family were unhurt as they hid under a cot inside the house.
Nine people were arrested the next day and booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-witch hunting law.
"I don't feel safety to be here. I don't get justice from anyone including the police nor the politicians. Therefore, I have decided to go to either Delhi or Mumbai where my sons live," said Sadananda.
On the other hand, claiming that he has no faith in Odisha Police, Smitarani's husband, Sushil also demanded CBI investigation in the case. He also alleged that his family and he were deeply hurt by the manner in which the SP had assassinated Smitarani's character.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Pradipta Naik, alleged direct involvement of a BJD leader in the whole incident. Due to the involvement of BJD leader, police are being pressurised which is affecting the investigation, alleged Naik who was at Haridaspur today with a delegation of BJP to meet the family of Smitarani.
"The SP himself had said that there were five people at the spot along with the deceased. One cannot commit suicide in the presence of five persons. A BJP delegation will meet Home Minister Amit Shah and demand a CBI inquiry into the matter," informed the LoP.
Likewise, a delegation of the State unit of Congress also called on the Odisha Human Rights Commission today seeking justice for the deceased. "A proper investigation should be done. We (Congress) oppose the SP's statements on Smitarani Biswal's character. All should know what actually happened at the guest house where Smitrani was found dead," demanded Congress leader, Smrutirekha Pahi.
Reacting to the opposition's allegations, BJD said that the matter is being politicised. "Political colour is being given to the incident. Why should we believe in CBI if they can't trust Odisha government and police?" said state government chief whip and senior BJD leader, Pramila Mallick.