Shah Comm to re-examine mines on Mar 16

BHUBANESWAR: The Justice MB Shah commission, which is probing illegal mining across the country, would re-examine the mines in the State by March 16. The commission has sent a guideline to the State Government in this regard.

From the beginning of the Commission’s hearing recently, the lessees were raising question on the authenticity of differential geographical positioning systems (DGPS) used for demarcation of mines lease boundaries in the State. Following the complaint of the mine owners, the Commission had allowed physical verification of certain leasehold areas during the hearing.

According to the decision of the commission, a seven-member team would go to Keonjhar and Sundergarh district to re-examine the actual position of the mines. They would be assisted by district level members.

Meanwhile, the Commission has sent guidelines to the State Government regarding the re-examining of mines which stated that the mining outside of the lease area would be declared as encroachment area. It also stated that the team would examine the lease area whether it is forest or non-forest area and the lessees have followed the rules or not that would be examined.     

Kalinga Hospital gets Best Multyspeciality Hospital award

BHUBANESWAR: Kalinga Hospital Limited has been awarded as the Best Multyspeciality Hospital in the entire East zone in Non Metro category for the year of 2012. This prestigious ‘ICICI Lombard Health Insurance and CNBC TV 18 India Healthcare Award’ was given by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and WHO Representative to India at New Delhi on Sunday.

Briefing the Press persons here, Managing Director of the hospital Dr Mala Chattopadhyay said that it is an achievement by itself and stressed on the involvement and efforts of the consultants and staff which made such accomplishment possible. She reiterated the slogan of ‘seva dil se’ and promised to continue providing compassionate care towards the greater masses of the society at the most affordable cost.

Chief Manager Administration Dr R K Padhi and Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Siddharth Mishra, who were present over the Press meet, said the process of service delivery is being closely monitored and being upgraded to suit the scope of ‘tertiary corporate health care service delivery’. “We are also working on the upgradation of the ambience of the hospital both tangible and intangible aspects for the better customer service and delight,” said Dr Mishra.

Among others, HR consultant Namita Priya, Corporate Relations and Marketing Manager Sayahna Saha and administrative officers were present.

Farmer suicide becomes regular phenomenon in State: Cong

BHUBANESWAR: Criticising the State Government for not taking appropriate steps to stop farmer suicide in the home district of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) on Saturday said in a memorandum to the Governor that the farmer suicide has become a regular phenomenon during BJD rule since 2000 in the State.

The PCC members said that due to continued neglect of agriculture, the cultivators suffer unspeakable economic hardship and deprivation. One such tragic incident has .taken place at Erendra village of Girisola GP under Chikiti Block in Ganjam district on last February 23 this year. On February 21, Trinath Pradhan (50) belonging to scheduled caste was forced to take poison to end his life due to mounting mental agonies on account of debt burden. Apart from Rs 10,000 which he had borrowed from local Co-operative, there was an outstanding private loan of Rs 50,000 against him, they added.

The members demanded payment of an immediate compensation of Rs 5 Lakh to his widowed wife, engagement of his migrant son Jitendra Pradhan to support family income, sanction of old age pension for his 75-year-old mother Sadhu Pradhan and disabled pension for his dependent sister Phula Pradhan who is dumb. They also demanded payment of additional Rs 300 per quintal for paddy to farmers, reassessment of crop loss estimate to cover many left out genuine farmers in the district under crop insurance scheme, Urgent initiatives for interlinking of the river Rushikulya with the Bansadhara to ensure irrigation facilities in deficient Ganjam district.

The PCC delegation under the chairmanship of former Minister Ganeswar Behera, former speaker Chintamani Dyan Samantaray, met the family on March 6 to take stock of the situation and condole the bereaved family. The Block Congress Committee of Chikiti staged demonstration and submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the Tahasildar, Chikiti on the same day.

Fact finding team on Posco demands judicial inquiry

--Bomb blast incident at Posco site--

BHUBANESWAR: The Civil Liberty Fact Finding Team (CLFFT), a twelve-member group, who made a visit to the proposed Posco area in Jagatsinghpur district to assess the situation in the wake of escalated violence since the land acquisition process resumed in the area on February 4, has demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into the bomb blast incident.

A national-level fact-finding team consisting of civil liberties, democratic organisations and individuals visited Govindapur and Dhinkia villages of the district on Saturday. After visiting the site, the team briefed the Media persons here on Sunday about the facts they got during their visit. They stated that the blast was not occurred due to bomb making by the villagers, but that was thrown by some groups.

They alleged that the police neither reached the area nor sent any help for taking Laxman Parmanik immediately to the hospital, despite Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity (PPSS) informing the police immediately after the incident. The police arrived only on the morning of March 3 at the scene of the incident and took charge of the dead bodies, they added.

The team members said the families of the two deceased shared that the police arrived on the midnight of March 3 and asked them to sign a written statement stating that the victims died in the process of making the bomb which they refused to do. When Kusumbati Sahu, sister-in-law of the deceased Narahari Sahu went to register an FIR at the Abhoychandranpur police station on March 3 evening, the police refused to accept the FIR, while the police accepted the FIR was lodged by Ranjan Bardhan on March 4 against the three deceased, the injured Parmanik, Abhay Sahu, Surendra Das and five others of the PPSS, they said.   

Besides the high level judicial enquiry into the bomb blast incident, the team members also demanded immediate withdrawal of the police camp from Gobindpur village as it is contributing to escalating tensions in the area, cessation of the land acquisition process forthwith in the Dhinkia panchayat area including Gobindpur village and compensation on humanitarian grounds to the families of the deceased who were killed in the bomb blast and proper medical help for the injured person.

The members like scientist Meher Engineer, Mainstream Weekly Editor Sumit Chakravartty, Delhi University Retired Professor Dr Manoranjan Mohanty, Pramodini Pradhan and Saroj Mohanty from PUCL and Partho Roy from Sanhati were present at the Press briefing.

New terminal to be started from Mar 14

BHUBANESWAR: New terminal of the Biju Patnaik Airport, which was recently inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on the birth anniversary of Biju Patnaik, would start functioning from March 14, said airport director Sharad Kumar.

The airport authorities fixed the date for shifting from Terminal 2 (T2) to Terminal 1 (T1) after holding discussions with the service providers and security agencies. On March 13 night, the shifting work would be started. The T1 would start functioning from the next day morning and the T2 would be constructed keeping eye on the international flight.

         

Plus II Q paper leak incident, Cong demands Higher Edu Min’s resignation

AIDSO stages demo in front of Min’s house, 50 arrested 

BHUBANESWAR: A minor scuffle in between the police and the student members of the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) left five injured, including girl students, while they were demonstrating in front of the Higher Education Minister’s residence here on Saturday demanding stringent punishment against the culprits and authorities involved in the Plus II question paper leakage incident.

More than 50 students were arrested during the demonstration, those who were later released on PR bond. The organisation also demanded adequate compensation to the examinees suffered and to stop the ongoing privatisation and commercialisation of education. “We will strongly protest the police brutality on agitating students here,” said organisation secretary Shibasis Praharaj.  

AIDSO State president Akshay Das, vice-presidents Subash Nayak and Ganesh Tripathy said the Government ordered a Crime Branch inquiry to the incident, which is just an Eye wash, as it happened in the case of matric examination question paper leakage case. The leakage has also resulted in the mental trauma both in the students and guardians and students have lost the confidence upon the present set up, they added.

Similarly, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) on Saturday demanded resignation of Higher Education Minister Badrinarayan Patra for mismanagement in handling the Plus II examination and leakage of the Physics and Chemistry question paper.

In a Press statement Odisha Pradesh Sikshyak Sangh president Kailas Acharya said the State Government has failed to check the continuous leakage of the question paper.         

SP distributes relief for fire victims of Mali Sahi

BHUBANESWAR: Samajwadi Party workers distributed biscuits and water packets in the fire ravaged Mali Sahi in the heart of the city on Saturday morning. Party volunteers led by its State president Rabi Behera said the cause of the fire must be investigated as the hand of the land shirks can not be ruled out.

Similarly, after 18 hours of fire break out no polythene and cooked food have been reached out to the victims which reflects insensitivity of the administration and the BMC. Behera also demanded fire proof houses for all the victims. The party also requested the Chief Electoral Officer to provide Voter ID to the victims who lost that in the fire accident.