Tiger escape case: Forest Min reviews situation

BHUBANESWAR: Following the great escape of the wild tiger on the wee hours of Saturday from the Nandankanan Zoological Park here, State Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray along with top Zoo and forest officials started reviewing the situation after visiting the enclosure on Sunday.

The zoo officials made Routray aware in detail about the escaping of the tiger. They also informed the Minister about the technical problem of a CCTV installed in the enclosure-32 (C) and for which video footage of the tiger could not be taken on that night while the tiger escaped.

The Minister visited the enclosure to see the place from where the big cat had escaped. “The wild tiger proved to be cleverer than human being in the case as it is the first case in the world that a tiger fled from a zoo by jumping over 18-feet iron railing of the enclosure,” said Routray, adding, “The tiger had come to the zoo on Saturday night and was roaming near the tiger enclosure. Whether the tiger is coming or not we will test that.”

Meanwhile, the forest officials alerted the villagers of nearby villages of the sanctuary area to be careful to the escaped tiger while entering into the jungle for fire wood or passing the jungle road. The officials also asked the villagers to give information about the tiger if it enters into the human habitat.              

Some villagers of Daruthenga area near to the sanctuary alleged that they saw the tiger near the jungle way, but it could not be confirmed by the forest officials. 

Notably, a wild tiger which had entered into the white tiger safari of the Nandankanan Zoological Park here on April 30 was kept in the enclosure-32 (C) on Friday night for better treatment and care, while the wild animal fled from the enclosure after few hours.    

Wild tiger escapes from Nandankanan Zoo

--Wildlife PCCF orders probe

BHUBANESWAR: The wild tiger, which had entered into the white tiger safari of the Nandankanan Zoological Park here on April 30, escaped from the enclosure on Friday night by jumping over the 18-feet iron railing of the enclosure.

According to zoo official sources, a team led by wildlife ranger Anjan Mohanty had put the tiger in the Enclosure-32 (C) on Friday night for its proper care and treatment. The team had kept it near the enclosure of tigress Sara, but the wild animal jumped off the enclosure only after a few hours of entering into it. 

When the tiger entered into the enclosure, it gradually became normal and took rest after taking bath in the pool inside the enclosure, said Nandankanan Zoo Director Sudarshan Panda. However, it later fled from the enclosure, he added. “We have collected the pugmarks of the tiger outside the enclosure, but the animal is not in the zoo area,” said Panda.   

When the zoo officials knew about the missing of the tiger, they started search operations to locate it, but failed. Top zoo officials along with forest officers rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) JD Sharma ordered an inquiry into the incident. He assured the zoo visitors and nearby villagers of the sanctuary area not to get scared over the missing of the tiger. DFOs of Chandaka, Dhenkanal and Athagarh were directed to track the movement of the wild animal.

A team would continue search operation for the animal in the zoo and in the sanctuary area. The zoo officials would fix a trap camera in front of the tiger enclosure to keep an eye on the movement of the big cat, they informed.  

Notably, a 13-member technical expert team in its decision at a high-level meeting here on May 15 had said that the wild tiger would stay in the zoo till its place of origin was not identified.

The committee had submitted its report to the State Government and the PCCF (Wildlife) regarding its decision. On the basis of the report, a final decision would have been taken by the Government whether the tiger would stay in the zoo or not.

Even some civil society organisations like the Nandankanan Anchalik Nagarik Manch had staged a demonstration in front of the zoo gate demanding housing of the wild tiger for the benefit of the zoo and wildlife conservation.

Manch convener Subash Chandra Patra on Saturday threatened that they would gherao the PCCF (Wildlife) office if the wild tiger now harms anybody.

2 lakh youth to get skill upgradation training in 2013-14: CM

--‘50,000 youth to get job oriented training this year’

BHUBANESWAR: “Around two lakh youth would get skill upgradation training in the year 2013-14 to fulfill the goal of providing the training to 10 lakh youths in five year,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while reviewing programmes of the Emploment Mission at the Secretariat here on Saturday. Patnaik directed the departmental officers to speed up the work of Employment Mission to achieve the goal.

During the last year, job fairs were organised in 26 districts and 13,482 job offer letters were given. To attract the youths across the State, the State Government has organised job fairs in every district instead of organising big job fairs. The rest four districts would be covered very soon, said the department officials in the review meeting.

Last year, the target, 1, 70,000 youth had participated in the training programme. The programme was organised by 12 Government departments and by the Employment Mission.

According to the officials, around 50,000 youths would get job oriented training during the year 2013-14. The State Government has increased the number of Skill Development Centres from 48 to 90 for the training of the youths. It was decided in the meeting that the trainees would get stipend for a few days after getting job to get settled.

This year, the Employment Mission has introduced four training courses on the field of Mining, Food Processing, Health and Wellness and Port related skills with the existing syllabus.

The State Government has started e-employment programme in the State by which an applicant could apply online and the programme could be monitored through online. Six employment exchanges of Khurda, Mayurbhanj, Koraput, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sundergarh have been accepted as Career Counseling Centres, said the officials in the meeting.   

Last year, 2,585 youths had been recruited by the Indian Army through Army Recruitment Rally. The officials also discussed about the employment of the youths of Left Wing Extremist hit area in the State.       

OJM chief writes CM not to give SEZ status to Posco

BHUBANESWAR: Rajya Sabha member and Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) chief Pyarimohan Mohapatra urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter on Saturday not to allow Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status to the Posco Company to give undue benefit to the foreign company in the renewed MoU.

The OJM chief said that there was no justification to allow a captive port for Posco and that, too, within a short distance of 8 km from Paradip Port. He requested Patnaik to withdraw the clause from the renewed MoU and to advise the company to negotiate with Paradip Port Trust (PPT) for necessary facilities.

He further suggested that since no Steel Company has been allotted a specific quantity of iron ore in their MOUs, the provision for allocation of 600 Million tons of iron ore to the company may be replaced by the standard clause used in other MoUs. “In the renewed MoU, please ensure that there is a clause for technology transfer, as otherwise the benefit of the FDI is not going to percolate on a long term basis,” requested Mohapatra.

The OJM chief demanded the State Government to add a provision in the renewed MoU to create at least one lakh employment by Posco by facilitating the establishment of Micro, Small and Medium Industries by the entrepreneurs of the State.

He also suggested the State Government to set up a Commission to go into the complaints of excessive use of force and human abuse by Government officials dealing with the Posco affected people and also urged Patnaik to ensure first rate rehabilitation facilities for the displaced people.

Paudi Bhuyan children face terrible malnutrition: Report

--‘ICDS programme fails to reach for tribals’

BHUBANESWAR: As many as 200 children from Paudi Bhuyan primitive tribal group living at 22 villages under Lahunipada block in Sundergarh district were suffering from malnutrition, exposed a fact-finding report of the Right to Food Campaign (Odisha) here on Friday.

A three-member team led by Campaign’s State convener Pradeep Pradhan had visited several tribal villages under the block and found that the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme failed to address the malnutrition problem of the tribal children. The primitive tribes are yet to get the benefit of several Government projects, the team members said.

As per demographic profile of 2007 prepared by the State Government, the total population of the Paudi Bhuyan tribe is 3,914 who are coming under BPL category.

According to the fact-finding report, due to lack of acute shortage of food, medical facilities and proper implementation of the Government project, hundreds of children of the community are facing malnutrition and they look like the children of drought affected Somalia, the team members alleged.

The team members presented a data surveyed by a local NGO, Jivan Vikas, which revealed that 195 children born between December 6, 2009 and December 6, 2012 were suffering from malnutrition. Terrible situation of malnutrition of the children was found easily visible from their body posture, physical condition and thin figure.

The team members said the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) were distributing rotten and unhealthy Chhatua to the tribal children. Even the AWCs were not distributing two packets (3 kg each packet) prescribed by the ICDS guideline. Chhatua was found tasteless and the stock was very old, while the packets didn’t carry name of the manufacturer and date of manufacturing, exposed the team.

The report said that both the Primary Health Centre (PHC) and the Community Health Centre (CHC) have failed to address the problem. The PHC does not have fund and infrastructural support or medicine for making special drive to treat the malnourished children. Though the doctor is aware about the situation, he is seen helpless to address it without resources, the report added.

Similarly, the CHC could not make proper treatment of malnourished children due to lack of resources. The doctors could not prescribe costly medicine which is required for malnourished children. Because the Government has restricted expenditure upto Rs 200 for giving medicine to the patients free of cost and for which the malnourished children continue to suffer and die, the report revealed.

The team suggested that the Government should engage an independent monitoring team which would make visit to these tribal areas to inquire into implementation of various programmes and submit the report. The Government should take action accordingly, so that such situation would not aggravate further, the team said.

      

Karnataka poll to have an impact on State: Jitendra Singh

SUNABEDA: Karnataka Assembly poll would have an impact on Odisha and other States of the country, said Union Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh to the Press persons during his visit to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) here on Thursday.

Singh said the people of the country want development and for that they would choose a good Government. The Karnataka poll result would certainly have an impact on other States of the country including Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, he added.

The Defence Minister reviewed the functioning of the HAL and later discussed about its human resources. He also discussed with top officials of the company regarding its development and employment generation for the youth. He then visited all the divisions of the company and reviewed their functioning.

Later the Minister inaugurated sports training centre of the HAL and SAI. General Manager of the HAL RK Tyagi was present with the Minister during the review.         

Odia boy to represent India at ISEF

BHUBANESWAR: India’s next generation innovator from Odisha, Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo of DAV Public School here, would represent the nation at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to be held in Phoenix of Arizona State in the USA from May 12 to 17. Jyoti has made the entire nation proud by being amongst approximately 1600 finalists from across the globe to be a part of the world’s largest pre-college science fair and the only global science competition for students in grades from 8th to 12th.

Intel® ISEF is a program run by the Society for Science and the Public (SSP) in partnership with Intel Corporation. The premier global science competition provides an annual forum to pre-college students across the world to display their independent research.

Commenting on the same, Sahoo said, “I am extremely excited to be a part of such an esteemed global platform. It will be a great occasion for learning and I look forward to make my country proud. I am indeed thankful to Intel to give me this opportunity.”