Chit fund scam: Commission to begin hearing from Sep 6

BHUBANESWAR: RK Patra Commission of Inquiry, which was formed to probe the multi-crore chit fund scam in the State, would begin hearing the case from this September 6, said Justice RK Patra.

The commission would receive grievances and information from the affected chit-fund investors through affidavits within four weeks. The Commission has published notification for submission of the affidavits from the investors.

“After getting the affidavits, a preliminary hearing in the case will be held on September 6,” said justice Patra.

The affected investors can submit their affidavits directly in the office of the Commission opened at the State Police Headquarters in Cuttack or they can send their affidavits by post.

After receiving the affidavits, the commission would send notice to the affected investors to record their statements.      

     

BMC begins work for foot over bridges in city

BHUBANESWAR: As part of overall traffic and transportation planning measures and prioritising pedestrian safety, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday laid foundation stone of three foot over bridges (FOBs) which are coming up at Master Canteen square, Ramadevi College junction and Jaydev Vihar junction in the city.

The modern FOBs with a clear internal width of minimum three metre have staircase and lifts based on the site conditions and sky walk across the road. The lifts provided on both side of the road will be very much beneficial for the handicapped and elderly persons to cross the road without difficulty. Other utilities like signage, foot path, barricading, drinking water facility and dust bins at FOBs will be provided.

“The FOBs will be constructed through public private partnership (PPP) mode and the cost of every single FOB is Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore. The construction work will be finished within four months,” said BMC Mayor Anant Narayan Jena.

Ajanta BV Media Initiative has been awarded the contract for construction of the FOBs. “BMC and the agency are working full time to remove the obstacles from the selected locations so that the construction work of the FOB’s can be started as early as possible,” official sources said.

XIMB’s annual IT summit ‘Envision 2013’ begins

BHUBANESWAR: Annual IT summit of Xavier Institute of Business Management (XIMB) ‘Envision 2013’ began from Friday. On the first day of the three-day long national-level summit, four eminent personalities from business sector talked about ‘Business Intelligence: The Next Ruler of IT’ to give a broader perspective to the amalgamation of business and IT intelligence to grow in the present situation of the global market.

Attending the summit, Global Operations Director at HCL Technologies Prof Debasis Dash said the organisation’s next biggest asset apart from people is data and valuable amount of information which can be analysed by business intelligence (BI) for the growth of the organisation.

Another speaker Head of Business Intelligence and Analytics of TCS Prakash Sah defined the term BI in three simple terms as sense, analyse, respond and provided various industry examples regarding this revolutionary phenomenon.

Country General Manager of Hewlett-Packard Sashikant Mohanty said business intelligence is a big tool to enhance business and especially it helps when the company wants to expand its business further. BI helps the company to analyse the customers’ choice, buying capacity and other information before the company begins its operation, he added.

Among others, CEO and MD of KalingaSoft Srijat Mishra and moderator Deepak Mishra stressed on the dire need of collaboration and connectivity of information for facing the challenges faced by the IT sector and the business domain.

Palli Sabha-IX: Tribals of Lamba reject mining in Niyamgiri

BHUBANESWAR: Reiterating their stand on mining in Niyamgiri hills, the tribals on Thursday again unanimously rejected the mining proposal in the ninth Palli Sabha held at Lamba village of Rayagada district.

Out of the total 48 voters of Lamba village, 38 voters (18 male and 20 females) attended the Palli Sabha amid heavy rains to express their views against the mining project. The Palli Sabha was supervised by additional and sessions judge SC Mishra.  

The tribals repeatedly raised their voice against mining in the hill. “We can’t live without our Niyamraja which gives us food, shelter and livelihood,” said a villager of the village.   

Earlier, eight gram sabhas- five in Kalahandi and three in Rayagada districts had outrightly rejected the mining proposal of Vedanta Company. Three more gram sabhas would be held in Rayagada district, which will be completed by August 19.  These are Lakhapadara (August 8), Khambesi (August 13) and Karapada (August 19).

Odisha activists seek effective food security ordinance

BHUBANESWAR: “The National Food Security Ordinance-2013 is extremely inadequate and makes a mockery of food security. It provides extremely limited food entitlements and is nowhere close to providing food security,” said the activists in a public forum ‘Odisha Jana Manch’ organised by different social organisations in the State here on Thursday.

The activists said that Odisha is going to be a looser in coverage and quantity in compare to other backward States. The tribals and dalits from KBK region would be most sufferers if the Ordinance gets implemented in present form, they added.

The Ordinance would be placed in the coming parliament session for debate and amendments. The activists are organising various consultations to collect opinions of the people and activists of all walks of life for strengthening of the ordinance, said Bidyut Mohanty of Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan.

On the second day of the Jana Manch, the organisers would invite the MLAs and MPs to the discussion and then hand over the the resolution passed by the forum to them. “We will request the MPs and MLAs to present the resolution in the Parliament and in the State Assembly respectively to bring effective ordinance to ensure food security for poor,” said Mohanty.    

On Friday, a rally would be organised to present a memorandum to the Chief Minister or the Governor as per the demand generated in the Jana Manch, said the organisers.

The Jana Manch was inaugurated by Information Commissioner Jagadananda and Right to Food Campaign national convener Kavita Srivastava. Among others, Western Odisha Progressive Alliance (WOPA) convener Anandini Padhi, Kisan Patnaik of Dalit Adhikar Sangathana, Sushil Dash, Umashankar Sahu and activists across the State attended the convention.