Page 39 - Odisha

Odisha CM announces Rs 56 cr incentives for kendu leaf pluckers, binders

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced Rs 56-crore financial assistance for over 8 lakh kendu leaf puckers and others engaged in such a trade. In the third phase of the 2022 crop year, a 25 per cent bonus will be given to 7.75 lakh kendu leaf pluckers and a 5 per cent incentive to 40,000 binders and temporary workers, according to a release issued by the Chief Ministers' Office on Wednesday. A total amount of Rs 56.23 crore will be given to the kendu leaf workers, it said. In the first phase of the 2022 crop year, Rs 1,000 was given to each kendu leaf plucker, and Rs 1,500 to each binder and temporary worker, the CMO release said, adding that Rs 83.34 crore of financial assistance was provided then. Similarly, in the second tranche, Rs 1,000 was given to each kendu leaf plucker along with Rs 200 for water bottles and Rs 160 for chappals. During this phase, binders and temporary workers were given Rs 1,500 each, and thus the total financial aid was Rs 111.21 crore, the .

Odisha being neglected, not given enough funds by Centre: Naveen Patnaik

Odisha is facing constant neglect in transfer of state share and central funds, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

Heavy rain lashes parts of Odisha, water-logging in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack

Heavy rains lashed many parts of Odisha, mostly the coastal region leading to water-logging in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on Saturday. The IMD has forecast more rainfall in the state. The water-logging in the state capital led to traffic jams and caused difficulty for people to drive vehicles in knee-deep water in many places while many slums and low-laying areas were submerged under water. IMD said that the highest 118.4 mm rainfall was recorded at Jharsuguda followed by 68.2 mm at Chandbali, 35.2 mm in Bhubaneswar, 13.5 mm in Balasore, 6 mm in Paradip, 7.2 mm in Puri and 10.6 mm at Sambalpur between 8.30 am to 11.30 am. Similarly, the IMD record said that intense rainfall activities were observed in many areas before 8.30 am, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack recorded 14.7 mm and 41.8 mm of rainfall respectively by 8.30 am, it said. The IMD also warned that moderate to intense rainfall was in the store for the state capital Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It cautioned on temporar

Odisha train accident: 3 accused railway officials sent to judicial custody

A special court here has sent the three accused railway officials in the Balasore train disaster to judicial custody, after the end of their CBI remand period. Senior Section Engineer (Signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammed Amir Khan and Technician Pappu Kumar, who have been placed under suspension by the Railways, were produced before the CBI Special Court on Friday after their remand period ended. The accused were arrested by the CBI on July 7. The special court had granted five-day remand of the accused to the CBI, which is investigating the case, on July 7. Later, on July 11, the court had extended the remand period for four more days at the request of the investigating agency. The next date of hearing is on July 27. The three accused have been booked under IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence), and under Section 153 of the Railways Act. While the CBI is yet to submit its report on the case, the inquiry r

Balasore rail tragedy: 3 accused railway officials sent to judicial custody

A Special court here on Friday sent the three accused railway officials in the Balasore triple train accident to judicial custody after the end of their CBI remand period. The three - Senior Section Engineer (signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammed Amir Khan and Technician Pappu Kumar who have been placed under suspension by Railways were produced in the CBI Special court here after the end of their remand period. The accused were arrested by the CBI on July 7. The Bhubaneswar Special CBI Court had granted 5-day remand of the accused to the CBI, which is investigating the case, on July 7. Later, on July 11, the court had extended the remand period for 4 more days at the request of the investigating agency. While sending the accused persons to judicial custody, the court has scheduled the next date of hearing of the case on July 27. The three accused were booked under IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) and u

Odisha approves 11 industrial projects worth Rs 3,266 cr investment

Odisha government on Monday approved 11 industrial projects worth Rs 3,266 crore which will generate employment for 9,146 people. The projects were approved at the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) meeting chaired by Chief Secretary PK Jena. The projects are spread across diverse sectors such as metal downstream and ancillary, chemicals, food processing, agro processing, plastics, textiles apparel, IT & ESDM, and renewable energy. The projects will be set up in Balasore, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Khurda and Jajpur districts, an official said. Though Odisha has consistently been a leader in the mining and metallurgy sector owing to its natural resource advantage, the state has been able to broad-base its industrial ecosystem in the last few years. The state has attracted one of the leading multinational companies in food-processing sector - Nestl India Limited. Nestle will be setting up a food processing unit with an investment of over Rs 890 crore providing ...

Odisha's new policy to check urban-rural divide, unplanned urbanisation

The Odisha government on Monday approved a policy to remove the urban-rural divide and address unplanned urbanisation with a growing population in cities. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik green-lighted the "Odisha Rural-Urban Transition Policy", which allows special budgets for the implementation of infrastructure projects and delivery of civic services in peri-urban areas. The policy provides for the constitution of steering and implementation committees with top officials of the state government, including the chief secretary, and experts in urban planning, finance, engineering, management, IT and others. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative that intends to introduce a series of progressive and pragmatic measures such as essential infrastructure, amenities and services to all citizens, residing in the fast-growing rural areas adjoining cities, an official of the housing and urban development department said. "The existing system of notification of declaring a rural area as an urba

Odisha Television introduces Lisa, India's first AI news presenter

Lisa utilises the power of AI and machine learning algorithms to deliver news, combining technology with journalism

Fire breaks out at Odisha govt's medicine godown in Bhubaneswar: Police

A major fire broke out in the Odisha State Medical Corporations (OSMC) godown at Mancheswar Industrial estate here reducing medicines and medical equipment worth lakhs of rupees to ashes, police said. However, there was no report of any injury as the fire broke out late on Sunday night. The fire was suspected to have been caused due to electrical short circuit, they said. Taking to Twitter, the Health and Family Welfare department said: "Accidental fire broke out at Mancheswar MARKFED Godown number 3 at late night on 9th July, 2023. Some OSMCL supplies were stored in this godown (PPE kits, sanitizers and empty cylinders). All goods are under insurance coverage. "The fire was controlled by prompt action of police and fire services. There were no injuries or casualties." Seven fire tenders and more than 50 fire personnel were engaged to douse the fire. The fire personnel had to break the wall to get access to the building in order to avoid the fire from spreading to nearby buildings,

Odisha to invest Rs 75,000 cr for development of water resources in 5 years

The CM said that the Water Resources Department is implementing 5-T principles in letter and spirit

OJEE 2023 counselling registration begins today, check full details below

OJEE 2023 counselling registration starts today, July 6, 2023. Candidates can apply from the official website, and the last date for registration is July 12, 2023

Tata's NINL plant reaches 100% capacity utilisation in 1 yr of acquisition

NINL, a 1.1-million tonne steel manufacturing unit in Odisha, has reached 100 per cent capacity utilisation within one year of its acquisition by Tata Steel. On July 4 2022, the steel major completed the acquisition of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) through subsidiary company Tata Steel Long Products Ltd (TSLPL) for a consideration of Rs 12,000 crore. After being shut for almost three years, operations at the NINL unit was started by Tata Steel in October 2023. "NINL has successfully ramped up production to its rated capacity of 1 million tonnes on an annualised basis within just nine months of its acquisition," Ashish Anupam, MD of Tata Steel Long Products Limited (TSLPL), told PTI in reply to a query on the progress in one year of acquisition. The acquisition was efficiently implemented even though the NINL plant had been mothballed for nearly three years. In August 2023, the company will complete the commissioning of its last major facility, a coke oven unit at NINL, he ...

Odisha train tragedy: 'Reporting past red flags could have averted tragedy'

A high-level inquiry has found "wrong signalling" to be the main reason for the Balasore train accident and flagged "lapses at multiple levels" in the signalling and telecommunication (S&T) department, but indicated the tragedy could have been averted if past red flags were reported. The independent inquiry report submitted by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) to the Railway Board said notwithstanding the lapses in signalling work, remedial actions could have been taken by the S&T staff if "repeated unusual behaviour" of switches connecting two parallel tracks were reported to them by the station manager of Bahanaga Bazar, the spot of the accident. The report also suggested that the non-supply of station-specific approved circuit diagram for the works to replace the electric lifting barrier at level crossing gate 94 at Bahanaga Bazar station was a "wrong step that led to wrong wiring". It said that a team of field supervisors modified the wiring diagram and failed to ...

IMD issues yellow warning for 18 districts of Odisha from July 3-7

According to the IMD forecast, light to moderate rain or thundershowers are very likely to occur in a few places in the districts of Odisha

V Karthikeyan Pandian: Another Chanakya in Odisha politics? The jury is out

Pandian, who belongs to the 2000 batch, changed his cadre from Punjab to Odisha after marrying Sujata Rout Karthikeyan, who hails from Kendrapara and is now the Mission Shakti secretary

12-day Rath Yatra in Odisha concludes as deities return to Srimandir

The main aspect of the Niladri Bije ritual is the heavenly love and affection between Lord Jagannath and His wife Goddess Laxmi

13 more bodies of Balasore accident kept at AIIMS handed over to families

At least 13 more bodies of the June 2 Balasore train accident kept at AIIMS Bhubaneswar were handed over to their family members on Saturday, official sources said. Of the 29 bodies identified using DNA sampling, six were handed over to their families on Friday and 13 on Saturday, a railway official said. On the basis of DNA test results and with coordination with AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and GRP, 13 bodies of the Bahanaga train accident victims have been handed over to the kin of the deceased on Saturday, the railway official said. Of the 13 bodies, four have been sent to Bihar, eight to West Bengal and one to Jharkhand, he said. An ex gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh each have been paid to the kin of the family members as announced by the railways, the official said. Stating that the process of handing over of the bodies will continue till claimants come, the official said as many as 62 bodies still remain unidentified and preserved in the containers

UK-based firm plans to set up semiconductor fabrication unit in Odisha

A UK-based company is planning to set up a semiconductor fabrication unit in Odisha's Ganjam district with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore in the first phase, officials said. The SRAM & MRAM Technologies and Projects India Pvt Limited, the Indian unit of UK-based SRAM & MRAM Group, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government on March 26 to set up the semiconductor unit in the state. After visiting some sites near Chhatrapur in the district, its Indian company officials headed by its chairman Guruji Kumaran Swami held a meeting with the district administration at Chhatrapur on Thursday. Ganjam Collector Dibya Jyoti Parida has assured the investors all facilities for setting up the unit. "We have visited some sites, including the industrial park of Tata and some private lands for the establishment of the proposed semiconductor unit. A technical team of the company will visit the district to finalise the site," said Debadutt Singhdeo, project ...

Odisha train accident: 29 bodies identified, 6 handed over to families

A total 29 of the 81 bodies of victims of Balasore train accident kept in AIIMS Bhubaneswar have been identified and six of them have been handed over to their families on Friday. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Sulochana Das said the government has made arrangements to send all the identified bodies to their native places. Of the 81 bodies preserved at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, 29 have been identified based on DNA analysis. We have started the process of handing the bodies to their families, Das said. "Six families reached AIIMS Bhubaneswar and received the bodies," a Railway official said. Indian Railways and AIIMS Bhubaneswar opted for DNA analysis after there were multiple claimants over one body, Das said. There were multiple claimants for 15 bodies and the DNA reports were received from the central laboratory in Delhi after about 20 days, officials said. A total of 88 DNA samples were sent for identification of the 81 bodies, they said. The six bodies which were han

CRS report on Odisha train accident won't be made public: Railways

The Railways will not make public the CRS probe report on the Balasore triple train accident to ensure that there is no "influence or interference" on the CBI's ongoing investigation in the case, senior officials told PTI on Friday. While there has been no official confirmation, some sources said the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) informed in its report that the accident occurred due to human error on the part of on-duty officials in the Signalling and Telecom Department as well as the Traffic Department. The officials failed to follow the standard operating procedure in place for train operations, according to the sources. "We will not be disclosing anything on the CRS report as another independent CBI inquiry is underway. This is to ensure that this report does not in any way influence or interfere with the other report. We will take cognisance of both the reports and make an overall evaluation of the incident and then take whatever steps necessary," a senior official told ...