TEN DIE, NINE INJURED IN ROAD MISHAP IN PATNAGARH

TEN DIE, NINE INJURED IN ROAD MISHAP IN PATNAGARH

Friday, 31 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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In a major tragedy, as many as 10 persons were killed and nine others injured, four of them critically, the outskirts of Jogimunda town in Patnagarh subdivision, 50 km from here, at around 3 am on Thursday morning.

Nine persons, including two women and two children, died on the spot and another succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to the VSS Medical College Hospital at Burla.

According to reports, around 20 people were returning to Khaprakhol after attending a marriage party by a Travera jeep from Khujenpali near Balangir town.

While the vehicle reached the outskirts of Jogimunda town, it dashed against a roadside tree. According sources, the driver was drunk and driving at a high speed.

While three of the injured persons were admitted at the Patnagarh hospital, the six sustaining serious injuries were referred to the Burla hospital. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for each deceased’s family.It may be recalled that barely a week ago, an OSRTC bus had met with an accident when it also hit a roadside tree and fire engulfed it, resulting in the death of five passengers and injuries to 21 others.

These back-to-back mishaps once again raise question marks over the quality and standard of drivers engaged by vehicle owners, besides consumption of liquor while driving. 

Lord Buddha

10 Died in Road accident near Yogimunda(Patnagarh) Balangir today

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10  Died  in Road accident in Yogimunda(Patnagarh) Balangir today

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Bolangir: Barely a week after the OSRTC bus accident and  subsequent fire in the bus resulting five hapless passengers charred to death and 21 injured ,reports  of death of 10 people  in a  road accident has come from Yogimunda , in  Patnagarh  subdivision,  50kmaway from here  today morning .

According to reports, around 20 people were returning to Khaprakhol after attending a marriage party  in a Travera jeep from Khujenpali   near Balangir 

FOREST FIRE, HABITAT LOSS: WILD CATS PERISHINGWednesday, 29 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswa

FOREST FIRE, HABITAT LOSS: WILD CATS PERISHING

Wednesday, 29 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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The decline in number of wild cats, locally known as Bhau Bilei, has worried many wildlife enthusiasts and environment lovers. The cat was a part of folklore and while villagers slept in the open, they often cautioned their children not to venture at night as wild cat would carry them away to forest. Bhau Bilei used to be very notorious, which was in the habit of taking away the villagers’ hens from their houses.

The wild cats lived in bushy forest almost near village areas and ate rats found in open fields and forests. However, the animal’s number has been declining rapidly.

Forest fire, habitat loss and rising temperature are believed to be responsible for the decline in wild cats. Most of the wild cats give birth to babies in January and April in bushy areas. While many cats and their babies are burnt to death in forest fire, rising temperature affects the cat’s mating process, which is another cause of its decline, forest official sources said.

“In my childhood days (three decades ago), it was common to find wild cats near the sugarcane field adjacent to my village. From there, they would move into houses and steal hens. Moreover, the forests were dense. A section of people would kill wild cats and consume its meat as it was believed that it contained medicinal properties which cured arthritis.

Regular poaching and loss of habitat resulted in further decline in the cat’s numbers in this region,” pointed out a villager.

With rapid loss of forest cover, changing life style, rising temperature, not only are the wild cats, but various other wild animals are perishing. So it is high time we took steps to save these animals.

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MP gives away sewing machines to SHGsTuesday, 28 May 2013 | Pioneer | in Bhubaneswar

INBRIEF

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 | Pioneer | in Bhubaneswar

MP gives away sewing machines to SHGs

Balangir: Balangir MP Kalikesh Narayn Signh Deo gave away sewing machines to different women Self-Help Groups (SHG) of Balangir and Deogaon blocks here on Sunday. These sewing machines were donated by TOPWORTH Foundation for Social Development.

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PLANS AFOOT TO REVIVE MINOR MILLET FARMING IN BALANGIR Monday, 27 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

PLANS AFOOT TO REVIVE MINOR MILLET FARMING IN BALANGIR

Monday, 27 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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With a bid to revive Gurjee cultivation and give it the much-needed boost here, the district agriculture officials have dawn a plan to take up the crop in at least 100 acres of land in Mubirabhal, Titiligarh, Tureikela, Bongomunda and other areas. Gurjee, one of the minor millets, has nutritional value which was earlier consumed by rural people in a big way. But now the crop is hardly cultivated, thanks to the changing of food habits of people and lack of incentives.

According to Kharif strategy of Balangir district, for the year 2013-14, Gurjee cultivation would be taken up in a total of 100 acres in Titilagarh,Mubribahal, Tureikela, Bongomunda and adjoining areas. The farmers would contribute seed themselves. The agriculture department would provide them a financial assistance of Rs500 each, besides supply of bio fertiliser/organic fertiliser.

The farmers would be encouraged and motivated to go for scientific way of farming like line sowing and other methods for better yield, an agriculture official said.

Gurjee is sown by the end of June- July in Att land (upland) and harvested by September. It meets the crucial food stress period of the poor people. Earlier, people only cultivated it for consuming at home and not for selling. However, with small traders coming to villages to purchase it, the poor villagers are selling the crop in past few years and purchasing rice in return.

As Gurjee crop is providing food and economic security to the poor people, we are contemplating to give a further boost to it by observing a Gurjee Parab in forthcoming months, says Bhajaram Sahu of Bongomunda, while welcoming the decision of the agriculture department for revival and promotion of Gurjee in Balangir.

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ELEPHANT CALF DIES IN BALANGIRSunday, 26 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

ELEPHANT CALF DIES IN BALANGIR

Sunday, 26 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

Barely a month has elapsed since the mysterious death of an elephant at Keisepali in Agalpur block, the death of a male elephant calf was reported from Budula village in the same block on Friday.

As many as 24 elephants, including calves, were found at Budulae on Friday. To watch the movement of the herd of the pachyderms, people in large numbers gathered at the spot.

A forest official at Loisingha said, “We sent our elephant squad and informed the police about the situation. But the crowd did not allow the elephants to go from there .Apparently, as the elephants remained under hot sun for a long time, an eight-month-old calf died by evening. The young elephant’s body was brought to Loisingha for postmortem and buried later.”

Moon playing hide and seek in clouds -see the pictures takenby me from my Nikon camera on 24th May 2013 Night (9.30pm)

The beautiful sky ;Pictures by Sudhir Mishra

Kosal Kranti Dal(KKD) burns WODC Act in Balangir. Rejects the demand for Special category state ; Demands formation of Separate Kosal State ;25 May2013;

Members of Kosal Kranti Dal  led by its president Sri Promod Mishra today burnt the copy of Western Odisha Development Council(WODC) Act as a symbolic protest here  on Saturday evening  and demanded formation of separate Kosal state for development of this region.

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B’ngir BJD members burn PM, Sonia effigiesSaturday, 25 May 2013 | Pioneer | in Bhubaneswar

INBRIEF

Saturday, 25 May 2013 | Pioneer | in Bhubaneswar

B’ngir BJD members burn PM, Sonia effigies

Balangir: Protesting the denial of Special Category State status to Odisha by the Centre, BJD members led by Harekrushna Sarangi and Chairperson of Balangir Municipality Damayanti Bag on Friday staged a dharna before the Collectorate here and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. They pointed out that though the Khurda-Balangir railway line is a project of Rs 1,200 crore, only Rs 60 crore has been allocated for it in this year’s railway Budge

FRA VIOLATIONS: RALLY IN STATE CAPITAL ON JUNE 5 Saturday, 25 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR |

FRA VIOLATIONS: RALLY IN STATE CAPITAL ON JUNE 5

Saturday, 25 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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Protesting against the non-recognition of community forest rights and demanding all the forest rights duly recognised under the historic Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD) threatened to take out a protest rally on June 5 in Bhubneswar.

The State Government has failed to make the people aware of the community forest rights, rights over community forest resources (CFR) and community rights to protect and manage the forest, ownership rights over minor forest produces like kendu leaf and bamboo, provisions duly amended in the December, 2012 amendment in the Forest Rights Rules, it said.

The Government has failed to recognize forest villages or un-surveyed habitations residing in forest areas as an independent village/Gram Sabha and forming Forest Rights Committees (FRC) therein.  There is no information whether all the FRCs have been reformed as per amended Forest Rights Rules, 2012. The Government is continuously disrespecting the Gram Sabha, the quorum of the Gram Sabha duly empowered and authorized under the FRA whose importance has been underlined by the Supreme Court in the Niyamgiri case, the CSD pointed out.

There are huge gaps in the tall claims of the Government on recognition of individual forest rights of tribals in the State and the actual position enjoyed by them.

The authorized and empowered Gram Sabha/FRC have been bypassed in the field verification process and arbitrarily dominated by the Government officials limiting the forest land recognized (the average has been only 1.59 acres) in the State and rejecting around 1,37,877 individual claims including the claims of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(OTFDs) despite Gram Sabha’s recommendations. Even in many districts, OTFDs were even not allowed to file their individual forest rights claim, the CSD said.

Even after the passing of five years, there is no progress in the recognition of community forest rights and rights over the forest (CFR) in the State.

 Most of the community forest rights said to have been recognized are not as per Section 3(1) but as per 3(2) meant for developmental purposes.  In most of the cases, community forest rights titles have been issued over VSS areas bypassing the real traditional and customary areas, while CFR titles have been issued without following the given process under FRA. There is no uniformity among the CFR titles distributed in different districts in the State, it said further. The Government is sitting over thousands of individual and community forest rights claims where mining and diversion has been proposed. Not a single PTG habitat rights have been recognized in the State despite claims filed.  Till date no steps have been taken towards conversion of forest village into revenue villages. The State Government is apathetic   in the FRA implementation process in the State which is quite evident from the fact that in its status report it is claiming to have completed the recognition of individual forest rights in 14,831 villages, including in one district (Gajapati) while the ground reality is totally different.

The Forest Department is disrespecting the FRA and Gram Sabha and is still continued its control over MFP like kendu leaf and bamboo; misusing CAMPA fund and lunching Red Plus projects etc, CSD said.

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BECAUSE I’M A GIRL’ DRIVE KICKS OFF Friday, 24 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

BECAUSE I’M A GIRL’ DRIVE KICKS OFF

Friday, 24 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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Because I Am A Girl (BIAAG) Campaign, a global initiative launched by Plan International to promote girls' rights and lift millions of them out of poverty was formally launched by district social welfare officer Shakuntala Bhoi here.

The objective of the campaign is to create awareness on the whole issue of child rights in relation to the plight of the girl child, identify the girl child issues and develop strategic plan of action for future programme intervention in consultation with the State Government and members of the civil society organizations.

At a meeting jointly organised by YCDA and CYSD with support from Plan International, Jitendra Roy, Mamata Tripathy and Suman Diwedi of ICDS, Shrabntika Bhattacharya and Jyoti Praksh Ratha spoke on different schemes for women development and stressed on protection of child and women.

On the occasion, several distinguished women achievers of Balangir district which include first women theatre artiste Bhanumati Das, Anandini Darjee (athlete), Baishali Biswal (Khoko player) and Padmabati Meher (ANM) were felicitated for outstanding performance in their fields. They were also told to narrate their experience.

While Anandini Ratha administered the oath for the campaign, Suneeta Tripathy proposed the vote of thanks.

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FIVE BURNT TO DEATH AS BUS HITS TREE Friday, 24 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

FIVE BURNT TO DEATH AS BUS HITS TREE

Friday, 24 May 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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In a heartrending incident, five persons were burnt to death and 47 were injured, at least 21 of them seriously, when the Bhubaneswar-Sinapali (Nuapada district) Government bus dashed head on with a Neem tree before the Puintala block office near Balangir town in the wee hours (around 3 am) on Thursday.

Twenty-one of the injured persons were admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital here. As the conditions of two passengers worsened, they were referred to the VSS Medical College Hospital at Burla, said Balangir CDMO Dr Bikrant Kindo. The impact of the bus’s collision with the tree was so much that the bus immediately caught fire and five people were charred death.

The ill-fated bus (OR-02-BE-6396) was coming at high speed. After the passengers took their dinner at Daspalla in Nayagarh district, there was a change of driver and the bus reached Sonepur very shortly.

“Suddenly we got up from our sleep hearing a startling sound, and within seconds we saw the bus catching fire. A few people could come out of the bus by breaking glass panes.” said an injured passenger.

After the incident, local people informed about the tragedy to the police and fire brigade. The driver fled from the spot. It is suspected that the driver either fell asleep or could not control the movement of the bus.

The incident has raised the question of safety of passengers travelling in night buses and fire fighting mechanism inside the buses. It has also underlined the need of curbing high speed driving particularly during night.

An update on the today's(23May morning ) ill fated bus accident -- four deceased identified

According to hospital sources  ,out of  the five person who were burnttto death in today 's bus accident have been identified.They were 1) Sankarsan Mahantyof Hati Bandh( Nuapada district) underSinapali Police Station ,SakuntalaAgrawala (58) Boudh, Shreyan (6)New Delhi, and Sachin Patra ( Patnagarh ).

Balangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo visited the District headquarter hospital tonight--enquired into the condition of injured victim of bus incident . CDMO Balangir DR Bikrant Kindo is explaining about the situatio

Balangir Mp Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo  visited the District headquarter hospital  tonight around 9.30pm and  enquired into the condition of  injured victim of bus incident . CDMO Balangir  DR Bikrant Kindo  is explaining about the situation.

The hapless passenger of the ill fated bus who were burnt after the bus caught fire in the accident in Balangir on 23rd May 2013morning.

The Government of Odisha bus and the burnt picture of Bus. 5 burnt to death ,47 injured

The Government Odish bus and the burnt  picture of Bhubneshwar - Sinapali (Nuapada district)Bound Bus which met an accident near Balangir today(23may2013).See the condition of the bus.After the accident, within second was burnt .A total of  five persons burnt  to death ,47 injured and 21 admitted to Balangir district headquarter hospital 

Five persons charred to death in a Bus accident in Balangir

In a one of the most shocking incident Bhubneshwar -Sinapali (Nuapada district) government bus met with a sever accident in front of PUintala block( Near Balangirtown) and the bus was totally charred/burnt.As per report five persons were charred to death.The injured have been admitted to District Headquarter hospital and undergoing treatment.The bus was moving at ahighspeed and as it dashed in a tree and   burnt.(more details would be posted later).The accident  took place around 3.30 am in the morning..

TEAM TO INSPECT SEASONAL SSA HOSTELS IN B’NGIR, NUAPADA

TEAM TO INSPECT SEASONAL SSA HOSTELS IN B’NGIR, NUAPADA

Thursday, 23 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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With view to having on-the-spot assessment of functioning of seasonal schools and hostels opened under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for migrants’ children in Balangir, Nuapada and Bargarh districts and the steps required to improve their functioning,  a delegation of Government officials from the Education, Labour and Women and Child Development Departments, members from civil societies headed by member of Odisha Commission for Child Rights Protection Rajendra Meher is scheduled to visit Balangir and Nuapada districts on May 23 and 24.

The delegation would assess the problems faced by the inmates of the hostels official sources said. The team would also interact with community members on how to ensure better functioning of the hostels.

Moreover, at the end of the visit, the team members would hold discussions with Government officials.Interestingly, the visit of the team is scheduled at a time when the seasonal schools are about to close.

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SPECIAL TRAINS FOR BJD TO DELHI TO PRESS FOR SPECIAL STATE TAG Wednesday, 22 May 2013 | PNS | BHUBANESWAR | in Bhubaneswar

Dear all

I found this news interesting and posting for perusal of all

Yours

SudhirMishra/Pioneer/Balangir

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SPECIAL TRAINS FOR BJD TO DELHI TO PRESS FOR SPECIAL STATE TAG

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 | PNS | BHUBANESWAR | in Bhubaneswar

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The State’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders and workers will go to New Delhi by special trains on June 8 to press their demand of Special Category State status for Odisha.

The party is requisitioning special trains for the purpose, said sources in the East Coast Railway. Trainloads of party workers will accompany BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who will present a one-crore-signature memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee on June 9.

Intensifying its signature drive to press the Centre for granting Special Category State status to Odisha, the BJD on Monday announced that it would organise special meetings at the grassroots level to collect signatures from people and make them aware about the issue.

BJD leaders, while addressing a news conference here, also urged all the political parties to cooperate in the signature campaign for the larger interests of the State.

They appealed to all the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies (ULBs) to collect signatures to build pressure on the Centre to grant the special tag to the State. BJD vice-president and Minister Kalpataru Das, general secretary and Minister Debi Prasad Mishra and BYJD president and Government Deputy Chief Whip in Assembly Sanjay Dasburma held a joint Press conference to issue the appeal.

Stating that the Assembly has already adopted a unanimous resolution for declaring Odisha as a Special Category State, the leaders said all other political parties should organise similar signature drives so as to join the chorus with the BJD.

According to the agenda of the party, it would hold special meetings of all gram panchayats on May 31 to sensitise people about the need for Special Category State status while collecting their signatures. A candlelight procession would also be organised on the same day across the State.

Special meetings of the ULBs would be held on June 1, followed by candlelight procession in the evening. Besides, the party would hold special meetings of the panchayat samitis and organise candlelight processions on June 3.

“The signature campaign will end on June 7 when human chains will be orginised at strategic places across the State. A memorandum will be handed over to the BJD president and Chief Minister on June 9 at a special meeting. Later, it will be submitted to the President of India,” said the BJD leaders.

The BJD had launched the signature campaign on the birthday of Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das being kicked off by party Naveen Patnaik.

A fresh move by the BJD against the Centre, the signature campaign was conceived after the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on April 18 approved allocation of Rs 250 crore per annum for the Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput (KBK) region of the State under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) in the 12th FiveYear Plan while granting as much as Rs 1,200 crore to Bihar

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The beautiful moon; pictures taken from my mobile tonight(21May 2013) by SudhirMishra

Floating clouds and,sunset - mobile upload by SudhirMishra

STUDY OF B’NGIR COMMUNITY FOREST CLAIMS BEGINSMonday, 20 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR

STUDY OF B’NGIR COMMUNITY FOREST CLAIMS BEGINS

Monday, 20 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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In a significant development in the history of community rights granted under the Forest Right Act, 2006 in Balangir district, a joint verification process was initiated at Ghatul Dungri and Dumerjore villages in Deogaon block by officials from the Revenue, Tribal Development and Forest Departments in the presence of members of community and District forestry Forum Balangir on Friday.

Officials of the three departments looked into the demands of the community and discussed the claims made by members of the Kandul Budha Khadya Surakshya Mahasangh, Bandhpada.  

DHARNA HELD FOR COMPENSATION TO SUKTEL-HIT PEOPLE

DHARNA HELD FOR COMPENSATION TO SUKTEL-HIT PEOPLE

Sunday, 19 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

Members of the Lower Suktel Action Committee led by itspresident Gopalji Panigrahi,Santosh Singh Deo and Santosh Pradhan on Saturday staged a dharna before the Land Acquisition Office of the Lower Suktel Irrigation Project office here demanding expeditious payment of compensation to the people affected and displaced due to the project.

Sub-Collector Jyoti Ranjan Pradhan arrived at the dharna spot and held talks with the agitators in the presence of IIC of Town police station Srimanta Barik.

Land Acquisition Officer Sitaram Patel assured the agitators that rehabilitation payments would be disbursed to the villagers to be displaced within next seven days while land acquisition payments would be released within a fortnight.

JUMBOS DAMAGE CROPS IN BALANGIR

JUMBOS DAMAGE CROPS IN BALANGIR

Friday, 17 May 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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Even as the people of Balangir and elsewhere are reeling  under intense heat wave and facing the ordeals of power cuts and irregular water supply, the villagers of Salebhata, Raphakhal and Luhuramunda in Loisingha block in Balangir district have been facing elephant menace, which has caused extensive damages to their paddy crops and mango orchards.

According to reports, a herd of elephants damaged the paddy crops of farmers of Salebhata and Raphakhal and Luhuramunda in about 35 acres. The reports said that around 21elephants are staying in nearby jungle and crossing the Gaikhai project to come to eat paddy. 

They have also caused damages to mango orchard of Balgopal Mishra. According to sources, as food and water availability for elephants inside the forest have dwindled rapidly, they are coming out of their habitats to villages.

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