layman's space

NBW AGAINST COP FOR TORTURING NUAPADA TRIBAL Sunday, 25 January 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of Khariar in Nuapada district, taking cognisance of a case filed by a tribal of Tukla village under the Khariar police station (PS), has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) to Sibaram Sahu, who is an ex-Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of Khariar PS. A warrant has also been issued to co-accused Ghanashyam (alias Ganga) Meher, an influential liquor trader of the area. The JMFC, after hearing a protest petition filed by complainant Manuraj Majhi, has issued the NBWs to the accused persons. Sahu is presently working as an Inspector in the Jaipur Vigilance Division.  Majhi appeared at the Khariar PS in 2013 to file an FIR against Ganga Meher, who allegedly abused him using derogatory language against his caste and threatened to kill him pointing his (Meher’s) revolver at him. “But instead of r...

NO FARMER HARASSMENT DURING PADDY PROCUREMENT’ Saturday, 24 January 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 The district administration and the people’s representatives should jointly resolve the issue of FAQ and the farmers of the district should not face any difficulty in selling their paddy. We should be sensitive towards the problems of the farmers,” said Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma at a meeting of district officials, farmers’ representatives and a few elected representatives of Nuapada. Dasburma made this observation in the meeting while responding to a complaint of the farmer representatives and MLAs of the district that due to the irregular functioning of Mandis and strict FAQ considerations the farmers of the district are not able to sell their paddy. Expressing his concern over the difficulty of farmers, the Minister said that the mandis in the district would be operative up to the second week of...

NUAPADA ZP MEMBERS BOYCOTT MEETING Sunday, 18 January 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar         1 The Nuapada Zila Parishad (ZP) members boycotted the District Planning Committee meeting which was scheduled to be held on Friday under the chairmanship of Panchayati Raj Minister Arun Sahu. “The meeting could not be held due to lack of quorum,” said district Collector Jaykumar V. Minister Sahu returned without attending the meeting. Earlier on Thursday, the ZP members had conducted a meeting to decide about their strategy. “Our decisions are not being taken care of by the district administration,” the ZP members had stated after the meeting. “However, the reason of our resentment is something else. No one of us has earned a single rupee in the tenure of the present Collector,” said a few members on condition of anonymity. It is learnt that the Collector has given strict instructions to the officials to follow Government guidelines ...

IS IT THE END OF PHANAS PUNJI’S POVERTY? Saturday, 17 January 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Chandigarh 1 2 3 4 5 0 Remember Phanas Punji? Now, her wait for three long decades for a good dwelling house finally ended on January 14 when she was allotted the work order for construction of a house under the Biju Pacca Ghar scheme by the Khariar BDO. “I will not ask for any other support if the house is constructed” said a gleaming Phanas. When a media team of the District Press Club of Nuapada visited Phanas on January 12 and wanted to take some photographs, she became angry. “Don’t take my photo. What have you done for me? I am that Phanas Punji who told about my poverty to Rajiv Gandhi. Years passed; Government changed, but my situation has remained the same as it was during the visit of Rajiv Gandhi to my home. (Mui Jen Garib ke se Garib),” lamented an aggrieved Phanas. “Phanas” became the epitome of poverty of the undivided Kalahandi district in the...

HUSBAND DEAD; BANITA NOT LET FREE FROM AP BRICK KILN Friday, 16 January 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Thirty-five-year-old Ramchan Majhi of Kirkita village in Khariar block in Nuapada district died of leprosy on January 6. He had already lost his vision much before his death. “The disease started after his marriage, and due to shame, he did not tell about that to anyone. He also did not show it to any doctor,” said his 80-year-old father of Ramchan. Ramchan married Banita 10 years ago and they were bestowed with two children. When the disease grew and everyone knew about it, Ramchan stopped working. The burden of managing the family including the care of aged father-in-law fell upon Banita.  “It was not possible for Banita to take care of the whole family; so she decided to migrate to a brick kiln in Tandul of Hyderabad,” said villagers. Banita took an advance of Rs16,000 from Niranjan Hans, a labour broker of the village...

N’PADA VILLAGERS INVOLVED IN IAP PROJECTS Saturday, 27 December 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 1 The people of Soseng village of Nuapada district are happy that they have now a road with a bridge to connect their village to the nearest bus stop at Barkot although it is located 20 km far from their village. Not only that, they also take credit of doing the work themselves. “The district administration provided us fund and we did the work,” they boast. They appreciate the move of the district administration to involve them in the implementation of the project through Village Development Committees (VDCs).“It was not easy because the Maoists were not in support of the bridge. They opposed the constructions initially but they had to budge in the end,” they say. Being encouraged by the initiatives of the district administration, the villagers have now proposed many more works. “We have proposed laying of a road from Rupiam to Kakerman...

SOCIAL AUDIT ON KALACHHIR TREATMENT ORGANIZED Sunday, 21 December 2014 | PNS | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 A one-day social audit programme on Kalachhir (black vein) was conducted here on Thursday by NGOs Asha-Odisha and Save the Children to discuss about the impact of Kalachhir treatment by quacks and to prepare a strategy to fight this inhuman method of treatment, which causes a large number of infant deaths in the district. The participants were service providers of health and ICDS departments, NGO workers and mediapersons. The discussion was based on the findings of a study conducted by the Asha-Odisha with support of Save the Children in six gram panchayats of Boden block. The study was conducted by Ajit Panda, who has been writing on this issue continuously. It was found that a majority of people in the study area believe that the veins in the bodies of infants become black and visible due to a disease that only can be treated through h...

ONE MORE CHIT FRAUD! VISTA DUPES DEPOSITORS OF RS 40 CR Friday, 19 December 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 One more case of financial fraud worth Rs 40 crore has been added to the scores of chit fund scams in Odisha. The depositors and investors of Nuapada district have drawn the attention of the Government to this fraud and demanded action against the company, Vista Management Services Ltd.  In a memorandum sent to the Chief Minister, the complainants have said the Vista has cheated them of their hard earned money by introducing share certificates, monthly income plans and fixed deposit schemes.   The investors have said they had invested in the company with the hope to get more benefit.  Purna Chandra Sahu, a primary school teacher of Khariar, had invested Rs 7 lakh with the company. “I had invested all my saving in the company and now the company has vanished,” he lamented. A number of teachers like Sahu who...

SUNABEDA PLATEAU WHERE HEALTHCARE ‘NONEXISTENT’ Sunday, 14 December 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Turmila Barge spends most of her time sitting in front of her house at Sunabeda village of Nuapada district. She is unable to move due to her swollen right leg with a wound on her right foot. “Blood oozes from the wound when I stand up,” Barge said. “I was bitten by a snake while cutting paddy plants. The wound is gradually spreading, and in one month it has covered half of the foot,” she added.Turmila could not avail health facility as the Primary Health Centre at Sunabeda was closed. “The hospital here remains closed as the doctor and other health staffs do not come,” her husband Ramsing said. “We took her to the local medicine man, who treated her with some herbs. She was also given ghee to drink, and after that she vomited poison. She survived, but the wound did not heal,” he added.There are two such cases in Sunabeda pancha...

ONE-DAY STOPPAGE OF MDM BIG ISSUE IN NUAPADA Monday, 08 December 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 The issue of one-day stoppage of midday meal (MDM) in the primary schools of Nuapada district has become a bone of contention for the teachers of the district. The teachers of almost all primary schools had stopped MDM for a day protesting against the suspension of 23 teachers and CRCCs of the district for enroling 4,885 fake names in school registers and showing dropout students as regulars. “We are withdrawing from the agitation due to intervention of Nuapada MLA Basant Panda, who is the adviser of our Nuapada District Joint Teachers’ Association,” the teachers had said while withdrawing from the strike. Subsequently, the headmasters of more than 600 schools had been served show-cause notices to explain the cause of stoppage of MDM. It is learnt that all the teachers had replied that they had stopped the MDM as per the decision t...