layman's space

N’PADA FARMER SUICIDE: KIN LEFT IN THE LURCH Saturday, 06 June 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Suru Sabar, a farmer of Palsipani village in Nuapada district, committed suicide in 2009 by hanging. He took the harsh decision due to failure of crop, his family members said. But the Government did not buy the story. Suru had cultivated paddy that year in four acres of land – two acres land was his own. He cultivated the rest as sharecropper. The crop failed due to failure of rain. He had tried to irrigate the crop by lifting water from a nearby stream, but gave up as the dry spell lingered. “His land is on the upper ridge; and the soil does not retain water for long,” said Bana Sabar, Suru’s elder brother. Suru had taken a loan of Rs5,000 from Bana to invest in seed and fertilizer etc, besides in kerosene to run a water pump. “He was very disturbed for some time due to the loss and might have taken the decision to end his life,” ...

NBWS ISSUED AGAINST 3 N’PADA FOREST STAFF Sunday, 10 May 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Khariar issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against three officials of Forest (Territorial) Division of Khariar. The NBWs were issued against DFO Sarat Chandra Panda, ACF Nityanand Naik and Forester Surendra Barik for deliberately defying summons of the JMFC for appearance in the court. The police are yet to arrest the officials, as they are absconding. The incident which led to such an unprecedented situation is peculiar. The DFO had issued an order for digging of a trench on the boundary line of forest land located near the JMFC court. The work resulted in the damage of a footpath and the water supply system leading to the court premises. Expressing discontent, the advocates of Khariar Bar Association requested the Forest Department to stop the work. However, the DFO instead of listening to them, justified his work stat...

THE PIONEER 3. YET ANOTHER N’PADA MIGRANT LABOURER DIES Monday, 11 May 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar         0 Within a span of 15 days, a second case of death of a bonded labour of Nuapada district working in the brick kiln of Telangana has been reported. Debendra Chhatria of Saradhapur village had died 15 days ago in Hatepeta while he was going in a loaded tractor to deliver bricks. The second unfortunate man was Babulal Khadia, a tribal landless labourer of Duajhar village working in a brick kiln of Angoli in Telangna. He died on April 30 last due to prolonged illness. Babulal is one of the 20 labourers of Duajhar who left the village in January to work in Kalakunda in Telangana. “He fell sick after three months of hard work but continued to work as the employer did not allow leave,” said his widow Kuntula Khadia. “He was not even allowed to inform us about his illness till he was immobile due to swelling of body,” she a...