layman's space

STATE EDITIONS ILLEGAL CONCESSIONS AVAILED IN N’PADA MI WORKS CONTRACT Saturday, 31 August 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Duryodhan Majhi of Dabri village in Nuapada district is a poor tribal man with two acres of agriculture land. His crop practice itself reveals that the land he owns is of marginal quality and yielding less. He has a BPL card which allows him to get 25 kg rice under PDS every month. This brings a great succor to manage the family of six persons. But the records of the Government reveal that Majhi is very rich.  He is a ‘B’ class contractor. A certificate of registration under Registration Rules, 1967 has been issued to him. He has been awarded tenders of as many as 18 construction works in past three years, with a total cost of more than Rs 8 crore. Another interesting fact is that in all of the tenders, the agreement cost is less even to the extent of 20 to 30 per cent than the estimated cost. He h...

the pioneer - state edition RS 25 LAKH LOWER INDRA GOOF-UP UNEARTHED Thursday, 29 August 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 1 The Nuapada district police stumbled upon a fraudulent transaction worth more than Rs 25 lakh in the disbursement of payment of rehabilitation assistance to fake displaced persons (DP) of the Lower Indra Irrigation Project (LIIP) and arrested Bhawanipatna Central Cooperative Bank, Khariar branch’s former manager Ashok Hota and Bijaya Sahish on Monday. When Hota and Sahish were sent to jail custody, a third accused in the case Luhar is still absconding. “Our district office was closely observing the activities of the accused persons for past one month when it got a report of fraudulent transaction from the Project Director of Rehabilitation & Resettlement (PDRR) division of the LIIP. Finally, we apprehended the accused persons on August 26 after one Agasti Patel of Kanabira, which is one of the affect...

the pioneer - STATE EDITION NUAPADA DM’S MOVE ON PRIMARY EDU FLAYED Tuesday, 27 August 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 New Collector of Nuapada Jaykumar V has taken interest to improve the quality of primary education in the district by focusing on the improvement of attendance of children and teachers, child health and sanitation and proper distribution of hygienic MDM. But the steps taken by the Collector to bring the changes have not gone down well with the teachers and have been criticised by the two teachers’ associations of the district. What is creating resentment among the teachers is the system introduced by the Collector to assure regular attendance of the teachers in the school. The Collector has instructed the District Project Coordinator (DPC) and the District Education Office (DEO) to implement a system where each school has to submit a format containing the names of the teachers and their initials, full sig...

the pioneer - STATE EDITION DIARRHOEA, CHOLERA SPECTRES STILL HAUNT NUAPADA Saturday, 24 August 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar Khula Asma ke Niche: "we are happy that our child was saved" Picture by Maya Saraf, OTV, Nuapada Despite the claim of the district health administration that cholera and diarrhoea in Sinapali block is under control, there is every possibility of their reoccurrence. The recent death of a person in Sinapali town has confirmed the outbreak of cholera in the area. Besides, two more deaths have occurred due to diarrhoea in Kusumkhunta village of Gorla gram panchayat. The deceased include a two and half years old kid. “Diarrhoea in our village started after the migrant workers returned from their Andhra trip,” the villagers said. Officials of the health department confirmed that the source of diarrhoea in the village was the use of water from the village pond, where the diarrhoea affected people washed their clothes. A ...

the pioneer STATE EDITIONS K’HANDI THIRD PALLI SABHA ALSO AGAINST MINING Friday, 26 July 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 The residents of Palberi village in the Niyamgiri Hills region of Kalahandi district participating in the Palli Sabha held on Thursday vehemently opposed mining in the hills.  The sentiments revealed by them were the same as expressed in the previous four Palli Sabhas held at Serkapadi and Kesarpadi of Rayagada district and Tadijhola and Kunakadu villages of Kalahandi district.  “Without the Niyamgiri Hills and Niyam Raja, it will be impossible for us to live because the water, air and everything we take belong to Niyam Raja,” the villagers said one after another. This fifth Palli Sabha in a series of 12 scheduled in  12 villages of the two  districts was held under the supervision of a judge to discuss about the impact of mining on the religious and cultural rights of the inhabitants ...

‘LIKE YOU CAN’T GIVE UP JAGANNATH, WE CAN’T NIYAMGIRI’ the pioneer - State Edition; Thursday, 25 July 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/like-you-cant-give-up-jagannath-we-cant-niyamgiri.html Can you give up your Lord Jagannath? Will you stop worshipping your deity? If you can’t, how do you think we will surrender our God Niyam Raja and His abode Niyamgiri to Vedanta?” asked Dambru Majhi, a villager of Kunakadu in Kalahandi district, where the fourth Palli Sabha out of the scheduled twelve was held on Tuesday in the presence of 21 voters out 22 in  the village. Twelve out of the total present were women. Hundreds of Dongaria Kandh women and men of different other villages of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts were present too. Dambru compared his God Niyamraja with the Jagannath and pointed his question to the independent observer PK Jena, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to o...

PALLI SABHA: K’HANDI TRIBALS TOO SAY ‘NO’ TO MINING THE PIONEER - NATION Wednesday, 24 July 2013 | AJIT PANDA | BHAWANIPATNA The Palli Sabha of Tadijhola village in Trilochanpur Gram Panchayat of Kalahandi held on Tuesday unanimously declared that the villagers would not allow mining in the Niyamgiri Hills.  “Niyam Raja is our father and Niyamgiri hills, our mother. Hence, we will not allow Vedanta to snatch it from us,” said every villagers of Tadijhola present in the meeting. Out of 22 voters of the village, 19 were present in the meeting and nine of them were women. Sugri Gauda (87), who is blind and crippled due to old age, also came to the meeting leaning on a stick and said, “I will not leave Niyamgiri, come what may.” Additional District Judge (Vigilance) of Kalahandi Pramod Kumar Jen, who was appointed by the Supreme Court as the observer for the Palli Sabha, was present during the whole deliberation. The meeting was presided over by Ward Member Ramu Majh...