layman's space

ACTIVISTS DECRY LACK OF RTI EXECUTION IN NUAPADA DIST Tuesday, 02 December 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Right to Information (RTI) activists of Nuapada district have expressed discontent over the way the Public Information Officers (PIOs) of various public authorities are dealing with the RTI applications. “The Public Authorities show a lackadaisical attitude towards RTI; they never provide information in time. The heads of the offices as the first appellate authority also do not respond to the appeals in time. Inspection of documents under Sec 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act is not allowed,” the activists said. “The Public Authorities apply several strategies to deny information. First, they would try to persuade the applicant not to file application. Second, to maintain silence and wait till the State Information Commission (SIC) takes up the matter and directs the Public Authorities to provide information, and if they fail in thi...

ILLEGAL N’PADA CRUSHER UNITS SERVED NOTICE Sunday, 30 November 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar Acting upon a report published in The Pioneer on November 10 on violation of environmental norms and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) guidelines by several crusher units, the Khariar Tehsildar served notices to these units directing them to produce copy of environment clearance certificate and permission of the competent district authority. However, the crusher operators are not serious on the issue as the notice of the Tehsildar is ambiguous. “The environment clearance is given for mining activities by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and not by the SPCB. The SPCB accords consent to operate stone crushers,” say the crusher operators, adding, “We have already submitted the consent order of the SPCB to run our crushers.” However, reports said none of the units, except Suchita stone crusher, has submitted the environment clearance a...

CAMP ON KALACHHIR HELD IN NUAPADA Monday, 24 November 2014 | Pioneer | Nuapada | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 The Newborn Care Week — 2014 organised by international NGO ‘Save the Children’ in Nuapada district ended with a workshop on awareness campaign on Kalachhir on Friday . The participants included health workers, elected representatives, NGO personnel and mediapersons of the district. "Death rate of children in Nuapada district is 53 in 1,000 live births and 39 children out of the number die within 28 days of birth. The objective of observing the Newborn Care Week is to generate awareness among the people about saving the lives of the newborn babies with proper care,” said district programme officer of ‘Save the Children’ Bidyadhar Meher. One of the main causes of newborn death in Nuapada district is the superstitious method of treating Kalachhir, he added. Kalachhir therapy to treat children is prevalent in Nuapada, Kalahandi and Balangir dist...

KIDNEY AILMENT SEVERE IN NUAPADA VILLAGES Thursday, 20 November 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Sari Patel of Bhojpur village under Nuapada district feels she is the most unfortunate woman of the village. All the male earning members of her family have died one after another leaving the women and children helpless. “The cause of deaths of all my sons and a grandson is kidney disease,” says Sari. The villagers of Bhojpur reveal that more than 15 deaths in the village have occurred due to kidney problem.The death of her 22- year- old grandson Nikunja occurred three months ago. Nikunja was treated for the problem of kidney in a hospital at Vishakapatnam but could not survive. Nikunja’s father Durja Patel died eight years ago. “The doctors of Khariar Government hospital treated him for kidney problem but could not save him,” says Kalimati, mother of Nikunja. “I have seen the death of all my sons and a grandson in my eyes, why am I...

KHARIAR DALITS STAGE DEMO, SEEK FUNDS FOR WARD GROWTH Thursday, 20 November 2014 | PNS | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Residents of Gandhinagar pada in Khariar town staged a demonstration in front of the Khariar NAC office seeking allotment of sufficient funds for implementation of various development works in their ward. “As dalits, we have been neglected over the years even as we have sacrificed a lot for benefit of others. Our roads are not being repaired, we are not being provided with a drainage system, the electric wires in our ward are in a dangerous position and the street lights are working properly. The lone Anganwadi Centre is unsafe for children. Hence, we request you to take necessary action to create these facilities in our ward at the earliest,” a memorandum submitted to the NAC Executive Officer read. The people also submitted a memorandum to the Medical Officer of the Community Health Centre demanding enhancement of remuneratio...

N’PADA LABOUR BROKER, 7 AIDES HELD FOR ASSAULTING WOMEN Monday, 17 November 2014 | PNS | Nuapada | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0  The Komna police in Nuapada district on Saturday arrested and court-forwarded a labour broker and his seven accomplices on the charge of assaulting a migrant labourer and outraging modesty of women members of his family. The police said Madan Harijan, a labour broker of Kashipala village, had given Rs2,000 as advance to one Khenja Nag and two others of Tuklapada village to work in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh. Madan had assured that rest of their wages would be paid to the family members. Later, they went to the brick kiln and worked there.  But as the broker did not pay the rest amount as assured, Khenja and the two others returned to their village. Knowing about their return from the concerned Andhra contractor, Madan along with his accomplices went to Tuklapada and assaulted Khenja and others and their women fam...

N’PADA TEACHERS END STRIKE, AGREE TO RESUME MDM Thursday, 13 November 2014 | PNS | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Buckling under pressure from different quarters, the primary teachers of Nuapada district, who had started agitation on Tuesday demanding revocation of suspension orders on 40 of them, called off their strike on Wednesday and decided to resume the midday meal (MDM) service in schools. More than 90,000 children in the district were deprived of MDM for a day due to the strike. The district administration had suspended the teachers for three days on charge of enrolling fake children in schools and showing dropouts as regular.Most of the parents resented the decision of the agitating teachers for restraining from providing midday meals to the children. “How can they force the children to stay hungry for creating pressure on the administration to accept the demand of revocation?” asked the aggrieved parents. In some villages the school ma...