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...

The pioneer 1. LOCALS RESENT NO ADMISSION IN KHARIAR KV THIS YEAR Monday, 02 March 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar         0 In spite of repeated appeals of the locals of Khariar area in Nuapada district to the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathana (KVS) to start the admission process for the session 2015-16 in the Kendriya Vidyalaya at Khariar, the KVS is yet to modify its decision on admission issue. The last date of selling forms for admission in the KV is March 10, but the KV, Khariar has not yet started selling of forms. “We have been instructed by our Regional Office to stop the admission process for this session as the land for construction of KV has not been transferred,” says the Principal of the KV.  The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathana (KVS), New Delhi in a letter addressed to the district Collector of Nuapada has instructed the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khariar to keep fresh admission to class I and other classes in abeyance u...

The Pioneer KHARIAR CRUSHER UNITS OPERATE SANS POLLUTION NORMS Saturday, 14 February 2015 | AJIT PANDA | Nuapada | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 0 Most of the stone quarries in Khariar block of Nuapada district are still operating without obeying pollution safeguards in spite of action taken by the Tehsildar of Khariar a month back. Khariar Tehsildar Gopalswami Naidu had sealed four crusher units one month back which were in operation without having pollution control certificate from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (PCB). One of the crusher owned by Shyam Agrawal did not even have the sitting criteria of the district administration. This unit had been sealed in 2010 by the tehsildar when it was located in Bharuakani village of Bhojpur GP. But instead of obtaining permission from the Collector, the owner broke the seal and shifted the unit to another site in the village Rohenpadar of the same GP. No criminal action was initiated against the owner f...

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...