layman's space

STORIES OF PLIGHT OF WOMEN OF SUNABEDA VILLAGES Saturday, 01 August 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar Netri Chhatria of Junapani village did not avail the service of institutional delivery because she was unable to pay for the transport to visit the nearest CHC (Community Health Centre) at Komna located at a distance of 30 km from her village.  Junapani is one of the several remote villages located in the Sunabeda Plateau of Nuapada district. Considering the distance and remoteness of the area, the Government has made provision for an ambulance to be placed in the panchayat headquarters, Sunabeda. But the CDMO has withdrawn that apprehending that the vehicle would be used by Maoists. “Such apprehension is rubbish,” say villagers. “Why don’t they keep the vehicle under the custody of the CRPF personnel posted here?” they ask. Netri’s husband Hareram phoned the driver of the ambulance repeatedly to bring the vehicle to Junapani, but the driver answered that...

RS3.90L NOT RECOVERED FROM EX-KHARIAR BDO Wednesday, 29 July 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar The audit report no – 05/2011-12 for the accounting year 2010-11 states that an amount of Rs 3.90 lakh is outstanding against Mangaraj. The Audit Superintendent of DLFA Nuapada office has recently sent a letter to the BDO, Khariar, requiring information on whether the Government funds spent illegally during the financial year 2010-11 have been recovered from Mangaraj, who is now working as the ABDO of Mathili block in Malkangiri district.Information obtained through an RTI query shows that recovery of money has not been made in case of a few erring officials in Nuapada district in spite of repeated notices by the Directorate of Local Fund Audit (DLFA). One such case in Khariar Panchayat Samiti is related to Rambilash Mangaraj, who was in charge BDO of Khariar during 2010-11 and 2011-12. The DLFA earlier had served notice to Mangaraj directing him to show cause, but as ...

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...