layman's space

187 GANA SIKSHAKS ‘PUNISHED’ FOR NO FAULT OF THEIRS Thursday, 31 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 As many as 187 Gana Sikshaks (GSs) of Nuapada district have been punished for a fault that they have not committed. They have become ineligible for regularisation of services as they obtained permission from the BDOs, Sub-Inspectors of Schools (SISs) and their respective school Head Masters (HMs) instead of the District Project Coordinator (DPC) to pursue higher studies. It was mandatory for the GSs, who were Class-X pass at the time of appointment, to acquire +2 qualifications within three years of their appointment. Those GSs, who took permission of BDOs, SISs and HMs to appear at the examinations, have been excluded from the list of eligible GSs sent on June 6, 2017 to the State Directorate of Elementary Education by the district authorities for regularization. “They had not taken permiss...

ONCE ‘SORROW' FOR FLOODS, NUAPADA RIVER IS DRY Thursday, 17 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 Ahilat, a seasonal river flowing in the southern part of Nuapada district, is totally dry now. For the villagers living on the banks, the sight is very uncommon this year; the riverbed is full of weeds and shrubs. There is no water in July, when it should have been flowing full. Different small streams cascading from the hills of Patdarha forest block in Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary form river Ahilat near Khadupani village of Boden block. It covers a distance of about 50 km before merging with river Udanti, which is a tributary of river Tel. The villages along the river Ahilat are regularly affected by gushing water when it rains heavily causing agricultural lands to be washed away very often. “When it rains for a few days after arrival of monsoon, this river breaches embankment, but this year i...

CROP LOSS: ODISHA FARMERS FILE CASE AGAINST IMD Sunday, 13 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Sunday Pioneer 1 2 3 4 5 Farmers of Khariar block in Nuapada district represented by Sanjay Tiwari have lodged an FIR at the Khariar police station against Dr KJ Ramesh, Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, on Friday. The farmers have stated in the FIR that they started early agricultural operations during the current kharif season (2017-18) believing in the IMD prediction that the monsoon would arrive early and the rainfall would be good. Unfortunately, crops in most of the lands have been damaged due to lack of rain. “One of the worst droughts of the decade is looming large in the area. We have faced huge loss because of the false prediction of the IMD. We should be compensated for the loss by the IMD,” said the farmers to the Press...

SAD STORY OF A WIDOW HAVING TWO STEPSONS Saturday, 12 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 Sima Deep lives in a very miserable condition in a one-room kuchha house at the village Ganihari of Nuapada district with two children of her husband’s second wife Sabitri. There is no news about Sabitri since she left home in October last year with a labour contractor to work in a brick kiln. Sima even has no information about the workplace, to which Sabitri was taken. Sima’s husband Gini, who died four year ago, had married Sabitri as Sima had only one child, a girl. Sabitri gave birth to two boys, Sarat and Ugresan, who are now six and eleven years, respectively. In the absence of an adult male member in the family, Sabitri decided to migrate with the labour contractor. Sima’s daughter is married now. The burden of the two minor children of Sabitri has fallen on Sima. “Sabitri was not alone when s...

RS 752-CR PIPE WATER PROJECT IN N’PADA, K’HANDI IN LIMBO Friday, 11 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 The much-awaited work of the Mega Pipe Water Supply (PWS) project worth Rs  752.44 crore, which was understood to be a blessing for the people of fluoride-affected areas of Nuapada and Kalahandi districts is yet to be started even after two and a half years of its sanction by the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). The project’s implementation has been trapped within the formalities of sanction and approval of different departments of the State Government. The project was announced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2015. Basing on the Rural Development (RD) Department letter no.2255 dated April 23, 2015, the tender for execution of the project including five years of operation and management on EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contact for R...

TEACHERS’ TRANSFER TRIGGERS RESENTMENT IN NUAPADA Tuesday, 08 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 Complaints of violations of guidelines in rationalisation of  teachers’ strength in the current academic session has been raised by the  teaching community, School Management Committees (SMC) members and  leaders of various political parties in Nuapada district.   Rationalisation of teachers at district level is done at the beginning  of every academic year to maintain pupil-teacher ratio at 30:1. The  guideline on rationalisation also mentions that, there should not be  any single teacher school. However, it is learnt that the transfer of  teachers done recently in the district has violated many such norms.  Nuapada Project Primary School (PPS) of Birighat GP with five classes  had only two teachers, but one of them – Lokanath Saraf has been...

N’PADA WIDOW, 3 CHILDREN DON’T KNOW HOW TO LIVE Saturday, 05 August 2017  |  AJIT PANDA  | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar 1 2 3 4 5 Sarojini Nag of Danujhola village in Nuapada district has been running from pillar to post to get Widow Pension and Rs 20,000 under the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) for last six months. She is unable to get the benefit because she has failed to obtain the death certificate of her husband from a hospital located far away from her village. Sarojini went to Peddapalli near Hyderabad with her husband Jugal and three minor children to work in a brick kiln. Jugal fell sick and could not work. After a lot of persuasion and returning the advance amount to the labour contractor by her relatives in her village, the employer allowed them to leave the workplace. They started their return journey on December 11, 2016 buying a ticket from Peddapalli to Harishankar Road. But unfortunately, instead o...