Tag: Odisha

Odisha: 55.20 pc voting till 3 pm in Jharsuguda by-poll

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Jharsuguda, A total of 55.20 per cent of the 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm on Wednesday in Odisha’s Jharsuguda assembly constituency, where a by-election is underway, an Election Commission official said.
Long queues were seen in front of several polling stations even before the voting process started at 7 am.
“There is no report of any untoward incident. Voting is underway peacefully amid tight security arrangements in all 253 polling stations. At least 55.20 per cent of eligible voters have exercised their franchise till 3 pm,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nikunja Bihari Dhal said.

Dhal said the pace of voting reduced in the afternoon due to intense heat as 42 degrees Celsius was recorded in Jharsuguda at 3 pm. He said drinking water and watermelon were distributed among the voters standing in the queue.
The voting will continue till 6 pm.
Over 2.21 lakh voters, including 63 members of the transgender community, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-poll.
“There has been adequate deployment of personnel including paramilitary jawans in critical booths. Drones are being used to monitor the voting process in many booths,” said Jharsuguda SP Aparmar Smit Parshottamdas.
The by-election assumes significance as it will be the last poll before the 2024 general elections.

More than 1,000 officials and a huge police contingent along with seven companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed for the by-election, the official said.
Collector cum District Election Officer Aboli Sunil Naravane said this was the first time that webcasting was done in all 253 polling stations.
She said adequate arrangements have been made to provide respite to voters from the scorching heat.
Both BJD candidate Deepali Das and BJP nominee Tankadhar Tripathy cast their votes early in the morning.
The by-election was necessitated following the murder of the sitting MLA and the then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on January 29, 2023.
Though nine candidates are in the fray in the by-poll, the contest is mainly between the BJD, BJP and Congress.
The BJD has fielded Das’s daughter Deepali Das, while the BJP has nominated Tankadhar Tripathy. The Congress has fielded Tarun Pandey, the son of late MLA Biren Pandey. All three candidates are debutant contestants.
Votes will be counted on May 13.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had campaigned for BJD candidate Deepali Das, while Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bisheswar Tudu had canvassed for BJP nominee Tankadhar Tripathy.
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#Odisha #voting #Jharsuguda #bypoll
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 10, 2023
Nitish Kumar to travel to Odisha, meet Naveen Patnaik on May 9

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Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar on May 9, amid talks of regional parties coming together ahead of the 2024 general elections, officials said.
Kumar will meet Patnaik at Naveen Niwas’ here around 12 pm, they said.
The Bihar CM and JD(U) leader had recently announced that he would travel across the country to unite opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.

He has already met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja.
Patnaik, the BJD supremo, had also met Banerjee in March.
In December last year, Patnaik had invited both Banerjee and Kumar to witness the hockey world cup in Odisha.
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#Nitish #Kumar #travel #Odisha #meet #Naveen #Patnaik
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 6, 2023
President Droupadi Murmu visits Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha

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Bhubaneswar: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday visited Similipal Tiger Reserve and undertook a safari ride to see wild animals and the flora and fauna of the national park.
Murmu, who is on a three-day visit to home district Mayurbhanj in Odisha, stayed at her house in Rairangpur on Thursday night. Though she was scheduled to stay at a government bungalow at Rairangpur, she did not miss the chance to stay with her family members and relatives at her own house.
She started the second day of her visit by paying floral tributes to former President Giani Zail Singh on his birth anniversary at Rairangpur.

She also paid tributes to Pandit Raghunath Murmu, the inventor of the Ol Chiki script of Santhali language, at his birthplace Dandabosh village on the occasion of his birth anniversary.
Later, she visited Similipal Tiger Reserve. She visited Chahala in the core area, where local tribal food was served to her and then undertook safari to see deer, sambhar and elephants. The President also visited the waterfalls at Barehipani and Joranda.
After her return from Similipal, she is now at Baripada, where she will spend the night. The President will attend the convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University on Saturday before flying back to Delhi.
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#President #Droupadi #Murmu #visits #Similipal #Tiger #Reserve #Odisha
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 5, 2023
Nitish Kumar likely to meet CMs of Odisha, Jharkhand on May 5

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Patna: In a bid to unite the opposition parties for the next year’s Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is expected to meet his Odisha and Jharkhand counterparts, Naveen Patnaik and Hemant Soren, respectively, on May 5.
Earlier, on April 11, he went to Delhi and met the Congress top brass, including party leader Rahul Gandhi and president Mallikarjun Kharge.
He also met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and Left leaders, D. Raja and Sitaram Yechuri.

On April 24, Nitish Kumar met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Benerjee and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
According to a source aware of the developments, Nitish Kumar is on the “BJP Bhagao Desh Bachao” campaign for the 2024 polls.
“Hence, he is meeting the opposition leaders and getting a good response,” the source said.
Nitish Kumar is in touch with several opposition party leaders over the phone as well.
Earlier, JD-U national president Lalan Singh met Soren on Monday.

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#Nitish #Kumar #meet #CMs #Odisha #Jharkhand
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 3, 2023
BJP, Cong attack Odisha govt over missing keys of Puri Jagannath temple Ratna Bhandar’

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Bhubaneswar: The BJP and the Congress on Thursday separately demanded that the Biju Janata Dal government in Odisha open the Ratna Bhandar’ of the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, and make public the report of a judicial commission formed to probe into the issue of missing keys of the 12th-century shrine’s treasury.
The demands were raised two days after the Orissa High Court asked the state government to file its response by July 10 on a petition praying for making public the report of Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Inquiry on the missing Ratna Bhandar keys.
“The judicial panel submitted its report to the state government in November 2018, about five years ago. The government has not taken any action on it and kept it in cold storage,” BJP spokesperson Pitamber Acharya said.

If the government believes in transparency, the judicial commission report should be made public without further delay, senior Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said.
The ruling BJD in a statement said the Ratna Bhandar was not opened for 38 years since 1985 and the opposition should refrain from indulging in politics in the name of Lord Jagannath.
The Ratna Bhandar, located in the basement of the temple, has two parts. The outer chamber of the Ratna Bhandar stores ornaments used by the deities on a daily basis, while many pieces of jewellery are kept in the inner chamber of the treasury.
While the keys to the outer chamber are available, the keys to the inner chamber are missing.
Acharya said the people have serious doubts about the assertion made by the government for the last five years that it has a duplicate key.

An attempt was made to open the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar’ in April 2018 following a directive of the Orissa High Court, but it was not successful as keys were not found at that time. A team, comprising ASI officials, priests and others, then carried out an inspection from outside.
However, a few days after the inspection, the government said a duplicate key of the inner chamber has been found.
“The state government must give a clarification on the issue of missing keys and how a duplicate was found,” he said.
The BJP leader also sought to know why the government is reluctant to open the Ratna Bhandar if it has a duplicate key.
Acharya also wondered why the state government is not opening the inner chamber even after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in an affidavit to the court mentioned that there is a threat to Ratna Bhandar and urgent repair work is required.
He claimed that people across the country suspect that the valuables of the Ratna Bhandar have been looted.
“It is the responsibility of the state government to make the Commission of Inquiry report public,” Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said.
The BJD government is not maintaining its own policy of maintaining transparency, he said.
“I had seen huge quantities of gold, diamond and ornaments wrapped in clothes and kept in wooden boxes,” former temple administrator Rabindra Narayan Mishra, who was part of a team that inspected the inner chamber in 1978, said.
All the precious items have been listed and weighed properly during the last inspection, he said, adding that the valuation of the asset could not be ascertained as goldsmiths from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat were not able to calculate the actual value of the ornaments at that time.
In 1985 when the Ratna Bhandar was opened again, no fresh inventory was made.
Mishra supported the demand for a fresh inventory of the ornaments stored in the Ratna Bhandar and allow the ASI to inspect its condition.
In 2021, then law minister Pratap Jena informed the assembly that according to the 1978 inventory, the Ratna Bhandar had 12,831 bharis’ of gold and 22,153 bharis’ of silver (one bhari is equal to 11.66 grams).
The treasury also had 12,831 grams of gold ornaments with precious stones and other valuables, he had said.
As much as 22,153 grams of silver with expensive stones, silver utensils and other valuables were found there, Jena had mentioned, adding that due to various reasons, 14 gold and silver items could not be weighed during the inventory process.
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#BJP #Cong #attack #Odisha #govt #missing #keys #Puri #Jagannath #temple #Ratna #Bhandar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 27, 2023
Wary of cyclone, Odisha gears up for calamity in advance

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Bhubaneswar: After being hit by summer cyclones for three consecutive years in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the Odisha government on Wednesday geared up for such an eventuality in the coming days, though the IMD forecast no possibility of any low-pressure formation in the Bay of Bengal in a fortnight.
The government decided to open a round-the-clock control room across the districts from May 1 for monitoring the situation, a senior official said.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary P K Jena where the state government’s preparedness was reviewed.

Senior officers of several government departments, the Director General of Police, Director General of Fire Service, the Special Relief Commissioner, and a senior official of IMD Bhubaneswar Centre were among others who attended the meeting.
Jena asked line departments like revenue and disaster management, rural development, housing and urban development, health, home and panchayati raj and drinking water to be prepared for the possible summer cyclone.
Discussions were held on information from Doppler radars installed at Paradeep and Gopalpur. These two radars will help track any summer cyclone formed over the Bay of Bengal.
While Odisha encountered cyclone Fani in 2019, cyclones Amphan and Yaas hit the state in 2020 and 2021 respectively. However, there was no such cyclone in 2022.
As the telecom service providers have introduced several measures to face cyclones, the state government asked them to take steps to provide uninterrupted service to people and send SMS/voice messages regarding updates on any possible cyclone this summer.

IMD officials and senior weather scientist US Dash, who attended the meeting, said that steps have been taken for broadcasting weather bulletins and cyclone updates through radio and television channels.
He said the state government was informed that there was no possibility of any low-pressure formation in the Bay of Bengal in the next 15 days and therefore no possibility of a summer cyclone now.
“Cyclone mock drills will be held in each district on June 18 and 19 except Puri where a festival will be held on June 20,” an official said.
The officials of 317 fire stations in the state have been kept ready to face any eventuality.
At least 17 teams of NDRF can be deployed for rescue and rehabilitation work in case of any cyclone hitting Odisha this summer, a statement issued by the chief secretary’s office said.
The state has altogether 879 multipurpose cyclone/flood centres to provide temporary shelters to people. The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority has been asked to keep all equipment ready for rescue and rehabilitation work, it said.
While the Water Resources department has been told to introduce the necessary measures to manage flood-like situations during the cyclone.
The Health and Family Welfare department will store adequate medicines, anti-venom injections and other essential items at the district headquarters hospitals. The department will also take prompt steps to relocate pregnant women to nearby hospitals, the statement said.
The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department has been asked to store adequate amounts of dry food and other essential commodities.
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#Wary #cyclone #Odisha #gears #calamity #advance
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 26, 2023
Odisha: BJP accuses BJD of protecting perpetrators of Sambalpur violence

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Bhubaneswar: Continuing the attack on the ruling BJD over the recent clashes in Sambalpur, senior Odisha BJP leader Samir Mohanty alleged on Tuesday that the ruling party is protecting the perpetrators of the communal violence.
Addressing a press conference here, former state BJP chief Mohanty said that Odisha has been witnessing anarchy and lawlessness.
“As the law and order situation has deteriorated, it has put a big question on the safety and security of the people of Odisha. The murder of a Cabinet minister, the kidnap and murder of a boy in Jharsuguda, and similar incidents in different parts of the state clearly show the deteriorating law and order situation in Odisha,” he said.

Mohanty also accused the BJD government of giving shelter to the rioters who unleashed violence in Sambalpur during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.
When a Hanuman Jayanthi procession was taken out in Sambalpur On April 12, stones were pelted on it, people were attacked with sticks, and petrol bombs were seized from the roof of some houses. Besides, anti-national slogans were also raised, alleged the BJP leader.
However, Mohanty claimed that state minister Pratap Keshari Deb has blamed the organisers of the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations for the violence in Sambalpur.
“The language used by Deb shows that the government is shielding the rioters. Is it not an anti-Hindu mentality to blame the organisers for the violence that happened during the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in Sambalpur,” he asked.
“In the FIR, the police mentioned that there were 150 to 160 rioters, whose videos are circulating on social media. However, the police are sitting idle after arresting only 30 persons,” he added.

Mohanty also asked who is creating pressure on the police to not arrest the other rioters involved in the violence?
Reacting to the allegations levelled by Mohanty, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said, “Due to the strong and whole-hearted resolve of the people of Sambalpur and resolute efforts of the police and administration, normalcy is returning to Sambalpur. But unfortunately, the Odisha BJP cannot tolerate.”
The BJD leader said the law and order situation in Odisha is much better than BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The people of Odisha are peace-loving, but the BJP has been constantly insulting them by calling them lawless, Lenin Mohanty said.
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#Odisha #BJP #accuses #BJD #protecting #perpetrators #Sambalpur #violence
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 25, 2023
UK’s first Jagannath Temple to be built in London, backed by Odisha diaspora

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London: A UK-based charity working on a project to build Britain’s first temple dedicated to Lord Jagannatha in London has welcomed a pledge of GBP 25 million from an Odisha-origin entrepreneur and hopes to get the first phase of construction completed by the end of next year.
Shree Jagannatha Society (SJS) UK, registered with the Charity Commission in England, said that global Indian investor Biswanath Patnaik made the pledge at the first Shree Jagannatha Convention held in London on Sunday.
Patnaik, the founder of FinNest Group of companies, joins the company’s managing director, Arjun Kar, who is the UK-based principal donor of the project.

“Speaking at this occasion, Shri Kar announced that Shri Biswanath Patnaik has pledged a sum of GBP 25 million towards the construction of a magnificent temple for Lord Jagannatha in London, which will be facilitated by FinNest Group of Companies, of which he is the Managing Director,” the charity said in a statement.
The FinNest Group is an early-stage private equity investment firm that invests worldwide in renewables, electric vehicles (EVs), hydrogen locomotives, innovative technology and fintech. Kar also revealed at the event that the group has committed GBP 7 million towards the purchase of nearly 15 acres of land for the new temple to be known as Shree Jagannatha Mandir London.
“A suitable land has been identified and is currently in the final stages of purchase, and a pre-planning application has been submitted to the local government council to secure permission for the Mandir’s construction,” the charity said.
In his message to the convention, which coincided with celebrations of Akshaya Trithiya over the weekend, Patnaik pledged his financial support for the construction of the temple and exhorted devotees to “work together with faith in Lord Jagannatha to make the dream of a Mandir a reality at the earliest”.
The convention, attended by Deputy Indian High Commissioner to the UK Sujit Ghosh and India’s Minister (Culture) Amish Tripathi, celebrated the UK tour of Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, the maharaja of Puri, along with Maharani Leelabati Pattamahadei.

“The most significant aspect of the tradition of Lord Jagannatha is its all-encompassing universality. He is invoked and worshipped by virtually all the diverse religious sampradayas each in their own way. Lord Jagannatha is also worshipped by Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs,” said Gajapati Maharaja.
As the Aadya Sevak, or first and foremost servitor of Lord Jagannatha, and the Chairman of the Shri Jagannatha Temple Managing Committee at Sri Mandir in Purushottama Kshetra, he also expressed his support for the temple project. In his keynote address entitled Traditions of Lord Jagannatha and the Significance of Purushottama Kshetra’, he noted that the tradition of Lord Jagannatha represents “great harmony” for the planet.
Dr Sahadev Swain, Chairperson of SJS UK, expressed the hope that the new Shree Jagannatha Mandir London will become an epicentre of Jagannatha culture in Europe and a prominent pilgrimage site, attracting thousands of devotees and tourists from around the world.
The charity’s Indian-origin Trustees Bhakta Panda, Aditya Singh, Santosh Pattnayak, Chetan Shatapathy, Sukanta Sahu, Amita Mishra, Nidhi Kar, and Anjan Mishra famously performed a victory prayer for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and handed him gold-plated deities from India during his leadership campaign trail in London last year.
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#UKs #Jagannath #Temple #built #London #backed #Odisha #diaspora
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 25, 2023
Sambalpur violence: Odisha BJP prez seeks Shah’s intervention

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Bhubaneswar: Odisha BJP President Manmohan Samal sought urgent intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah into communal violence that erupted during Hanuman Jayanti processions at Sambalpur.
Apart from Samal, several others including MP Aparajita Sarangi, BJP chief whip Mohan Majhi, MLAs Nauri Naik, L.B. Mohapatra, K. Narayan Rao and Suryabanshi Suraj have signed the letter.
Samal informed Shah about the precarious law and order situation and communal clashes in Sambalpur resulting from orchestrated violent attacks by members of a certain community in the bike rally on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti on April 12 to 14. While curfew remains in force, internet services across the district remain suspended till now.

The coordinated attacks have left various persons and dozens of policemen grievously injured, causing heavy loss to public property and torching of shops, vehicles, and private property. Besides, a tribal youth was killed by the mob on the day of Hanuman Jayanti (April 14) while dozens of civilians were injured that day, he said.
“The violence and arson in Sambalpur during the Hanuman Jayanti procession and a day before has exposed the poor intelligence network of Odisha Police and its lack of foresight in ascertaining the consequences of inadequate security arrangement and ineptitude to follow the MHA Advisory issued on April 5, 2023, for Hanuman Jayanti,” read the letter.
Claiming that these attacks were pre-planned and organised, the saffron party leader said the procession in Sambalpur was attacked at the same place where it was attacked during the last Hanuman Jayanti. The BJP leader demanded the imposition of strict laws like UAPA and NSA against the perpetrators for shouting ‘anti-national’ slogans.
“We are appalled by the biased and negligent attitude of the government of Odisha in handling this incident. We wonder why the police did not arrest the conspirators beforehand, knowing their plot, especially when similar incidents have occurred in the past,” he said.
The BJP President further alleged “The conspirators have the backing of the ruling party of Odisha for their political motives. Instead, police have resorted to arrests of innocent members of the procession who are themselves victims of these attacks.”

The administration has ignored their anti-national activities, such as building huge structures on government land and acquiring illegal weapons in their houses, he further alleged.
Strongly condemning this heinous act of communal violence, the saffron party demanded an impartial investigation by National Investigation Agency (NIA) to unravel the hatched conspiracy, and strict action against the perpetrators.
They also demanded adequate compensation and relief for the victims.
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#Sambalpur #violence #Odisha #BJP #prez #seeks #Shahs #intervention
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 22, 2023
Odisha: Mortal remains of soldier killed in Poonch attack consigned to flames

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Bhubaneswar: The mortal remains of Indian Army jawan Debashish Biswal, who was among the five soldiers killed in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, were consigned to flames with full military honours at his native village in Odisha’s Puri district on Saturday.
Thousands of people gathered at the crematorium in Khandayat Sahi in Sakhigopal area as Biswal’s elder brother lit the pyre.
His body reached the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar on a special Indian Air Force plane. The body was then taken to Puri in an Army convoy.

Governor Ganeshi Lal and other dignitaries paid their tributes to Biswal at the airport.
‘Debashish Amar Rahe’ slogans rented the air as the convoy with Biswal’s body travelled from Bhubaneswar to Puri.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh for Biswal’s family. He is survived by his wife Sushree Sangeeta and seven-month-old daughter.
Five Army personnel were killed and another was seriously injured on Thursday after their vehicle caught fire following the attack in the dense forest area of Bata Doriya in Poonch. The soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terror operations.

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#Odisha #Mortal #remains #soldier #killed #Poonch #attack #consigned #flames
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 22, 2023