Bhubaneswar: Internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik on Saturday said he has returned a piece of land the state government had allotted him in Odisha as he was not allowed to construct on it. Pattnaik said the state government had given him about half an acre of land at the district headquarters town of Puri, his home town, about 56 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, in 2011 for setting up a sand art park of international standards.
"I was very happy when this land was given to me, but I was shocked when I looked at the terms and conditions, according to which I cannot put up any construction on it," Pattnaik told IANS.
"I wrote to the government a number of times seeking a change in the terms and conditions, but got no response. I had no choice but to return the land," he said.
The sand artist Saturday met Puri District Collector Naba Kumar Nayak and returned the land allotment order....
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04:33 AM, May 26, 2013
New Delhi: Amid speculation that the Congress is exploring government formation in Jharkhand -- which is under President's rule -- party vice president Rahul Gandhi reviewed the political situation with state leaders on Friday. A section of the Congress has been in favour of exploring ways to form a government in the state with the support of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), said party sources in Delhi. However, the opinion...
05:22 AM, May 25, 2013
Bhubaneswar: The heat wave continues to grip northern India with the Met department predicting a further rise in temperatures. The heat wave continued unabated in Delhi on Thursday with the minimum temperature settling five notches above average at 31.4 degrees Celsius and the maximum expected to hover around the 45 degrees Celsius mark. "Heatwave conditions would continue across the national capital. The maximum temperature on Thursday is expected to be...
11:03 AM, May 23, 2013
Balangir: Five people were burnt alive on Thursday after a government passenger bus hit a tree and caught fire in Odisha. The incident took place in the Bolangir district of Odisha. Two others were seriously injured in the incident. The passenger bus from Bhubaneswar was proceeding towards Sinapalli in Nuapada when the mishap took place near Puintala, three km from here, in the early hours, police said. The injured were...
10:30 AM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: There is no respite from the heat as yet. Parts of Maharashtra including the Vidarbha region sizzled at high temperatures. Nagpur and Wardha districts recorded mercury levels at 47 degree Celsius. Meanwhile, in Odisha, at least three people have died due to the heat wave as the temperatures touched 46 degrees. The national capital too recorded temperatures as high as 45 degrees. Heat wave conditions intensified in the...
08:47 AM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Expect another hot day on Tuesday across North India and parts of the South. Met department officials say temperatures will continue to be 3 to 4 degrees above normal for this time of the year in many parts of North India. The current prolonged heat wave, the second time in 10 years, is expected to last at least till May 24. As North India boils, the intense heat...
11:59 AM, May 21, 2013
Berhampur: A man was arrested for allegedly attempting to kill his six-month-old son by slitting his throat with a blade at Sorada in Odisha's Ganjam district, police said on Monday. Sitaram Sethi allegedly committed the offence in a fit of rage following a quarrel with his wife at their house in Sorada on Saturday, said officer-in-charge of local police outpost BK Sahu said. The baby was first admitted to Balipadar...
01:14 PM, May 20, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Alleging rampant corruption and plundering of BPL rice, minerals and from gullibles through chitfund during BJD rule in Odisha, Congress on Sunday claimed it would capture power in the next polls by dumping the Naveen Patnaik government in Bay of Bengal. Addressing a function to accord a reception to the new OPCC President Jayadeb Jenan, senior party leaders including Union Minister Srikant Jena slammed the BJD government of failing...
03:10 AM, May 20, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Continuing its action against chit fund companies and others duping investors, police on Saturday sealed the corporate office of Seashore Group and took Artha Tatwa group chief Pradip Sethi to its custody for four days. The Crime Branch failed to arrest Seashore Group chief Prashant Das, who obtained an anticipatory bail from the Orissa High Court, but sealed its corporate office and seized certain documents and computers, said Crime...
10:13 PM, May 18, 2013
Bhubaneswar: More than a fortnight after CNN-IBN exposed that Odisha-based Seashore Group had duped over 1.5 lakh investors of Rs 1700 crore, the state's crime branch on Saturday sealed the headquarters of the group in Bhubaneshwar. The company had reportedly offered investors 24 per cent interest per annum. While the chairman of Seashore Group Prashant Das has yet not been arrested, the police had earlier detained over a hundred staff...
12:21 PM, May 18, 2013
Bhubaneswar: A man has been arrested for raping a nine-year-old girl in an Odisha village, police said on Saturday. Santosh Rout, 45, was arrested after the girl's father lodged a complaint on Friday. The victim, a Class five student, had suffered injury marks on her body, a police officer said. Rout allegedly dragged the girl to a secluded place and raped her on Thursday evening when she had gone to...
10:32 AM, May 18, 2013
Bhubaneswar: At least 177 people were arrested in different parts of Odisha during the past week for their involvement in illegal money circulation and chit fund activities, a police official said on Friday. The crackdown on the firms began May 10, 2013 and about 200 offices of 84 companies were raided, Rajesh Kumar, deputy inspector general (economic offence wing) of the crime branch police, told IANS. The arrested include two...
05:45 AM, May 18, 2013
Bhubaneswar: With investors across Odisha demanding action against the chit fund companies which duped them of crores of rupees, opposition BJP and Congress on Friday respectively demanded judicial probe and CBI investigation into the matter. "As one chief of an accused chit fund company has said that some ministers and MLAs are hand-in-glove with him to cheat people, the government must reveal their names and announce a judicial probe into...
11:01 PM, May 17, 2013
Keonjhar: Fourteen years after Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt alive by a crowd in Odisha, police have arrested two more accused in the case. The duo was arrested from Keonjhar in Odisha. Staines, along with his two minor sons - Philip and Timothy, was burnt alive on January 22, 1999 by a crowd while they were asleep in their station wagon at Manoharpur village...
12:56 PM, May 17, 2013
Bhubaneswar: After nabbing over 160 people across Odisha on charges of running or helping illegal money laundering, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch (CB), arrested two employees of Saradha Group on Thursday. The EOW took Basudev Samal and BN Das into custody on charge of helping Saradha Group chief to cheat gullible investors in Balasore district. While Samal was working as the branch manager of Saradha group's...
10:28 PM, May 16, 2013
Dhar (MP): Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said Naxalism is strong only in those states where Congress is not in power. "Naxalism is strong only in those states where Congress is not in power like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha among others," the Union Minister said, addressing a 'Parivartan Rally' in Bordha village of the district. Ramesh said that whenever Congress is weakened in these states, Naxalism...
08:55 PM, May 16, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Unhappy over the probe by Crime Branch of state police into the mysterious death of a lady doctor in Puri in 2012, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Wednesday suggested Odisha government to recommend a CBI probe into the matter. "We do not feel the state police is undertaking investigation into the death case involving a lady doctor in right way. Therefore, we suggest Odisha government to recommend...
01:46 AM, May 16, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Rain and thundershower are likely to lash many parts of coastal Odisha and some other areas under the impact of the cyclonic storm 'Mahasen', centred about 760 km south of Paradip on Tuesday, Meteorological Centre said. The cyclonic storm over the south-east Bay of Bengal moved northwards and lay centred near latitude 13.50 N and longitude 85.50 E, about 760 km south of the port town of Paradip, the...
11:32 AM, May 15, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Rain and thundershower are likely to lash many parts of coastal Odisha and some other areas under the impact of the cyclonic storm 'Mahasen', centred about 760 km south of Paradip on Tuesday, Meteorological Centre said. The cyclonic storm over the south-east Bay of Bengal moved northwards and lay centred near latitude 13.50 N and longitude 85.50 E, about 760 km south of the port town of Paradip, the...
03:51 PM, May 14, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Weeks after CNN-IBN reported a political nexus in Odisha's Rs 20,000 crore investment scam, the crime branch has now arrested the owner of another financial company. The arrested owner of Artha Tatwa, Pradip Sethi, has alleged that ministers, MLAs, top politicians and bureaucrats are also involved in the financial scam. He has claimed that he has video and audio evidence to prove the involvement of politicians. Pradip has now...
09:30 AM, May 14, 2013
