Bhubaneswar: With the BJD intensifying its anti-Centre tirade accusing it of neglecting Odisha, opposition Congress on Monday said the ruling party was trying to "exploit" the sentiments of the people by making such allegations. "BJD is simply exploiting the sentiment of people by taking name of special category state status for Odisha and alleging Central negligence," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik told reporters. Claiming that the BJD's...
03:00 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Paradip/Bhubaneswar: Land acquisition for the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel project resumed in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district on Monday after being suspended for about two-and-a-half months. The restarting of the demolition of betel vines at Gobindpur village at the proposed plant site near Paradip coincided with Posco-India CMD YW Yoon meeting Development Commissioner JK Mohapatra at the state secretariat in Bhubaneswar. Though Yoon described the meeting as a courtesy call, sources...
12:24 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Saturday said its leaders would meet President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to press for special category status for the state. "We will meet Prime Minister, Congress resident and others to press Odisha's demand of a special category state status," OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik told reporters after the ruling BJD called for a 12-hour bandh demanding special category status...
10:58 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Cuttack: After running from one hospital to another, parents of an 11-year-old girl with burn injuries staged a dharna in front of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's residence in Cuttack. The incident took place on Friday when the parents of the child were unable to admit their daughter to a hospital. The child was later admitted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital here with over 50 per cent burn injuries...
10:50 PM, Apr 20, 2013
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum scam on Thursday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying that the duo was not informed of the change in policy by the then telecom minister A Raja. ...
09:11 PM, Apr 18, 2013
Vedanta Aluminium's plan to mine the bauxite-rich Niyamgiri mountains in Kalahandi district in Orissa suffered a major jolt after the the Supreme Court on Thursday said that consent must be taken from the Gram Sabha first. ...
08:59 PM, Apr 18, 2013
The lawyer of Dongriya Kondh Tribals, Ritwik Dutta, welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on Vedanta's mining project in Odisha saying the judgment gives importance to the Gram Sabha. ...
03:50 PM, Apr 18, 2013
Kendrapara (Odisha): Grudging over growing alcoholism among local youths, a group of women attacked a liquor shop at Choudkulat in Kendrapara district, police said on Thursday. The women picketed in front of the shop and attacked it before police reached the area and controlled them on Wednesday. "We have drawn the attention of the district administration and sought closure of the shop located close to schools and a temple. However,...
02:04 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: Vedanta will be allowed to mine in the Niyamgiri Hills in Kalahandi district of Odisha only if the Gram Sabha allows, said the Supreme Court on Thursday, adding the final decision on the project would be taken by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in consultation with the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabhas of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha will decide in three months on issues arising...
10:45 AM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Thursday pronounce its verdict on whether Vedanta should be allowed to mine aluminium in the Niyamgiri Hills in Kalahandi district of Odisha or not. In 2008, the Supreme Court gave phase 2 clearance to Vedanta to mine at Niyamgiri but after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's rally in Kalahandi, the Ministry of Environment and Forests cancelled the clearance in August 2010. The project...
07:45 AM, Apr 18, 2013
Guwahati: An eight-year-old child was killed in a mudslide in Assam on Tuesday as two earthquakes jolted the state along with other northeastern states and Odisha. Three children, who had gone for fishing in river Beki at Kalgasia village in Assam's Barpeta district, were swept into the waters by the mudslide during the first tremor, official sources said. While Jehirul Nessa (8) drowned, the other two Moidul Islam and Kamala...
05:51 PM, Apr 16, 2013
Cuttack: Odisha High Court on Monday asked Assembly Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amat to file a counter affidavit within seven days in response to a contempt petition filed against him by the state NCP president Utkal Ranjan Parida. A Division Bench of Justices Indrajit Mahanti and BN Mohapatra after taking up the contempt petition against the Speaker earlier this month had asked the government counsel to get instructions from the Speaker...
02:02 AM, Apr 16, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Though optimistic of setting up a mega steel plant in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district and commissioning it in five years, South Korean steel major Posco says it does not know about the fate of its proposed MoU renewal with the state government. "We do not know when the MoU with Odisha government will be revised," Posco-India CMD Yong Won Yoon said. Posco-India's MoU with Odisha government had lapsed in June...
10:29 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Leaving no scope for the BJP to duck the issue, the Janata Dal (United), one of its key allies, demanded that the party announce its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general election by year-end. It also added that the candidate should have 'secular credentials'. But former ally, Odisha Chief Minister and BJD Leader Naveen Patnaik, ruled out giving any help to the BJP in its hour of crisis. Reflecting ...
02:13 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Bhubaneswar: One person was killed and eight others injured, some of them critically, when one of the fire crackers they were making exploded in a village in Odisha's Puri district, police said on Monday. The incident occurred at Srikanthapur village under Pipili police station area, about 20 km from state capital Bhubaneswar on Sunday when the men were making the fire crackers in the backyard of a house. The crackers...
10:20 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Bhubaneswar: With Odisha government all set to resume land acquisition for Posco's mega steel project in Jagatsinghpur district, anti-displacement bodies and Left parties on Friday staged demonstrations demanding withdrawal of force from the proposed plant site area. Demonstrations were held in various district headquarters in response to a call by CPI to observe All India Solidarity Day. Besides Odisha, demonstrations were held in other states, claimed CPI national executive member...
07:50 PM, Apr 12, 2013
Bhubaneswar: With Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) not keen for the proposed Rs 8,000 crore common coal corridor project, Odisha government on Wednesday decided to take up the corridor work through its own agency. "From today's negotiations, we have come to know that RVNL is not keen on implementing the coal corridor project. "Therefore, the state government will implement the project in Talcher-Angul area through Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO),"...
04:28 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Alappuzha: With one more worker succumbing to his injuries in the wee hours on Tuesday, the toll in the collapse of an under construction church at nearby Aroor rose to two. Nine others are being treated at different hospitals in Kochi and here for injuries sustained when concreting work of a new structure of St Augustine Church came crashing down on Monday evening. While Vishwanath from Bihar died on Monday...
12:59 PM, Apr 09, 2013
Alappuzha: A worker was killed and 10 others were injured as an under construction Church in Kerala's Alappuzha district collapsed on Monday evening. At least 20 workers were present at the construction site when the dome of the church collapsed. Most of them were rescued later but three are still missing from the site. An inquiry has been ordered. The mishap occurred when the concreting work of a new structure...
10:40 AM, Apr 09, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's former political advisor and Rajya Sabha MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra launched his political party, Odisha Janamorcha on Tuesday. Mohapatra had allegedly tried to topple the Patnaik government in May 2012 but had failed and was expelled from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Earlier in January, stepping up his attack on the Patnaik government, the expelled leader had threatened to expose corruption in Odisha's coal sector....
09:49 AM, Apr 09, 2013
