Shah Commission begins probe into mining scam in Odisha

Shah Commission begins probe

Bhubaneswar: A six-member team of Justice MB Shah Commission on Wednesday began its second phase investigation into alleged irregularities in the mining sector of Odisha by scrutinising certain official documents.

"We have sought files and records of 192 iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha. To begin with, the team discussed with state government officials on certain issued relating to the mining scam," said U V Singh, the team leader and Principal Conservator of Forest in Karnataka.

Stating that the team would like to go deep into the mining activities in the state, Singh did not rule out the team visiting certain mines area if required during the investigation.

The six-member team was likely to stay in the state till October 11, he said.

The Central government appointed commission which had been probing into mining scam in different states, had visited the state in December last year. Justice Shah, however, did not become part of the team this time.

While Singh asked Odisha government to submit records of 192 mines, the director of mines Deepak Mohanty said that there was confusion over the number of mines.

"In fact, we were earlier told to arrange files of 142 mines," Mohanty said.

Besides steel and mines, the commission had also sought files from forest and environment, revenue, commerce, commercial tax, IBM, regional office of the MoEF and Odisha State Pollution Control Board.

The commission has also asked the state government to ensure that officials of Odisha Mining Corporation, Odisha Mineral Development Corporation and some private mining lessees meet the team members.

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Unclaimed baggage in passenger train triggers bomb scare

Odisha:Bomb scare in passenger train

Jamshedpur: A compartment of Tata-Badampahar passenger train was detached at Rairangpur in adjoining Mayurbhanj district of Odisha after passengers spotted an unclaimed bag, Railway officials said.
  
The train, which left Tatanagar station on Wednesday morning, left for its onward journey after the coach in which the bag, suspected to contain bombs, was spotted. The compartment was detached at Rairangpur station under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Chakradharpur division of SE Rly, Kashinath Biswas said on Wednesday.
  
Biswas told that a bomb squad has rushed to the spot to verify if the bag contained bombs.
  
As soon as the news spread, Railway officials and police rushed to Rairangpur station and evacuated the passengers and put them in other compartments, railway sources said.
  
Some passengers travelling in the compartment raised an alarm as the bag was lying unclaimed.
  
Officials and police swung into action and detached the coach when the train reached Rairangpur station, sources said.

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Odisha: Mother sells baby boy to buy mobile, jeans

Baby sold for mobile, jeans in Odisha

Jajpur: In a shocking incident, a woman in Jajpur district of Odisha sold her 17-month-old baby boy for buying jeans and mobile phone. High Court took the matter into cognizance and ordered probe soon after the media highlighted the news.

READ MORE: Woman sells off son for spouse’s release

Deepak Kumar, SP, Jajpur has claimed that Rakhi Patra of Mundmala Village sold her 17-month-old child for just Rs 5,000 and spent that money to purchase a mobile phone, memory card and a pair of jeans-top. SP denied woman’s claim that she had done this shameful act as she needed that money for the legal purpose to release his husband from jail. He further said that the shopping done by Rakhi is the evidence that she hasn’t sold her baby due to poverty.

Media reports suggest that 20-year-old lady sold her child in Cuttack to release her husband from jail. While taking the matter into account, High Court had ordered police to recover the child and hand him over to his mother. The court has also ordered inquiry in this case.

While presenting the stuffs purchased by the woman before the court, SP claimed that the lady has accepted that she has purchased all these things with the money she got after selling her child.

He further said that the woman has refused to receive her child back so the kid has been sent to a child welfare organisation.

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Woman sells off son to ensure release of jailed husband

Woman sells off son for spouse’s release

Jajpur (Odisha): In a desperate bid to arrange money to get her husband released from jail, a woman in Odisha's Jajpur district allegedly sold off her 17-month-old son for Rs 5,000, police said on Monday.
   
Rakhi Patra (20) of Mundamal village went to Cuttack on September 13 and handed the baby boy over to a person belonging to Jagatsinghpur, inspector-in-charge Aswini Kumar Sahu said.
   
After getting information about the incident, her mother-in-law Kanakalata Patra filed an FIR on September 21 alleging that Rakhi had sold off the child to an unknown person, he said.
   
"Yes, I have given my son to a person of Jagatsinghur as I needed money to get my husband released from jail", police quoted the woman as saying.
  
Rakhi's husband Manoj Patra was arrested in a theft case and is an under trial prisoner (UTP) in the jail at Bagadi in Jajpur district since July 2, Sahu said.
   
The couple is daily wage earners.
   
The woman has been sent to a short-stay home for women at Jajpur as her in-laws did not allow her to stay in their home and parents were absconding after the incident. Efforts were also on to trace the child.
  
District Collector Anil Samal said he was aware of the incident and asked Tehsildar of Vyasnagar, Diptirani Sahu to inquire into the matter and submit a report soon. "Yes, it has come to my notice and it appears to be true", he said.

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Prithvi-II successfully test fired from Odisha

 Sharpening its missile prowess, India on Thursday successfully test-fired its nuclear- capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range near here as part of a user trial by the army.

“The surface-to-surface missile was flight tested at around 0907 hrs from a mobile launcher from Integrated Test Range’s launch complex-3 at Chandipur,” defence sources said.


Describing the trial of the indigenously developed strategic missile as “fully successful”, ITR Director MVKV Prasad said, “All the mission objectives were accomplished.”

The state-of-the-art Prithvi is the first ballistic missile developed under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMPD) and has the capability to carry 500 kg of both nuclear and conventional warheads with a strike range of 350 km, sources said.

The missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory.

The test-fire of the sophisticated short-range ballistic missile, already inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the army and monitored by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The sleek missile is handled by the strategic force command (SFC), a defence scientist said, adding the trial was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the weapon in a real time situation and improve accuracy.

“The whole exercise was aimed at studying the control and guidance system of the missile besides providing training to the Army,” said a DRDO official.

The missile is 9 metre-long and one metre in diameter with liquid propulsion twin engine. A defence scientist associated with the trial said radars and electro-optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path.

Prithvi-II has been successfully flight tested several times as part of the training exercise and the last trial was a complete success on August 25, 2012 when it reached the predefined target in the Bay of Bengal with a high accuracy of better than 10 meters, sources said

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Nuclear-capable Prithvi II ballistic missile successfully test-fired today

Ballistic missile Prithvi II test fired

Balasore (Odisha): India on Thursday test-fired its nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range near here as part of a user trial by the army.

"The flight test of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted at around 0907 hrs from a mobile launcher from Integrated Test Range's launch complex-III at Chandipur," defence sources said.

The state-of-the-art Prithvi is the first ballistic missile developed under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMPD) and has the capability to carry 500 kg of both nuclear and conventional warheads with a strike range of 350 km, they said.

The missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory. The test-fire of the sophisticated short-range ballistic missile, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the army and monitored by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The sleek missile is handled by the strategic force command (SFC), a defence scientist said, adding the trial was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the weapon in a real time situation.
"The whole exercise was aimed at studying the control and guidance system of the missile besides providing training to the Army," said an official.

The missile is 9 metre-long and one metre in diameter with liquid propulsion twin engine. A defence scientist associated with the trial said radars and electro-optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path.   

Prithvi-II has been successfully flight tested several times as part of the training exercise and the last trial was a complete success on August 25, 2012 as it reached the predefined target in the Bay of Bengal with a very high accuracy of better than 10 meters, they said. 

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Villagers meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over Vedanta crisis

Vedanta crisis: Villagers meet Patnaik

Bhubaneswar: A group of villagers on Saturday met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and demanded allocation of bauxite to the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL) located in their region.

The group, comprising of about two dozens of residents and employees of the plant in Kalahandi district, also submitted a memorandum to Patnaik and urged him to ensure that the plant does not close down due to a raw material crisis.

"If the company will close down, life of more than 20,000 people will be affected," Srikant Bohidar, a villager said after the meeting. "We requested the chief minister to save the plant and protect the interest of people and those employed at the plant," Bohidar said.

Set up at an investment of $800 million, the VAL requires three lakh tonnes of bauxite per month to run its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, about 600 km from here.

However, due to bauxite shortage, the company is running the one-million-tonne per annum refinery at 40-50 percent of its capacity for the past several weeks.

The company earlier this month had informed the state government about its intention to shutdown temporarily from Dec 5 as it was unable to arrange bauxite from other sources.

Vedanta wants to mine bauxite from Niyamgiri Hills located near its refinery but environmental and other clearances for this have been mired in litigation and protests.

It has also applied for several other bauxite reserves in the state, but none of them have materialised so far. The refinery was commissioned in August 2007. Bauxite is the main raw material used to produce alumina.

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HDFC Bank to speed up financial inclusion in Odisha

HDFC Bank to advance network in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Promising to speed up the process of financial inclusion, mainly in rural areas of Odisha, HDFC Bank on Saturday announced its plan to increase the number of branches from 61 to 102 in the state by the year end.

"Now the bank has 61 branches in 25 districts of Odisha. The bank is going to open 11 more branches by October and would add 30 new branches by December, 2012," Managing Director of HDFC Bank, Aditya Puri told reporters here.

With the opening of the 102 branches the leading private sector bank would have branches in all the 30 districts of the state, he said.

HDFC Bank has 60 percent of its branches in rural and semi-urban areas, Puri said with the opening of more branches in rural belts, more than 75 percent of the branches of the bank would be located in villages and semi-urban pockets.

In addition to deposit mobilisation, the bank is lending to all sections of people in Odisha and the focus was now on micro-financing and loans for the farm sector like crop loans.

Apart from two wheeler loans, car loans, commercial vehicle loans and gold loans, the thrust is also on loan for tractors and agriculture implements, Puri said adding the bank is going to further enhance priority sector lending in
agri-based funding.

Khurda and Bolangir districts have been selected for a novel sustainable livelihood programme which would cover around 15,000 beneficiaries by March 2013. Of the beneficiaries, 90 percent would be women, he said.

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OJM seems to be ‘B’ team of Congress: Naveen Patnaik

OJM seems to be ‘B’ team of Cong: Naveen

Bhubaneswar: A day after suspended BJD leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra announced formation of Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM) within the party, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said it appeared to be a "B" team of Congress which would have little impact on the people.

"It (OJM) seems to be a 'B' team of the Congress party," said Patnaik, who is President of the ruling BJD, while reacting to the move by Mohapatra, suspended from the regional party four months ago for allegedly engineering a coup bid against him.

"I think the morcha will not have any effect on the people of Odisha," the chief minister told reporters on the sideline of a function at Cuttack.

Reacting sharply to the BJD chief's comments, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Niranjan Patnaik said, "Congress has only one team. We have no A, B or C team."

Stating that Congress was not banking on the problems and weaknesses in BJD, he said Naveen Patnaik seems to be scared over the growth of Congress in the state.

The senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra, however, said that the creation of the Morcha and a Front, will certainly have its impact on the state politics. It may be temporary, Mohapatra said adding that infighting within any political party will always have its impact.

Meanwhile, another political party titled- Biju Swabhiman Dal (BSD)- was formed in the state. The new outfit came to the fore a day after Mohapatra announced formation of Odisha Jana Moracha (OJM) and creation of Odisha Jana Samukshya (OJS) comprising 12 fringe political outfits.

"The objective of the BSD is to fulfil the dreams of legendary Biju Patnaik and carry forward the Odia pride," said BSD convenor Paramananda Jotish.

Alleging that Biju Patnaik's ideology was not being reflected in any political party including the ruling BJD, Jotish said if BSD candidates win in the assembly and Parliament elections, they will donate 25 per cent of their allowances to set up a Biju Assistance Fund.

"This fund will be meant for poor and weaker section," Jotish told reporters adding that BSD would field candidates in both assembly and Parliament elections.

Mohapatra, who was suspended from the party on charge of an attempted coup bid, had already claimed that OJM was not a political outfit but a front to bring reforms in the regional party

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