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State to set up 6,000 threshing floors BJP calls BJD regime tainted,
the
www.pbdodisha.in
Cuttack, Wednesday, December 31, 2014
PBD BUREAU/PTI
BHUBANESWAR, DEC 30
IN its bid to raise FAQ (fair average
quality) of paddy in the State, State
government today decided to set up
6,000 threshing floors at an investment
of Rs 544 crore.
The threshing floors would be
constructed mostly in coastal areas
and in paddy producing districts in
the State, said a senior official in cooperation department.
"Construction of threshing
floors will be completed within
three years. Work for the floors
will start from next fiscal," he said,
adding the decision was taken at a
high level meeting chaired by
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Food Corporation of India (FCI)
refused to lift paddy being harvested
from State as it often raised questions
on FAQ of Odisha paddy and the government as per operational guidelines
under the state plan scheme decided
to set up the threshing floors, he said.
There will be one threshing floor
available for each 5,000 farmers and
agriculture and cooperation departments will jointly develop them.
The size of each threshing floor
will be 520 square meters or 400 sq
meters keeping in view the demands,
he said.
While threshing floor projects
involving more than Rs 10 lakh
would be awarded through e-auction, local officials can give work
orders to contractors for those with
less amount, he added.
Govt plans to boost cess India faces HCV
collection for construction ‘silent epidemic’
workers’ welfare in State
PBD BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, DEC 30
AS the rate of collection
of cess for building and
construction
workers
welfare is not adequate,
the State government will convene a meeting with all departmental, BDA, CDA & Railways,
NHAI authorities shortly for the
purpose of enhancing and expediting cess collection, informed
Labour & ESI Minister Prafulla
Kumar Mallik. Considering the
quantum of works being done in
the State, we should accrue cess
to the tune of Rs 300 crore per
annum while we get only Rs 150
crore. The proposed meeting will
seek means and methods for
enhancing cess earnings, said
Mallik today to media persons.
Although about four lakh
building and construction workers of the State have been registered and queued up for availing
various benefits under the Odisha
Building & Other Construction
Workers Welfare Board, the average cess collection is far from satisfactory. Even government agencies like BDA, CDA, Railways,
NHAI authorities etc. prefer to
ignore the mandatory provisions
of the Cess Act, lamented Labour
& ESI Minister Prafulla Kumar
Mallik.
It is observed while government
agencies
like
Rural
Development, Panchayati Raj,
Pranab Jyoti Nath
new chief of State
Employment Mission
PBD BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, DEC 30
Pranab Jyoti Nath, a 2005
batch IAS officer, has been
named as the Director
Employment and Head of
Employment
Mission
today.
Nath is at present on
Inter cadre deputation to
the State.
The appointment of
Nath comes amidst reports
of clamour among senior
bureaucrats in the State to
go on Central deputation
at a time when the State
government is embroiled
in various scams.
At least five senior IAS
officers are understood to
have initiated moves to
proceed on deputation to
the Centre.
One senior IAS officer
on Central deputation at
Delhi is trying hard to
resist returning to State
even as his deputation
term has ended in the
meanwhile.
Sources said a major
reshuffle may be effected
after Sanjeev Chopra joins
State government.
In another development, former DGP of State
Police Prakash Mishra who
is heading the all important CRPF has been
assigned additional charge
of ITBP. Mishra had
requested the State government to allow him to move
to New Delhi soon after he
was
unceremoniously
shifted to an innocuous
post of CMD, OSRTC.
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politicalbusinessdaily
Water Resources, Works
departments, some ULBs
etc. are major contributors to Welfare Board
fund, other agencies like
B h u b a n e s w a r
Development Authority
(BDA),
Cuttack
Development Authority (CDA),
National Highway Authority
(NHA), and Railways do not pay
required amount of cess despite
load of construction works,
informed sources.
“The State government is
planning to amend the provisions
of the Rules for making payment
of cess to the Board mandatory. In
place of ‘may’, ‘shall’ or any suitable words are likely to incorporated so that the employers and
contractors will be bound to pay
cess by the proposed legislation,”
hinted Labour & ESI Minister.
The State government has
rolled out several welfare measures for the unorganised
Building & Other Construction
Workers. Starting from accidental benefits, accidental death or
normal death, loss of any organ
leading to disability of a person,
pension, medical expenses for
treatment, financial assistance
for skill up-gradation, maternity
benefit, marriage assistance,
interest subvention for loans and
advances for construction of
house, education scholarship,
purchase of cycle to assistance
for funeral expenses are being
given to registered workers.
BHUBANESWAR: With around 12 million people chronically infected with the
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), India faces a
“silent epidemic” spectre as the infected
people remained unaware of their chronic carrier status infecting others for
decades, one of the country’s foremost
gastroenterologists said here.
The Hepatitis C virus, which claims
around 5,00,000 lives in India annually,
causes liver failure, chronic liver diseases
and cancer, Dr. Subrat Kumar Acharya,
Professor and Head of the Department of
Gastroenterology at AIIMS, New Delhi,
said at a seminar on Hepatitis C virus on
Sunday.
“Following initial infection, approximately 80 per cent of the people do not
exhibit any symptoms while the acutely
symptomatic may suffer from fever,
fatigue, decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and jaundice,” he said.
The seminar was organized jointly by
the IMS and Sum Hospital and Kalinga
Gastro Foundation to mark the first
meeting of the International Coalition of
Hepatology Education Providers (ICHEP) in State. The IC-HEP aimed at providing healthcare providers with the
most current information and clinically
meaningful education on hepatitis with
special focus on chronic Hepatitis C.
Dr. Acharya said that 130 to 150 million people worldwide had chronic HCV
infection a significant number of whom
develop liver cirrhosis (scarring of the
liver) or liver cancer subsequently. PBD
threatens 'Maha Sangram'
Naveen’s decision in GAD caused `250cr loss to State
PBD BUREAU/PTI
BHUBANESWAR, DEC 30
LLEGING
allotment of land by
State's
General
Administration
Department (GAD) at low
premium was carried out
in an arbitrary way causing
Rs 251 crore loss, BJP today
said 'Maha Sangram' (bigger battle) would be
launched to oust the 'tainted' BJD regime. Onset of
‘Maha Sangram’ will coincide with party President
Amit Shah's maiden visit
here in January 6 and 7,
senior BJP leader Bijay
Mohapatra told reporters
here.
"The BJD government
made allotment of land
from GAD to several persons in an arbitrary manner at throw away price
without following any procedures and principles,"
Bijoy alleged.
Slamming BJD government of using a cabinet
decision on land and houses allotted under discretionary quota to suppress
massive irregularities committed in allotment of GA
plots, Mohapatra said the
AG has already pointed
A
out loss of over Rs 251
crore to the state exchequer
because of this.
Stating that Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik
who holds charge of GA
department was responsible and accountable for
these allotments, he said
no policy, guidelines, principles and procedures were
followed by the BJD government while allotting
GA land at a very low premium.
By announcing cabinet
decision of cancellation of
plots and houses of
B h u b a n e s w a r
Development Authority,
Cuttack
Development
Authority and Odisha
State Housing Board allotted under discretionary
quota since January 1995
the government simply
tried to suppress the real
scam in GA land allotment,
the BJP leader claimed.
Dubbing the recent
cabinet decision on discretionary
quota
as
flawed, he said the move
was a big drama as the
decision contained many
contradictions and discrepancies.
Illegal allotment of
GA land was just another
scandal in the list of chit
fund and mining scams,
he said adding that in
case of ponzi scheme the
Naveen Patnaik government claimed no political
leader was involved but
when CBI probed the
scam role of many ruling
BJD leaders came to fore.
Similarly, Justice M B
Shah Commission has
detected several irregularities in mining activities, he claimed adding
now the scam-tainted BJD
government has lost all
moral right to remain in
office.
Therefore, in order to
undertake a vigorous
campaign against the
tainted BJD rule, Amit
Shah would launch a
'Maha Sangram' at a public meeting on January 6
during his two-day visit
here, Mohapatra said.
He described the 15year long BJD rule as a
dark chapter marked by a
series
of
scams
in
Odisha's history.
Bajrang Dal, VHP vandalise
theatres screening of PK in City
BHUBANESWAR: The supporters of
Bajrang Dal and VHP today attacked
two cinema halls in state capital
demanding a ban on screening of
Aamir Khan starrer 'PK', a day after
staging demonstration against the
movie in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Alleging that the film hurts sentiments of Hindus, about a hundred
activists barged into the Keshari theatre
and pulled down posters and promotional materials of the movie. The
activists also ransacked the glass panes
at ticket counters and pelted stones at
the shops inside the premises of the theatre and damaged some vehicles.
Similar incidents were reported
from Shriya talkies near Master Canteen.
Policemen from Kharvel Nagar
rushed to the spot. However, no one
was arrested in this connection,
police said. "We are keeping a watch
on the development. Police have
taken steps to avoid re-occurrence of
such incident," said Commissioner
of Police R K Sharma.
"The movie insults the Hindu gods
and goddesses. It hurts the religious
sentiments and sanatan dharma. The
movie has been funded by Dubai and
Pakistan. Besides, the movie has been
premiered in Dubai," said Bhupesh
Nayak, a Bajrang Dal activist.
On Monday the Bajrang Dal staged
protests against the film in Bhopal and
Ahmedabad even as the Censor board
has refused to take any action against
the film.
PK, which released on December
19 found itself mired in controversy
after religious outfits demanded its
ban in order to ensure communal
harmony. PBD
CBI’s forays in State for chit fund
scam hogs headlines in 2014
AJOY MISRA
BHUBANESWAR, DEC 30
EVEN as the CBI entered
into the investigation
process of the multi-crore
chit fund scam in the State
causing much discomfort to
Naveen led BJD government in the State, this all
important central investigating agency making startling revelations continued
to hog media headlines
during 2014.
Interrogation of those
having complicity in the
scam, arrests of bigwigs—
political leaders and chit
fund owners, disquieting
revelations by accused during
cross-examination,
charge sheets filed by the
investigating agency kept
media men busy during
most part of the year.
If the elections to
Assembly and Lok Sabha
remained primary choice of
newspaper readers in the
first half of the year, the forays of CBI in the later half
ate away major space in
media with prominent
names cropping up for their
alleged involvement in the
scam.
Media was agog-- prior
to May 2014—with macro
level developments across
the political scene in the
country in general and
Odisha in particular providing fodder to the scribes.
Speculations ran riot as
Naveen was, for some time,
the front runner to head the
third front which ultimately
did not materialize.
The growing popularity of Narendra Modi – BJP
mascot for May Lok Sabha
elections and the declining
fortunes of the Congressled UPA were perhaps the
most interesting writings in
newspapers in the first half
of the year while the CBI
investigation into the
multi-crore scam drew
readers attention during
the second half.
Such was the pressure
of journalists working in
newspapers,
television
channels and news agencies that virtually every
organization stationed a
reporter at the CBI office
with a view to cover each
and every development
there. A leading electronic
news agency stationed a
camera at the CBI office
here to record every incident.
The CBI summoned virtually all the bigwigs of the
Chit funds for quizzing and
arrested most of them.
Owners of the chit fund
companies, political bigwigs, journalist, police officials and bureaucrats were
summoned by the agency
to ascertain facts about the
quantum of the scam
and/or involvement of people.
Prominent among those
arrested were a Member of
Parliament Ramchandra
Hansda,
Member
of
Legislative
Assembly
Pravat Tripathy, Mumbai
Model Priti Bhatia, Deputy
Superintendent of Police
Pramod Panda, Media
owners Manoj Dash and
Madhusudan
Mohanty,
Real Estate owners Vineet
Lallani and Sagar Ray.
On few occasions,
speculation ran high in the
State about the possibility
of the arrest of some bigwig
in connection with the as
senior officials of the CBI to
the State. The agency’s
Kolkata zone Joint Director
Suman Bala Sahu visited
the State twice in one week
as also the SIT DIG --- all in
the month of December
only.
In December, media
was abuzz with speculation
of some ‘big arrests’ by the
investigating agency prob-
ing irregularities in four
major chit fund companies—Navadigant Capital
Services, Seashore group of
companies,
ArthaTatwa
group of companies and
Microfinance chit fund.
The bigwigs of these
companies are already in
jail or in CBI custody for
interrogation to ascertain
the quantum of the fraud
and the money trail.
The diaries of land broker Subhankar Nayak
fuelled the speculation as
pages there contained
names of top Government
administrators,
senior
Police officials, influential
politicians and journalists.
With the CBI having
filed two chargesheets both preliminary and
against Greeen Field and
ArthaTatwa
companies
respectively – the investigators appear to have ascertained a pattern on diversion of the money collected
from investors.
Sources said most of the
chit fund companies chose
realtors or invested funds in
huge tracts of land.
The investigators have
also found evidences of
huge funds diverted to
dubious
accounts
or
accounts of the close relations of Chit fund owners.
A huge amount of these
funds was found splurged
by many owners of these
discredited companies for
merrymaking and pleasure
sorties.
The amenities of pleasure including luxury cars
and plush bungalows of
some owners of the chit
fund companies here and in
other Metros have by far
been either seized or
attached as also the bank
accounts. 2014 has left
many of the millions who
invested their hard earned
savings in Chit Funds in
shivering with nightmares
as hopes of getting that
back seem bleaker with
each passing day.
Loss of Original
Sale Deed
I, Sri Benudhara Mohanty S/o
Khatrabasi Mohanty, VillRajendrapur,
P.O.-Barikpur
Bazar, P.S.-Dhamanagar, DistBhadrak hereby declare in IIC
Dhamanagar Police Station that
the Orginal Sale Deed No-38,
Khata No.-143/169, Plot No.29/918 Area -o12, MouzaRajendrapur, dated-11-1-1991
from
SubRegistrar,
Dhamanagar was recorded in
my name. The Original Copy of
the above said Sale Deed has
been lost somewhere and could
not be traced despite my best
effort. If anyone finds the Original
Sale Deed, please contact me in
my postal address mentioned
above or contact me over phone
number:9583517027
Benudhara Mohanty

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