Orissa asks collectors to submit crop damage reports in 48 hours

By Our Correspondent / source: www.indusvalleytimes.com

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 29: Alarmed over an imminent drought situation, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik called a high-level meeting at the state secretariat on Monday evening and reviewed the measures taken to provide succor to the farmers.

The meeting – among others – was attended by revenue minister Suryanarayan Patro, agriculture minister Pradip Moharathy and chief secretary B.K. Patnaik. It was decided in the meeting to collect village level crop damage reports by Wednesday for better comprehension of the gravity of the disaster.

“Collectors of all the 30 districts have been asked to submit reports from the grassroots by August 31. Besides, they have been instructed to repair all the lift-irrigation points immediately. On September 1, the chief minister will again review the situation,” the revenue minister informed.

Earlier, collectors were asked to submit eye-estimation of the crop loss in their respective districts.

A severe drought is looming large over Orissa due to scanty rainfall. Most of the 30 districts have received less than 50 per cent rainfall. At least 90 per cent of the

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress on Monday alleged that the ruling BJD had failed to respond to the drought situation properly. “When the entire state is facing an unprecedented drought, there seems to be no preparedness on the part of the state government to tackle it,” senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said.

Mr Mishra, who headed a six-member fact-finding team that visited several drought-hit districts, said 90 per cent crop had been withered away because of inadequate rainfall and farmers had lost all their investment on agriculture activities.

He called upon the state government for waiver of agriculture loans and urged the government to provide soft-interest loans to take up Rabi crop.

“Since the farmers have nearly lost their crop, the state government should forthwith waiver their existing loans and provide fresh, soft-interest loans for Rabi crop so that they can restart their life,” Mr Mishra said.

He added that the fact-finding team would submit a copy of its report to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urge him to announce a special compensation package for Orissa.

“This apart, we will also submit our report to the state government so that they can get a clear picture of the calamity,” Mr Mishra said.

www.indusvalleytimes.com

WODC has become rehabilitation centre of ‘failed’ BJD leaders: Congress

By Debadas Pradhan
Bhubaneswar, August 23: The Congress, the main opposition in the Orissa Legislative Assembly, on Tuesday said the ruling BJD had converted the Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) into rehabilitation centre by accommodating its “failed” leaders.
Raising the issue in the state Assembly, legislators of the party demanded immediate reorganisation of the body with “dynamic” people as its members.
Congress MLA from Kantabanjhi Santosh Singh Saluja said BJD leaders who suffered defeats in the 2009 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls were regularly being rehabilitated in the WODC instead of allowing dynamic people to serve the organisation.
“All those who were defeated in the last elections have been rehabilitated as expert members. These members – who have been taken in the WODC as its expert members - are trying to project them as more powerful persons than the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and Member of Parliaments (MPs). They were also behaving in authoritarian manner,” complained Mr Saluja.
He alleged that “so-called” expert members were asking for bribe to make recommendations for constituency-wise projects.
Critising the state government’s negligence in giving complete autonomy and delay in setting up of WODC headquarters, Congress legislator Naba Kishore Das said that the government’s stand on this sensitive issue was very “shocking” and “shameful.”
“WODC was formed with an objective to address the regional imbalances and bring socio-economic development to the people living in western Orissa districts. It seems that the objective has been defeated by one other the ruling BJD which always tried to make it a subservient body and a centre of rehabilitation of its rejected leaders,” Mr Das observed.
Nihar Ranjan Mohananda, another Congress member, said the WODC which was formed to carry out smooth and sustainable development of local people by formulating and executing its own development policies and programmes, was in moribund because of the state government’s inaction.
The members urged the Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat to direct the government to immediately oust the political members from the WODC appointed as expert members and accept the recommendations of the local MLAs and MPs for execution of various development projects.
The legislators demanded to fill up the post of WODC chairman which is lying vacant since August 1 and shift the headquarters of the organization from Bhubaneswar to a unanimously agreed place in western Orissa.

Vedanta’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery gets ISO 50001:2011 certification

By Supriya Pathak / Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com Mumbai/Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), the Indian arm of the London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC, has been awarded the ISO 50001:2011 certification, an internationally recognised Environmental Management Standard (EMS) that specifies a set of energy and environmental management requirements for environment management systems. VAL received the ISO 50001:2011 from British Standards Institution, for efficiently managing the existing natural resources and mitigating the impact of climate change at its Lanjigarh refinery unit in Orissa’s Kalahandi district. With this, VAL became the first mining and metal industry in India to earn the accreditation. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mukesh Kumar, president and chief operating officer of VAL, Lanjigarh, said, “With the obtaining of the ISO 50001:2011, VAL aims to minimise energy consumption to a greater level. The accreditation for ISO 50001 also reflects the company’s determined attempt in energy-saving green practices. “VAL is committed for overall area development & Environment protection. The Lanjigarh Plant is the only alumina refinery in the country having Zero discharge system and aiming to become the first alumina refinery in the world by developing Zero Waste road Map. It has already started recovery of valuable Vanadium from waste which is helping in reducing import of vanadium sludge,” he added. After attaining of the ISO 50001 certification, VAL, Lanjigarh has adhered to a framework of stringent energy conservation and efficient natural resource usage policy which requires it to align its operations to four aspects affecting energy management such as; (a) Mitigation of Climate change, (b) World class Energy Performance, (c) Support BEE, Ministry of Power, Govt. of India and (d) Energy efficient procurement. Now its system has been certified as per ISO 50001:2011. Apart from the recent certification, VAL Lanjigarh’s environmental concerns are reflective from the constitution of a core EMS team which is primarily responsible for drafting the System Based Energy Management. In fact, the company has also trained 25 of its employees on EnMS – 16001 and 14 other employees as lead auditors through a reputed external agency.

Panic grips Orissa’s mining belt as Dengue claims 2 lives

By Debadas Pradhan

Bhubaneswar, Aug 7: A 36-year-old man died of dengue at a private hospital here on Saturday, taking the total death toll in the infectious tropical disease to two in the last 36 hours.

Brunesh Mohant, a 36-year-old youth from Talcher who was admitted to Ayush Hospitals & Trauma Care here in the city on Friday evening, breathed his last at 1.50 p.m. The first dengue death of this season was reported from the Talcher colliery area on Friday. Narahari Behera, who was admitted to Cuttack-based Sun Hospital, died after battling for life for six days.

According reports, nearly 50 people are suffering from the disease in different parts of the state.

Of the 42 samples examined at the Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College, Cuttack, 27 tested positive. Angul reported the highest 21 cases while three each were received from Sudergarh and Cuttack districts.

In a quick response, the state government deputed health teams to the affected pockets.

“The government has promptly responded to the situation. We have sent separate health teams to Angul, Cuttack and Sundergarh districts,” health minister Prasanna Acharya told reporters here

Most of the dengue cases were reported from Talcher colliery areas near Angul as stagnant water was a breeding ground for mosquitoes, the minister said.

He added that authorities in all districts and the state capital had been asked to take immediate preventive steps and mosquito control measures.

Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com