Odisha CM receives Krishi Karman Award from President

By Prabhukalyan Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday received the ‘Krishi Karman Award’ for 2012-13 from President Pranab Mukherjee during the inaugural ceremony of the World Agroforestry Congress-2014 at Vigyan  Bhavan, New Delhi.

The Award was given to Odisha as the best performing state in overall food grains production among Category-II states in India. The Award consists of a trophy, a citation and a cash amount of Rs 2 crore.

Odisha has won the Krishi Karman Award for its signal contribution to the growth of agriculture in the state and for achieving a record food grains production of 114 lakh MT during 2012-13.

The President also presented ‘Agriculture Ministers’ Krishi Karman Award for Progressive Farmers’ to two Odia farmers namely Pradip Kumar Panda and Khitisuta Mishra for their contribution as progressive and innovative farmers. These Awards in addition to Prashashti Patras (citations) carry a cash amount of Rs 1 lakh each.

Another young girl student from Odisha, Nisitha Pattnaik was awarded the first prize in painting on Agroforestry by the President during the ceremony.

Mr Mukherjee lauded the efforts made by Odisha and some other states including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab, for their significant contribution to the food basket of India.

“I dedicate this award to all the farmers of my state,” the chief minister said after receiving the honour.

Rahul asks party leaders against indiscipline

By Ratikant Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday warned party leaders against indiscipline and asked them work together to unseat the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in the state in the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Mr Gandhi, who concluded his two-day visit to the state in the evening, warned that indiscipline would not be tolerated in the party.

“It is the Congress party, which is responsible for its own defeat, not other parties. The party will perform well, if all the leaders work together. Factionalism and indiscipline have led to repeated defeats in the state. From now on, action will be taken against the leaders, whoever he or she may be, for indulging in such activities,” said during interactive sessions with block and district level leaders.

The Gandhi scion also asked the leaders not to sit in the capital city Bhubaneswar and reach out to the people in order to propagate the welfare programmes initiated by the UPA government.

Odisha boat capsize: Dealth toll rises to 28, Rahul meets bereaved family members of deceased

By Swapna Banerjee   Sambalpur,Feb. 10: With the fishing out of 18 more bodies, the death toll in the Hirakud reservoir boat capsize in Odisha rose to 28 on Monday.

Three more people were still missing.

“The rescue teams fished out 18 bodies from the reservoir today. Three more persons are still missing,” special relief commissioner (SRC) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said.

At least 10 bodes were recovered on Sunday evening.

“Specially trained scuba divers, members of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire brigade personnel carried out the rescue operation for over 12 hours today. The exercise would be resumed on Tuesday morning,” the SRC said.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik asked two senior ministers of the state – finance minister Prasanna Acharya and revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro, to proceed to Hirakud and oversee the rescue operation.

The chief minister, who is in New Delhi, announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh each for next of kin of the deceased and also ordered for a probe by the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC).

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who was on a two-day trip to the state, cancelled all his engagements in the morning and flew to Hirakud with Union minister Srikant Jena and met the bereaved family members of the deceased.

Congress state president Jayadev Jena, Lok Sabha member Bhakta Charan Das and party state in-charge B.K. Hariprasad also accompanied Mr Gandhi.

The mishap, according to survivors, occurred around 4.30 pm on Sunday when a mechanized boat carrying around 120 passengers on board capsized in the reservoir due to overloading.

All the victims belonged to the local Sambalpur town.

Making a statement in the Assembly, parliamentary affairs minister Kalpataru Das said members of Lions Club, Sambalpur, along with their family members had gone to an island inside the reservoir for a picnic party.

While returning, the engine of the boat seized and water started entering into the vessel.

“Halfway during the return journey, the engine of the boat stopped working and could not move forward. Without continuous motion, the boat lost its balance and there was panic among the passengers. A boat ferrying nearby after dropping its passengers at the shore, rushed to the ill-fated boat. However, by the then the boat was totally filled with water and the panicky passengers tried to get over to the rescue boat simultaneously in order to save their lives. As a result, the boat lost its balance and capsized,” the minister informed the House.

Rahul launches scathing attack on BJD, says it “looted” funds

By Our Correspondent Bhatapada (Odisha), Feb. 9: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJD in Odisha saying that it was “looting” the money provided by the Centre for implementation of various social security schemes and welfare measures. “The UPA has provided huge funds to Odisha under various schemes. No other government had previously sanctioned so much of fund to the state. However, all the money is not reaching to the people as the corrupt BJD is looting it,” Mr Gandhi said while addressing a massive public rally here. He mentioned that the funds provided for implementation of various programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act, Mid-Day Meal (MDM) and BPL rice were also being misappropriated by the ruling party in Odisha. “The rice meant for BPL people is being eaten up by the BJD leaders. Similar is the case with the MDM scheme. This is high time people about all these irregularities and protested,” he observed amidst thunderous applause by the crowd. Dubbing the state government as inefficient, the Gandhi scion nearly Rs 5000 crore central fund was pending unutilized due to incompetency of the state administration. The Gandhi scion although Odisha was endowed with rich reserves of mineral resources, its people continued to suffer in abject poverty due to poor administration by the BJD government. “Odisha has got huge reserves of iron ore, bauxite, manganese and chromite. However, the present government here has plundered all these resources. The state has lost nearly Rs 60 thousand crore revenue due to the looting of mineral resources by mining mafias,” he said. Mr Gandhi also raised the issue of chit fund scam and said nearly 20 lakh depositors in the state were duped by fake firms who he alleged were extended active patronization by the BJD government. “Instead of leveraging the state’s mineral resources for the upliftment of the people, the BJD ensured that a selected section of influential people looted these wealth and benefitted,” he alleged. Stating that the UPA had empowered the common people by enacting the Right to Information Act , Mr Gandhi said his party always wanted to delegate more powers to aam aadmi. During his speech, he also mentioned about Niyamgiri hill in Odisha’s Kalahandi district where he supported the local people’s opposition to mining of bauxite that they thought would put their livelihood in jeopardy. Mr Gandhi refrained from his usual scathing attack on the BJP. “All I want to say you that keep the BJD and BJP out of power to save the state,” he said. After his arrival at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, Mr Gandhi straight away headed for Bhatpada. His roadshow from Bhubaneswar to Bhatapada marked hundreds of queuing up on both the sides of the road to greet him. At many places, Rahul got off from his bullet-proof vehicle to mingle with the crowd.