Shoot at sight order was issued on Wednesday in curfew-bound areas of violence-hit Kandhmal district of Orissa.
"We are hopeful of taking physical possession of the land by the end of the current year to start construction for the greenfield steel project. The pre-land acquisition process has already been successfully initiated," ArcelorMittal CEO, India, Vijay Bhatnagar told PTI in Bhubaneswar. The response from local residents during the first Gram Sabha, held on August 6 as part of the pre-land acquisition process, was positive toward the Rs 40,000-crore (Rs 400 billion) project.
Fifty people from Orissa have sought shelter in Kerala in the wake of recent communal violence that rocked Kandamal and other places in that state, Kerala Social Welfare Minister P K Sreemathi said today.
Patnaik said the prime minister assured him on the Polavaram dam project in Andhra Pradesh, saying that none of the tribal villages in Orissa would be submerged.
The nun, missing since the incident and had reportedly taken shelter at a church in Delhi, was not found when Additional Resident Commissioner M Satyanarayan went there last night, Home Secretary T K Mishra told PTI.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology's School of Rural Management at Bhubaneshwar, is quietly making plans to outdo the institute it was modelled on.
A 'great intensity quake' also rocked 12 coastal districts of Orissa.
Project opponents, led by Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti, the organisation spearheading the agitation against the South Korean company, held a massive rally and protest meeting on Saturday at Balitutha, entry point to the project site. People from the affected villages such as Dhinkia, Gobindpur, Nugaon and Gadkujang attended.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily on Manipur high court judge Justice MV Muralidaran, saying despite being granted an opportunity he did not correct his judgment on grant of quota to the majority Meiteis in the strife-torn state.
Fearing social stigma, a 25-year-old unwed mother sold her newborn girl for Rs 600 in Bhawanipatna village in Kalahandi, Orissa, and disappeared after the incident.
"My government is always prepared for dialogue with the Naxals, but first they should give up arms and the path of violence," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters after reviewing the ongoing combing operation against Maoists at a high-level meeting here.
The security forces nabbed two ultras after intensifying combing operation on the sixth day today, flushing out the Naxals hiding in various jungles in the borders of Kandhmal and Ganjam, after the mayhem. Sources said that Mahipur outpost constable Chintamani Sahu, who was admitted along with seven others at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, succumbed to the injuries on Wednesday night.
The minister said she had asked protection officers and NGO activists to think twice while they try to implement laws under the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act for Muslim women.
The private STP is being set up by the JSS Group at Infocity in Chandaka, Bhubaneswar.
The floods so far have claimed 21 lives, official sources said. Eleven people drowned in the floods, seven died in wall collapses and three deaths were caused by snake bites.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea filed by a women's organisation seeking directions to states to take immediate action in consonance with a 2018 verdict of the apex court to effectively deal with incidents of lynching and mob violence against Muslims by cow vigilantes.
Stating the disparities due to 'wrong spelling of state's name', Home Secretary T K Mishra said though it was being written as Udisa in Hindi and Orissa in English, the real name was Odisha. Similarly, the name of the state's language is written as Udiya in Hindi and Oriya in English when it should be Odia.
Fresh floods hit at least six districts of northern Orissa on Monday affecting over 13 lakh people as major rivers in the region were rising alarmingly following heavy rains caused by depression.
At least six Maoists were killed in a fierce gun-battle with security forces in Orissa's Koraput district on Sunday, said the police. "On the basis of indications from the encounter site, at least six Maoists have been killed," said senior police officers engaged in the anti-Maoist operation in a forest in Podapadar area in Narayanpatna.Earlier reports indicated that at least 10 Maoists had been killed in the encounter.
The victims included five policemen, among whom were officer-in-charge Sada Hantal and assistant sub-inspector Silamani Mallick of the Kalimela police station, sources said.
Mittal Steel is likely to sign within the next two months, an agreement with the Orissa government for setting up a steel plant at an investment of $7 billion.
Of 3,719 acres of land required for Posco project, the minister said the state government had already acquired 2,000 acres in the illegal possession of the people in Gadakujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats.
In a series of attacks, Maoists gunned down one person and blew up two government school buildings in Orissa's Malkangiri district early Sunday, the police said.
The Orissa government will reply to the queries made by the Centre on the Meena Gupta panel report on Posco project in next three days, Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said.
The Indian Meteorological Department said though Cyclone Laila has weakened, the danger is not over yet as there were signs of it re-emerging in northern Bay of Bengal over the weekend.
The Orissa government on Friday said the fate of any special anti-Maoist operation in the state would be clear only after five more battalions of the central para-military force arrive.
Though no goals were scored in the first half, Orissa took the lead after the breather when L Basanti shot a field goal in the 53rd minute.
The Orissa government on Monday said it has no hesitation in initiating talks with the Maoists if they agreed to hold discussion within the framework of the constitution after abjuring violence. "However, the Maoists have to first shun violence before the government starts talking to them," Patnaik told the Assembly, adding any discussion with the Naxalites would not be fruitful if they continued with their violence activities.
The company is 'disappointed' with the progress made so far on its proposed 12-million tonnes per annum steel plant, each in Orissa and Jharkhand. It has rued the regulatory hurdles as well.
After laying siege over Lalgarh in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, Maoists have now targeted Orissa's Narayanpatna region.
The flood waters have receded from Kendrapara in Orissa over a week ago but the people are waiting for damage assessment by government officials instead of repairing their houses. "We have been advised to keep the trails of destruction intact till the revenue inspector makes spot verification of the damaged houses, which would be photographed as an evidence of the loss," many flood victims of Kendrapara district said.
The two PSOs who were travelling with the DIG when the incident occurred were questioned on Monday night and had been taken into custody at Rayagada.
In a pre-dawn attack, heavily armed Maoists blew up a railway station and abducted three railway employees in Orissa's Sundargarh district, about 80 km from Rourkela on Tuesday.
Both leaders would skip the five poll-bound states and the northeast, Naidu said.
Air dropping of food was suspended after five days on Friday with flood waters receding in the Mahanadi delta in Orissa, as a fresh flood in Baitarani river threatened three districts.
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