The driver of a bus of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) died on Thursday after suffering a heart attack while driving on the Koraput-Sunabeda stretch, police said.
Civil society groups, led by the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, are planning a nationwide protest -- similar to the farmers' stir a few years ago -- starting December 19 demanding scrapping of the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission.
Meanwhile, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) issued high sea waves, up to 4.7 metres high, warning across several coastal districts.
Severe cyclonic storm 'Montha' has begun making landfall off the Andhra Pradesh coast, with the process expected to continue for the next three to four hours. The storm is expected to cross the coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, with wind speeds of 90-100 kmph.
While three persons died in Koraput district, two each died in Jajpur and Ganjam districts, and one each in Dhenkanal and Gajapati districts, they said.
Two investigations were ordered after six patients died due to alleged negligence at the state-run Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Odisha's Koraput, officials said on Wednesday.
Sharada Kukreja, a Pakistani woman living in Odisha for 35 years after marrying an Indian citizen, has been served a notice to leave the country. She has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi to stop her deportation, citing her long-standing ties to India and family here. Sharada fled Pakistan to escape forced conversion and marriage, and despite having an Aadhaar card and participating in elections, she has not been granted Indian citizenship. The Odisha government has identified 12 Pakistani nationals residing in the state and asked them to leave by April 27. Another Pakistani woman in Bhubaneswar also received a country exit permit on Saturday.
With the curtains drawn on the Italian hostage crisis, a somewhat relieved Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday flew to Maoist-infested Koraput where 37-year-old tribal MLA Jhina Hikaka was being held captive by a separate Maoist group since March 24.
According to weather officials, wind speeds along and off the Odisha-West Bengal coasts are anticipated to reach 60 km/h from October 23, increasing to 120 km/h from October 24 night to October 25 morning.
Nayak had earlier resigned from the BJD and joined the BJP and got a nomination from the saffron party.
The troops of these two units are expected to be based in Samba and near the Jammu-Punjab border, the sources said.
Two coaches of the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger train from the rear and the loco of Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger were derailed as a result of the accident, the railway official said, adding that rescue operations are underway.
The contracts for the procurement of the platforms and weapons systems were signed in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and defence secretary Giridhar Aramane, under whose guidance these deals fructified, an official readout said.
Three battalions of the Border Security Force comprising more than 3,000 personnel will move across the border from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police units will further move into the Naxal stronghold of Abujhmad as part of a strategy to intensify anti-Maoist operations in their last bastions, official sources said.
The security personnel conducted a flag march on Thursday in Odisha's violence-hit Sambalpur city, where internet services were suspended and security tightened as the district administration geared up to organise a peaceful Hanuman Jayanti.
Police seized condoms, contraceptive pills and pregnancy test kits from a Maoist hideout following an exchange of fire with red rebels on Odisha-Chhattisgarh border, a senior officer said in Nabarangapur on Thursday.
Policemen spotted Samulu Pangi and arranged an ambulance to take the body of his wife Ide Guru (30) to his Sorada village in Pottangi block.
'It is very likely to move nearly northwards for next few hour and recurve slowly north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts during noon to evening on Wednesday and emerge into west central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by night,' the India Meteorological Department said in its national bulletin.
The cyclonic storm is likely to move nearly westwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh-south Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Gopalpur around Sunday evening, the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said.
'Many veteran leaders in the Odisha BJP had met them, but their problems were never sorted out.'
Around 29 trains have been delayed by two to five hours due to foggy weather, a railway official said.
Trains passing through Maoist-hit areas were cancelled and short terminated on the East Coast Railways (ECoR) in view of the two-day Bharat Bandh called by the extremists from Wednesday.
The mercury in Delhi, which recorded its hottest day of the year so far at 45.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, came down to 42.4 degrees Celsius, according to the India meteorological department.
'I bow to the great freedom fighters born in Andhra Pradesh. We have not forgotten our freedom fighters, we will not forget and we will move forward by taking inspiration from them,' the prime minister said
Five hardcore Maoists, allegedly involved in a number of violent incidents, surrendered before security forces at two different places in Odisha's Malkangiri and Koraput districts on Tuesday.
Hours before the visit of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Maoists struck in a big way attacking a railway station, damaging communication towers and looting a block office in Orissa's Koraput district on Thursday.
Rediff reader Amarendra Palai writes about Charulatha Devi, a school teacher.
The job fair was jointly conducted by the State Employment Mission and the Koraput district administration recently.
The state government has instructed officials in coastal districts and various departments to be alert to tackle any emergency situation
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
Over 30 Maoists came to the village, about 90 km from Koraput, on Sunday night and asked Ghasi Kendruka (35), a sikshyasahayak attached with a school, to come out of his house. They the took him to a nearby mango orchard and slit his throat, the police said
Justice S K Panigrahi also raised questions about whether rape laws should be used to regulate intimate relationships, especially in cases where women enter into a relationship by choice.
The government's hurried action to give justice to the tribal population came in the wake of violence at Narayanpatna in Koraput district, official sources said. On June 15, angry tribals at Koraput forcibly ploughed about 500 acre land in possession of non-tribals. The tribal fury came to fore after the state administration failed to redress their grievances that the non-tribals had captured tribal land by using fraudulent means as well as by violating law of the land.
Sanjukta from Koraput, Naresh Kumar from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Samuel Venkatesh from Tamil Nadu will head to Rome, where over 80 children from various countries will join them for the J-8 summit, organised by the United Nations Children's Fund.
The Odisha government stepped up relief and restoration activities as cyclone Hudhud passed to neighbouring Chhattisgarh on Monday after claiming three lives, damaging about 50,000 thatched houses, electrical infrastructure and roads in four districts.
The Prime Minister is leaving Bhubaneswar for New Delhi as his district tour has been cancelled, Baru said.
With the fate of kidnapped Jhina Hikaka still unknown after almost three weeks the Odisha government is exploring back-channel negotiations with the Maoist group, which has imposed tough conditions for the release of the ruling Biju Janata Dal tribal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka.
Abduction for the release of jailed Maoists is becoming a trend in Odisha. Considering the almost habitual surrender of various state governments to their demands, extremists will use this tactic regularly, says Bibhu Prasad Routray.
The abductors of Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka on Thursday turned down the Odisha government's request to name negotiators for talks, while parleys for the release of Italian Paolo Bosusco from Maoist captivity remained stalled as the rebels' mediators alleged delaying tactics by the authorities.
Hitting out at the Biju Janata Dal government over the abduction of a tribal MLA, the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha on Saturday accused it of being hand in glove with Maoists and pushing the state into anarchy by ignoring Centre's advisories.
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