Members of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), engaged in the culling of poultry birds, on Monday faced an embarrassing situation in Bhubaneswar. As they approached households in slums to collect birds to ward off the spread of the avian influenza, they found all houses locked. Frustrated, the RRTs returned emptied handed.

“When we went to different slums to collect birds from their owners, we found most of the houses locked. At some places, we found the birds roaming around but we could not catch them in absence of their owners,” RRT official Dr Ranjan Kumar Sahoo said.

The Centre-appointed Shah Commission is appeared quite unhappy with the state of affairs in the mineral-rich Keonjhar district.
The eight-member commission, which visited various mines in the district over the last three days, on Sunday said at majority of the places mines owners and operators have polluted the air and water affecting the life and livelihood of the local people. Besides, they also overlooked to their responsibilities towards the local communities and improvement roads and other infrastructure.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal, which faces the allegation of facilitating land grabbing bids by party men, industrial houses bureaucrats — both serving and retired — has at last done some face saving exercise. It has restored 1,301 acres of prime land on Puri beach to government, nearly 65 km from here.

The recovered lands, the current market price of which is estimated to be `1,300 crore, were fraudulently transferred to private individuals by some revenue department officials in connivance with some top influential local politicians.

The World Bank has approved the Orissa State Road Project (OSRP) following a protracted negotiation with senior officials of the state government.

The $250-million assistance will support improvement of 461 km of state arterial roads and bridges in two phases.

In the first phase of the project, 204 km will be taken up and in the second phase, a 257-km road will be developed.

A formal agreement for the loan assistance was signed last week in Washington, official sources said here on Monday.