BARIPADA: Forest officials are all set for this year’s elephant census. It will be conducted simultaneously in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts besides West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand between June 1 and June 3. The synchronised census has been aimed at averting the overlap since pachyderms migrate across boundaries in search of fodder and water.

Regional Chief Conservator of Forests(RCCF) Anup Nayak said this time two traditional methods would be adopted to count the elephants.

Debajani Bag (54) of Purnachandrapur area in Baripada town is suffering from cerebral malaria. And so are five others in the area for the last one week.Poor sanitation in the area has led to health complications in many areas under Baripada Municipality, including Purnachandrapur.

Even as the health officials deny it, locals alleged that mosquito menace and mosquito-borne diseases are increasing due to sanitation problems. Heaps of garbage and waste materials can be seen at many places daily.

BARIPADA: Come Sankranti, this part of north Odisha is all set to raise a toast to roosters. And though there is nothing attractive about the bloodsport in which cocks get wounded and killed, that is unlikely to prevent betting on the sport. Throwing caution to the wind and ignoring police warning, organisers have, in the last couple of weeks, started buying fighter cocks. Contests are held across the district for which roosters are bred and trained by farmers. They fetch a minimum of Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000. A good breed can cost even more.

BARIPADA: Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, bordering Jharkhand, has been put on high alert to avoid poultry birds carrying HSN1 virus sneaking in from the neighbouring state, said Mayurbhanj CDVO Nityananda Das on Tuesday. Surveillance has been stepped up in the seven blocks of Raruan, Jashipur, Tiring, Bahalda, Gorumahisani, Saraskana and Jamda in the district. Movement of poultry birds within a radius of three kilometers of affected areas has been stopped, sources said.

BARIPADA: Close on the heels of the outbreak of bird flu in Jharkhand, the bordering villages in the tribal-dominated district of Mayurbhanj have been put on alert. Veterinary officials have been asked to inspect chicken farms and hatcheries. Sources said scores of crows were found dead in Khunta on Monday pressing the panic button among the residents and the poultry farm owners. As mass death of crows was reported from Ranchi, Bokaro, Jamshedpur and Dumka in Jharkhand due to the H5N1 variant of bird flu, the poultry traders of Mayurbhanj belt close to these areas are a scared lot.

BHUBANESWAR: Just nine urban centres of the State can boast of a population of one lakh and more. None has touched the one million mark.
According to Census 2011 provisional figures, even the fast growing Bhubaneswar is not a million population City, the head count standing at 8,81,988 persons residing in its limits.

Bhubaneswar: The state government on Saturday decided to take stern action against the encroachers of forest land in the capital city in the first phase in its effort to embark on a massive plantation programme to make the city eco-friendly under the Urban Tree Plantation Initiative.
It also imposed restrictions on felling of trees and cutting of branches in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation

BARIPADA: Lodhas, a primitive tribal group, remain a neglected lot.

BHUBANESWAR: The first layer poultry estate in the country focusing solely on egg production is soon going to take shape at Gobardhan Sula near Baripada in Mayurbhanj district.

Land for the around Rs 10-crore project involving the Centre, State and farmers has been demarcated and work for establishment of the facility is set to commence soon.