BALASORE: Heatwave swept districts of Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak on Thursday with the day temperature hovering around 40 degree Celsius. The unexpected rise in temperatures has led to fears of a killer summer ahead. Sources said, while Balasore recorded 39 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature of the season, on Thursday, Mayurbhanj recorded 42 C followed by Bhadrak at 40 C. The mild drizzle for 10 minutes in the afternoon only led to a rise in humidity.

Chief Minister meets Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi The Odisha government on Wednesday urged the Centre to take effective measures to realise the unsaturated agricultural potential of the State and to make the second green revolution a success in the eastern region of the country.

The demands of the State with regard to agriculture were taken up before Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in New Delhi.

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday requested the Centre to clear several pending projects in the irrigation sector in view of their significance for the tribal and backward regions and areas affected by left wing extremism (LWE). The Chief Minister met the Union Minister for Water Resources Pawar Kumar Bansal in New Delhi and took up the matter.

BHUBANESWAR: A joint official team from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) will visit the State next week scouting for sites for establishment of two more ultra mega power projects (UMPPs). The Centre has given in principle approval for three ultra mega power projects for the State. While bidding for the first UMPP at Bedabahal in Sundargarh district is underway, the Central team is likely to visit a few sites for the other two projects in Bhadrak and Balangir districts.

BHUBANESWAR: Balasore district is all set to lay the course for achieving increased agricultural productivity and consequent income enhancement for the farmers. A massive exercise will soon go underway in the district to change the dynamics of agriculture by empowering the farmers with latest technology inputs and implements, quality seeds and appropriate cropping strategies.

At least 40 villagers undergo treatment. Panic spread among the residents of Maitapur area under the Simulia police station in Baleswar district after they began to experience an irritating smell of gas late on Saturday evening. The gas emanated from a neighbouring private pesticide manufacturing unit Krishi Rasayan. The unit near National Highway-5 on the border between Baleswat and Bhadrak has been functioning over the last two decades.

Come New Year and the bird poachers are all set to earn a fast buck out of selling migratory birds. The meat of the birds remains in high demand among the tourists, which is provided by the poachers, who trap the birds slyly in and around Bhitarkanika National Park. The poachers trap the birds by spreading nets on the paddy fields near Bhitarakanika. Taking advantage of the weak vigilantism in the national park, the poachers call it a day here. Everyday, hundreds of birds are killed and sent off to luxurious hotels to be served on the dining table of the foreign tourists.

BHADRAK: After a devastating flood, the spectre of drought looms large over Bhadrak district with paddy crops in thousands of acres being damaged for want of water. The affected farmers have demanded immediate government intervention.

There has been no rain in the area for the last 15 days and the canals have dried up affecting paddy crop over more than 50,000 acres in Bhadrak, Dhamnagar, Tihidi, Chandabali, Bhandaripokhari, Bont and Basudevpur blocks.

The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) on Wednesday organised mock tsunami drills at cyclone shelters of six coastal districts.

This exercise was held as a part of the drill scheduled to be held simultaneously in 20 Indian Ocean nations, including India.

The exercise aimed at testing the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS) and evaluating the system’s operational capacity, the efficiency of communications among the different concerned actors and the state of preparedness of national emergency services.

Basanti Sethi, 65, sits amid the ruins of her mudhouse-cum-paan shop and rummages through a smelly earthen pot. It used to contain everything she owned — till the night of September 22, when her house caved in under a rushing flood of water that also marooned her village of Maudpur in Raipur grampanchayat of Bhadrak district, Orissa.

She turns the earthen pot over, hoping that the cash she and her 90-year-old husband Rushi Sethi had managed to save, around Rs 5,000, would somehow tumble out. All that it contains are some plastic packs and a pair of papayas.