Heavy rainfall for the last three days has severely hit normal life in Odisha, particularly the southern parts, with at least three villages marooned in Kalahandi district.

The state government on Thursday said it has succeeded in achieving immunization coverage for 88 per cent children in Odisha in the age group of zero to five years.

KORAPUT: Traffic was hit for nearly five hours on the road leading to Nalco mining area at Damanjodi following a road blockade staged by villagers at Mathalput demanding supply of drinking water by the company on Wednesday. No Nalco employee was able to enter the mining area during the agitation.

The agitating villagers alleged that they used to get water from pipes laid by Nalco in Mathalput but all of a sudden Nalco authorities blocked the pipelines on Tuesday. "The Nalco authorities have deliberately blocked the pipeline. We demand immediate restoration of drinking water supply to Mathalput," said Suresh Saunta, president of Panchpatmali Peripheral Progressive Union (PMPPU).

Tribal development must for curbing Naxal growth, says Jairam Ramesh

For the residents of this tiny non-descript village in Odisha’s Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region, it was a rare celebratory occasion on Sunday when they got back the rights that had been snatched away by the British rulers nearly a century ago. The official transit passbook for cultivation and harvest of bamboo was handed over to the Jamguda Gram Sabha by Orissa forest officials. Union Rural Development and Tribal Affairs Ministers Jairam Ramesh and Kishore Chandra Deo and Odisha Revenue minister Surjya Narayan Patra attended a Tribal Rights festival organised by the Gram Sabha to mark the event.

Villagers from Mali Parbat are willing to compensate state for its loss in royalty from bauxite mines

Villagers protesting against Hindalco’s plan to mine bauxite at Mali Parbat in the Koraput district in Odisha have come up with a unique proposal that offers to compensate the state for its loss in revenue from royalty. Forty one villages from the district, two thirds of whose largely tribal population live below poverty line, have proposed to soon pass panchayat resolutions promising to pay . 35 crore, or what they estimate will be the royalty Hindalco is likely to pay the state over 15 years of the project’s life. Hindalco estimates that its industrial activity in the backward region will earn the state three to four times as much.

Sharing the concerns of the Dongria Kondh tribe of Niyamgiri in Kalahandi district whose protests had put a halt to Vedanta’s bauxite mining plan two years ago, over hundreds of tribals, under the

Despite concern over the end use of both ground and river water for industrial purposes, the use of ground water for drinking, irrigation and industries in Odisha is 26.14 per cent.

Koraput: Energy minister Arun Sahu today expressed resentment over poor implementation of Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) in the district and directed the district collector to revi

Bhubaneswa rEven as the National Aluminium Company refinery is facing closure due to want of bauxite, the company chairman-cum-managing director, Ansuman Das, on Monday assured that there would be no problem in meeting the export commitments besides the demand of the smelter.

Stating that the company has commitments for dispatch of two more consignments off Vizag port this month, the CMD said that these two would be met with. According to him, the nominated vessels for the cargo has already started for Vizag port. “We would reschedule the date for other commitments after we come to know the status of the mines by this month end”. He also clarified that there is alumina stock to meet the demand of its smelter at Angul.

Even as National Aluminium Company (Nalco) awaits anxiously for the nod of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) for grant of temporary work permit (TWP) to reopen its lapsed bauxite mine, the non-inclusion of the matter in the agenda of the next meeting of FAC has emerged as a matter of concern.

Any delay in the FAC, which is crucial for grant of TWP, may jeopardise the future operation of the company’s 2.1 million tonne alumina refinery at Damanjodi, on the foot of Panchpatmali bauxite deposit in Koraput district.