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.

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.

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is making significant strides in curbing children’s mortality with the under-five mortality rate in the State declining at faster rate than the national average for the first time in 2010. Under-5 mortality has declined by six points from 84 in 2009 to 78 in 2010 surpassing the national average of five points from 64 in 2009 to 59 in 2012. The State, in fact, has recorded the second highest drop in Under-5 mortality after Madhya Pradesh during the year, the latest Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 2011 report has revealed.

BHUBANESWAR: Above a third of Odisha’s households have to trudge half a km and more every day to get their quota of drinking water. What is worse, their number has been on the rise, the latest House-listing and Housing Census 2011 has found. Indicating an abysmal state of affairs, the Census, which was released on Saturday, revealed that a whopping 35.4 per cent of households had to trek more than 500 metres from their houses to get drinking water during the decade ending 2011.

Simlipal Tiger Reserve, the fourth biggest tiger reserve in the country, may soon go the Sariska way with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) pointing out an “alarmingly low prey base” due to hunting by tribals living on the fringes here. The reserve, spanning over 2,750 sq km area in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, has been in news since 2009 with Maoists overrunning the park and subsequently, when it was found that 14 elephants were killed by poachers through poisoned arrows or gunshots between April and May 2010.

BHUBANESWAR: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the implementation of the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) should be made more participatory by consulting people’s representatives in districts. Chidambaram reviewed the implementation of IAP in the State through video-conferencing with district collectors. Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik and secretaries of departments, including Home, Panchayati Raj, Women and Child Development and Rural Development, participated in the video-conference. The IAP is being implemented in 18 Naxalite-affected districts of the State.

Bhubaneswar: The CBI has placed before the Supreme Court its report on the investigation into alleged corruption in utilisation of Central funds by six districts of Odisha for the rural job guarantee scheme under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.

Samples sent from CPDO test positive for avian influenza
Members of Rapid Response Teams in association with personnel of Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO) culled nearly 20,000 poultry birds on Sunday.

The culling operation became essential after Bhopal based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) confirmed that samples of birds sent from CPDO tested positive for avian influenza.

BHUBANESWAR: Worried over the recurring incidence of electrocution, the State Government has decided to replace single and double poles with elephant-friendly electricity structures in districts where the jumbos are most vulnerable. To avoid the electrocution, narrow based lattice structures (NBLS) will be established in Dhenkanal, Angul, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj by replacing the single and double poles in all 11 KV and 33 KV lines in future.