Bhubaneswar: At least 65 persons have reportedly died so far due to sunstroke even as severe heat wave continues to whip the entire state, throwing normal life out of gear. However, the revenue department confirmed only ten deaths out of the 65. As many as 17 places have recorded maximum temperature between 40 to 46 degrees Celsius on Thursday with Sambalpur town becoming the hottest place as mercury soared to 46 degrees there.

BHUBANESWAR: Having witnessed a quantum rise in the production of horticulture crops in the last 10 years, the State Government has now decided to lay emphasis on floriculture, coconut and banana crops. Three new schemes - floriculture development, coconut development, banana development - besides inter-cropping have been introduced under the State plan for the current financial year.

SAMBALPUR: Fire has been raging in almost all the reserve forests, hill ranges and green patches in numerous hills dotting the region. The fire besides endangering biodiversity, has also hit hard the forest- dependent community which gets livelihood from it for six months in a year. It has upset the entire economy of the communities with the dwellers refraining from venturing into the forest. Collection of non-timber forest produce (NTFP) normally begins in December when the tribals trudge into the forest to collect Amla, Harida and Bahada.

SAMBALPUR: Resentment is brewing among the farmers of Sambalpur district after the State Government excluded it from the drought-hit districts’ list.
Despite the fact that large tracts of agricultural land are under Hirakud Command Area, there is no denying that in the last kharif season untimely rains and pest attacks had hit the farmers badly. Drought had devastated hundreds of others in the non-irrigated belts of the district.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has unearthed a land scam in Orissa where the state government acquired land for industrial houses like Vedanta and Posco by reportedly misusing existing provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The CAG also found that the companies were not using the land for which they were allotted and instead, hoarding land whose market value ran into thousands of crores.

The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has found that the Naveen Patnaik government has ‘misused' the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land for several big industrial projects, including the proposed mega steel plant by South Korean steel major Posco.

“Emergency Provisions of Section 17 (4) were misused and applied arbitrarily even without indicating detailed justification for the same and without fulfilment of prescribed conditions,” the CAG has stated.

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.

SAMBALPUR: Even as the cause of death of saplings in Hirakud Command Area is being debated, former MP of Sambalpur, Bhabani Hota said extreme pollution levels in water and toxicity could be a reason. Hota told medipersons on Thursday that according to a study of Sambalpur University in the 90’s, massive toxic effluents were being released into the reservoir by industries upstream. These effluents had high content of lead and mercury which ultimately found their way into the agricultural fields through water discharged in the canal system, he added.

SAMBALPUR: The trouble seems far from over. Drought, untimely rain, flood and now hailstorm, the vegetable growers of western Odisha cannot but blame their fate. For the last three days, the region has been experiencing rain with reports of hailstorm being received from Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh besides Sambalpur.

BHUBANESWAR: The year has been as challenging as it could be on the health front with public health concerns coupled with a belligerent medical workforce keeping the Government and the Health Department on their toes for a substantial part of 2011. Dengue raised its ugly head in a disastrous manner for the first time in the State in August claiming over 30 lives and affecting more than 1,300 people across majority of the districts.