Though the Orissa government is quite prompt in signing a number of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with different MNCs and corporate houses for execution of different mega projects in the state, somehow due to the cumbersome procedure of the state administration in acquiring the land as well as handling issues arising out of the working in forest and non-forest land have stalled the progress of many big ticket projects like POSCO, Vedanta and Essar.

New Delhi: Vedanta has suffered another setback in its fight-back to expand the aluminium refinery in Orissa after the Union environment ministry had struck down its environment clearance for violations.

Bhawanipatna: The recent causality by Dengue outbreak in Odisha is frowning upon with several deaths being reported from various places of the state.
Though not as grim as in the most affected areas like Anugul and Jharsuguda, the situation in Kalahandi–one of the backward areas of the country–does not speak a different tale with several cases being detected in Kesinga block.

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Monday geared up its machinery to tackle drought-like situation in more than 30 blocks in eight districts. Scanty rainfall has affected kharif crop in some pockets of 15 districts in the State while the situation is alarming in the 30 blocks, according to preliminary reports submitted by the district collectors to the Government.

With Orissa Mining Corporation Limited (OMCL) claiming that the rejection of forest clearance to its bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri hills is aimed as a rebuff to the Supreme Court’s green signal for the billion-dollar venture, the Ministry of Environment and Forests met the charge head-on.

In a detailed affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) says it is only doing its job.

The court had in two consecutive judgments dated November 23, 2007 and August 8, 2008 cleared the project.

BHUBANESWAR: Exhibiting dry paddy saplings in the Assembly, Opposition Congress and BJP members on Thursday demanded declaration of drought in the State without waiting for eye estimation report on kharif crop status.
Participating in the adjournment motion on drought situation, Congress member from Kantabanji Santosh Singh Saluja showed a bundle of dry paddy saplings to the members. He said the crop situation is very bad in his district due to scanty rainfall and kharif operation has come to a halt.