Orissa Chief Minister to visit Kandhamal district on 1st October

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will visit Kandhamal district on Ist October Thursday. The Chief Minister will proceed Phulbani by Helicapter and after landding in the Reserve Police ground will go directly to the Circuit House. Then proceed to Dutipada under Khajuripada Block and inaugurate the Hostel Building of Girls High School constructed by the ITDA and launch first time introduced Help in Education programme. Then proceed to Mulapujari to inaugurate a mega Nursery and also lay foundation stone of Sports Hostel in the Stadium.

The Chief Minister will also inaugurate INCU building constructed in the District Hospital and lay foundation stone of a Nursing School. Then will lay foundation stone of B.Ed. College and C.T school at Sartaguda. Then the Chief Minister will address in a Public Meeting at Phulbani Coronation Ground and will distribute Madhubabu Pension to beneficiaries and distribute land patta to the landless. Minister of Health Prassana Acharya will be accompanied with the Chief Minister

Police identifies Kandhamal blast victim

Phulbani (Orissa), Sept 29 The person, who was killed in a bomb explosion at a rehabilitation centre in Kandhamal district, has been identified, police said today.

The victim was identified as Ajaya Digal (35) of Gutingia village under Sarangagada police station area in the district, Kandhamal Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar said.

He said that his antecedents and whether he had links with Maoists were being enquired into as he had left his village in March.

Digal's parents were also being questioned, he said.

Three detained for blast in Kandhamal

Phulbani (Orissa), Sept 28 Three persons were detained today for interrogation in connection with the bomb blast at a rehabilitation centre in Kandhamal district which left one dead.

They were being interrogated for their suspected Maoist links, Kandhamal SP Praveen Kumar said.

Seizure of four guns from the site of the blast led to the suspicion that they had Maoist links, he said.

The identity of the person killed in the explosion yesterday has not been ascertained so far, while the injured has been identified as Patrasen Mallick of Batikola village.

The person who died in the blast did not belong to Batikola village and had arrived at the rehabilitation centre at Nandagiri barely five days ago, he said.

A forensic team visited the spot to determine the nature of the explosive used in making the bomb.

Orissa requests Centre to set up Tribal University in Kandhamal

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Bhubaneswar ( Orissa ): Orissa Chief Miinister Naveen Patnaik, Kanti Lal Bhuria, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs at New Delhi today and discussed about issues relating to tribal welfare in Orissa.

He asked for an early release of Central assistance for undertaking various tribal welfare activities for which a proposal was submitted by Govt. of Orissa and the Union Minister acceded to the request of the Chief Minister for grant of Rs 64.26 crore.

The Chief Minister highlighted the action being taken by the State Govt. for issue of land rights (pattas) to tribal community in Orissa and informed that it will be concluded in a time bound manner.

The Chief Minister further emphasized for inclusion of more eligible communities from Orissa in the SC/ST List so that the deserving people could benefit from government programmes. He informed that 167 such proposals have been sent by the State to the Centre for inclusion in the list.

The Chief Minister also asked for release of Rs.140 crores during 2009-2010 for construction of 400 new 100 bedded ST Girls Hostels in the State.

The Chief Minister requested that a Tribal University be set up in the Kondhamal district in Orissa. The Chief Minister requested for grant of Rs 5 crores for modernisation of the existing small Tribal Museum at Bhubaneswar and separate fund for opening of Tribal Museums in all the 17 Micro Project Areas in the State.

He highlighted the need for increase in the amount of Post Matric Scholarship for ST/SC Students.

Recalling his recent letter written to the Union Minister, the Chief Minister asked for sanction of more Ekalabya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in the 4 uncovered KBK districts i.e., Nuapada, Malkangiri, Sonepur & Bolangir in the current academic session.

The Chief Minister informed that the DFID assisted Orissa Tribal Empowerment & Livelihoods Project has been well accepted by the Tribal Communities in the State and requested the Union Tribal Affairs Minister for augmentation of the DFID assistance to the tune of US $ 40 Million.

The Union Minister assured full cooperation of the Government of India for tribal development in Orissa.

Five awarded life term in Kandhamal riots case

Phulbani, Sept 23 (PTI) Five youths were today sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court for killing a pastor during riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district last year.

Fast Track Court-I judge S K Das awarded life term to Sabito Digal (30), Mania Pradhan (28), Dharmaraj Pradhan (32), Abinash Pradhan (29) and Papu Pradhan (30) for the murder of Akbar Digal, a pastor of a Baptist church at Tatamaha village under Raikia police station area.

Digal's throat was slit by the youths in presence of his wife Lodia Digal on August 26, 2008, barely two days after riots broke out in the aftermath of VHP leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati's killing.

The five persons were arrested on an FIR lodged by the pastor's wife.

Medical team to investigate Kandhamal poison' deaths

BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR: Even as a four-member expert team from MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur rushed to Gudrikia village under
Kandhamal district's Daringibadi block to ascertain the exact cause of the series of deaths in the locality, no more casualty was reported on Monday, keeping total number of human deaths at eight.

"The expert team, consisting of specialists from medicine, community medicine, microbiology and paediatric departments, has rushed to the village to study the cause of the sudden death of the villagers," principal of the MKCG medical college Sonamali Bag said. The team proceeded for tribal-dominated Kandhamal following a state government directive.
While two medical teams arrived in the village on Sunday, more doctors from nearby locations were being sent to the area to prevent spread of the "mysterious disease" to other parts of Saramuli gram panchayat and adjacent Gadapur gram panchayat.

Though it is suspected that the villagers have fallen prey to either food poisoning caused by consumption of wild mushrooms or to cerebral malaria, doctors are yet to ascertain the reason.

While two persons died on Saturday, another six perished on Sunday. Those dead include at least six children. Several others in the village are also suffering from the disease, with at least half a dozen people admitted to the government-run hospital at Daringibadi.

Initially, doctors suspected that the deaths were owing to food poisoning caused by consumption of wild mushrooms. But when more and more people showed similar symptoms of vomiting and high fever, they guessed the cause might be malaria. But officially the exact for the deaths remains to be announced. "The exact cause could be ascertained only after medical tests are conducted by the expert team," chief district medical officer (in-charge), Kandhamal, Jatin Patnaik said.

Despite the administration trying to control the spread of the disease, panic-stricken villagers have started deserting the remote village, which has around 40 tribal families.

Remote dists to get mobile health units

BHUBANESHWAR: As malaria is staging a comeback stealthily in inaccessible tribal-dominated districts of the State, the Government has decided to reach out to the affected persons through mobile units. Two of the backward districts, Kandhamal and Kalahandi, are under the scanner of the State Government because of their inaccessibility and general lack of services. Health and Family Welfare Minister Prasanna Kumar Acharya announced that more mobile health units will be pressed into service in these two backward districts to cater to needs of the people in interior areas. Arrangements for this will be made by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), he said.Diarrhoea had killed more than 50 persons in Kalahandi this year while Lanjigarh area of the district is known to be prone to malaria.Many people in inaccessible pockets of Kandhamal also fall prey to malaria every year.While 15 mobile health units are already working in Kandhamal under the NRHM, seven more will be provided for the district. Similarly, three mobile health units will be pressed into service in Kalahandi.One of the units will be specifically earmarked for the Lanjigarh block.Experts expressed concern at the recently held three-day workshop organised here by the NRHM over the increasing number of deaths due to malaria. It has been estimated that more than 25 per cent deaths due to malaria take place in Orissa.Sources said that malaria has spread in all the tribal- dominated districts of the State despite steps taken by the State Government to bring it under control. Orissa now tops the list of cerebral malaria affliction which is 44 per cent of the all-India figure of over 7 lakh cases per annum.Orissa also tops the fatality rate due to plasmodium falciparum at 18 per cent followed by 15 per cent in Maharashtra, 11 per cent in Chhattisgarh and north-eastern states, nine per cent in West Bengal, five per cent in Gujarat, four per cent in Rajasthan and two per cent in Karnataka.Acharya said that out of the 191 mobilehealth units in the State, 96 have been engaged in the KBK (un-divided Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput) districts.He said that 81 units had been deployed in the non-KBK tribal districts.