Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Rs 20,000 cr Alumina plant to be set up in Rayagada

The Pioneer, June 12, 2007

Another Alumina plant is in the offing. L&T and Dubai-based Dubal Company will set up an Alumina plant at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore at Kushumshila in Rayagada.

Representatives of both the companies met the Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy on Monday and held a detailed discussion. at the State Secretariat.

Fill vacant posts of doctor in KBK, Panel to Govt

The Pioneer, June 12, 2007

Pioneer News Service | Bhubaneswar
...State to appoint 890 nursing staffs

The Standing Committee on Health on Monday recommended the Government to fulfill the posts of doctors that are lying vacant in the KBK region.

The meeting which was held under the chairmanship of BJD MLA Kalinidi Charan Behera observed that Government should take some proactive steps to strengthen the health system in the State.

It also asked the Government inform the people when a health mobile unit visits a particular area. "As people are not able to know the exact date of the mobile van coming to the area, they are unable to get the benefit from the doctors,'' the Committee members argued.It also asked the Government to direct the Orissa Public Service Commission (OPSC) to appoint doctors on regular basis.

Meanwhile, the Government has decided to appoint 890 nurses in different hospitals on a contract basis. In the district headquarter hospitals eight nurses will be given appointment. Similarly, in the sub-divisional level hospitals the number would be six each, three each in 68 community hospitals and two each in 131 primary health centres. In the 2007-08 financial year, another 1,000 nursing staffs and 400 ANM will be given appointment.

Similarly, 60 laboratory technicians, 314 homeopathic and Ayurvedic doctors, 314 programme officers and 314 accountants will be given appointment. Fifty system analysts, date-entry operators will also be given appointment.

For the management of the three medical colleges, 35 hospital administrators and 22 Accountant -cum-DEO will be given appointment.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Centre’s social audit finds tribals hardpressed for work in KBK

Financial Express, June 11, 2007

RURAL ECONOMY
Centre’s social audit finds tribals hardpressed for work in Kalahandi
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Monday, June 11, 2007 at 0000 hours IST

NEW DELHI, JUN 10: There are no smiles on the faces of the poverty-stricken tribals of the infamous KBK hunger belt of Orissa. The government’s ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, being implement in the region, has turned out to be a mockery, largely benefiting the implementing authorities at the expense of poor tribals, according to a survey by Centre for Enviournment and Food Security (CEFS), conducted under the Union government’s social audit programme.
The erstwhile Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) has been divided into six districts, namely Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabrangpur and Rayagada. As the region was known for starvation deaths, it was declared as the region for special attention.

According to the survey, there are irregularities in entries in job cards, maintenance of muster rolls and disbursement of payments to the intended beneficiaries. CEFS conducted a survey of 100 villages in the six districts in the last two months.

Among the major findings of the CEFS report social audit has not been conducted in any of the 100 villages and the muster rolls have not been checked by the village people. In none of the villages under survey 100-day employment was given. No job cards are issued in 11 villages, no work was undertaken in 37 villages after issuance of job cards and after 16 months of the launch of the scheme. Job cards issued in 23 villages are not given to the workers, they are still in the custody of panchayat executive officers (PEOs) and junior officers.

In 25 villages under survey partial payments have been made to workers and in three village no payments have been made even after 4 to 8 months of work. In 6 villages in Kashipur block in Rayagada district work is being undertaken without issuance any job cards

“Our findings reveal a nexus between a chain of officials, from state to village levels, responsible for implementation of the scheme. Benefits are not reaching the beneficiaries," CEFS director, Parashuram Ray told FE.He said the BDO of Nandur block in Koraput district, Jyoti Rajan Mishra had instructed the PEOs not to show any muster rolls to the visiting CEFS team.

The PEO of Raisingh gram panchayat, Nagesh Choudhary has given in writing that he would not show any muster roll without the permission of the BDO. The next day when the CEFS team contacted the BDO he said that the permission from the district collector was necessary. The CEFS team even contacted the state commissioner-cum-secretary of panchayati raj, Rabindranath Dash to resolve the issue, but failed.

Ray said despite such hindrances, the CEFS team could get some interesting accounts from the people. In Maagaral village card no 2401 was issued to Hari Sisa for 59 day-work, but actually he was offered work for only 20 days.

According to the study, there are six enteries in the muster rolls in the name of Hari Sisa. Similarly job card no 2335 was issued to Mini Budi Khilo for 36-day work while he was offered work for only 8 days with three entries in the muster rolls. Balaram Sisa was issued job card no 2397 for 30-day work, but was offered work for only 5 days. Hagu Hemendru was issued job card no 2360 for 58-day work, but was offered work for only 6 days.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Vijayawada-Ranchi road corridor gets PM's approval, Good news for KBK+ Districts

Indian Express, June o6, 2007
Road re-routed to bring Orissa’s Naxal heartland onto the map
Anubhuti VishnoiPosted online: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print Email

NEW DELHI, JUNE 5: A solution to the Naxalite problem in Orissa could lie down a dream road. The Prime Minister’s Office has cleared a long-standing demand of Orissa to build a two-lane, state-of-the-art road through its 12 insurgency-affected districts, bringing these tribal areas closer to the rest of the state and, it is hoped, to development.

At a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways was asked to expedite finalisation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor cutting through Orissa, and take it up on a priority basis. Special assistance will be given to Orissa for its state, district and rural roads running along the alignment.

Around 1,219 km of the 1,729-km corridor planned between Vijayawada and Ranchi will fall in Orissa, and the state government had requested that its state highways, district and rural roads be incorporated in the corridor. Now 235.8 km of national highway sections, 878 km of state high ways and 104.5 km of rural roads will be a part of the corridor. The road from Vijayawada enters Orissa at Motu in Malkangiri district and leaves at Tiring in Mayurbhanj district on the north.

Orissa has long sought a security corridor through the ‘red’ tribal belts. The state, in fact, wanted that the entire stretch through the state be declared a national highway, or at best be developed on a par with national highways. While the Ministry may not call the stretch NH as yet, with the Prime Minister taking a keen interest, it is set to be developed as per national highway standards.

What that means is that tribal areas of Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Anugul, Sambalpur, Deograh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Boudh, currently insurgency hotbeds, may emerge out of the hinterlands.

Confirming that the project had been put on the fast track, a senior Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways official said: “The DPR of the corridor is underway and should be ready in six-seven months.”