Representative image.
BHUBANESWAR: When Covid-19 cases started rising in the state and rumours flew thick and fast, providing authentic, verified and up-to-date information to the masses was a challenge for the government.
To address people’s queries, the state government developed its own Covid dashboard, which went live on April 22, a month after the detection of the first few virus cases in the state.
Developed and managed by the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), under the state information and technology department, in partnership with some global tech giants, the dashboard became one of the most searched platform not just for policy-makers but for health experts, journalists, data analysts, researchers and most importantly, information-hungry public.
BHUBANESWAR: Under attack from opposition parties over mandi issues, a delegation of BJD MPs met Union food minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Monday to place demand for expediting paddy evacuation and to clear pending subsidy of Rs 5,600 crore to the state.
This is the second meeting of BJD MPs with the Union minister in the past two months over the issue of paddy procurement while BJD said the two issues also affect the procurement process in the state.
“Though there has been 19% growth in paddy procurement compared to the corresponding period in previous season, the state is saddled with two important problems like non release of pending subsidy and paddy evacuation by Food Corporation of India (FCI), which need attention of the Centre,” said BJD parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Pinaki Mishra.
Debasis Srichandan
BHUBANESWAR: A year ago on this day, Odisha’s tryst with Covid-19 began. Its first patient, 33-year-old Debasis Srichandan from Badagada in Bhubaneswar, takes us on the roller-coaster ride that he was in for after he landed in India.
Srichandan, who was working on a research programme on machine learning at the University of Milan in Italy, reached the national capital on March 6 and put up at a guest house in IIT Delhi. “I did not have any symptoms when I arrived at the Delhi airport. So I was let off after screening,” he says. Five days later, on March 11, he boarded the Rajdhani Express for his hometown. “I was scared of contracting the infection during my stay in Delhi. So I left for Bhubaneswar. But some people started a rumour on social media saying that I ran away from quarantine. It was completely baseless. When I look back at what all I had to go through, I hope and pray that nobody has to endure what I did,” he recalls with horror.
Sanitiser being sprayed in a Bhubaneswar neighbourhood
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha’s strategy to fight against Covid-19 was based on five thematic areas, additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said, recalling a year of planning to keep the virus in check.
The five thematic formulas were early preparation and stringent control measures, effective governance and evidence-based decision making, enhanced surveillance, testing and treatment measures, supporting and encouraging healthcare and frontline workers involved in Covid response and effective roll out of Covid-19 vaccination.
Currently, the number of new cases in Odisha has come down to 50-60 a day, which is one of the lowest in the country.