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.
BHUBANESWAR: Coming under ire of smart city residents, the state government on Monday decided to pause collection of revised rate of holding tax, till.
Police appeal to people to follow Covid norms in Bhubaneswar
BHUBANESWAR: It was not a case of routine monitoring of garbage collection, fixing defunct street lights, removing clogs from drains and solving waterlogging. The city civic body was facing an unlikely and uphill task tackling a pandemic.
Before March first week, things looked fine at Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). It all changed once the government came out with Covid regulations on March 13.
Led by commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhury, the BMC, however, rose to the occasion. It appointed a nodal officer, Suvendu Sahu, an Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer, to work 24x7 and coordinate with all concerned to meet a crisis that no one had ever faced. In the initial days, the BMC fought hard to trace the contacts who had come in touch with a positive person. Surya Nagar became the first containment zone and the BMC struggled to supply essential commodities to people on time, drawing criticism. But as da