Phulbani: Kandhamal, popularly known as ‘Kashmir of Odisha’ for its cool climate, is reeling under intense heat with the mercury touching 40 degree Celsius, MeT officials said.

Nearly 60 per cent area under forest cover, 1587 mm average annual rainfall and altitude ranging between 300 and 1100 metres contributed towards the coolness of the district.

However, most parts of Kandhamal are reeling under 40 deg C temperature since the beginning of June, they said.

Environmentalists and weathermen attributed the rising temperature to global warming.

The effect of global warming and climate change could have led to rise in temperature in many areas of the state including Kandhamal, P C Mohanty, a marine science expert, said.

We have analyzed the temperature data of the last six years in different parts of the state and observed that the minimum temperature in most places except Puri increased from the 1990s, he said.

Apart from global warming, there are several other factors responsible for rise in temperature in Kandhamal.

These included increase of population, automobile emission and shrinking of forest cover, a senior forest officer said. Deforestation is the main cause of rise in temperature in the district, an environmentalist said.

Deforestation was caused due to various factors including felling of trees by agitators to use for road blockades, smuggling of timbers and cleaning forest by tribals to get forest rights.

Of the total 8021 sq km area in the district, 5709.08 sq km are under forest cover.

Berhampur: Journalists, after boycotting the Ganjam tour of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, have condemned his silence on the recent attack on them in the local medical college premises.

Despite the fact that Patnaik represents the district in the State Assembly, he not even had any reactions on the issue during his visit, they rued.

As per the decision of the Berhampur Press Club, the scribes staged a silent protest in front of the Brundaban Nayak statue at Kamapalli Square here before holding a meeting at the Press Club on Friday.

After deliberations, it was resolved to condemn the non-responsiveness of the chief minister, who has not taken any initiative in favour of the scribes who were the victims of the attack at the MKCG Medical College following the death of a patient allegedly due to the negligence of doctors after an operation on Monday.

Consequently, ugly scenes had been witnessed at the medical college.

The meeting also resolved that the scribes would not cooperate with the chief minister and the two ministers from the district- Surya Narayan Patra and Bikram Kesari Arukh- because of their indifference over such a sensitive issue.

It was also decided to continue the agitation till the arrest of medical students, who were involved in the attack.

Editors of newspapers were requested to express their regret over the publication of the news and pictures of the chief minister’s visit and programme despite the decision of the Press Club not to do so.

The Press Club allowed the Journalists’ Action Committee to discuss with the Joint Action Committee of the medical students who have requested for talks in order to resolve the issue and expressed their deep regrets over the incident.

The scribes were, however, of the view that they would stick to their demand of transfer of city SP Saffen Ahmed, who insulted the agitating scribes by not turning up on the spot after the attack.

Besides, the Press Club also decided to stage a demonstration in front of the Indira Gandhi statue on Saturday and afterwards to hold a meeting to be attended by eminent people of the city and leaders of political parties and various other organizations.

Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Rayagada: A suspected Maoist, nabbed during combing operation, died in police custody in Rayagada district, police said on Thursday.

The special operation group [SOG] Jawans have arrested one Maoist Pidira Kadesika on Tuesday and seized weapons and arms from him. The police was interrogating him to collect information from him. Pidira suddenly fell ill with signs of breathing problem after being brought here by a police team yesterday.

He was immediately admitted to the district headquarters hospital where doctors declared him dead, he said adding the body was sent for a post-mortem and efforts were on to ascertain the circumstances that led to his death.

Jagatsinghpur: Police on Wednesday lathi-charged anti-Posco agitators trying to prevent the socio-economic and forest survey, which resumed after four days at the project site for the Rs 52,000 crore mega steel plant.

Batons were used to disperse the agitators at Mathasahi village in Nuagaon panchayat area after they attempted to stop the survey work, officials said.

Nuagaon Sarpanch Bhaskar Swain claimed that he along with five other persons was injured in the police action.

About 200 Posco protesters led by Nuagaon Sarpanch Bhaskar Swain and a local Congress leader Jayanta Biswal allegedly staged a road blockade on the main road of Nuagaon village near the Mahavir Temple demanding the district administration to cease the survey work in the area.

Police resorted to mild lathi-charge against the protesters as the protesters allegedly tried to manhandle the officials engaged in the survey work and also destroyed the survey data and official documents snatching from them.

As many as two protesters sustained injuries and arrested, informed Tirtol and Paradip SDPO Santanu Dash.

According to Dash, as per the direction of Jagatsinghpur Collector, an official team, consisting of Kujanga Tehsildar Basudev Pradhan, Posco Land Acquisition Officer Nrusingha Charan Swain, RIs and other officials, had been to Nuagaon village to conduct survey work on the betel vines of the village.

Anticipating any law and order situation, five platoons of police were deployed. The district administration officials had asked the protesters not to oppose the survey work and come for discussion if they had problem.

A discussion was also made with the agitators on the spot. But, some protesters allegedly took the law into their hands.

In order to rescue the officials from the protesters and to disburse the mob from the road blockade, the police was forced to resort to a mild lathicharge, stated Swain.

The two anti-Posco activists Ajay Kumar Swain and Lokanath Samal sustained injuries.

They were later arrested, informed SDPO Dash.

After the dispersal of the protestors, teams from the Jagatsinghpur district carried out the survey at Mathasahi to assess socio-economic parameters of the villagers and count betel-vine plantations and fruit-bearing trees that would be affected by the project,
Additional District Magistrate Saroj Kanta Choudhury said.

Around 200 armed police personnel stood by to ensure that the survey was not disrupted, Inspector-in-charge of Kujang police station Gupteswar Bhoi said.

The situation is tense and police deployment has been beefed up in the area, stated Kujanga Tehsildar.

The survey for the 12 mtpa steel plant, which had begun on May 25, was stopped on May 29 following stiff opposition by the local residents.

Bhubaneswar: The much-awaited monsoon is all set to hit Odisha coast on June 10, the Met office sources said.

Making a statement to this effect in New Delhi on Monday, Director General, India Meteorological Department Ajit Tyagi informed that the seasonal monsoon rains have reached Kerala and is expected to cover coastal Karnataka within a day.

He, however, said that due to a storm brewing in the Arabian Sea, the progression of the monsoon is expected to be along the western coast and interior parts of the peninsula would get rains later.

There is a depression in the Arabian Sea which could develop into a cyclone and affect the progression of monsoon in the interior parts, Tyagi said.

As per current analysis, the depression which may develop into a cyclone could hit parts of coastal Gujarat and Karachi, weather scientists said.

Usually it takes about two weeks for the monsoon to hit the Odisha coast after hitting the Kerala coast.

Good rainfall this year could help increase farm produce which in turn is expected to bring down inflation.

The onset of monsoon over Kerala sets the stage for the four-month rainy season that powers the trillion-dollar economy with agriculture as its prime engine of growth.

Last month, the IMD had forecast normal monsoon rains for the season beginning June one.

The normal monsoon forecast is expected to bring cheers to over 235 million farmers, who had faced drought last year due to failed monsoon.

A good monsoon could help in sowing of rice, sugarcane, soybean and corn and lead to a rebound in the agricultural output.

The announcement of the scheduled arrival of monsoon has elated the people of Odisha who have been witnessing torrid summer with intense heat wave coupled with acute humid conditions this year.

Cuttack: The Odisha High Court on Thursday completed hearing on the PIL seeking a probe by either CBI or human rights commission into the alleged police excess at Kalinganagar industrial complex in Jajpur district.

The vacation bench of Justice Laxmikanta Mohapatra and Justice B P Ray completed hearing of the case after Advocate General Ashok Mohanty submitted to the court to dispose off the petition as it lacks merit.

Earlier, as directed, the Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) filed its report in the court after conducting investigation at Kalinganagar for two days.

The court on May 22 had directed the member secretary of OSLSA to conduct a probe into the allegations made in the PIL.

Alleging government-sponsored anarchy at Kalinganagar, lawyer and social activist Rama Chandra Ray of the locality had filed the PIL seeking CBI or Human Rights Commission probe into the police excess.

The PIL also urged the High Court for a direction to stop the ongoing evacuation at Kalinganagar area until disposal of the petition.

The petitioner alleged that rehabilitation and resettlement policy of central and state governments were not being sincerely adhered to.

Sambalpur: The Sambalpur University announced Results of the annual +3 examinations conducted by the Sambalpur University was announced on Tuesday. In Science, the pass rate is 75.73 per cent in Honours and 79.94 in Pass.

Similarly, the pass rate in Arts is 83.78 per cent in Honours and 81.32 in Pass. The highest pass percentage is recorded in Commerce with 90.91 per cent in Honours and 79.51 in Pass, university examination cell informed.

Paradip: Protesters opposing the proposed Posco steel plant on Tuesday resisted efforts by the Odisha government to start forest land survey at the project site.

As a team of officials of Jagatsinghpur district tried to begin survey at Nuagaon village for the Rs 52,000-crore project, a large number of people blocked the entry point.

Though district collector N C Jena had earlier mooted a plan to start forest land survey by excluding Dhinkia village, CPI-backed Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) agitating against the project for the last five years, refused to budge.

Rejecting chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s formula of excluding 300 acres of private land in Dhinkia from project site, PPSS president Abhaya Sahu said that the people would not vacate the land where betel vines and other crops were being raised by villagers for generations.

In a bid to persuade the people to allow the survey work, BJD MLA Prashant Muduli held talks with villagers at Gada Dhinkia panchayat area but the deadlock persisted.

No survey will be allowed at this juncture as the state government wants the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) to hold talks with protesters, said a local resident, dismissing as meaningless the discussion held on Sunday between the government and representatives of United Action Committee (UAC) on Sunday.

The revenue staffs accompanied by senior officials visited as many as seven houses in each village and conducted the survey, according to official sources.

Contacted, Ersama block BDO Muralidhar Swain informed that the survey work passed off peacefully and the villagers fully cooperated with the personnel and gave the details.

The survey will again start on Wednesday morning.

In the first phase survey was conducted in seven hamlets surrounding the Noliasahia village, he informed.

The survey was conducted in three villages of Polanga, Noliasahi and Bhuyanpala.

The United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-project group of villagers from three affected panchayats held a meeting on Tuesday and the proposed survey matter was discussed at length where local MLA Prasanta Muduli and Erasama BDO Muralidhar Swain were present and clarified the stand of the state government and assured the project supporters to take care of their grievances.

Ultimately following the assurance, all the UAC members gave a green signal for conducting the survey on Tuesday afternoon, informed secretary UAC Nirvaya Samantray.

The administration began the survey at 4 PM and few of the UAC members accompanied the survey teams.

The Paradip ADM, rehabilitation officer Surajeet Das, special land acquisition officer N Swain, Erasama BDO, Kujanga tehsildar and revenue staff from Ersama and Kujanga tehsil took part in the survey.

Angul: The official website of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve, www.satkosia.org was launched by the Chief Minister, Sri. Naveen Patnaik as a part of the International Day for Biological Diversity, 2010 at Jayadav Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on 22nd May 2010. Emphasising the commitment to Tiger Conservation, the State government during 2007, declared Satkosia as the second Tiger Reserve in Orissa. Satkosia has tremendous biological and ecological importance. Apart from the flagship species, the tiger, the reserve has a significant population of elephants, leopard, bison, sambar, chowsingha and barking deer. The Tiger Reserve is the natural habitat of the two endangered species of fresh water crocodilians viz. Gharial and Mugger. The wildlife enthusiasts, nature lovers and students can browse though exciting information on various aspects of the park. These include the conservation history, geology, plant and animal life, management practices etc. Visitors planning a trip to Satkosia can avail accommodation and reservations and other travel information from the website.

Berhampur: A high alert was sounded by the police in three South Odisha districts on Thursday in the wake of a 12-hour bandh call given by Maoists on Friday to protest police action in Kalinganagar in Jajpur district and Balitutha near Posco’s proposed project site at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.

The Vansadhara Divisional Committee (VDC) of the banned CPI (Maoists) has called for the bandh in Gajapati, Kandhamal and Rayagada districts from 6 AM on Friday.

Leaflets circulated in several places of Kandhmal district criticized recent police operations in Kalinganagar industrial complex and at Balitutha, the entry point to Posco’s proposed project site, police said.

These incidents had exposed the kind of state repression, when the villagers oppose the establishment of industry in their lands, the leaflets signed by Azad, secretary of the leftwing ultras VDC said.

We have sounded alert to the forces in the wake of the bandh call in the three southern districts including Kandhamal and Gajapati, said DIG (Southern range), Berhampur, R K Sharma.

Adequate police force has been deployed while checking of buses and other vehicles entering these districts is on.

Security personnel have been asked to maintain strict vigil on the movement of people in vulnerable areas, he said.

Heavy reinforcements have already been deployed in these districts as Maoists observed two-day bandh in five states including Odisha that concluded on Wednesday, the DIG said.