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Published: October 20, 2011 00:00 IST | Updated: October 20, 2011 04:21 IST

United forum of Koraput raises demand for separate State

Correspondent

In protest mode: Members of Koraputia Jana Surakhya Sangh staging a demonstration in front of the district Collector's office at Koraput on Wednesday.

Koraputia Jana Surakhya Sangh, a united forum of Koraput district indigenous societies, raised a demand for a separate state or a union territory comprising all the tribal dominated districts of the region on Wednesday . In a memorandum to the President of India with copies to the Governor and Chief Minister, the forum alleged that the State government had betrayed the indigenous people living peacefully in the region by giving false promises for a better life over the last many years. While people who were displaced for construction of water reservoirs and companies suffered for the inadequate compensation many of them were struggling for existence in the deep forests in the neighbouring states where they had to take shelter on the face of poverty, Dambarudhar Khilo, president of the combined forum alleged .

Further taking advantage of the innocence, illiteracy and poverty of the residents, some industrialists were pressurizing the government to allow them to grab mineral resources by acquiring the landed properties of tribal people in the name of national development, he added. The government, apart from implementing the PESA Act in its true spirit, land that was un-utilised out of the land which was acquired for the factories and projects in the district be returned back to the previous land owner and lands grabbed by the outsiders with vested interest be distributed among the indigenous people of the land , the forum demanded .

While there were good number of water reservoirs and dams on rivers like Kolab, Duduma and Indravati , producing electricity in the region, most of the villages still remained in the dark for the lack of accessibility to electricity supply. Water in these dams was used more for the interest of industries than for the farmers in the region, the forum alleged. Demanding priority in filling vacancies in the Central University of Orissa, HAL, Nalco and other establishments by maintaining a minimum level of reservation for the permanent residents of the region, the members of the forum had placed demands for proper utilization of funds under corporate social responsibility of all the companies in its peripheral area .

Prafulla Samantray, leading environmentalist from Bhubaneswar, said that while the people were staging a peaceful rally to press their demands, thousands of people were forced to stop at Damanjodi, Semiliguda, Laxmipur and several other places by the police, preventing them from entering the district headquarters.

Focus on primary education

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/06/22/stories/2010062251860300.htm)
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Focus on primary education


Correspondent


KORAPUT: New equations seem to have been drawn in Koraput district for ensuring primary education at the grassroots. While 606 teachers from primary and upper primary schools in Koraput have been transferred, 244 of them got transferred in Jeypore.
It is for the first time in the last many years that transfer of teachers in such a high scale has been carried out in Koraput district. Moreover, while the transfers in the past were mostly influenced by the leaders of various political parties and others close to the education department, this time it was done under the direct supervision of district Collector Rajesh Pravakar Patil.
While teachers from the urban areas were transferred to rural areas and vice-versa, efforts were made to see that the woman teachers who were transferred from the urban areas got posting in schools near to the approachable roads in the block areas and especially in the schools where special girls' hostels were opened recently, Mr. Patil said. However for serious gaps like transferring the same teacher to more than one place, transferring some teachers who were engaged in census work and allegedly not maintaining any particular criteria in the process of transfer, the initiative was put under scanner by the critics. Such unwarranted cases and other instances with genuine health concern would be reviewed for correction, Mr. Patil added.
Data bank
According to Mr. Patil, the district should have a proper data bank of teachers at one place to facilitate more transparency in such a situation. Efforts are now in progress to create an elaborate data bank on all the teachers in the district documenting their service over a certain period of time tracking their history, present day's status and their strength and resourcefulness. This will also be placed in the official website of the district for more transparency.






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Three Maoists held

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Three Maoists held


Staff Reporter


BERHAMPUR: Three hardcore Maoists were arrested from the Chintalwada jungles in Malkangiri district on Thursday.
They were allegedly involved in the attack on the Balimela hydro-electricity project and the attack on a Special Police Officer (SPO) in the district. According to Malkangiri district police headquarters these Maoists were nabbed during a joint operation by the Special Operation Group (SOG) jawans and District Voluntary Force (DVF) personnel inside the Chintalwada forest about 45 km from Malkangiri town in the wee hours of Thursday.
The arrested persons were identified as Budura Padiami, Irma Kabasi and Sarat Behera. It was suspected that some more Maoists may have managed to escape from the spot. The arrested persons were being interrogated at Malkangiri town. Initial investigation hinted that they were involved in several incidents of major Maoist violence in Malkangiri district.






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Naxals kill jawan

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Naxals kill jawan


Staff Reporter


BERHAMPUR: Maoists murdered a jawan of the Shasastra Seema Bal (SSB) in Malkangiri district on Wednesday night.
The jawan Manoram Durua had returned to his native village Markapalli under Mathili police station area a few days ago. He was on leave to celebrate the Raja festival. According to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Sanjeev Panda it was a cold-blooded murder by Maoists to create havoc in the area.
Around seven to eight armed Maoists had called at the house of Durua on Wednesday night. They had taken the jawan with them and shot him at close range, Mr Panda said. There is suspicion that Maoists resorted to this killing due to a false idea that the jawan was serving the Border Security Force (BSF) who are now deployed in Malkangiri district for a major anti-Maoist joint operation.
The panic of Maoists has started to show up in Malkangiri as five village guards posted in naxal-infested Kalimela police station area were reported to have sent in their resignation letters due to threat of Maoists on their lives. The DIG said these village guards had submitted their resignation letters at the Kalimela police station.






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Forest official dead

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Forest official dead

KORAPUT: V. Raja Reddy , regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF), Koraput, died of heart attack on Thursday .
He was admitted in the district head quarter hospital in the town afer complaining chest pain after playing lawn tennis in the morning. He was 50. His body was taken by his family members to Hyderabad.



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Panchayats in Kotpad block facing acute water shortage

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Panchayats in Kotpad block facing acute water shortage


Ch. Santakar



Villagers in the region seek some measures to tide over the crisis


KORAPUT: Ghasiram Jani of Sahanimunda village in Murtahandi panchayat of Kotpad block in Koraput district had to sell a pair of buffalos and purchase a pair of bullocks as the former was required to be cleaned regularly and thus more water was needed. Water is available in little quantity and the cattle had to be taken to Makagaon, by covering at least five km of distance, for their bath with the water of the Janra river. Ghasiram takes them once in a month to the river.
However, according to Katulu Durua of Malchamal village in the same panchayat, cattle is more often left to themselves even for more than three months at a stretch due to acute shortage of water in the region. Of the two tubewells in Malchamal, one is in working condition. But the amount of water that comes out of it is so little that families have to wait night long to fill their pots for storing drinking water.
Ghasiram owns 17 acres of land. But, for the lack of water he could cultivate paddy only during rainy season. He manages the family with the total output of the land from a single crop. But, the marginal farmers living in the forest area often depend upon the minor forest products. They even migrate to work in the green chilli farms on the other side of the river in the neighbouring State of Chhattisgarh.
Affected by drought
Chatarla, Murtahandi and Chandli panchayats in Kotpad block have been affected by draught last year. Compensation was paid to the farmers. But, the situation could not be changed for anything better even this year for the lack of proper initiatives. These villages are now surrounded by a number of ponds. But none of them has water for use in time of need. While waiting for regeneration of groundwater through these ponds, some of the funds could have been spent on digging a canal to bring water to these panchayats from the Janra river. This might have brought some solution to the water crisis of the region, says Ghasiram.






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Red flags planted

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Red flags planted


Correspondent


KORAPUT: Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) seems to have reclaimed its lost hold in parts of Narayanpatna block in Koraput district after a long spell of silence .
In a surprising move hundreds of its members mostly women placed red flags in agricultural lands to the tune of hundreds of acres in Balipeta and Tentulipadar panchayats in the block during the last few days.
While this was the way in which the sangh had occupied more than two thousand acres of land in the region, it had faced serious setback after losing two of its top leaders to the bullets of police at Narayanpatna in November last year.






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Armed gang claiming to be naxals loots house

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Armed gang claiming to be naxals loots house


Correspondent


KORAPUT: A group of people claiming themselves to be Maoists from Bhubaneswar attacked the house of Bibhisan Hantal, the sarpanch of Haldikund panchayat in Boipariguda block of Koraput district in the early hours of Tuesday .
According to Mr. Hantal a group of 40 people armed with swords and country-made revolvers had enquired about his whereabouts by knocking at his brother's door in his residence at Rupabeda a village around 1.30 am .
Not finding him in the front house they torched two tractors on the premises before entering his bedroom in the backside of the campus . The group members, most of whom had faces covered in black cloth looted his house . They took one gold chain , Rs.30,000, a new motorcycle and his mobile phone before leaving the spot with a demand of Rs.5 Lakh which was to be handed over to them in Dokri ghat within a week, he added.
While the villagers were alarmed by his brother about the incidence , the villagers had no other way than to retreat when an old man was attacked by the group . While the group had claimed themselves to be Maoists, Mr.Hantal however suspects the hand of his rival group of people behind the incident . A complain has been made against the suspected people at Boipariguda police station , he added.






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Media sensitisation programme

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Media sensitisation programme


Correspondent


KORAPUT: An effective media can raise the awareness level and can also bring about sustainable behaviour change in society, Rabi Narayan Das, CDMO, Koraput, said at the district level media sensitisation programme on TB & HIV/AIDS at Korpaut on Wednesday .
While the threat of these symptoms was on the rise in Koraput district, media had the capability to bring about transformation in the thinking pattern of society in respect to the people living with HIV/AIDS .
Attending as guest of honour, Niranjan Das, ADMO, said that while there were at least 30,000 TB patients in Koraput district with 650 of them losing their lives to the disease every year for irregular medicine intake and negligent attitude towards the disease , media could bring a change by sensitizing people in this regard .
The programme was organised by Lepra Society .






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Maoists target panchayat bodies in south Orissa

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Maoists target panchayat bodies in south Orissa


Sib Kumar Das



Security personnel and panchayat bodies are facing severe Maoist threat


BERHAMPUR: Maoists have started to use terror tactics to hamper the functioning of panchayat bodies in remote areas of south Orissa.
Through this they want to stall the pro-poor developmental projects and subsidised Public Distribution System (PDS) in underdeveloped remote areas. For it they have started terrorising the elected members of panchayat bodies. Maoists are damaging the panchayat offices and panchayat warehouses meant for storing PDS supplies.
In Rayagada district, the vice chairman of Chandrapur block panchayat samity S.Iswar Rao, panchyat samity member of Budubali panchayat Narasi Gangaranga, female nayab sarpanch of the same panchayat K.Mutika have rendered their resignation at the Chandrapur block office.
It was alleged that recently these elected representatives had received threats from leader of the Basadara Divisional Committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation to resign or face dire consequences.
The elected representatives are mum about the reason behind their sudden resignation. In Feb. 2009 a sarpanch and seven ward members of Rasakola panchayat of Bisamkatak block in Rayagada district had resigned following naxal threats.
Along with it there were reports of resignations of some Special Police Officers (SPO) in same Chandrapur block. It may be noted that SPOs and village guards play a major role in maintenance of security in remote rural areas.
The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had directed the Rayagada district Collector Nitin Bhanudas Jawale to investigate and report about these resignations. Speaking to The Hindu the Rayagada district collector confirmed the resignation of three elected members of local bodies. “But in their resignation letters they have either cited their personal or health problems or their agony against functioning of the local Block Development Officer”, he said. Regarding the resignation of SPOs he said no resignation of any SPO had reached any police station or district police headquarter.
But at the grass root level security personnel and panchayat bodies are facing severe Maoist threat. Maoists blew up buildings of a panchayat offices and warehouses attached to them at Kangurkonda,
Telarai and Bodigata villages in Malkangiri district in May.
On May 6 night Maoists had damaged the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) office at remote Kudumuluguma under Orkel police station in Malkangiri district. In February eleven elected members of panchayats of cut off areas of Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district had resigned. According to intelligence sources, the threat of Maoists was a major cause behind their resignation.
The Maoists claim they are damaging panchayat buildings so that they may not be used as camps by security forces during anti-Maoist operations. But as per police and administrative officials by keeping the elected panchayat bodies under the shroud of their terror and damaging the PDS storage units they want to keep people living in remote areas away from the pro-poor developmental programmes like MGNREGS. It is alleged to be part of their strategy to strengthen their base and ant-government propaganda in remote areas.
Added to it they have also started to create terror in the minds of grass root level policemen. They shot dead a police constable at a crowded village market at Padia under Kalimela police station in Malkangiri on May 16.
On May 11 night Maoists murdered two village guards at Katama village in Gajapati district.






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Rethink needed on tribal development programmes'

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‘Rethink needed on tribal development programmes'


Correspondent


KORAPUT: There was a need to rethink the approaches towards a sustainable tribal development in a cultural perspective .This was more felt at a time when most of the tribal development programmes had failed terribly both at the planning and implementation levels, Jagabandhu Samal, retired professor of economics and a renowned researcher on tribal way of life, said here on Sunday. While in some cases, the programmes for them were unrealistic for not touching the roots of their problems, in other cases their skills and their needs were not understood and more importantly their cultural values were ignored.
Development did not happen as specified activities within the boundary of economics. It was a comprehensive and all encompassing process and thus embedded in culture, he added. According to Dr.Samal, the tribal people expressed their cultural identity and distinctiveness in their social and political organization, language, rituals and festivals as well as in their dress pattern, ornaments, technology, art and craft. There was a need of an anthropological approach to tribal development, he added.






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Maoists confirm death of two of their cadres in Narayanpatna

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Maoists confirm death of two of their cadres in Narayanpatna


Staff Reporter



Attack on the police station was averted on May 8


BERHAMPUR: Maoists confirmed that two of their cadres had died in the encounter with security forces in Narayanpatna block in Koraput district on May 9.
Through a press release sent to a vernacular daily they confirmed these deaths.
This release was signed by Bhaskar, the central zone secretary of the Andhra Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC).
One of the slain Maoists was Jeevan who was using aliases like Veeresh, Suryam or Prakash. He was part of the central region command of Maoist outfit.
The other Maoist cadre killed was Nandal alias Jagdish. He was working as a guard for the Maoists. The Maoists claimed that they had cremated both bodies in a secret place.
Reacting to this revelation the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, Sanjeev Panda said the security forces during their combing operation following the encounter had come across ample proof that some Maoists had been killed and several others had been injured during the encounter in Narayanpatna block on May 8 night and following morning.
But police had not been able to seize anybody or nab any injured Maoist as the bodies were dragged away into the jungle.
It may be noted that a Maoist attack on Narayanpatna police station in Koraput district in south Orissa was averted by the vigilant joint effort of security personnel on May 8 night.
Heavy exchange of fire had occurred between the personnel of Special Operation Group (SOG) of Orissa Police, Greyhound forces from adjoining Andhra Pradesh on May 8 evening and on the morning next day in the forest near Podapadar under Narayanpatna police station limits. No security personnel were hurt in this encounter but as per Mr. Panda the marks of heavy bleeding and dragging of bodies at the spot of encounter hinted at casualties and injuries on Maoist side.
Now the Maoists have confirmed two deaths of their cadres in this incident.






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Maoists blast government building in Rayagada

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Maoists blast government building in Rayagada


Staff Reporter



They left posters in which they protested against any proposed joint operation against them



Maoists had appealed to people to observe bandh through postersThey also demanded action against police personnel allegedly involved in rape of a woman


BERHAMPUR: Maoists blasted a government building and a mobile communication tower at Chandrapur in Rayagada district on Thursday night.
It was their effort to show up their presence during their bandh call in Rayagada, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts of south Orissa on Friday to oppose ‘Operation Green Hunt'.
Vehicular traffic in these three districts was affected by the bandh call. This bandh call was given by the Basadara Divisional Committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) organisation, which is active in these areas. Earlier the Basadara group had also included Koraput district in their bandh call but later they preferred to exclude it as it was not part of their operational area.
A strike by the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) staff federation in support of their six-point demands on Thursday helped the bandh call.
According to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Sanjeev Panda targeted the two soft targets at Chandrapur. It may be noted that Basadara Division has support base in Chandrapur and Gudari blocks of Rayagada district.
A group of armed Maoists reached the Chandrapur village on Thursday night. They planted landmines in the unused building of block level ‘Cluster Research Centre' and the room containing equipments of the BSNL mobile communication tower at Chandrapur. The Maoists preferred to escape into the near by jungle after the blast to avoid any encounter with security forces deployed in the area.
They left posters at the spot in which they protested against any proposed joint operation against Maoists. They also demanded action against police personnel allegedly involved in the rape of a woman in Khajuripada area.
In Rayagada district, vehicular traffic remained standstill due to fear of Maoists. No buses travelled from Rayagada to any other parts of the State. Shops and business establishments remained closed in Gudari and Chandrapur areas, while they remained open in other parts of the district.
Road blockade
Maoist and their supporters put up a road blockade at Pangalighati, near Daringbadi in Kandhamal district. Trees were also cut down in Kotgarh area to block roads. In adjoining Gajapati district, the effect of the naxal bandh was most evident in R.Udaygiri and Mohana blocks. Maoists hampered vehicular traffic by felling trees at Nalaghat near Mandimera in Gajapati district.
The road communication between Berhampur and Rayagada was snapped as road was blocked by boulders and trees near Raipanka in Gajapati district. No buses travelled from Paralekhemundi to R.Udaygiri and Mohana blocks but passenger vehicles made their journey to other parts of the district and Berhampur via Andhra Pradesh. Shops remained closed in naxal infested areas like Mohana, Adaba and R.Udaygiri but in other parts of the district the bandh call had low impact.
While the traffic was cleared at Nalaghat by the security forces, efforts were on to clear the road between Bramhanigaon and Daringibadi in Kandhamal district. Police recovered Maoist posters from Daringbadi, Kotagada and Tumudibandh areas in Kandhamal district. In the posters, the Maoists had appealed to the people to observe bandh.






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Maoists blow up warehouse building

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Maoists blow up warehouse building


Staff Reporter



The same panchayat office was attacked by naxalites six months ago


BERHAMPUR: Maoists blew up a panchayat warehouse building at Badigata village in Orissa's Malkangiri district in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Maoists have given a call for 48-hour bandh in Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar from Tuesday. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, Sanjeev Panda, said the incident in Malkangiri district was the only Maoist violence reported in south Orissa till Wednesday evening.
“We are still too cautious and are taking all possible measures to check any attempt of naxal violence as there is still a night of the bandh call,” he said. The panchayat warehouse they destroyed was an unused one and the Maoists blasted it due to suspicion that it may be used by paramilitary forces engaged in the anti-Maoist operation, Mr. Panda added.
According to police sources, a group of armed Maoists stormed into Badigata village under Kalimela police station. They planted landmines in the warehouse of the panchayat office. They triggered the blasts from a distance to destroy the building. They escaped from the spot raising slogans against the proposed major joint operation by security forces against them. They claimed that they had destroyed the building as it was to be used as camp for security forces during anti-Maoist operations. It may be noted that the same panchayat office had been attacked by the naxalites around six months ago.
Despite heavy presence of security forces, Maoists are continuing their violence in remote areas of Malkangirti that borders Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. Maoists shot dead a police constable at a crowded village market at Padia under Kalimela police station on Sunday. They blasted the office building and a godown of Telarai panchayat under the same Kalimela police station limits on Friday night.
The two-day bandh only affected vehicular traffic in some Maoist-affected districts of Orissa like Malkangiri, Koraput, Gajapati, Rayagada and Sundargarh. Owing to heavy presence of security forces road communication to Narayanpatna has not been disrupted by Maoists during recent bandh call.






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Maoist attack repulsed in Orissa

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Maoist attack repulsed in Orissa


Sib Kumar Das & K. Srinivas Reddy



Signs of rebel casualties: DIG


BERHAMPUR/HYDERABAD: Security forces on Sunday morning repulsed a Maoist attack in the forests near Podapadar village in Narayanpatna block of Orissa bordering Andhra Pradesh. A company of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), which was ambushed by the security forces on Saturday evening, was involved. No casualties were reported.
Police in Orissa said some rebels were certainly injured in the ambush by the Special Operation Group with assistance from the Grey Hounds of Andhra Pradesh. Eight Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and a dozen kit bags of the rebels were seized from the scene of the first armed conflict.
The raid in Narayanpatna block, a stronghold of the Maoists, comes as a shot in the arm of the police forces, which have been targeted successfully by the Maoists in their recently launched nation-wide Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC).
Police sources in Hyderabad said Grey Hounds guided by the SOG teams moved into the difficult terrain with precise inputs about the presence of the PLGA company of 100 fighters. Over 150 People's Militiamen were also with them.
With the surprise element on the side of the police forces, the rebels who offered some resistance had to retreat into the forests. They regrouped and launched the Sunday morning attack, officers monitoring the raid from Hyderabad told The Hindu.
Since the rebels were equipped with automatic weapons and ‘matched the strength' of the police forces, the teams were moving slowly. “We have to take maximum precautions,” police officers said.
Were plotting
major attack?
The presence of the PLGA company, Orissa police suspect, was meant for a major attack on police installations, possibly the Narayanpatna station in Koraput district.
According to DIG Sanjeev Panda the “signs of heavy bleeding and dragging of bodies at the spot of encounter hint at casualties and injuries.” However, police were unwilling to hazard any guess on the number of casualties.
“As we have not recovered any bodies, nothing can be said for sure about the number of Maoists who may have got hit by police bullets,” Mr. Panda said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told newsmen in Bhubaneswar that some Maoists were injured during the encounter in Koraput district.
Koraput SP Anup Sahu also felt that the presence of a large number of Maoists hinted at plotting for a major attack.
There are two camps of the Border Security Force (BSF) near Narayanpatna town.






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Lack of amenities in residential schools in South Orissa

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Orissa
  

Lack of amenities in residential schools in South Orissa


Staff Reporter



Acute water crisis in 560 schoolsThe schools are managed by the ITDA


BERHAMPUR: The amenities and standard of education in the schools meant for tribals and dalits in South Orissa need much improvement.
As per reports furnished at a review meeting chaired by the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), southern division, Chandrasekhar Kumar, the state of schools in remote areas of south Orissa needed much improvement.
Till now 337 schools in south Orissa did not have any electricity connection. The RDC directed the authorities to initiate measure so that these schools could be electrified either under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) of Central government or Biju Gramin Jyoti Yojana (BGJY) of State government. It was also found that 560 schools were reeling under water crisis as they did not have proper drinking water facility.
Although sanitation is said to be a major point in school education process, 6011 schools in south Orissa did not have any toilets in them. It is an irony that every year gastro epidemics recur in remote areas of south Orissa due to lack of sanitation and contamination of water sources .
In south Orissa 585 new residential schools for SC & ST are to be constructed. Work of 162 was complete and out of them 17 was in Ganjam district.
The residential schools and general schools for SC & ST students are managed by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) development department of the State government. In recent past irregularities in some of these schools in parts of south Orissa had made headlines. There were frequent cases of elopement of students from hostels who alleged lack of proper amenities and teaching. There were also allegations of harassment of students by the teachers. Even some girl students were sexually exploited in a school by teachers and staff in Nabarangpur district. The result of students of these schools was also abysmal. It had led the administration review the state of these schools.
Mr. Kumar advised the officials of the Education department to stress on the improvement in the study of Mathematics, Science and English which would enable these students from remote areas to take up professional courses in future. He came up with plan to select five good students in each school and provide them special coaching to excel.






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Police, Maoists exchange fire

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/05/09/stories/2010050958890300.htm)
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Orissa
  

Police, Maoists exchange fire


Staff Reporter


BERHAMPUR: Security personnel got engaged in an exchange of fire with Maoists in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district in Orissa on Saturday evening.
According to sources the incident occurred inside Gumandi forest area near Podapadar under Narayanpatna police station limits. As per reports exchange of fire was continuing till 8.30 p.m. The spot of the incident was around 100 kilometres away from the district headquarter town of Koraput.
When contacted senior police officials said they were yet to get exact information from the place of encounter. It may be noted that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are deployed in Naryanpatna block. Podapadar happens to be the home village of Nachika Linga the leader of controversial tribal organisation Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) alleged to be having links with naxals. Mr. Linga is also absconding and is being searched by police. In recent past CMAS and Mr. Linga had come up with a statement opposing deployment of central forces in Narayanpatna block for a proposed major onslaught against Maoists.






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Nalco unions stage protest

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/05/09/stories/2010050959250300.htm)
Other States
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Orissa
  

Nalco unions stage protest

KORAPUT: All the recognised unions with the support of other unions of Nalco, Damanjodi demonstrated before the main gate of the refinery complex of the company on Saturday.
They were protesting against the proposed disinvestment plan of the Central government. In a meeting lasted for 45 minutes , the speakers alleged the government of ignoring the efforts of the employees in earning profits for the nation while considering disinvestment of profit making companies like Nalco.
However there was no effect of the demonstration on regular production in the refinery complex.



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They succeed against all odds

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050755220200.htm)
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Orissa
  

They succeed against all odds


Correspondent



Women SHGs cash in on Arhar in Koraput


KORAPUT: It is four months of hard work and every one in the SHG gets a profit of at least Rs.30,000. Suadei Mandinga, president of Maa Mutyaluma SHG from Laxmipur and Shakuntala Kuldip of Bijay SHG from Tayaput in Laxmipur block of the district, are just two names out of scores of women SHGs who have dared bring out the region from the trap of growing Maoist activities and the effect on economic growth. All these women have made a difference by collecting and processing Arhar, one of the prime products in Narayanpatna, Bandhugaon and Laxmipur blocks of the district .
While collecting raw materials from these blocks was a challenging task in view of frequent Maoist road blockades and security concerns, it could not stop Maa Mutyaluma SHG from raising its business to the tune of Rs.37 lakhs this year from a mere Rs.12,000 nine years ago. The SHG had received Rs.26 lakhs as loan from District Supply and Marketing Society (DSMS) at soft rate of interest to purchase 651 quintals of raw material to get at least 500 quintals of Arhar dal and sell at the rate of Rs.74 a kg. The group is sure to get a profit of Rs.11 lakhs as the DSMS has been making arrangements for marketing its produce.
This year, the DSMS provided a revolving fund of Rs.1.8 crores to 25 SHGs in Laxmipur , Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks for purchasing Arhar and making dal from it in their own processing units being established, Rari Pianto, director, DSMS, said The activities were in full swing and the expected dal production would reach 3400 quintals within next few months . The turnover would be nearly Rs.2.5 crores and the SHGs could get a profit of Rs.40 lakhs collectively, he added.
The district administration had already placed orders with the groups for supplying the dal for its MDM and EFP programmes, Rajesh Pravakar Patil, district Collector, said .
This success story of SHG women has prompted the district administration to promote collective marketing and also village level semi processing of cashewnuts . The district had a plan to invest Rs.1 crore for the purpose this year , he added.






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