ODISHA

RAILWAY and Communication Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said the Narendra Modi Government has been allocating more funds than expected in the Railway Budget to Odisha from 2014 onwards.

During the tenure of the UPA Government, Odisha had got Rs 800 crore in the Railway Budget. But from 2014 to 2019, the Modi Government allocated approximately Rs 4,124 every year to Odisha. This is more than four times the funds allocated by the UPA, said Vaishnaw at a Press meet here.

This year, a record amount of Rs 9,734 crore has been allocated for Odisha. We all have to make joint efforts to utilise the allocated funds. Forest clearance and land acquisition need to be done on time. We will get more funds if we spend the sanctioned amount on time.

Chief ministerNaveen Patnaik saidOdishais investing significantly in power to ensure 24×7 supply to all in the state.

Addressing the orientation programme of the new recruits of the state-ownedOdisha Power Transmission Corporation Limitedover a videoconference, the chief minister said the State Government has given utmost thrust to build quality power infrastructure as electricity is the prime mover of economy.

Naveen said recently Rs 1,800 crore has been sanctioned to construct 99 33-KV primary substations in a bid to strengthen Odishas distribution Network.
The chief minister urged the new employees to follow the 5T mantra of his government.

The Aska Police station in Ganjam district has been adjudged by the Union Home Ministry as one of the best three police stations in the country for the year 2022.

The Aska police station had also secured the first position in overall performance rankings of all police stations in the state for the year 2022.

The State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) had carried out a survey to rank the police stations on various factors like grievance redressal, pendency of cases, detection and solving of cases, rate of conviction and filing of charge-sheets. The police station had received 94.54% rating.

Notably, the Gangapur police station of Ganjam district was earlier selected as one of the best three police stations in the country for the year 2021.

Despite the governments sustained efforts to stopcannabiscultivation and ganja smuggling in the state, drugmafiacontinue to promote cultivation of the illegal crop with impunity.

Cannabis Plants worth more than Rs 137 crore and spread over 9,473 acres of land were destroyed by the excise officials in 2018-19; plants worth Rs 498 crore and spread over 15,978 acres were razed in 2019-20; more than Rs 325 crore worth plants were destroyed over 22,217 acres in 2020-21 and Rs 18 crore plants were uprooted from 1371 acres in 2021-22 (until October)

A committee led by finance minister Niranjan Pujari has given its nod to establish 34 new courts16 civil, 10 commercial and eight sessions courtsin the state, law minister Pratap Jena said here on Monday. Jena said the new courts will help reduce pendency and take the delivery system closer to people.

Odisha currently has more than 700 Subordinate Courts. According to a reply given by Union law ministerKiren RijijuinLok Sabhaon March 25, total 15.45 lakh cases are pending cases in lower courts in Odisha. They include 12.38 lakh criminal cases and 3.07 lakh civil cases. Similarly, 1.89 lakh cases are pending in theOrissaHigh Court, the HCs pendency report as on April 29 on its website shows.

The commissionerate of Police has decided to designate at least 1,000 youths from different slums in the state capital as police mitras (friends), who, in turn, will assist the cops in controlling crowds and regulating traffic on major festive occasions in the city.

This apart, the police are planning to organise a mega talent hunt programme in the slums to give the youths there a platform to showcase their talent. The broader objective is to make the slums free of crimes and drug smuggling.

As part of the Basti Ku Chala initiative, the police commissioner and his deputy have been holding regular interactions with the slum dwellers. Nodal police officers (basti mitras) have been asked to conduct bike and foot patrolling, engage with slum residents and keep tabs on the movement of suspicious people. The police personnel have been giving pleasant surprises to many slum children by celebrating their birthdays and offering them cakes, sweets and bouquets.

Environmentalists have expressed concern about the massive transfer of fresh water from the Brahmani River basin, which may pose a serious threat to Orissa’s famous mangrove vegetation. From the Brahmani river, the steel & power Plants, the Talcher-Angul coal mines, Kalinganagar steel and power hub are drawing massive portions of fresh water.

Highlights:

For Odisha state, the Brahmani is a major seasonal river . The Brahmani River is formed by the joining of the South Coel River and the Sankh River
It forms a large delta with the Baitarani River and then merges into the Bay of Bengal at Dhamra.
Bhitarkanika-a reported Ramsar wetland-covers an area of more than 195 square kilometers and is Home to 62 mangrove species.
The fresh water from the Brahmani River Basin and the Kharasrota River flows proportionally to keep the salinity of the coastal waters at a low level.

Odisha has in place its own scheme, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), instead ofAyushman Bharat, and the state is planning to expand it to cover 20.80 lakh more families from September 1. This would take the number of families covered to more than 92 lakh out of the states total 96 lakh families.

Odishas per capita spending on healthcare is Rs 1501 compared to the national Average of Rs 1944 in 2020-21. Similarly, the state has 59 hospital beds per one lakh Population compared to 139/one lakh people at the all-India level, the MPs wrote in the memorandum.