THE ECHO OF INDIA KOLKATA 2 Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa & North-East Monday October 27, 2014 5 more arrested in Parui OC attack CBI sleuths question BJD MP again on chit fund scam SURI (WB), OCT 26/—/ Five more villagers were arrested in connection with the October 24 attack on the Officer-in-Charge of Parui police station in Birbhum district, taking the number of arrests to ten. The police said that all five were arrested last night. Today a local cour t, where they were produced, sent two of them to police custody while three others were remanded to judicial custody. The Inspector-General (western range), Siddhinath Gupta,during the day went to meet the injured OC Prosenjit Datta at Suri Sadar Hospital. Meanwhile, a team of local BJP leaders was today stopped by the police from entering Chowmandalpur village where the attack took place on the ground of prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC being imposed there. The team, led by district BJP chief Dudh Kumar Mondal, went to meet residents of the village who allegedly staged the attack. The police had gone there on a tip-off that bombs were being made there. “They were barred from entering into the village as the prohibitory orders under CrPC 144 were imposed in the village,” Additional Superintendent of Police Ananda Roy said. Mondal, BJP team leader, alle ged that the administration hurriedly imposed the prohibitory orders to prevent them from entering the village. He said that BJP leaders would sit in a dharna in front of the office of Superintendent of Police at Suri soon. (PTI) Shaw dies in hospital 6 injured in attack by wild boars KOLKATA, OCT 26/—/A middle-aged person, who was found in an unconcious state outside a club at Chetla yesterday, died today in the city’s SSKM Hos- pital, the police said. The police is suspecting a foul play in the death of Munshi Shaw (55) and has launched an investigation into the case. (PTI/EOI PIKS) KENDRAPARA (ODISHA), OCT 26/—/In the latest incident of man-animal conflict near Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary in Kendrapara district, at least six persons including two women and an infant were injured today following an attack by hordes of wild boar at Jamboo village. Three persons including a 15-year-old girl and a 55year-old woman were injured when they were attacked by the wild boars while three others sustained injuries in the stampede that ensued as the animals chased the people, Mahakalpada Forest Range Officer Bijoy Kumar Parida said. All of them were hospitalised and are out of danger, he said. The animals had strayed into crop fields and on their way back to their habitat they had attacked the people, he said. As the news of the attack spread, people demonstrated in front of the local forest office. They were demanding foolproof measures to curb intrusion of animals like wild boars, crocodiles and spotted deer into places of human habitation. The injured are being cov- ered under Rs 5,000 compensation award by the forest department. It is also bearing the cost of treatment of the injured persons, the officer said. With trespass by wild boars being frequent, people are living sleepless nights in Jamboo, Suniti, Bagagahana, Badadandua and a cluster of other forest-side villages. They have resorted to burst fire crackers and beat up gongs to keep the rogue animals at bay, said a local, Samarendra Mahali. Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest Division Kedar Kumar Swain said the forest department has intensified watch and vigil in village areas to drive away wild boars. Forest personnel have begun night watch and vigil in villages marked by straying of animals. Villagers have been advised to avoid movement during night hours when animals mostly make their way to crop fields in village areas. Besides steel-net-barricade is being installed shortly in village borders to ward off animals’ intrusion into human settlements, he said. (PTI) State Notes Manjhi reviews preparations for Chhath festival PATNA, OCT 26/—/Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today directed cleanliness and electricity supply at river embankments and related water bodies among various other measures for the two-day ‘?hhath’ festival next week. He also asked the officials to ensure smooth traffic and security measures on the festive occasion. The chief minister made an appeal to the people to ignore rumours and asked the administration to deal firmly with rumour mongers to prevent any untoward incident. Earlier in the day, Manjhi, accompanied by two ministers and senior officials, took a steamer ride between Nasrighat to Gaighat in the river Ganga and expressed satisfaction with arrangements being made for the festival. (PTI) Arati Mukherjee. Dr Sharmistha Kar Purkayastha, S S Ahluwalia and Rahul Sinha discuss issues after the meeting with newly joined BJP member at BJP party office in Kolkata on Sunday—EOI PIKS Graft, stability stability,, regional issues to play big role RANCHI, OCT 26/—/As Jharkhand gets a third chance to elect a majority government after experiencing two fractured mandates, many political leaders believe local issues would be the yardstick for voters’ choice while BJP claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision would also appeal electors. “Local issues do play a role in JHARKHAND POLLS assembly polls along with wider national issues. This time Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personality and his vision on developmental issues will have greater impact,” senior BJP leader and former MLA Saryu Roy said. During his visit to Ranchi on August 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to the people to give a majority government to turn Jharkhand into a devel- oped state. Roy also said the voters have realised how unstable governments and lack of credible opposition during the past 14 years left Jharkhand to compete with newly created state Telangana while Uttarakhand and Chhattisg arh have moved ahead despite all the three being carved out around the same time. “Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand are far ahead of us in developmental indicators now we have to compete with the newly carved state of Telangana,” Roy said. Jharkhand, which has seen nine governments and three stints of President’s rule in 14 years, saw fractured mandates in both 2005 and 2009 assembly elections. The political parties are bracing up for the five-phase elections beginning November 25 in the backdrop of the state witnessing three governments and two stints of central rule alone between previous polls and now. (PTI) Odia-Kuvi books for tribal children education KORAPUT (ODISHA), OCT 26/—/Three years ago, Sunita Pangi decided to quit studies as she failed to understand Odia, which was the medium of instruction at her school. The class-II student of Telrai Primary School in Potangi block only knew ‘Kuvi’, a tribal language. A workbook in Kuvi, with Odia translation and pictorial presentation, helped her pick the language. Now in class-V, she can read and write Odia confidently. The book was prepared by a voluntary organisation, Sova. “In pre-primary stage, tribal children at anganwadi centres feel lost with the alien Odia, which shares no similarities with their language. They fail to follow classroom teaching and soon lose interest in studies,” said secretary of Sova, Sanjit Patnaik.The Koraputbased organisation has prepared study materials in Desia, Kuvi, Gadva and Paraja, said Patnaik. Officials of district primary education programme admitted to the need to educate tribal students in their own language. “A total of 374 multilingual education teachers were appointed this academic year for the benefit of students,” said district project coordinator (Koraput) Muralidhar Swain. Officials said 400 schools with 70 per cent to 90 per cent monolingual students were identified during a survey. “We have prepared alphabet and numerical charts in Bhatra, Bhumiya, Gadava, Paraja and Kuvi languages and these have been distributed in primary schools. Study materials in these five tribal languages will be printed soon,” Swain added. (PTI) lakh, they said. Hansda, who had been interrogated by CBI here on October 24, had stated that he had resigned from the company much before CBI raided his house. The MP, however, said that the money recovered from his residence had nothing to do with a ponzi firm accused of duping investors. Besides Hansda, two former MLAs Subarna Naik and Hitesh Bagarti were also questioned in connection with the chit-fund scam. Three others including Nabadiganta Capital Service’s CMD Anjan Baliarsingh and two directors also appeared before CBI at its state headquarters here in connection with the chit fund scam, they said. Claiming that he was unaware of the activities of the Service, Hansda said he had purchased some insurance policy from the company. “As the company had given me an impression that it would work for the welfare of the youth by providing them with employment, I had no reason to suspect its intent at that point in time,” Hansda had maintained immediately after a raid on his house. A case of cheating has been registered by CBI against the Bhubaneshwarbased firm, one the 44 companies mentioned in the Supreme Court order directing the agency to probe the scam, CBI sources said. (PTI/FILE PIKS) Nitish seeks apology apology,, compensation from Rly ministry PATNA, OCT 26/—/Terming the Centre and Railway ministry as “worthless”, former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today sought apolog y and compensation for the people of the state who are unable to celebrate Chhath festival due to its “mismanagement”. “People are forced to travel as cattle in trains. They have to travel in toilets despite paying full fare. The people of Bihar are unable to celebrate the great festival of Chhath with honour due to mismanagement by the useless Central government. It is against Bihar. The Railway ministry is worthless,” Kumar said in his post on a social media site. Kumar, who had twice been the Railway Minister between 1999 and 2004, hit out at the Railway Ministry saying it “should be ashamed that people lost their lives and limbs due to its mismanag ement”. “We demand that the Railway ministry to apologise to the people of Bihar and take action. The families of those who died should be given compensation and jobs. The Top IOC officer goes missing 2 minor girls run over by train SAMBALPUR (ODISHA), OCT 26/—/Two minor girls were run over by the Howrah-Titlagarh Ispat Express at Pardhiapali under the Ainthapali police station of Sambalpur today, police said. The deceased have been identified as Chulbulia Suna and Neha Tandi, residents of nearby slum.The accident took place while Suna and Tandi were on their way to nearby grocery shop between two railway lines near Pardhiapali area. The Ispat Express and the Puri-Rourkela passenger crossed each other at the spot while the children were trapped between the two railway lines But the duo tried to cross railway track at that time. However, the Ispat Express which was coming from Jharsuguda side, ran over the duo killing them on the spot. While Neha was in class four, Chulbuli was a class one student, Inspector of Government Railway Police, R.K Sethy said. BHUBANESWAR, OCT 26/—/Two days after being grilled by CBI, BJD MP from Odisha Rama Chandra Hansda was today again interrogated by the central investigating agency in connection with its probe into multi-crore chit-fund scam. Hansda, one of the founding members of ponzi company Nabadiganta Capital Services, was questioned by CBI sleuths for around two hours, CBI sources said. The central investigating agency had raided the house of Hansda, MP from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency, at Baripada on July 31 and seized Rs 28 GUWAHATI, OCT 26/—/ An Executive Director designate of Indian Oil Corporation Kaushik Bora has gone missing since this afternoon near Digboi town in Upper Assam. Bora, who was about to be promoted to Executive Director rank of the Digboi Refinery of IOC, left his home in the afternoon for work but no news of him was received since then. According to Tinsukia Additional Superintendent of Police Lamhao Dongol, Bora’s car has been found from Digboi-Pengeri road near an oil well. “We received the information of his having gone missing in late afternoon. We are working on it... His car was found locked on the road,” he added. Dongol said no ransom demand has been received by the family yet. “It is too early to say who is behind his disappear. We are examining whether it is a case of kidnapping of something else,” he added. (PTI) Dreaded woman Maoist surrenders RAIPUR, OCT 26/—/A dreaded woman Maoist, carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on her head, surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district today, police said. Sita alias Jagarbati (23) turned herself in before police citing atrocities and exploitation of female cadres by senior ultras, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap said. Associated with the outlawed CPI (Maoist) since 2010, Sita was actively working as a member of 2nd battalion of Mad Uttar Bastar Division in Naxal-den Abhujmad, he said. She had been involved in several incidents of crime in the region, he said. The surrendered rebel will be rehabilitated as per the policy of the state gover nment, he added. Nearly 300 rebels have so far surrendered this year in Chhattisgarh, as per g overnment statistics. (PTI) injured should be treated and compensated. Full fare should be returned to the passengers who did not get facilities as per their tickets,” Kumar added. The former Chief Minister also asserted that JD (U) will fight for the prestige and faith of the people of Bihar till justice is done. The senior JD (U) leader has also attached various newspaper clippings with his post, depicting the misery of train passengers travelling from New Delhi to their native places in Bihar on the occasion of Chhath, a festival dedicated to the Sun God, which will be celebrated this year on Oct 29 and 30. The newspaper reports, which Kumar has tagged, speak about death of a passenger to Bihar and injuries to others in the melee on New Delhi railway station and overcrowded trains. In an earlier post on the same site yesterday, Kumar had raised the issue asking why the Central government cannot provide basic rail facilities to the people of Bihar, on way home to celebrate Chhath with their family. “T he government which is boasting of bullet trains and increasing rail fares as per its whims cannot provide basic facilities on the occasion of f estival? Helpless people have to travel in inhuman conditions. Women and children are being misbehaved with,” Kumar had written. The former Chief Minister who abdicated his post in May this year after his party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, said in his post that everybody from Bihar should seek answer from the Central government about such a situation. “The Government of India and the Railway Ministry will have to answer why such misbehaviour is going on with the devotees travelling to Bihar for Chhath festival,” Kumar said. He also wrote that the earlier railway ministers had no antipathy towards Bihar and they used to provide ample special trains during the festival season. The present BJP government at the Centre is against Bihar and its people.(PTI) Nagaland CM concerned about 1000-hr bandh call KOHIMA, OCT 26/—/The Chief Minister of Nagaland, T R Zeliang, has expressed concern about the 1000-hour bandh called by the Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS) of Karbi Anglong, Assam. In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh the chief minister yesterday expressed concern about the proposed bandh by JACAS stating that Nagaland and KARBI ANGLONG Manipur have been the worst-affected by frequent bandhs imposed by various organisations of Karbi Anglong district. The frequent shut-downs caused severe inconveniences to travellers and affects the supply of essential commodities, causing artificial shortages and unrealistic price rise, the letter, copy of which was released here, said. He expressed apprehension that the proposed 1000-hour bandh, the reason for which is not even remotely connected to Nagaland, would practically stop supplies of all essential commodities including petroleum products to start from 5 am tomorrow and last for around 40 days, greatly affecting normal life in Nagaland and Manipur, apart from their own district of Karbi Anglong in Assam. (PTI/FILE PIKS) Nagaland and Manipur. The Chief Minister therefore appealed to the Union Home Minister for his personal intervention to ensure that the proposed bandh would not affect the interest and welfare of the people living in the two states of Nagaland and Manipur. The present 1000-hour bandh has been called by the JACAS in protest against the Central Government’s delay in announcing the schedule of the next round of talks since the last one held on 6th November 2013. The JACAS is spearheading the demand for an autonomous state within Assam and the proposed bandh if taken place would Odisha govt to develop infra near Budhi Thakurani temple BERHAMPUR, OCT 26/—/The Tourism Department has sanctioned Rs one crore to develop infrastructure near Budhi Thakurani Temple in this south Odisha city. This will include public convinience centre, parking space and drinking water facilities, said Tourist Officer (Ganjam) Sanatan Nayak, adding the department would consult the temple committee and locals about it. The government has sought half an acre of land near the temple for setting up of these facilities. The temple is famous for the biennial month long ‘Thakurani Yatra’. Tourism and Culture Minister Ashhok Panda had announced to accord festival status to the ‘Thakurani Yatra’ during his visit to Chhatrapur six months ago. “We’ll pursue the government for an early notification on it,” said R C Chyaupatnaik (MLABerhampur). It would be the sixth festival in the state to get the status, he said. Other government festivals are ‘Dhanu Yatra’ of Bargarh, ‘Parab’ of Koraput, ‘Konark Festival’, ‘Mukteswar’ and ‘Rajarani Utsav’ in Bhubaneswar. (PTI/FILE PIKS) THE ECHO OF INDIA DOES NOT STAND LIABLE TOANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS OF ANY AND ALL ADVERTISEMENTS CARRIED IN THE PUBLICATION.
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