Happenings

Bhubaneswar, November 22 (LocalWire): A carcass of an adult tusker with its tusk intact was found early morning on Friday near a water-inlet in Khurda district.

“The animal might have got separated from the herd and slipped into Manadakini water-inlet. It was stuck in the muddy soil.

Despite the effort, it had failed to wriggle out of the mud mound, leading to its death,” a forest officer said.

The carcass of the elephant was first spotted by locals who later informed the forest department in the morning.

The veterinary surgeons have been sent to the spot for conducting the post mortem of the animal, and the exact cause of the death would be known only after the reports come in, the officer stated.

Reports indicate that while the state is home to over 1,976 elephants, it has already lost over 127 elephants during the last 19 months.

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Bhubaneswar, November 22 (LocalWire): The Government of state Odisha has undertaken safety audits of multipurpose shelter buildings that are being used for providing temporary shelter to evacuees during natural disasters.

The coastal state which is often exposed to nature’s fury is home to 759 multi-purpose shelter buildings.

However, according to reports received by the government agencies from time to time indicate that the majority of these shelters are not in good shape.

Presenting the details before state assembly on Friday, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Sudam Marandi said, “We have received reports that some of these multipurpose cyclone shelter buildings are in bad shape and hence the safety audit is underway to evaluate the status.

A project to refurbish and renovate the buildings has also been drawn up. The buildings that are found to be in bad shape as per the technical standard by the safety audit will be taken up for renovation.”

These shelter houses had turned into temporary homes for an estimated 12 lakh people from vulnerable areas as they were evacuated to safety as 3 May as cyclone Fani barreled through coastal Odisha bringing in its wake trails of devastation.

The buildings are designed to withstand wind speed up to 300 kilometers per hour and endure moderate earthquakes.

Their plinth is above the High Flood line (HFL) so that it could remain unaffected in storm surge up to the level of one floor.

To ensure the safety of people taking shelter in these multi-purpose buildings from the scourge of lightning, the state government has drawn up a project to put in place lightning arrest system in these structures

Precious human lives could be saved in Odisha due to these shelter houses despite a series of cyclonic storms struck the coastal state since the past two decades, the minister stated.

It’s pertinent to note here rights activists had earlier drawn the attention of Orissa Human Rights Commission stating that more than 50 per cent of cyclone shelter buildings in the state have turned unsafe due to lack of periodic maintenance by the government agencies.

The rights panel had served notices to Special Relief Commissioner, Orissa State Disaster Management Authority and the Disaster Management Department, and had called upon the concerned authorities to repair and rebuild the ill-maintained structures expeditiously.

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Bhubaneswar, November 22 (LocalWire): The Odisha police have arrested over 5,856 offenders on charges of drunken driving during the two month period following the implementation of the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The drunken-driving cases were intercepted and the drivers were arrested between 6 September and 31 October, police sources said, adding that stringent legal action was taken under section 202 and 203 of Motor Vehicle Act to arrest drunken drivers of two-, three- and four-wheelers.

The drunken drivers were intercepted mostly near the NH toll plazas, check gates and busy thoroughfares and the police used breath analyzers to detect the culprits, Crime Branch additional director general of police Santosh Kumar Upadhyaya said.

Ganjam district with 1191 cases accounted for the highest interception of drunken driving followed by Mayurbhanj (702), Jajpur (635), Sundargarh (250), Dhenkanal (249), Kalahandi (214), Gajapati (212) and other districts.

To curb the menace of drunken driving, the state police have put in place check posts at the toll plazas on the national highways.

“The sole objective for establishing check posts at strategic locations is to bring down the road accident fatalities which have risen alarmingly over the years.

Drunken driving is one of the key factors contributing to the rising graph of road accidents and fatalities,” police sources stated.

The police are empowered to arrest the drunken offenders under section 185 and suspend their licenses under section 20 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

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Bhubaneswar, Nov 21 (LocalWire): Thirty two women from seven different countries, visiting Odisha to study Indian culture, tradition and family values, interacted with academicians and home makers here today.

They exchanged notes and agreed that mothers indeed have a big role to play in transforming society.

The visiting women, coming from diverse backgrounds and professions, are part of a program christened ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ that has taken them to New Delhi and Jaipur.

They have been hosted by different local families in Bhubaneswar and they would be visiting Bengaluru and Pune before leaving for their own countries.

The program is being coordinated by the Foundation for Holistic Development in Academic Field (FHDAF) in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), Bharatiya Sikhyam Mandal and Viswa Gram.

Addressing the visitors at a felicitation program here today, Madhuri Sahasrabudhe, chairperson of FHDAF, said the purpose of the whole mission was to find answers to man’s search for peace, contentment and happiness.

‘Every morning the newspapers tell us about the evil surrounding us and the bad things happening all around. Our mission is to find a solution to this though we don’t know whether we will be successful,’ she said.

Sahasrabudhe said the society was facing conflict because of problems in interpersonal relationship and there was darkness everywhere.

‘It is for the mothers to rise to the occasion and ensure peace in family,’ she said adding ‘we have to change the society, bring in peace.’

She thanked the educational institutions who had extended their help and support to organize the program.

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