Jagatsinghpur

Jagatsinghpur, Oct 21 (LocalWire): A sub-inspector of Naugaon police station was placed under suspension for drinking alcohol with a liquor trader inside the police station today.

Sources said that the illegal sale of liquor is flourishing in the Naugaon area with the knowledge of local police officials.

Sub-inspector Bibekananda Sahoo was found drinking at the police station yesterday, in the company of a local liquor trader.

A video of the same incident became viral on social media.

After an inquiry by Sub Divisional Police Officer Priyaranjan Satpathy, Superintendent of Police Prakash R suspended Sahoo for misconduct and dereliction of duty.

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Jagatsinghpur, Oct 20 (LocalWire): As part of the preventive measures against COVID-19 during the Tirtol by-elections, the district administration has asked the political parties to convince the COVID, positive voters, to cast their votes during the last one hour of polling.

A meeting with the representatives was convened at the Collectorate under the chairmanship of collector-cum-district election officer Saroj Kumar Mishra, wherein he has appealed to the contestants to not use more than five vehicles for their roadshow.

He has also asked them not to gather more than 200 people keeping in mind the dire situation of COVID-19.

Mishra informed that 15,253 voters including 340 Covid positive patients have been identified to cast their votes through postal ballot.

General observer P. Rajendra Cholan and expenditure observer Chittee Yogesh Sugdeo were also present at the meeting.

They have informed that in each political party meeting, local health officials will be present to monitor the observance of Covid guidelines and each candidate would spend only Rs. 28 lakhs towards election expenditure.

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Jagatsinghpur, Sept 24 (LocalWire): Collector Sangram Keshari Mohapatra felicitated an NGO named Samaj Vikash Mission (SVM) of Raghunathpur for volunteering to cremate the dead bodies of COVID positive patients for the last two months.

As per the government circular, an amount of Rs. 45,000 was e-transferred to their account.

Collector Mohapatra said, “When the families, kith and kin and fellow villagers have disowned the dead bodies, the magnificent work done by this NGO is really appreciated and praiseworthy.”

Secretary of SVM Sarit Mohapatra has informed, “We were inspired after being felicitated by the administration today.

Our activists have not only cremated dead bodies but also distributed free cooked food to hundreds of people including disabled persons, street beggars, mentally ill persons and other poverty-stricken persons in Raghunathpur, Jagatsinghpur and Kandarpur of Cuttack district during the lockdown.”

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Jagatsinghpur, Sept 15 (LocalWire): In a bizarre turn of events, a teacher who recently died due to COVID-19 has been promoted to the post of headmaster in a High School in Balikuda.

Another assistant teacher who died last year has been promoted to the post of headmaster in a high school in Jagatsinghpur block.

One Manoj Kumar Gochyat, working as a science teacher in Chanarpur High School under Balikuda block, got infected by the coronavirus and died on August 29, 2020, sources said.

The Directorate of Secondary Education has promoted this dead teacher and given him a new posting according to the letters of the District Education Officer, Jagatsinghpur, dated Sept 13, 2020.

A science teacher of Allipingal High School, Saubhagya Charan Sahoo, who died on January 25, 2020 due to prolonged illness has also been promoted to the post of headmaster in the same school in a letter dated Sept 13, 2020.

In the recent list of promotion of teacher, nearly 70 assisted teachers have been promoted and posted in different government high schools, after six years.

DEO of Jagatsinghpur Prativa Manjari Das said, “Assistant teacher Gochyat died last month due to COVID-19 and the same had been informed to the concerned department.

However, his name was not removed from the list by mistake.

Out of 70 teachers, 11 have refused promotion, while the rest 57 have already joined the schools in their new posts.”

LocalWire

Jagatsinghpur, Sept 12 (LocalWire): While initially this industry-dominated district of Odisha remained free of the coronavirus when most parts of the country were being ravaged by it, the COVID situation in Paradip and other parts of the district have now worsened.

Sources said that till the first week of May, there were no cases in the district.

However, after the detection of the first four positive cases, the number has only increased, and has reached 2882 within 4 months, out of which the highest number of cases from the district is from Paradip (547).

District authorities are putting in concerted and co-ordinated efforts to control the deteriorating situation, but to no avail.

The main reason for the rise in the number of cases is non-adherence to the COVID-19 protocol, as people, including shop owners are not following the restrictions advised by the government in order to curb the outbreak.

The initial positive cases in the district emerged from the quarantine centres, where the migrant returnees were placed.

After a month, local contact cases started surfacing, some of whom remained quarantined, and others not.

Laxity on the part of the district administration and the Sarpanches caused the rise in the number of cases, as it is believed that not all COVID positive cases were quarantined or kept in home isolation.

Nearly 100 positive cases are reported every day, making the total number od positive cases seen by the district to be 2882.

Out of this, 1957 people recovered and 6 died, taking the current number of positive cases to 819.

With the total number of positive cases in the district close to touching 3000, the fear of community transmission is looming large in Paradip and other areas.

Meanwhile, the administration continues its efforts to curb the spread by imposing fines on protocol violators.

LocalWire