Jeypore: A woman in Jeypore town of Koraput district became inspiration for other girls for her bravery act to teach lesson to a road Romeo here.

Reacting furiously to the lewd comments passed by a man, the woman thrashed him repeatedly with her shoe in public.

The incident was reported from Jeypore Municipality office on Sunday afternoon. The locals were just the mute spectators when the woman started beating up the man with shoe on the road without listening to anyone.

According to reports, the accused had passed lewd comments at the woman while she was going on the main road in Jeypore town. Instead of tolerating such comments, the brave woman reacted furiously and pushed him. When he fell down, she kicked him and thrashed him with her shoe.

The woman stopped assaulting him after few youths intervened in the matter and convinced her. Some locals were found capturing the entire scene on their mobile phones.

While the identity of the woman is yet to be ascertained, the accused is said to be an abnormal.

However, no complaint was filed with police in the incident till yesterday night.

Watch video: 

Bhubaneswar: Google on Monday said that its “Files Go” app is now available in the Odia language.

Files Go is a storage manager that helps users free up space on their phones, find files faster and shares them offline with others.

“Smartphone users with data storage capacity of as low as 4GB often struggle to keep on top of the storage space on their phones and are constantly having to choose between what to keep or delete,” Josh Woodword, Group Product Manager, Next Billion Users, Google, said in a statement.

“Since its launch, an average user in India is saving 1GB of space and has shared many files with others without using data,” Woodword added.

The app was launched with support for Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, Google is adding support for more Indian languages to help users who speak different languages.

Launched in December in 2017, the app works on all phones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher.

The app comes with an intelligent feature of automatically recognising unused apps, large files, duplicate files or low-resolution videos and memes detected using Google’s latest mobile vision technology and offers users personalised suggestions about which files to delete.

(IANS)

Bhubaneswar: “Khyanika – The Lost Idea”, a film by Odisha-based filmmaker Amartya Bhattacharya has been selected to be premiered at Zsigmond Vilmos International Film Festival in Szeged, Hungary starting on May 9.

Khyanikaa, which has already garnered critical acclaim at various international festivals, is the only Indian film selected for screening at the festival this year, an official communication informed.

Ealted, Bhattacharya confidently said his film will also be loved and appreciated by the audience in Hungery the way it appeald viewers from other countries.

The film is a fantasy driven tale of two men, a poet and a painter, claiming possession over the same idea, in a rural village portrayed as a wonderland. Idea is personified as a beautiful young lady, free of all bondage. The two men try to justify their claim over their idea through their forms of art. Unable to settle the conflict, the two men approach ‘Fate’ personified as a big fat man of authority, to judge their claims. They soon realized that idea is no one’s possession and it isn’t wise to rely on fate for a judgement. They decide to bury their fate, and settle the matter in peace.

Also Read: Amartya Bhattacharyya’s ‘Lost Idea’ gets more screen space

The film featured Amrita Chowdhury, Susant Misra, Choudhury Bikash Das, Hrushikesh Bhoi and Swastik Choudhury in the lead roles while Anu Choudhury appeared as a guest performer.

“The film was shot with a DSLR camera and without any industry resources or equipment. It has been shot in and around Bhubaneswar and Puri,” Bhattacharya, who works in an IT company, said.

Bhubaneswar: Devdas, the Bengali classic tale of romance, heartbreak and self-destruction, written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is all set to have an Odia version.

Titled Nayaka Ra Naa Debdas, this movie stars Ollywood actor Asit as the protagonist with Anu Choudhury in the significant role of Chandramukhi and Bhoomika Dash as Debdas’s love interest Paro.

The first look of Bhoomika on the sets of the movie has been relvealed and the Hero No.1 actor looks every bit of a Bengali damsel with the saree draped in traditional Bengali style, long flowing tresses and the characteristic red bindi. She took to Instagram to share a few of her stills during shooting of the film.

This is the second movie of Asit, who was earlier seen in Bhairab. The poster of this film announced its tagline: A Sinking Reality where Asit is seen clutching a picture frame.

Mrutyunjay Sahoo is the director of this film, that is being produced by Sisir Chandra Dash and Kirtan Chandra Patra.

Bhubaneswar: Steel handling at Odisha’s Dhamra Port has started with the receipt of the first rack from Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar plant by the train route, an official statement said on Monday.

In the first phase, 6,000 metric tonnes of steel coil has been received by Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district, said the statement on Monday.

With this, a new chapter in the profile of Dhamra Port has commenced, it said, adding the poet’s hinterland has many steel plants such as of Tata Steel, GAIL, JSPL, Bhusan Steel, and JSW.

Steel consignment both for domestic movement on coastal shipping route to South and West India get a new avenue, while India’s penetration into Southeast and South Asia including ASEAN countries will get a new port for dispatch, the statement said.

Recently, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani pronounced the strategic importance of Dhamra Port as a gateway for the South Asia and ASEAN market.

Adani Ports has signed a long-term regasification pact with Indian Oil for Dhamra LNG terminal at Dhamra.

The proposed Dhamra LNG import terminal is designed for an initial capacity of 5 MTPA, expandable up to 10 MTPA. (IANS)

Angul: A man was arrested for allegedly manhandling Odia film and jatra actress Usasi Mishra, police said today.

The arrested person has been identified as Dusmanta Behera, the driver of Indramani Sahu with whom the actress had an argument before she was attacked by a group of men.

Pallahara Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Jasobanta Samal confirmed the news adding Indramani, the main accused, is absconding now.

“We have conducted raids on his (Indramani) house and got to known that he is on the run. The matter is under investigation and we will nab all the accused very soon,” Samal told media.

Misra was allegedly assaulted by three persons at Derang under Kaniha police limits in Angul district last night while the actress was on the way to perform at a Jatra show at Derang.

Following the incident, she lodged a complaint at Kaniha police station alleging she was “partially raped”.

As per the complaint, Indramani and his two sons assaulted and verbally abused her besides ransacking her car.

Expressing her pain on Facebook, the actress said she was manhandled and molested. The accused tried to rip her clothes, she added.

Puri: Teacher of a primary school at Sunaribasta village under Kakatpur police limits in Odisha’s Puri district was detained by locals today for allegedly molesting two girl students.

As per a complaint lodged by the family members of the students with police, Manas Mishra, assistant teacher at Sunaribasta Project Primary School, told the two girls (one belonging to Class-IV and another of Class-V) to give him foot massage yesterday. The teacher later molested the duo and made obscene gestures at the students, they alleged.

The students narrated the incident before their parents after returning home following which a police complaint was lodged in this regard.

On the other hand, some villagers, being irate over the matter, detained the teacher and locked the school today. Till last reports came in, police reached the spot and were convincing the locals to release him.

Meanwhile, local Block Education Officer (BEO) said strict action will be taken against the teacher if he is found guilty.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today hiked dearness allowance (DA) for the state government employees and pensioners with retrospective effect from January 1, 2018.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave approval to a proposal in this regard, sources said.

As per chief minister’s office, the DA has been hiked by 2 per cent taking it to total 7 per cent for employees and pensioners.

Besides, the pensioners drawing pension at the pre-revised rate will get a hiked Dearness Relief (TI) of 2 percent. This apart, the pensioners drawing pension not at pre-revised rate will get an additional TI of 3 percent.

In November last year, the state government had increased DA by 1 percent.

Bhubaneswar: A temple priest allegedly molested a married woman in Odisha’s capital city and made the video of the act viral.

As per a complaint lodged by the victim at Mahila police station here, Saroj Kumar Dash, the accused priest, had promised her to provide loan against gold ornaments. The woman went to his house for mortgaging her gold ornaments, during which Dash offered her a drink after spiking it.

After consuming the drink, the woman fell unconscious following which Dash molested her and recorded the act with a mobile phone.

Using the video, the priest later blackmailed the victim for having physical relation with him. However, the woman rejected his demands.

The accused eventually sent the video to her husband, relatives and friends via Facebook and WhatsApp. Police have started investigation into the incident by recording the woman’s statement.

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court today granted conditional interim bail to BJD’s Choudwar-Cuttack MLA Pravat Biswal, who was arrested by CBI in connection with the Seashore Group chit fund scam, for two months.

While granting him bail, the High Court laid down condition for the legislator to cooperate with the investigators in the probe. The MLA has been asked by the court to appear before it after two months.

Notably, Biswal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the wee hours of September 19, last year from his Mahanadi Vihar residence in Cuttack for his alleged complicity in the Seashore Group chit fund scam.

Later on September 25, as the health condition of the BJD lawmaker deteriorated, a panel of doctors comprising of Orthopaedic, Medicine, Surgery and Cardiology specialists treating him at the Capital Hospital recommended for his shifting to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. He was undergoing treatment at the hospital since then.

The MLA was under scanner over a deal between his wife Laxmi Bilasini Biswal and Seashore Group CMD Prashant Dash over a piece of land measuring 34 gunths at Benapur mouza in Jajpur district.

Dash had paid Rs 25 lakh for the land by cheque in two installments to Laxmi Bilasini in April 2012. However, Dash had cancelled the deal later and had wanted his money back.

The MLA’s wife had claimed that she returned the money to Dash by cash and was in possession of an agreement reached between her and Dash on court paper in the matter.

Bhubaneswar: They are the ultimate go-getters and troubleshooters in the Prime Minister’s Office. With watchful eyes and invisible hands, they wield more power when it comes to execution of policies and schemes. They are the bureaucrats, the kingpins who make the government’s dreams come true.

India Today’s recent cover story Official Top 10 ranks Narendra Modi’s close-knit bureaucracy that comprises of high-achieving IAS officers in order of their efficiency and performance. Odisha-born Pramod Kumar Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to the PM and one of his most trusted officials has been placed at no. 3 with Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra bagging the top spot, followed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Touted as “The Selector” and regarded as the PM’s alter ego, 70-year-old Mishra scrutinizes the appointment and relocation of crucial officers in the central government (such as defence and judiciary) and PSUs in a myriad of sectors such as banking, security and even in Ministry of External Affairs. He has been intrumental in clamping down on corruption in the higher rungs of bureaucracy, placing competant individuals in key central positions. The Padma Awards selection process, vetted by him now recognises a variety of achievers from a wide range of fields.

He was handpicked by the PM and re-employed after retirement in 2009 by Ministry of Personnel, to serve in the Babu Brigade PMO for his integrity and commitment to public service.

Hailing from Sambalpur district, he is an alumnus of Gangadhar Meher College who went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Economics in Delhi School of Economics and later, in Development Economics at the University of Sussex, where he also completed his PhD.

This 1972 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer has varied work experience as Principal Secretary to NaMo (2001-2004), when the latter was Gujarat CM, Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture (2006-2008), Chairman of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (2008) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (2009) and . Moreover, he also served as Chief Executive Officer of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority in 2001 and also lead a Task Force of the Union Home Ministry to review the Disaster Management Act, 2005 in 2012. Mishra has authored books, The Kutch Earthquake 2001: Recollections, Lessons and Insights and Agricultural Risk Insurance and Income.

Bhubaneswar: The Regional India Meteorological Department (IMD) here today issued thunderstorm and lightning warning for seven districts of the State.

The districts are Koraput, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Gajapati and Ganjam districts, an IMD release stated.

It predicted that thunderstorm and lightning accompanied with rain are likely to occur in these district till 6.30 PM.

The weatherman has asked the people of these districts to be vigilant and shelter themselves in safe locations.

Sambalpur: In yet another shocking incident, a five-year-old girl has been allegedly raped by a minor in Gosala village under Burla police station limits in Odisha’s Sambalpur district today.

The accused, a 15-year-old boy, who happens to be a neighbour of the victim, has been arrested by the police on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s parents at Burla police station.

Police have produced the accused before the Juvenile Justice Board.

According to reports, the victim, who was playing outside her house was allegedly lured by the accused to his house and raped.

As the child did not return home after a reasonable period of time, her parents after frantically searching for her heard her crying.

The sound of her cries was coming from their neighbour’s house. On entering the house, they found her in critical condition with the accused being present there.

Bhubaneswar: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today urged Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu to set up an airport in the port town of Paradip, a fast emerging industrial hub in Odisha.

“I request you to give personal attention to examine techno-economic feasibility for setting up of an airport at Paradip as soon as possible,” Pradhan said in a letter to Prabhu.

Development of Paradip would remain incomplete without an airport as the nearest airport at Bhubaneswar (Biju Patnaik International Airport) is 135 km away which takes three hours by road. Such demand was also made by Paradip Port Trust to the Airport Authority of India earlier, he added.

Worth mentioning, Paradip is one of the major ports in Eastern India and became one of the three ports in India to have handled a cargo of over 100 million tons last year. After expansion, the port expects to handle 332 million tons of cargo per annum by 2020, thereby making it the largest port in the country.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today announced summer vacation for schools from tomorrow (April 25) in view of the continuing heat wave conditions in the State.

Announcing the decision, School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra told mediapersons that, summer vacation has been declared in all the schools in the state, government as well as private, which would remain closed from April 25 in view of the scorching heat and reopen from June 18.

The State government had earlier asked for conducting morning classes from April 2, with strict orders to keep adequate water and ensure that children were not exposed to the sun.

The Department had directed all schools in the State including public schools and privately managed schools to reschedule timing of all classes between 6.30 am to 10.30 am.

There are more than 69,000 primary and secondary schools in Odisha having over 63 lakh students.

Bhubaneswar: Two from Odisha figure in the list of 24 self-styled fake universities released by the University Grants Commission (UGC) today.

The two fake universities which have been found functioning from Odisha by the UGC are Nababharat Shiksha Parishad, AnupoornaBhawan, Plot No. 242, PaniTanki Road, Shaktinagar, Rourkela-769014 and North Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, University Road Baripada, Distt. Mayurbhanj, Odisha-757003.

“Students and public at large are hereby informed that following 24 self-styled, unrecognized institutions are functioning in contravention of the UGC Act in various parts of the country,” reads the public notice issued by the UGC today.

“These universities have been declared as fake and not entitled to confer any degrees. The detailed list is at UGC website here,” it added.

Bhubaneswar: Gangster Raja Acharya was released from Jharpada Special Jail here today, five days after the Orissa High Court granted him bail in a 2010 case pertaining to the abduction of an employee of Jyoti Motors and extortion of money from him.

The court had on April 20 granted Acharya conditional bail against two sureties of Rs 50,000 each. The court had also directed him to appear before Lingaraj police station on a regular basis.

On the other hand, Twin City Commissioner of Police, YB Khurania had recently said that the Commissionerate Police will file a petition seeking cancellation of the bail after obtaining necessary documents from the High Court.

The Bhubaneswar Additional District Judge Court had in March, last year rejected Acharya’s bail plea in the kidnapping and extortion case, following which he moved the High Court seeking bail.

Notably, Acharya was convicted in the murder of judo coach Biranchi Das and serving life term in the Jharpada jail since 2008. He was arrested from Goa on May 28, 2008. The Bhubaneswar District and Sessions Court had convicted him in the case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

However, Raja had petitioned the High Court challenging the lower court’s verdict. Since the matter did not come up for hearing in the High Court, Raja had moved the Supreme Court which granted him bail in the murder case on March 10, 2017.

By Bappaditya Chatterjee

Paradip: State-owned Paradip Port Trust, which has been focusing on promoting competition and bringing down costs to users, is looking at 17 per cent growth in cargo handling — touching 120 million tonnes (mt) in 2018-19, according to a top official.

Betting big on the ongoing capacity-building projects and upcoming industrial parks along with multi-modal logistics parks, which are expected to boost cargo flow, the leading dry-bulk handing port in the country remains bullish on achieving significant growth in its revenue, the official said.

“Our goal for the current fiscal is to become the number one port in the country overtaking Kandla Port (located on the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat). On the basis of current trends in cargo handling, we are looking at a 16-17 per cent growth in the current fiscal. Cargo handling should reach around 118-120 mt in 2018-19,” Paradip Port Trust Chairman Rinkesh Roy told IANS.

The port, on the eastern coast, has taken “positive strides” in terms of growth in cargo handling in the last three-four years and it had handled 102 mt of cargo in the last fiscal, achieving a growth of about 15 per cent.

“Our main focus has been on getting higher volume of cargo and our topline has improved significantly. We clocked close to Rs 1,500 crore of revenue in 2017-18 with all income put together. If we are able to touch 118 mt cargo handling, the topline would be to the tune of Rs 1,750-Rs 1,800 crore,” he said.

Roy said the port rates have not been revised from 2012-13 onwards and would continue to be the same till 2019-20. While other ports had hiked their rates, Paradip Port has kept its rates steady.

“We introduced a fair degree of competition. There were anti-competition activities which we were able to sort out.

“This is one of the few ports where the cost to the customers came down by 30-40 per cent from 2012-13 to 2017-18. For example, the companies which have been importing coal had incurred a cost of around Rs 600-650 per tonne in 2012-13 and that has come down to Rs 250-280 a tonne. The cost of our services came down through better efficiencies,” Roy said.

The port, according to its chief, remains focused on its laid-down strategy because its competition is “not only limited to Dhamra and Gopalpur port (in Odisha) but also Gangavaram Port” located in Andhra Pradesh.

“If any competitor offers cheap prices and gets large capesize vessels, there is every possibility of cargo diversion to the most competitive ports,” Roy said.

The port has taken up a host of projects to increase its capacity from the existing 277 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 325 mtpa by 2025.

The projects, with a total investment of around Rs 4,000 crore, include development of multi-purpose berths to handle clean cargo, deep draught coal berth for handling imported coal with 10 mtpa capacity and also an iron ore berth. Other projects are mechanisation of the EQ (East Quay) 1,2,3 berths and development of an 0.75 mtpa capacity LPG terminal at the South Oil jetty.

“All are ongoing projects. One part of the container-cum-clean-cargo terminal is already ready and we should be getting the first ship by end of this month. This facility will boost cargo handling by another 3-4 million tonnes,” Roy said.

The port has also made progress in setting up a multi-modal logistic park (MMLP) with the Container Corporation of India (Concor), a public sector unit under the Ministry of Railways, and also an industrial park covering about 600 acres of land.

“We have plans to set up the MMLP with Concor and we have given 100 acres of land to them. Concor will be floating a tender shortly and the work should start from June for setting up the park, Roy said. The port has also allotted 277 acres of land to industries, out of 600 acres, for the industrial park.

“A large chunk of land was allotted to a consortium for setting up a pellet plant of four mtpa capacity and this would help cargo flow to the port. We have got expression of interests for a food park and for which, we are in process to take permission from the Centre to increase the lease period. We are also planning to set up a wood park,” Roy added.

(Bappaditya Chatterjee’s visit to Paradip was at the invitation of the Odisha government)

(IANS)

Bhubaneswar: In an interesting revelation in the Patnagarh wedding gift blast incident, Odisha DGP RP Sharma today said that accused Punjilal Meher had planned and executed the crime single-handedly.

“Punjilal Meher, who has been arrested in the case, masterminded, planned and executed the crime single-handedly. He operated very meticulously without leaving any clues behind. He made the bomb himself, carried it in the shape of a parcel and booked it at a courier company near Raipur railway station,” the top cop said in a press meet at the State Police Headquarters in Cuttack.

Later in the day, Crime Branch IG Arun Bothra at a press conference in Balangir said that Punjilal had gathered gunpowder during last year’s Diwali and prepared a crude bomb using it. For executing his plans, he went to Raipur by a train with the bomb wrapping it as a gift and couriered it, said Bothra.

Moreover, he didn’t purchase a ticket for his journey in a bid to eliminate the chance of getting caught on CCTV camera while buying ticket from counter, the police official said.

Revealing about the detection of the crime, Bothra said Punjilal had posted a letter to the Balangir SP as an anonymous sender with an intention of misleading the investigators in the investigation process. In the letter, Punjilal had mentioned that the bomb blast was a fallout of love affair.

During probe, the cops detected a deleted file from Punjilal’s pen drive. It came to fore that the file was that of the letter which Punjilal had typed in his laptop and later sent it to the SP after taking out a printout of the same from a nearby shop.

According to police sources, a dispute was prevailing between Punjilal, English lecturer of Jyoti Vikash Junior College at Bhainsa in Balangir district, and deceased Soumya Sekhar’s mother Sanjukta, principal of the college, over the post. Punjilal served as the principal of the college before being replaced by Sanjukta and was reluctant to hand over the charge to her.

In order to seek a “revenge” in this connection, Punjilal planned the whole episode, the police official said.

The investigators had seized a cache of crude explosives from the ancestral house of Punjilal at Rampur under Patnagarh NAC. Several employees of the college were also interrogated in connection with the incident.

Meanwhile, Patnagarh Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court has allowed Crime Branch to take Punjilal on a six-day remand for further interrogation. The Crime Branch had sought to take Punjilal on a 14-day remand.

Notably, Reema Rani’s husband Soumya Sekhar and his grandmother Jemamani were killed when a bomb wrapped as a wedding gift blasted while unwrapping the same on February 23, four days after the couple’s marriage.

Also read: Odisha wedding gift blast survivor Reema discharged from SCB hosp.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered for a Crime Branch probe into the sensational incident. A special investigation team (SIT) of the Crime Branch was investigating into the matter.

Jodhpur: Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was on Wednesday convicted by a Jodhpur court for raping a minor girl at his ashram here in Rajasthan in 2013 and sentenced to a life term.

The judgment was pronounced by Special Judge for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe cases, Madhu Sudan Sharma, inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram Bapu is lodged.

The 77-year-old godman was convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. Two co-accused were also convicted in the case.

The police chargesheet against Asaram Bapu and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed on November 6, 2013, under the Pocso Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the IPC.

Informed sources said the court also convicted Shilpi (warden of Asaram’s ashram) and Sharad, while Shiva and Prakash were acquitted in the case.

Asaram Bapu is facing trial in another sexual assault case in Gujarat.

The final arguments in the case were completed in the Jodhpur court on April 7, which reserved the order for Wednesday.

Asaram Bapu was arrested in 2013 after a teenaged girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahajahanpur, a Class 12 student at his Chhindwara Ashram in Madhya Pradesh, filed a complaint and accused him of rape at his ashram in Manai village on the Jodhpur outskirts on August 15, 2013.

Asaram was arrested from Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. He was earlier denied bail by the Supreme Court.

(IANS)