BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Saturday said all those responsible for the death of a Nepalese student of a private engineering institute KIIT and the alleged assault on the pupils from the Himalayan country would not be spared. Congress activists also held a demonstration, demanding the immediate arrest of KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta. A large number of youth and student activists of Congress staged the protest before the main gate of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT)

BHUBANESWAR: A staggering 6.41 lakh Olive Ridley turtles have laid eggs at Rushikulya rookery so far in the current nesting season setting a record for the mass breeding site along Ganjam coast. PCCF Wildlife Prem Kumar Jha said Rushikulya had never seen such large congregation of the endangered species, at least in the last decade. The previous highest nesting of 6.37 lakh Olive Ridleys had been recorded in 2022-23 season while there was no mass nesting at the site in 2023-24. Unlike Gahirmatha

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday said the concerns of the Opposition on low budget expenditure were misplaced as 58 per cent of the funds allocated in the 2024-25 budget has already been spent by January-end, and all the departments will improve utilisation before the start of the new fiscal. Replying to the discussion on budget 2025-26 in the Assembly, the chief minister said in the first three months of 2024-25, election code of conduct was in force and there was no exp

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has directed the superintendent of MKCG medical college and hospital to convene a medical board to give its opinion on termination of pregnancy of a 13-year-old rape survivor, who is suffering from sickle cell disease (SCD) as well as epilepsy. Acting on the petition filed by the father of the rape victim, the single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi on Thursday directed the superintendent to convene the medical board within three days. The medical board shall ex

BERHAMPUR: In front of Aska Central Co-operative Bank (ACCB)s Sorada branch in Ganjam district, the long queue does only have footwears, not the farmers wearing them. Due to inadequate cash supply at ACCB in Sorada, farmers are facing difficulties in withdrawing their payment towards sale of paddy. They have to stand in long lines from early hours, waiting for their turn to withdraw payments. However, to save themselves from the scorching sun, the farmers have started placing their footwear in t

CUTTACK: Acting on a petition alleging Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT)s reported moves to change the category of the land where its now-defunct paper mill stands at Choudwar and convert it into plots for sale, the Orissa High Court has ordered a status quo on it till the next date of hearing. Ramesh Chandra Nayak and six other residents of Choudwar had filed the PIL seeking courts intervention to stop the process and take back all government land in control of BILT. They alleged that BILT ha

ROURKELA: A research team from the Civil Engineering department of the National Institute of Technology-Rourkela (NIT-R) has successfully used machine learning models and statistical tools to accurately evaluate the quality of groundwater in Sundargarh district for irrigation sustainability and agriculture planning. Assistant professor of the Civil Engineering department Anurag Sharma along with his research scholar Souvick Kumar Shaw has used advanced data analysis techniques to examine key wat

JHARSUGUDA: A 60-year-old mans desperate search for his missing son has taken him across Odisha over the last two years and on Wednesday, the father landed up at Jharsuguda jail. Shiv Kumar Jha from Chhattisgarhs Raipur has been going from pillar to post since the past two years in search of his son, Bhavesh Kumar Jha (25). His search at Jharsuguda jail didnt yield any leads either. Shiv has filed multiple missing complaints and been visiting police stations and jails across Chhattisgarh and Odi

PURI: The Govind Bhog and Jhilli varieties of rice will be offered in Kotha Bhog to the Trinity in Shri Jagannath temple. In a release on Thursday night, chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Arabinda Padhee said Mahaprasad was cooked separately using five varieties of rice from Koraput and other parts of the state and offered to the deities in Kotha Bhog. After assessing the taste, flavour and quality, SJTA officials and members of the Suar and Mahasuar nijogs reco

BARGARH : Demanding free electricity, farmers of Bhatli block took to the streets and gheraoed the local tehsil office on Friday. In the morning, the agitators under the banner of Jay Kisan Andolan took out a procession from Bhatli town hall and reached Bhatli tehsil office shouting slogans. They also held a protest meeting on the spot. Led by block president Manabhanjan Pradhan, the farmers also submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, to additional tehsildar Abhir

BHUBANSWAR: The opposition BJD and Congress on Friday staged a walkout in the Odisha Assembly expressing dissatisfaction with the state Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj's reply to the debate on the KIIT issue. Members cutting across party lines expressed disappointment with what happened at KIIT after the death of a Nepalese student in her hostel room. The BJD and Congress demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter but the state government did not respond to their request. The minist

BHUBANESWAR: At least 11 students heading for the matriculation (Class 10) examination in Odisha's Kendrapara district were injured as their vehicle hit a cyclist and fell into a roadside canal on Friday, police said. The cyclist was killed in the accident, the police said. The students of Vivekananda High School in the Baghamari area were on their way to appear in the class 10 examination at Naga Narayan High School in Khamara Sahi when their speeding vehicle hit the cyclist and then fell into

CUTTACK: A joint committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has confirmed illegal extraction of stone at Nischinta hill in Dehenkanal districts Gondia tehsil without obtaining Environmental Clearance (EC), Consent to Operate (CTO) and blasting licence, etc. However, the quantum of mineral excavated from the hill could not be assessed due to non-availability of Orissa Remote Sensing Application Centre (ORSAC)-empanelled agency with scientific instruments during inspection, the committee said

BHUBANESWAR: To strengthen pre-school education in the state, the Odisha government has decided to open over 45,000 pre-primary classes called Sishu Vatikas at all government-run primary schools in the new academic year of 2025-26. This will mark the launch of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 at school level in the state. Officials of the School and Mass Education department said while children in the age group of five to six years will be admitted to the Sishu Vatikas, those aged three to f

BHUBANESWAR: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the state government to submit a detailed report on steps taken for recanalisation of non-surgical vasectomy (NSV) of a differently-abled tribal youth from Malkangiri district. The apex human rights panel has asked the secretary of Health and Family Welfare department to inform the commission whether the recanalisation of NSV has been done after obtaining voluntary consent from the victim and by following due procedure, within si

BHUBANESWAR: The state government is preparing a master plan for construction of dams and barrages on the upper and lower catchments of Mahanadi river for sustainable water conservation and development in the interest of Odisha, Parliamentary Affairs minister Mukesh Mahaling said on Thursday. Replying to a question from Prasanna Acharya (BJD) on behalf of chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Mahaling said in the Assembly that 32 big, medium and small dams along with 27 barrages are being planned f

MALKANGIRI: A married woman reportedly died of shock after villagers caught her with her paramour at Gumka village within Kalimela police limits on Wednesday. The deceased was identified as Singe Madkami (30). Police have detained the womans paramour, Muka Podiami of Pulimetla village. Kalimela sub-inspector Drona Sunani said Singes husband works in Andhra Pradesh. The woman was alone in her house when Muka went to meet her on Wednesday afternoon. Some villagers spotted Muka entering Singes hous

BARIPADA: With the summer drawing close, residents of two villages on the foothills of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Baripada district have already started facing water shortage issues. Residents of the villages, Govindpur and Lulung under Shyamakhunta block, are forced to fetch water from streams flowing through the foothills of the STR, as water from tube wells is contaminated with a reddish hue, allegedly due to faulty boring or a depleted groundwater level. About 1,400 people reside in Wa

JEYPORE: Four burglars, including a minor, were arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in six incidents of theft during the last two weeks. The accused are Bijaya Beniya, Kanhu Muduli, G Satyanarayan Patra, and the minor from Hatapada. The gang reportedly targeted several businesses and committed burglaries across different locations in Jeypore town. One theft took place at a tractor company in Hatapada, where the gang broke in, and stole Rs 2.5 lakh in cash. In another, the gang sto

JAJPUR: The sarpanch of Gramnandipur panchayat under Dasarathapur block was placed under suspension on Wednesday for allegedly misappropriating government funds to the tune of over Rs 11.72 lakh. The accused, Sanjukta Mohanty, allegedly siphoned off funds meant for development of the panchayat under different schemes during her previous tenure as sarpanch of Gramnandipur. The funds were sanctioned by the Central Finance Commission (CFC). Sources said when Mohanty was the sarpanch from 2012 to 20

SAMBALPUR: Police on Thursday arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly attacking a girl student of Sambalpur University, who was found with severe head injuries in a field near Metakani temple in Burla. The accused is Rakesh Das, a native of Kolkata who is staying at Burla. He was arrested on charges of assaulting Sonalika Naik, a PG final-year student of Library Sciences department at Sambalpur University. Police said Naik used to chat with the accused on phone for the last around two months. O

BALANGIR/BHUBANESWAR : A government school teacher of Balangir, who reportedly hasnt received salary for the last three months, sought leave to work as a labourer on Thursday. Prabhudatta Sahoo, a teacher in Government Primary School at Bandhanbahal village in Puintala block of the district, applied for a one-day leave to work as a labourer and earn wages claiming that he has not received his salary for the last three months. In his leave application to the headmaster of the school, the teacher

ROURKELA: Police on Thursday arrested seven persons including a woman for the murders of Rourkela-based businessman Binod Daruka (64) and his female office help P Deepa (34), which were committed over a botched extortion plot. Deepas younger sister Radha Swain (30) masterminded the kidnap for ransom plan. She and her accomplices, Manoj Das (20), Yuvraj Paswan (21), Sheikh Asif (22), Suraj Singh (22), Bhabesh Raj Choudhury (20) and Sambhu Mahato (42), had to commit the twin murders after their pl

BARIPADA: In a daring heist, five robbers struck the State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Mayurbhanjs Bahalda and looted Rs 20 lakh at gunpoint after assaulting the bank staff on Thursday morning. The branch manager and staff suffered injuries when they tried to offer resistance. They were later hospitalised. The robbery took place around 10 am, a little after the bank had opened for the days operation. In the next 30 minutes time, the criminals had completed the robbery and fled before police co

BHUBANESWAR: The police on Thursday arrested five more staff of the private engineering college KIIT here on the charge of assaulting Nepalese students while they were vacating the hostel following a direction of the institute authorities, police said. With this, the number of people arrested in the KIIT fiasco increased to 11 including an engineering student, who was booked for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 20-year-old Nepalese student in her hostel room on Sunday. Following her death, th

BHUBANESWAR: Expediting its inquiry into the alleged suicide of a girl student and subsequent action against other Nepalese pupils, the Odisha government's high-level committee summoned KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta for his personal appearance before it on Friday. The Higher Education Department, in a letter to Samanta on Thursday, said, You are requested to appear before the high-level committee on 21.02.2025 at 6.30 pm at State Guest House to adduce evidence with adequate documentary evidence b

The recent happenings in KIIT University have not only raised serious questions on the conduct of the institutions authorities but also sullied the image of Odisha internationally. The unsympathetic manner in which the varsity handled the suicide case of a Nepali student and the resultant protests by fellow students have sparked massive outrage nationally and drawn intervention of the Himalayan nations top leadership from its prime minister to foreign minister. While the university is understand

BHUBANESWAR: The Anil Agarwal Foundation has signed an MoU with the Rayagada administration to transform 100 anganwadi centres into state-of-the-art Nand Ghars to cater to the needs of women and children. In the first phase, 15 anganwadi centres in Kashipur block will be upgraded to Nand Ghars while the remaining 85 centres will be upgraded across other blocks in different phases. Appreciating Vedantas efforts, district social welfare officer Minati Deo said the Nand Ghar initiative is not just

SAMBALPUR: The Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) and the district police on Tuesday evening signed an agreement with VL Access India for implementation of a unified command and control platform-based city surveillance, integrated traffic management and public address system. Valued at Rs 4.96 crore, the project envisages deployment of 207 AI-powered cameras across 52 strategic locations within the city in two phases. Advanced bullet, facial recognition, PTZ and state-of-the-art automatic lic

JAJPUR: Police on Tuesday night arrested a local BJD leader of Jajpur block for his alleged involvement in the murder of a 14-year-boy at Siba chowk market here 10 days back. The accused was identified as Kamal Mallik, the vice-chairman of Jajpur block. Kamal was among the accused named in the FIR lodged by the minors family with Jajpur Sadar police. Sources said on February 9, one Sukadev Das of Gobindpur went to a fast food stall at Siba chowk market in the night and asked for a plate of chow

BARIPADA: A 35-year-old woman of Shyamakhunta area in Mayurbhanj district on Wednesday went up a tree and stayed there for eight hours along with her property documents, claiming her neighbours were trying to grab her familys land. The incident took place in Dhanpur village under Baripada Sadar police station. Chintamani Mohanta, wife of Satyanarayan Mohanta, was seen perched on a tree at around 5 am with a plastic bag containing land deeds, pattas, bank papers, and other official documents. As

BALASORE: A youth reportedly beat his widowed mother to death over her illicit relationship with a villager at Baghamara within Nilagiri police limits here on Wednesday. Police said the 25-year-old accused, identified as Durga Singh, has been detained for killing his mother Sanki Singh (45). The incident took place at around 5 pm. Sources said Sanki used to live with her two sons after the death of her husband Babaji Singh five years back. Both her sons worked as daily wagers. On the day, Sankis

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday assured justice for the Nepali girl student of KIIT who allegedly died by suicide after being harassed by another student. The CM, who is in New Delhi, discussed the case with Nepali officials Sanjeeb Das Sharma and Navin Das Adhikari and said the state government is working to ensure that justice will be done. He also assured that peace and normalcy will be restored on the KIIT campus. He urged the Nepali students to return to t

CUTTACK: Doctors at the clinical hematology department of SCB medical college and hospital here have successfully conducted allogenic bone marrow transplant (BMT) on a two-year-old baby girl suffering from acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The patient, Aliza Naaz, is the youngest patient to undergo BMT in the state. The stem cell donor is the patient's four-year-old elder sister, Aatifa. The patient Aliza, daughter of Shahrukh Ansari of Dhanbad in Jharkhand, was diagnosed with AML at Tata Memorial H

BARIPADA: A tribal couple was axed to death on the suspicion of practising witchcraft in Biosi area of Mayurbhanj district on Monday night. Police identified the deceased as Debendra Naik (45) and his wife Champa (42) of Dungursahi colony in Kitabedha village within Biosi police limits. The accused, 23-year-old Ajay Naik of the same village, has been arrested. The shocking incident took place at around 8.30 pm. Sources said Debendra was watering plants in his garden while Champa along with her d

BHUBANESWAR: With mercury level picking up ahead of summer, forest fire incidents have spiked in the last one week in Odisha placing the state at number 4 in terms of maximum wildfire points in the country. Maximum wildfire cases, sources said, are being reported from forest divisions in the Koraput circle of the state. As per the Forest Survey of India (FSI) statistics, a total of 1,956 fire points have been detected in different divisions of the state so far this year since beginning of the ne

ROURKELA: In a bid to enhance operation efficiency and ensure optimal resource utilisation, the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL has signed a contract with a consortium to set up a 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) pellet plant. The consortium comprises Orissa Metaliks Private Limited and Rosemary Sponge and Ispat Private Limited. The pellet plant would come up on a construct, operate and maintain (COM) basis. In a statement, RSP said the letter of award (LOA) for the project was issued on Janu

BERHAMPUR: Berhampur police on Tuesday arrested the manager of a private bank for allegedly duping customers of over Rs 45 lakh by promising them high investment returns. The accused, identified as Epili Mithun (35), worked as the manager of ICICI Banks Gosaninuagaon branch in Berhampur. He was arrested on charges of defrauding three individuals while serving as the manager of the banks Dharmanagar branch in 2023. Police sources said Chandan Padhy (38), M Devi Prasad (42) and Sandeep Sahu (38) o

JAGATSINGHPUR: Two youths were killed and another suffered serious injuries after their motorcycle crashed into a roadside pole on Cuttack-Paradip state highway at Nuapada chowk within Tirtol police limits here on Tuesday. The deceased were identified as Rudra Narayan Jena (25) and Tofan Jena (24), both residents of Gokilpur village within Raghunathpur police limits. The injured, Raja Jena (22), has been hospitalised and his condition is critical. Police sources said the trio was returning to Go

BERHAMPUR: Nearly 90,000 Olive Ridley turtles have laid eggs at the Rushikulya rookery in Ganjam district in the last two days with 79,000 turtles nesting on Monday. The mass nesting along the 4 km long stretch of the rookery is likely to continue till end of the month and it would surpass previous years, hoped Sunny Khokkar, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Berhampur. This year, nesting activity started during the day, in a departure from the past when the marine species arrived to lay eggs a

ROURKELA/BERHAMPUR : About 34 students from two schools in Sundargarh and Rayagada districts were taken ill after allegedly consuming mid day meal served in their institutions on Tuesday. Thirty students of Udusu Primary school in Sundargarhs Bisra block who fell ill were admitted to the Bisra Community Health Centre (CHC). While four with symptoms of food poisoning were kept under observation, others were discharged after treatment. Bisra block education officer (BEO) Supravat Behera said the s

MALKANGIRI: With Malkangiri police making no headway in the probe into death of two minor girls whose bodies were found in a forest near MV-72 Primary Nodal School even after 11 days, tribal leaders have written to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, seeking his intervention. The leaders claimed that both girls, who were studying in Class VII, were murdered and if the police failed to bring the culprits to justice, they will resort to protests. Additional SP Tapan Narayan Rath said the post-morte

BHUBANESWAR: Amid massive public outcry over the forced eviction of Nepali students for protesting against the suicide of a fellow student, police on Tuesday arrested three senior officials and two security guards of KIIT University. As diplomatic interventions continued on the day to ensure safe return of the students to the university campus, the Education Ministry of Nepal said it would be constrained to issue no objection certificates (NOC) to those wishing to study in Odisha unless the curr

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to achieve the goal of Sustha Odisha: Health for All, the Odisha government has proposed to spend Rs 23,635 crore for public healthcare in 2025-26, up by 11.5 per cent over last fiscals budget estimate of Rs 21,200 crore. The highest allocation of Rs 4,479 crore has been made under Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana, which is being run alongside Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana enabling all eligible beneficiaries to avail accessible, affordable and quality health

BHUBANESWAR: On a day of twists and turns, senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethis premises were searched by the CBI only to be followed by his purported resignation in protest of the raid here on Tuesday. Drama followed in front of the IAS officers residence as Sethi engaged with the CBI officers accusing the latter of conducting the raids without any warrant or in presence of lady personnel. Sethi, currently posted as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the General Administration and Public Griev

KATHMANDU: The Nepal government on Tuesday said that it may stop issuing no objection certificates to students who wish to study in educational institutes in India's Odisha if the situation arising from the death of a student in a Bhubaneswar university is not resolved justifiably and legally. Prakriti Lamsal (20), a third-year B Tech (computer science) student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), allegedly died by suicide at her hostel room on Sunday afternoon, leading to unres

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Tuesday constituted a high level fact finding committee to inquire into all aspects of the alleged suicide by a Nepali girl student in the KIIT campus here. A press note issued by the information and public relations department said that appropriate legal action will follow based on the findings of the committee. The state government has taken immediate cognisance of the matter and the institution where the incident took place has been placed under notice, it

BHUBANESWAR: The father of a Nepali student who allegedly died by suicide at KIIT University on Sunday has demanded stringent punishment for those responsible for his daughter's death. The victims father also criticized the university authorities for asking protesting Nepali students to vacate the hostels. Meanwhile, as the incident triggered massive protests on campus, KIIT management issued a statement on Tuesday, saying, The authorities deeply regret the incident which took place on February

BHUBANESWAR: The higest budget allocation of Rs 41,273 is for the education sector. While the budget allocation for school education is Rs 31,000 crore, an increase of 18 per cent over the previous year, the rest is for higher education. The enhancement in school budget is in wake of the state deciding to roll out the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 from the ensuing academic session. Under this, 45,000 pre-primary classes called Sishu Vatikas will be opened in all primary schools. As far as

BHUBANESWAR : The government has allocated Rs 820 crore for the tourism sector of the state introducing a new scheme Shree Jagannath Darshan Yojana which will facilitate free travel for the poor to Srimandir in Puri and provisioning of Mahasprasad to them and focusing on expansive infrastructure development and promotion of tourism sites. The government has increased the overall tourism budget by Rs 20 crore in comparison with 2024-25 when the allocation was Rs 800 crore. An allocation of Rs 30