Kosal region reeling under severe cold wave

The whole Kosal region continued to shiver in a cold wave on Saturday .The cold wave forced people to stay indoors for several hours in the morning.

The minimum temperature has dipped below ten degrees in several places in Kosal region but the coastal regions of Orissa remained warmer. 

The towns in the (Kosal) western districts which recorded a temperature below ten degrees include Sambalpur 8.9, Bolangir 9.8, Sundergarh 9.9, and Bhabanipatna 9.5 degrees Celsius, acc to the Bhubaneswar meteorological office . 

'The temperatures were recorded early in the morning,' he said. 

The state capital Bhubaneswar however remained warmer, recording a minimum temperature of 13.9 degrees, the official said. 

The coastal towns which also remained warmer were Puri, Gopalpur, Paradip, Balasore recording a minimum temperature of 17.1, 16.1, 15.2 and 14.6 degrees Celsius respectively, he said.

Western Orissa [KOSAL] Farmer Suicide issue rocks Orissa Assembly

The issue of farmer suicides rocked the State Assembly for the second day on Thursday. Demanding that an obituary reference be made in the Assembly on the deceased farmers, the Opposition created a ruckus throughout the day. However, the Government was not in a mood to make oblige. “The farmers’ community will not forgive us if we fail to make an obituary reference to the deceased farmers,” cried Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh.

As soon as the House assembled, Singh tried to raise the issue. However, without allowing him, Speaker Pradip Amat continued with the business proceedings. Protesting the action, opposition members stormed into the well of the House and demanded the Speaker to take up farmers’ case for discussion. The House was adjourned for about one hour just after three minutes.

As the House resumed again at 11.30 am, the Congress members trooped into the floor of the House and demanded that an obituary reference be made. Congress member Santosh Singh Saulja also demanded that an obituary motion should be tabled for farmers. “If we don’t observe one-minute silence for the deceased farmers, people will not forgive us,” said Saluja.

BJP member Jayanarayan Mishra said incidents of farmer suicides are continuing unabated. “About 95 per cent people depend on agriculture. So a condolence motion should be moved,” Mishra opined. Other members also supported the demand of these two members.

“There is nothing wrong in paying homage to farmers. Traditions have already been violated. Never in the history of Odisha, on an important day when a budget was going to be presented, the House was adjourned for the death of an ex-Governor. Many things have been violated. Why the legislators would not set trend by moving a motion for the farmers who fed the country,” said Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan.

BJP legislature party leader KV Singh Deo said all should come forward to pay their homage to the deceased farmers. “There is nothing wrong in setting a new tradition for the overall welfare of the society,” said Deo.

However, Treasury bench members were not in a mood to subscribe to the theories of the Opposition. BJD member Pradip Maharathi opposed move. “Law should be examined as it was a case of suicide,” he said. “We are prepared to discuss farmer deaths. But it should come in the form of an adjournment motion,” said Steel and Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty.

“As there was no tradition to make an obituary reference for the farmers who had committed suicide, the Chair rejected the Opposition’s demand,” announced Amat. As soon as the announcement, members stormed into the floor of the House. Few of them also tried to enter the podium of the Speaker and the Speaker had to adjourn the House for five times.

Source:The Pioneer

11 migrant labourers from Sundargarh killed in Goa Cyclone

As many as 11 migrant labourers from Sundergarh district were killed in the cyclone that hit Goa
recently. There is, however, no news about the whereabouts of 20 others who had gone from the district to work in fishing trawlers in that state.

Sundergarh-based NGO Helpline said it was coordinating between an NGO in Goa and villagers to gather news of the migrants. "We have identified 11 victims so far and informed their families," Helpline member U K Bhitiria said. "We are in contact with the NGOs in Goa and the administration there to trace the whereabouts of 20 others from Sundergarh district. They have been missing for several days now and we are afraid that they too may have died during the cyclone," Bhitiria added.

The deceased have been identified as Chitrasen Gahar, Dilip Gahar, Rajib Gahar, Nanda Gahar, Jagidish Kisan, Lokeswar Rana, Jagdish Nayak, P Palsen, Bali Kumar, Rasjesh Tirkey and Netra Bhoi. All of them were in the age group of 25 to 35 years and belonged to extremely poor families.

Grief descended on the victims' villages in Subdega and Balisankara blocks after confirmation of the deaths started pouring in from Tuesday.

The tragedy has once again turned the spotlight on the plight of migrant labourers from Orissa. Low employment opportunities force hundreds of poor people, including women, from the district to search for greener pastures in other parts of the country every year. The administration, however, has no information on the migrants and therefore fails to take prompt action during a tragedy such as the Goa cyclone.

The district administration, however, argued that it was not possible to keep track of the migrant labourers. "Many natives of Sundergarh district work as labourers in several projects in Mumbai and Goa. These migrants move to different places for earning their livelihood without information. We therefore don't have records of their whereabouts," an official said on condition of anonymity.

Source:Times of India (Dt.18 November 2009)

Orissa Govt. Official tourism Video forgets Kosal region

Check the official video of the Orissa tourism department.....This video is produced by the Dept. of Tourism Orissa Govt........

And to our surprise they have not mentioned a single place from Kosal (western Orissa) region....
In the whole video you can see Konark,puri,chilika,lingaraj,Ratnagiri,Dhauli and some tribal dance from southern orissa districts etc...but you will not find a single clip of any tourist place from kosal region.....Don't you call it biased ???

Sambalpuri Saree,sambalpuri dance,ghumura,hirakud  dam,harishankar,nrusinghanath,samaleswari temple,chousath jogini temple at ranipur-jharial and the list is long enough to post here...still not a single clip from any of the above places.....This is what i call sick colonial mentality of Orissa govt.....

They simply forgot that there is a region called Kosal (so called Western orissa) and there is a culture called Kosali or Sambalpuri Culture.....

Honestly...we can't do anything other than watching it and accepting it whole heartedly as we are doing for the last 7 decades ..

Finally Balangir Medical College will become reality !!

The state government has given a green signal to this RVS Educational Trust to set up the proposed Medical College and Hospital in Balangir district.

Coimbatore-based RVS Group of Institutions, led by Dr KV Kuppusamy, is managing 87 Educational Institutions through out the Country. 

The high-level committee, headed by Development Commissioner Satya Prakash Nanda, has favoured the RVS Group's proposal out of a total of six which came in response to the WODC's offer.

Approving the recommendations of a high-level committee, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) to go ahead with a MoU for the purpose.

Planning and coordination Minister Anananga Udaya Singhdeo also discussed with the WODC officials in this regard and the MoU would be signed some time Next week . 

The WODC had invited expression of interest for the Medical College and Hospital in Balangir district last year in view of Shree Balaji Education and Charitable Trust backing out of the project.

The RVS Group will invest at least Rs 100 crore, while the WODC would provide a Rs 10-crore grant and 25 acres of land in Balangir. The Medical College will have an intake capacity of 100 with a 300-bed Hospital at its initial stage. 

Subsequently it would be enhanced to a 500-bed Hospital and gradually to a 1,000-bedded super specialty Hospital . 

Source :- Orissadiary.com

New KOSALI (Sambalpuri) Movie ULGULAN

ORISSA HAS a huge chunk of population that speaks Koshali, the predominant language of Sambalpur and Western Orissa region. However, the film industry of the State has hardly explored the potential market existing for Sambalpuri films. Hence, the venture of Maa Mangala Movies production house to produce Ullgunan - a feature film in Sambalpuri appears interesting.

Ullgunan means revolution in Sambalpuri and the film attempts to portray a revolution that had taken shape in 18th century Western Orissa by the local people against the ruling Marathas who were misbehaving with the women while coming to the villages to collect taxes, explains Deepak Panda who has scripted the story, screenplay and dialogues. “It’s partly fact and partly fiction. In fact there has been a very popular story in this region that tells how a young man’s courage to fight the mighty Marathas’ evil looks at women inspired the masses to revolt against the rulers,” he adds.

Acclaimed filmmaker Mehmood Hussain, the proud product of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune who made the critically acclaimed film Dhare Alua, has returned to direction after a long interval. “We are confident that a filmmaker of his calibre would be able to do justice to the period film,” states producers’ duo Sanjay Sahoo and Purnamasi Sahoo. Hussain has roped in cinematographer P.Satya and Biswanath Ray as his film editor.

The cast includes Partha and Dipti – the lead pair besides many amateur actors from the region where the film’s story is based. The film has been shot in several locations in Western Orissa and actors have been chosen from among the locals to give the film an authentic flavour, says the director.

The enchanting Sambalpuri music and dance play a pivotal role in the film. Babloo Mitra has scored the music while popular singers Pankaj Jaal, Sailabhama, Pamy and a few others have lent their voice. Amulya Pal, Amir Pati and Pintoo have been the dance choreographers. The film will be ready for release in the New Year.

Source:- Indian Express (Shyamhari Chakra)

Another western orissa farmer kills self,govt sleeping

Yet another debt-ridden farmer committed suicide in Birmaharajpur area of Subarnapur district on

Saturday night. Prior to this, at
least six farmers in western Orissa had killed themselves in the current kharif
season. Kartik Mahakud (60) of Karnapali village of Birmaharajpur sub-division allegedly consumed poison and died.

The incident severely affected traffic on Sambalpur-Sonepur Road on Sunday afternoon, as both Congress and BJP workers blocked the road, demanding justice for the farmers. Carrying Mahakud's body, they de-manded adequate compensation for the family of the deceased farmer. They called off the agitation after Subarnapur additional district magistrate Gangadhar Mahandanda assured villagers of appropriate action to help the victim's family.

Sources said Mahakud of Karnapali was a renowned farmer of the locality. He owned five acres of land. But that was not sufficient to maintain his big family. Mahakud has two sons and five daughters. Of them, he had managed to get one of his sons and four of his daughters married. "He was a good and sincere farmer, but was troubled over severe crop damage this year," a villager Rabi Sahu said.

Sources said the deceased had consumed some poisonous substance on Saturday night. He was found in a critical condition by villagers the fol-lowing morning and taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. Police have registered an unnatural death case and handed over the body to his family on Sunday, after conducting an autopsy.

"We have registered a case and handed the body over to his family, after conducting an autopsy," a senior police officer of the district said. How-ever, police could not identifythe substance he had consumed to commit suicide. "We are not sure whether it was pesticide or something else. We will know after we get the post mortem report," police added.

But, the district administration followed their usual agenda of denying any links of the suicide to debts or crop loss. "Since the harvesting is yet to start in the locality, how can a farmer assume the quantity of his paddy production. I do not thing the cause has any link with crop loss or debts," collector (Sonepur) Bhawani Prasad Panda said. "But, I have send my ADM to review the situation and submit a report in this issue," Panda added.

Incidentally Pandab Bhoi (38) of Rengali block committed suicide on August 12, Gourahari Patra (48) of Lakhanpur block on October 4, and Bidyadhar Bagh (40) of Rengali block on October 7. On October 18, An-gad Barik (65) of Jamenkira block committed suicide by jumping in front a running train.

Similarly, Kusha Majhi of Tarbode (Nuapara) and Maharshee Narang of Hemgir (Sundergarh) had committed for the same reason. Three other farmers from coastal and southern Orissa had committed suicide over the past one week.

Source :- Times of India

Balangir Police Flag March

Silent Bolangir (Bibeka)

balangir burns

balangir burns

Exclusive Photo of Balangir Violence

Crime Branch to investigate Balangir Violence

The State Government today asked the Crime Branch to inquire into the Balangir violence triggered by the death of an engineering student in an accident on October 24. While the accident was caused by a police van, another student injured in police lathicharge succumbed in the VSS Medical College and Hospital, Burla the next day.

Police registered two separate cases in this connection. On the first day, Shakti Prasad Mohanty, a student of the Shushree Institute of Technology, Balangir died on the spot as he was run over by a police van.

The same day another student, Sashi Kumar Panda was admitted to the VSS Medical College and Hospital.

The incidents gave rise to a lot of public resentment and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the arrest of the Balangir Superintendent of Police for inept handling of the situation.

Chhatra Congress called Balangir and western Orissa bandh to protest police excesses. A release issued by the police headquarters here maintained that the inquiry has been handed over to the Crime Branch for a fair and impartial investigation after public hue and cry over the matter.

The State Government has also appointed retired judge of the High Court Justice SK Mohanty to inquire into the violence.

Justice Mohanty will submit his report within three months.

Meanwhile, Congress has demanded that the District Collector and SP be removed by the State Government for an impartial inquiry.