Cracker claims 2
Berhampur: A college girl and a five-year-old boy were killed and another old woman was injured in a cracker blast at Gaudiapadhala village in Ganjam district, 82km from Berhampur on Wednesday. The cracker went off with a bang, which was audible up to 2km away while the girl was preparing a mixture of explosive powder inside the house of one Pradeep Kumar Swain, a cracker trader, police said.
Threat cuffs
Balasore: Basta police arrested two extortionists after they threatened an officer of the National Highways Authority of India. The accused duo, Pintu Sahu and Manu Badi had demanded Rs 2 lakh from him.
Infant dead
Bhubaneswar: Body of a newborn male child was found near Bhimpur in the city on Tuesday. Police recovered the abandoned body and conducted a post-mortem at the Capital Hospital. This is the third such incident in the past 15 days.
Accused flees
Sambalpur: An accused, who was arrested by Hirakud police on Monday night, fled from the Hirakud police station on Tuesday. The accused, Upendra Mukhi,was arrested for looting cash from a person.
Fire mishap
Bhubaneswar: Five persons were critically injured after a gas cylinder burst at Athgarh in Cuttack. The injured are being treated at SCB Medical College and Hospital.
Jailed
Bhubaneswar: The Balasore district judge on Monday awarded life imprisonment to a 60-year-old for hacking a woman to death at a village in the district two years ago. The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 2,000 on the accused, Parikhita Dalei. Parikhita, a native of Gobindapur village, had killed Santana Dalei, 62, of the same village following an altercation over a minor issue on June 28, 2010.
Celebration
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Sahitya Academy is going to celebrate the birth centenary of Binode Kanungo, compiler of Jnan Mandal, a famous Odia encyclopedia. The celebration will commence from Wednesday at the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya.
Sports boost
Cuttack: The Odisha Olympic Association has decided to add 17 new districts of the state along with affiliating two state sports associations.
Housing land
Bhubaneswar: The state government has handed over 107 acres to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority for affordable housing under the housing for all scheme. While 55.91 acres will be utilised for slum re-development project, 61.55 acres will be used for affordable housing.
Data centre
Bhubaneswar: The state government will establish a data centre at Info valley-II. Apart from safe storage of data to facilitate employment, rural business processing outsourcing units will be opened to provide jobs to around 10,000 youths. The government is also planning to provide Wi-Fi services in Angul, Sambalpur, Jajpur, Bhawanipatna and Rayagada.
Tent injury
Angul: A tent, which was being erected for the public meeting to be attended by chief minister and central ministers, collapsed on Wednesday injuring 10 workers. The injured were rushed to nearby hospital.
