Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to Vayalar Ravi, minister of overseas indian affairs and civil aviation, requesting him to look after the release 23 labourers staying in South Africa. The victims are from Kendrapara, Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur districts. They had alleged that they were being tortured there. According to sources, of the 23 workers, 14 are from Jajpur and nine from Kendrapara and Jagatsingpur. One worker, Narendra Kumar Mallick from Dharapur, died in course of employment and his body was sent to his native village recently. Balangir: Unidentified gunmen looted Rs 26 lakh at gunpoint from forest officers near Loisingha, about 15km from here, on Thursday. The goons reportedly followed Prabhakar Mishra, officer of the Loisingha Kendu Leaf Forest Range, and stopped the vehicle in which the officer and his colleague were passing by a bridge. The money was meant for wage payment of the kendu leaf pluckers. Police have started hunt for the criminals. Bhubaneswar: Lakhmi, a 34-year-old female elephant, succumbed to death due to ageing, weakness and lack of immunity at the Nandankanan zoo on Thursday. The elephant was rescued from a place near Bhawanipatna when it was four-month-old. However, it sustained bullet injury in its eyes and fracture of the mandibles. As the animal was weak, it developed blindness later. Bhubaneswar: Protesting against the proposed 4 per cent value added tax on sugar, the sugar traders have decided to go for a strike from Thursday night. It is expected that the strike will result in scarcity of sugar in the state. arlier, the sugar traders had demanded lifting of VAT from the commodity. In another development, state finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said the state government was taking the matter seriously and a solution would be derived soon. Bhubaneswar: All government hospitals across the state have been asked to display the list of medicines available with it. They will also display the mobile phone numbers of the doctors on duty. Speaking on the concluding day of the two-day conference of the chief district medical officers here on Thursday, health secretary Anu Garg asked the senior officers to ensure judicious use of medicines supplied by the state government. Balasore: Additional session judge of Balasore J.B. Dash on Thursday pronounced life term, Rs 10,000 fine in fine and two more years in default to an accused Harish Chandra Mahal, in connection with a dowry related death case of 2005. wo other co-accused, mother Laxmi Mahal and daughter Manika Das, were also sentenced to seven-year-jail with a penalty of Rs 2,000. he victim, Gourmani Mahal, was wife of Harish of Basta. They were married in 2002. As Gourmani failed to fulfil the cash demands of her husband, she was murdered on October 15, 2005.
Saturday, 03 May 2025
