Flag hoisting despite Maoist threat

Bhubaneswar: Ministers would hoist flags in the Maoist-hit districts of the state on the Republic Day Despite the Moaist threat looming large. While the ministers would hoist flags in 20 places, senior bureaucrats would hoist flags in 11 places across the state. Governor M.C. Bhandare would hoist the flags at Bhubaneswar and chief minister Naveen Patnaik would do the honours in Cuttack. ndustries minister Raghunath Mohanty will hoist the flag at Keonjhar, women and child development minister Pramila Mallick at Sambalpur, health minister Prasanna Acharya at Nabarangpur, housing and urban development minister Badri Narayan Patra at Deogarh, Prafulla Samal at Malkangiri, energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak at Sundergarh, planning and coordination minister A.U. Singh Deo at Angul.

Identity cards

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to check infiltration, the state government has decided to issue multi-purpose national identity cards to 36,500 fishermen in the state. nder the scheme, a national identity number would be assigned to each individual. This number would become a link number with any other application of the state government. hotography and fingerprint biometric method would be used for the proposed identity cards. National Population Registrar (NPR), ministry of home affairs and the state government's marine fisheries department are jointly conducting the exercise.

Compensation

Berhampur: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a compensation package for farmers in Gajapati district who incurred heavy losses due to the recent unseasonal rains. aveen has instructed the district collector to ensure the compensation reaches the affected farmers by first week of February. The prosperity of farmers is the gateway to economic development of the state. The farmers are in distress now but the Centre is yet to take up any tangible step for them,” he said.

New train

Bhubaneswar: A new passenger train between Khurda Road and Bhubaneswar would be inaugurated on Monday. The Bhubaneswar-Khurda Road passenger train, which is scheduled to run six days a week, would not run on Sunday.

Chilika threat

Bhubaneswar: Another opening, connecting Chilika lake with the sea, was spotted near Mirzapur village, which could threaten the livelihood of people residing along the banks of the lake.his stretch of sandbars dotted with greenery, which earlier acted as a barrier between the lake and sea, has eroded owing to mass deforestation. n August 2008, an opening had been found near Gabakuntha village, which is close by.