The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its latest report (civil), for the year ended March 31, 2011, has slammed the state revenue and disaster management department for the irregular and non-transparent management of land acquisition (LA) compensation funds. An audit scrutiny of these funds by CAG reveals 10 land acquisition officers (LAOs) had kept

The joint venture (JV) agreement to be signed between the Odisha government and GAIL India Ltd for a Rs 5,000-crore natural gas pipeline is set to be finalized soon. The pipeline that will stretch from Surat (Gujarat) to Paradip will pass through two other non-major ports-Dhamara and Gopalpur and also some major towns like Angul

McNally Bharat Engineering Company announced Tuesday it has received an order worth Rs 1.5 billion from Bhushan Power & Steel, Rengali, Sambalpur, Orissa. For supply of equipments (shop manufactured mechanical items) and technological structures, detail design, engineering (mechanical), erection and construction of civil, structural & mechanical work of the recovery coke oven plant & by

The State Government had received `2 crore under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the Ministry of Forest and Environment to execute self-employment schemes for forest-dwellers in protecting reserve forests from timber smugglers with support of the local people. The programme was implemented in the Brahmapur Forest Division at Brahmapur, Sambalpur Forest Division at

The city recorded 38 degree Celsius on Monday sending a clear message that summer is going to be very hot. “It was too hot to come out of the house after 10 am today. The hot wind is making it very difficult to drive a motorcycle,” said Bikas Swain, a company executive, who had tied

The Waltair division of the East Coast Railway has crossed the 50-million tonne mark in cargo-handling for the first time during 2011-12 financial year, according to Mr N. Kashinath, Divisional Railway Manager. Reviewing the performance here on Monday, he said the division had handled goods traffic of 50.80 million tonnes earning Rs 4,054 crore during

The much hyped ban on use of polythene bags imposed by Sambalpur Municipality from January 1 has come a cropper. The Municipality in a bid to make the town clean and prevent use of non-biodegradable polythene had declared a blanket ban on use of polythene bags below 40 micron. Even as the civic body started

The Sambalpur Development Authority (SDA) on Thursday organised a workshop to show the comprehensive development plan chalked out for Greater Sambalpur. It has been prepared for the people that is likely to be around 5.75 lakh by 2030. The Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy (GITCO) entrusted to prepare the plan for Sambalpur displayed it to

Twelve members of an inter-state dacoit gang involved in robbery of aluminium from trucks on highways in Odisha were arrested and materials and cash seized from them, police said today. Acting on complaints about hijacking of several aluminium laden trucks at various police stations in Sambalpur and adjoining districts, police swung into action and nabbed

Poor forest dwellers, mostly tribals, are facing a tough time with the shrinking green canopy and distress sale of Mahua flower has only hit them hard. In non-irrigated areas, people fall back on the forest produce for about six months in a year for sustenance. They engage in collection of non-timber forest produce (NTFP) which