The income tax department has asked  VSS medical college hospital to pay up Rs 1.97 crore as income tax for collecting fees from patients. The medical authority collects small amounts from patients in the name of users’ fee since 1997. The money is used to improve facilities available at the hospital. “We have received a

Abinash Nayak will lead Odisha in the final phase of the 34th Sub-junior National Football Championship for Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy to be held at Goa from March 8 to 23. Football Association of Odisha announced a 20-member State team on Friday with Suraj Toppo as vice-captain. The team includes eight from Sambalpur,

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the implementation of the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) should be made more participatory by consulting people’s representatives in districts. Chidambaram reviewed the implementation of IAP in the State through video-conferencing with district collectors. Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik and secretaries of? departments, including Home, Panchayati Raj, Women

The state government has formed a special monitoring cell for the first time ever to regulate the movement of flying squads to check malpractices during the month-long Plus II examination, beginning from Friday. Over 2.79 lakh students are scheduled to appear for the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) examination across 1,065 centres in the

Hirakud Dam authorities have started investigation into the alleged destruction of paddy saplings in western Odisha because of contamination of the dam water used for irrigation. Dam officials have contacted regional pollution control board and  deputy director of agriculture of Sambalpur and Bargarh districts in this regard. The investigation was prompted by a direction of

Thirty students were booked and one was expelled for malpractice on the first day of the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) Plus II exams on Friday.  Bhubaneswar is the central zone and was monitored by 17 squads. Similarly, there was strict monitoring in other three zones – Baripada, Berhampur and Sambalpur. The council will

A hardcore Maoist couple, Amar Mirdha (30) and Arati Kumar surrendered before Deogarh SP Chittaranjan Das on Friday. The couple had brought along with them their two sons, aged five and two. While Amar is a native of Topopada under Jujumura police limits in Sambalpur district, Arati belongs to Jadagula village in Riamal block of

Four inter-district highway robbers were arrested from the Boinda check gate by Angul Police on Thursday. Of the four, two had committed a highway robbery in the district by intercepting the vehicle of a doctor’s family, at gunpoint. Sources said Ajay Kumar Maharana of Cuttack city and Akhaya Kumar Bindhani of Baranga had looted `

The Odisha government on Tuesday decided to take various measures for maintaining the health of rivers in the state. Presiding over a high-level meeting at the State Secretariat here, chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik reviewed the present scenario and advised the departments to make integrated efforts for preparation of a definite action plan for major

In a major breakthrough, Sambalpur Police on Tuesday arrested six members of an inter-state gang involved in extortion under a self-styled Odisha Liberation Tiger (OLT) in Rengali area of the district. The police also seized four crude bombs, a mauser, one single-shot pistol, 10 live bullets, two sharp weapons and seven mobile phones from their

Sambalpur lad Ansuman Panda, currently working as a testing engineer at Infosys, Bangalore, features in the company’s campaign, ‘Future is built by the restless’. The IT major selected Ansuman to strike a chord with the future Gen-Y recruits. The advertisement has been well received in social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut. “I am happy

Mitu (11) gets up really early in the morning without parents’ coaxing. It’s not the school bell that has him up, instead it is the lure of filthy lucre through petty thefts. For the children of Rani Bandh slum in Baraipali area under Ainthapali police limits, it has become a way of life. They are

Sambalpur Police reportedly arrested a hardcore Maoist, Roshan of Jharkhand from the Maoist hotbed Kisinda under Jujumura block of the district, on Sunday. While the police are tightlipped, it is said that Roshan could have come to the area to boost the sagging morale of the cadres and the sympathisers. The possibility of his visiting