Tag Archives: Sambalpur News
Three Covid-19 positive cases in Sambalpur
Till today, Three Covid-19 positive cases are reported in Sambalpur District. First Covid-19 positive case was reported from Rairakhol Sub-division and other two are kept in isolation in TMC at Larpank. The last two cases are from one family. Reported that the three are male and they came sambalpur on the same day 11th of May.
According to the Sambalpur district administration, the first COVID-19 infected patient is a Gujarat returnee who was infected on the 11th of May and the infected person came back to his native village Luhapank coming under Rairakhol Sub-division of Sambalpur district. The infected person has come from Ahmadabad of Gujarat. And the positive case is an 18-year-old male migrant worker and was under quarantine.
The second two patients are male and aged about 47 & 55 years belong to one family. They are West Bengal Returnees and returned to Sambalpur on 11.05.2020. Since then they were kept in isolation in TMC at Larpank, Sambalpur.
Contact tracing is under process in both cases.
Sambalpur’s busy Golebazar market gets new address amid coronavirus lockdown
The Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to shift a major portion of the Golebazar vegetable market to a field in front of its office building from Wednesday.
Despite awareness drives and police intervention, the busiest market place in the city continues to remain crowded with people disregarding the lockdown. Considering the situation, the SMC decided to shift a number of street vendors to an open place to reduce the rush at the market.
SMC Enforcement Officer Subhankar Mohanty said vendors sitting on both sides of the road in Golebazar make the market pathway narrow. This leads to congestion and there is a lot of physical contact among people. Considering the risk, SMC decided to shift a part of the vegetable market to the Town Hall field in front of the SMC building. Two-wheelers will also be prohibited from entering the market area.
This apart, another vegetable market in Bhalupali area has been rearranged and half of the vendors will be shifted to a nearby field on Wednesday.Meanwhile, a 12-hour restriction was enforced in Sambalpur market from Tuesday. The SMC ordered vegetable markets to close by 6 pm. Besides, disinfection drive has also been launched in the city. On the first day, Golebazar and Khetrajpur markets were disinfected.
Mohanty said the disinfection drive will be carried out at places which witness large gathering. “We have started with the market places which usually remain crowded. SMC is providing the disinfectant and fire department is assisting us in spraying it at selected places,” he added.Sources said other market places will also be shifted to mitigate the risk of virus spread in the city.
This apart, another vegetable market in Bhalupali area has been rearranged and half of the vendors will be shifted to a nearby field on Wednesday.
Grocery at your DoorSteps from March 26, Sambalpur
Get Grocery at your DoorSteps from today March 26th, as the administration has shortlisted 79 grocery stores across nine wards of the Sambalpur city and people can contact any of the store nearest to their ward.
With people of Sambalpur resorting to panic buying leading to overcrowding at markets, the district administration has decided to provide grocery at their doorsteps from Thursday.The move comes following a meeting on Wednesday to take stock of coronavirus prevention measures where issues like overcrowding at shops and panic buying were raised.
The administration has shortlisted 79 grocery stores across nine wards of the Sambalpur city and people can contact any of the store nearest to their ward. “The shopkeeper after collecting multiple orders from one locality, will send the stocks to the area through autorickshaws. We have identified volunteers who will collect the ordered items and deliver them at people’s houses. All precautions will be taken to ensure that the grocery packets are sanitised and there is no multiple handling of the packets”, said an official of the administration.
Meanwhile, panic buying was witnessed at several places in the city right after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for nationwide lockdown on Monday evening.
A local, Karuna Sahu went ahead to purchase a large stock of onions, potatoes and rice after coming to know that wholesale shops are running out of stock. “I bought potatoes for `25 a kg a day before but today, the price went up to `35 per kg. If shops are unable to maintain the stock, people will face shortage of food materials very soon”, he said.
Price of onion and rice was also high at the Khetrajpur market, which is the largest wholesale market in the city. Most of the wholesalers here claimed that the stocks have become low in the last few days. Locals, however, allege that traders at Khetrajpur are hoarding food grains and vegetables to sell them at exorbitant rate at the later phase of lockdown.
Like wholesalers, retail shopkeepers are also claiming to have limited stock of essential commodities as trucks carrying the goods are not reaching Sambalpur on time. To deal with the shortage, traders are restricting people from buying groceries and vegetables in large quantities. They are apprehensive of the situation worsening if the trucks do not arrive by the end of this week.
The homeless and daily wagers are also facing the brunt. Though they are being provided food through various sources but are still apprehensive that they might not be able to buy regular food items once the prices rise due to shortage.
How will it operate
- 79 grocery stores across 9 wards selected
- People can contact the stores and place orders
- After taking multiple orders from an area, shopkeeper will send the stock to the place through an auto
- A volunteer of the administration will collect the grocery stock and deliver it at people’s doorsteps
- All precautions will be taken to ensure that the grocery packets are sanitised
Odisha’s second Covid-19 testing Lab at Sambalpur
The Odisha Government is planning to set up Odisha’s second Covid-19 testing Lab at Sambalpur to ease the burden on the state only other facility at Bhubaneswar.
The state government is working out the modalities of setting up a Biosafety Levels 2(BSl2) laboratory at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (ViMSAR), a senior official said on Thursday.
Jayashree Dora, the superintendent of VIMSAR, said the institute has sent a feasibility report to the government in this regard and decision will be taken shortly.
The laboratory is likely to come up in the microbiology department of the hospital, she said.
Couple surrendered, for running fake college in Sambalpur
Dhanupali police arrested a couple who had been running a fake plus two arts college in Charbhati area, Sambalpur. The couple, Tusar Barik and his wife Manjulata, were operating Jamuna Devi Junior College from a rented house in Charbati area under Dhanupali police limits without any affiliation from the Council of Higher Secondary Education. They had duped 25 students of Rs9.75 lakh.
The couple had taken Rs36,000 from each student in the last two years as admission fees, besides Rs 3,000 each as examination fees. Sambalpur SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said the couple suo motu appeared in the Dhanupali police station and they have been detained. Based on the evidences, further decision on arresting them will be taken on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the students, who had taken admission in the fake institution and failed to appear in the Plus Two examination, staged dharna in front of the residence of the Sambalpur Collector demanding stringent action against the culprits. They withdrew the agitation after Collector Subham Saxena assured them a high-level probe into the incident.
Tusar was principal of the fake college while Manjulata was a faculty member. On Wednesday when the students sought admit card for appearing the Plus Two exams, they were told that the cards would be provided at their examination centre. However, when the students turned up at the examination centre at Anchalik College in Subarnapur district, they were refused. They rushed back to their college only to find it locked and both Tusar and Manjulata missing.
