Jatamundia bridge opened for public
Athagarh: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Jatamundia-Subarnapur bridge over Mahanadi at Jatamundia in Cuttack district on Wednesday. With this, the distance between Banki and Athagarh Subdivision has been lessened by over 25 km and road connectivity opened between Khordha and Sambalpur via Athagarh. The construction of the bridge had started in 2008. The Rajalaxmi Construction, which was given the contract, took five more years to complete the construction. The bridge had earlier been targeted to be completed in 2011. For the delay, `7 crore was spent as the estimate increased from `54 crore to 61 crore. During construction work, the bridge had been collapsed for two times.
Titilagarh BDO arrested for `13-lakh fraud
Bhubaneswar: Vigilance officials on Wednesday arrested Titilagarh Block Development Officer (BDO) on charges of fraud. According to sources, BDO Sushil Kujur had misappropriated `13 lakh granted for plantation programme during his stint as Dhenkanal BDO in 2009. A complaint had been lodged with the Vigilance, following which investigation was started. During investigation, the State anti-graft unit found Kujur responsible for the misappropriation of funds and finally arrested him on Wednesday evening. He was produced in a local Vigilance court.
Bandh disrupts normal life in Burla
Sambalpur: Normal life came to a standstill at Burla due to a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Burla Sangram Samiti on Thursdaydemanding permanent land record of rights. Samiti members blocked roads at many places bringing vehicular movement to a halt. All educational institutes, private organisations and business establishments remained closed.
3 quintal ganja seized; 4 held in Kandhamal
Phulbani: More than three quintals of ganja, two cars, two big trunks and press machine were seized by police in Kandhamal district on Thursday. The cops detained four persons in this connection. Of the four arrested, three are inter-State ganja mafias. They were identified as Kalpana Halda, Sapan Majhi and Mukdesh Sardar from West Bengal. Another local mafia Antaryami Kanhar is a resident of Badiguda village at Phiringia.
CUO holds craft expo in Sunabeda
Koraput: The Teacher Education Department of the Central University Orissa (CUO) organised a craft exhibition on Tuesday at the university’s permanent campus, Sunabeda. CUO VC Prof Sachidananda Mohanty inaugurated the exhibition in the presence of Teacher Education Department head Dr Ramendra Kumar Parhi, faculty members and students of the university.