Temple owl in daytime flight - Forest officials observe rare bird’s behaviour

Sarala temple ,Paradip.

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Paradip, Sept. 26: A rare white owl, which is a scheduled animal under the wildlife act, has become an enigma after entering a temple here.

The avian species has apparently given up its nocturnal flight after it made the Sarala temple, located at the heart of the town, its home.

Though a nocturnal animal, the owl has been seen flying out of the temple during the day, only to reappear after dusk.

“We sighted the owl on top of a pillar-like structure of the temple on Friday night. It remains motionless. We are keeping an eye on it. It’s strange that it leaves the temple when the sun rises and returns to its new home after sunset,” said Baghirathi Sahu, a senior trustee member of the temple.

A number of local residents thought the bird was sacred and that it brought luck and prosperity.

Devotees have also been offering puja to the bird when they come to pay their respects to Sarala deity, the trustee said.

Wildlife experts have also expressed interest in this rare bird.

“It is interesting to note that this rare bird has preferred to stay in the temple. Owls are predators and search food only at night. Their visibility is exceedingly poor during the day,” said Soubhagya Kumar Sahu, a wildlife official.

Forest officials have been informed about the owl and they are keeping an eye on the bird.

“I have been informed about this owl and am studying its behaviour. The Kujang forest officer has been asked to make a report on it,” said Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, divisional forest officer (DFO), Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division.

The DFO said the white owl was a protected species under schedule 3 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

“It’s heartening to note that the temple management has ensured that no harm is done to the creature. There are many tales related to owls in Hindu mythology and this is the reason why the bird is being worshipped,” Mahapatra said.

“We believe that the owl might have strayed into the temple to prey on mice,” the DFO said and added that the bird may have stayed on due to easy availability of food there.

“The surge of devotees might be a disturbing factor for it during the day. The owl must have built its nest near the temple and is retreating there to avoid daytime din and bustle,” Mahapatra added.

Sourced from Telegraph

Pro-plant voices greet panel - Job, compensation cry at Posco site

posco transit camp,Badagabpur.

Paradip, Aug. 28: Fifty-five families of Patnagada village are living in a transit camp at Badagabapur village in the Ersama block for the last 18 months.

On the second day of their trip to Posco land, the four-member committee of the union environment and forest ministry interacted with the families, who have allegedly been driven out of their villages by anti-plant activists.

Speaking to one committee member, which is headed by former union environment secretary Meena Gupta, the representative for the 55 ‘displaced’ families, Chandan Mohanty, said: “We neither have betel vines nor do we have any claim on forestland. But we want the plant to come up. We should be duly compensated for the loss of our livelihood and land. The state government must ensure that jobs are provided to us.”

After the N.C. Saxena committee’s report stated that the district administration violated procedures laid down under the Act, the ministry of environment and forests had stopped the land acquisition process and had set up the committee.

The committee is studying whether the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (recognition of forest rights) Act, 2006, has been implemented in the three gram panchayats that fall within the proposed Rs 51,000-crore plant. “We are taking minute note of the arguments, recorded documents and related evidence in support of forest rights claims,” said Urmila Pingley, a committee member.

“Our emphasis is on the documentary evidences with regard to the Forest Rights Act,” she said.

Pro-plant United Action Committee leader Nirvay Samantaray told the panel that they “do not have forest right claims”.

Contrary to the assertions of the anti-Posco activists and the N.C. Saxena committee, Samantaray said: “The palli sabhas had passed resolutions in accordance with the Forest Rights Act and had submitted them to the authorities”.

Bhaskar Swain, sarpanch of Nuagaon, claimed that the villagers had passed a resolution stating that they had been cultivating and were in possession of the forestland for over 75 years. But the resolution was not accepted by the administration including the panchayat executive officer.

The panchayat executive officer admitted that he had not turned up at the palli sabha meeting “due to pressure from higher ups”.

“We have interacted with the stakeholders including the people, PRI representatives, members of various outfits and prospective landlosers. We are going to submit our report to the Centre based on factual findings of our two-day visit to these villages. Our emphasis will be on the FRA process but we are also taking into account versions of some villagers regarding compensation and rehabilitation,” Gupta said.

(sourced from Telegraph)

Essar Steel paradip plant to be operational by October

The 6 million tonne Essar Steel pellet plant here at paradip will be made operational by October this year.

  

The Rs  2,200 crore project includes an 8 million tonne ore beneficiation plant at Joda and Barbil and a 250 kilometer slurry pipeline from Joda to Paradip. The company plans to expand the beneficiation and pellet manufacturing capacities to 12 million tonne in the future.

Initially, the company will source iron ore from private mines at Joda and Barbil. However, the company expects that the State and Central Governments will grant it lease for a captive mine in the long run.

The pellets to be produced at Paradip would be exported through the Paradip Port to Essar's steelmaking unit at Hazira in Gujarat, which is undergoing a capacity expansion to 9.6 million tonne from 4.6 million tonne by 2012.

Internal feud at caste meet

Agriculture minister Damodar Rout and (above) Jagatsinghpur MLA Bishnu Charan Das. Telegraph pictures Bhubaneswar, Sept. 22: The infighting among senior leaders of the Biju Janata Dal today surfaced at a meeting of the Scheduled Castes Welfare Advisory Board, chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Two leaders – Jagatsinghpur MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai and Jagatsinghpur MLA Bishnu Charan Das – complained to the chief minister about certain derogatory remarks made against them by agriculture minister Damodar Rout. “Political issues should not have been raised in such official forum,” said a senior official. The chief minister remained tight-lipped on the issue during the meet. Sources, however, said Patnaik had assured the leaders that he would “look into the matter”. Though Tarai is a member of the CPI, a poll ally of the BJD, he belongs to the Das camp in district politics. Rout too hails from same district. Das and Rout are at loggerheads. The anti-Rout camp alleged that the minister said that the MP, the MLA and the local additional district magistrate – all belonging to the Harijan community – had been conspiring against him. Subsequently, a complaint was lodged and an FIR was registered against Rout. Today at the meeting when an important issue was to be raised, Tarai said that the derogatory remarks of Rout had offended the entire community and strong action should be taken against him. Das supported Tarai. “I urged the chief minister to give justice to us,” Das told newspersons. Moreover, Tarai reportedly showed Naveen a photograph in which supporters of Rout were allegedly seen burning an effigy of Das on August 24. Post meeting both Tarai and Das briefed the media about their demand for action against Rout. Rout was sidelined by the BJD Jagatsinghpur district unit, headed by Das. He was not invited to the Orissa Banchao rally, organised by the party at Jagatsinghpur on September 18. (Sourced from Telegraph)

Forest department stalls port project

MANOJ KAR

The Paradip port. Telegraph picture Paradip, Sept. 20: The Rs 506-crore deep draught iron ore terminal has failed to take off at the Paradip Port Trust (PPT). The state forest department has put the brakes on project. “We are issuing letters to the forest department. However, it is yet to concur clearance,” said chairman of the PPT Biplav Kumar. “Since this is an important port project, we are expeditiously treating the case. Once the PPT gives us an undertaking that compensatory forestation would be done by it, clearance would be sanctioned to the project,” said divisional forest officer of the Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division Manoj Kumar Mohapatra. “The spot for terminal project is under the PPT jurisdiction. However, the construction site falls under the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) territory. Our sanction, therefore, is a must for such project marked by congruity to sea,” said Mohapatra. An accord was signed between the PPT and a private bidder on July 1, 2009. The project has already hit a roadblock. This is the first project under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to be implemented in the port sector. As part of the PPP scheme of the central government, the PPT had floated global tenders for construction of the deep draught iron ore berth on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, said PPT officials. The PPT went ahead with signing agreement for the project and completed the global tender bidding process. However, the forest department was neither informed, nor was its mandatory clearance sought. The forest department, armed with technical grounds, put the brakes on it, said official sources. After obtaining clearance from the forest department, the project would have to secure the environment ministry’s approval as well. Paradip port would provide supporting facilities like dredging of channel and berth, railway lines and back-up area for construction. Moreover, the port will incur expenditure to shift the Central Industrial Security Force complex and upgrade the electrical reception facilities to facilitate implementation of the project. The project was expected to enhance cargo-handling capacity of the PPT. With export-import turnover shooting up, 14 operational berths are being exerted enormous load. According to PPT officials, ships are lying stranded for days in the port anchorage as there is continuous cargo handling operation in existing berths. On completion of the project, the PPT’s capacity addition to the port will be ten million tonne per annum. (Sourced from Telegraph)

Final lap to assess Posco impact

MANOJ KAR

Paradip, Sept. 21: The four-member Meena Gupta committee visited the Jatadhari area to assess the possible environmental impact on the coastline in proximity to the proposed Greenfield Posco steel plant here today. This is the final leg of the groundwork by the committee before it submits its report to the central government. Posco is to build a captive port at Jatadhari. “We have come here again to assess the impact the project will have on the environment and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) rules. We made a field trip to Jatadhari river mouth where a captive port is proposed to be set up as part of Posco-India’s steel project near Paradip,” Gupta told mediapersons here today. “We also studied the coastal regulation zone angle connected to the port. The related records and maps have been examined. We held discussions with both the government and Paradip port officials. Our findings, including that of alleged violation the Forest Rights Act in Posco project areas, would be submitted to the central government by September 30,” he said. The central panel members earlier held discussions with officials of forest, environment and district authorities. During the one-hour meeting, the panel members made persistent queries on the high tide and the low tide zones along the shoreline. The panel noted down the points made by the officials with regard to the CRZ rules,” an official present in the discussion said. Later, the Gupta-led committee visited the proposed port site at Jatadhar muhan. The panel members spent about half-an-hour at the sea beach and assessed the rules. “We accompanied the central team. They examined all the issues pertaining to the impact on the environment and the assessment of the CRZ,” said Nrusingha Charan Swain, special land acquisition officer for the project, refusing to give any further details. The committee held a separate discussion with the Paradip Port Trust chairman, the officials said. The committee, during its visit to the site on August 27 and 28, interacted with the villagers who are likely to be affected by the proposed plant. The group had received petitions from the villagers who said that they had been living in the area for several years and the district administration had not followed the Forest Rights Act while acquiring the land. The committee tried to verify the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Regulation of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. A joint committee of forest and tribal welfare, headed by N.C. Saxena, had earlierfound that the Forest Rights Act was not adhered to at the Posco project area. The Centre stopped work at the site and constituted the panel to look into the allegations of rights violation at the site. A notification by the MoEF, empowered the panel to review matters pertaining to Environment Impact Assessment, Coastal regulation Zone and other clearances. (Sourced from Telegraph) photos-D.P.Pattanaik

Port city welcomed the lord of all craftsmen and architects in a cyclonic weather

In spite of cloudy weather and intermittent showers due to low pressure in the Bay of Bengal, the famous Viswakarma Puja of Paradip  started from September 17 here with much fanfare and enthusiasm.

Various worker unions, truck owner  associations,trawler owner association,dumper owner associations, electrical, public health and marine departments of the Paradip Port Trust were  organized the puja . Viswakarma Puja was also  celebrated in various industries in and around Paradip like IFFCO, PPL etc.

Many temporary shops and eateries had been opened for the visitors. information centers had also opened near the puja venues from municipality. Many reputed opera (jatra) groups and melody parties of Odisha as well as outside States had perform and entertained visitors with a wide range of entertainment programmes.

Paradip police had handled the traffic and low and order very efficiently. paradip municipality had engaged its men to keeping the city and puja venue clean and checking the quality of the food item sold near puja venue.PPT fire fighter were also camped and alerted near the venue to prevent any kind of fire accident,  the co-ordination between PPT,municipality and police department made the event very successful.peoples from every religion enjoyed the puja.

Paradip people await take off - Port town to have airstrip to facilitate transport .

MANOJ KAR
Paradip, Sept. 16: Authorities of the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) are giving final touches to the much-awaited airstrip of the port town. Recently, the ministry of shipping accorded ‘go-ahead’ sign for the airstrip.

“The port town is going to have the air travel facility. We are giving final shape to the project,” said chairman of the PPT Biplav Kumar.

The rise in mineral ore export has led the ore-laden trucks to avail of the Paradip-Cuttack and Paradip-Daitary expressways resulting in poor traffic management. “The national highways leading to the port town are often plagued by traffic jam. It is putting Paradip in bad light keeping in mind the surge in industrial ventures in the peripheral areas,” he said.

“The plan for an airstrip has been pending since long. The need for an airstrip was deliberated to the union shipping secretary during his recent visited to the PPT. Later the Union ministry agreed to our plan,” said the chairman.

Carving out an airstrip in the PPT was unanimously resolved in a recent meet between the officials and the board of trustees. The PPT officials are on the job to earmark about 7,000-acre patch of compact land for the project.
“The PPT is shortly going to apprise the Union civil aviation ministry of the project. The shipping ministry, on our behalf, would write to the Union civil aviation ministry in this regard. Once the site is earmarked, the PPT would report it to the state government,” Kumar said.

With the centre deciding to bracket Paradip under mega petroleum, chemicals and petro-chemical investment region (PCPIR) the importance of this town has gone up manifold. Moreover, the town awaits to be an industrial hub with two major steel projects, oil refinery and scores of ancillary industrial units queuing up to have base here.

(Sourced from Telegraph)

ganesh puja at paradip

.kids of twinkle twinkle play school worshiping lord Gajanaan.

Bangladeshi infiltration: Threat to costal security

Bangladeshi infiltration: Threat to costal security


Odisha has one of the largest coastlines, stretching over 480 kms along the Bay of Bengal. But, as regards the security measures taken to plug any illegal and terror related influx from outside, there are still many question marks.
Right from the ITR Chandipur, near Balasore, Wheeler Island close to the Dhamra port (which comprise of several defence-related establishments of utmost importance) and other strategic points like Paradeep Port, etc are not adequately secure. On Several occasions, in the past, fishing vessels from Myamar, Thailand and most frequently from Bangladesh had been seized by the forest authorities or the coast guard.

The coast passing along Kendrapara springs several surprises, as the illegal influx of Bangladeshis continue. Today, areas like Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur coast have become mini-Bangladesh as the migrant population keeps ballooning every year.

The influx of Bangladeshi immigrants in the coastal patches along the Mahanadi deltaic region, which possesses the country’s second largest mangrove cover, has started since the seventies and it has posed a serious problem to the local administrations in Kendrapara. Under the shadows of the political parties, these intruders have apparently bolstered their own fate in the alien land at the cost of the locals and destroying the region’s fragile eco-system. They have also turned these areas into a safe haven for illegal activities.

The Bangladeshi infiltrators manage to intrude in the coastal Kendrapara district, every year, during in the month of May - September in order to settle in the dollar spinning prawn business near the coasts. Some also come to their relatives’ houses, who have settled in the coastal districts, to help their relatives in prawn farming. During the month of September, some of the Bangladeshi immigrants manage to return to their country after harvesting prawns and some illegally manage to settle permanently in the coastal pockets of Rajnagar and Mahakalpada blocks.

According to official sources, the Bangladeshi immigrants have infiltrated into the coastal Kendrapara district in two phases. The influx of Bangladeshi nationals had started in the year 1947 during the partition of Bangladesh and it became more pronounced after the Bangladeshi Liberation War in 1971 and has been rapidly rising since then. The maximum chunk of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and the illegal settlement has gone unabated since the eighties, as these people had taken the sea route to reach in these areas and settle here.

In the year 1956, nearly 1250 Bangla immigrants were rehabilitated as registered refugees and resettled in the coastal pockets of Rajnagar assembly constituency. During the 1980s, the number of immigrants was only 20,000 but now their number is more than 60,000, said a septuagenarian registered refugee, Nepali Sarkar, of Tubi.

Most of the Bangla immigrants have been coming from the district of Jashore, Khulna, Barishal and Faridpur districts of Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi intruded into Kendrapara and they took the sea-route to land here. All the illegal immigrants concealed their nationality and posed themselves as owing their origin from Midnapur in West Bengal. With the immigrants bearing the striking similarity in physical appearance and mother tongue with that of the locals, who have migrated from West Bengal, had settled in the coastal pockets of Rajnagar, Mahakalpada and Pattamundai block, official sources stated.

The villages, where illegal settlement of Bangladeshi were residing, are identified as Dangamal, Talachua, Rangani, Gupti, Bhitarkanika, Gahirmatha, Benakanda, Ramanagar, Jamboo, Kharnashi, Batighar., Pitapat, Kulapatia, Barajabahakuda, Ahirajpur, Vecta, amarabati, manjulapalli, Daityaprasad, Bahakud, Rajapatana, Birabhanjapur, Bhanjaprasad,Tiakyatnagar, Krushnanagar, Rajendranagar, Uddyana, kanakanagar, Kalatunga and Guladia. In these villages more than 70 per cent Bangla infiltrators are now unauthorised residents.

While areas like Chandballi, Rajnagar, Jamboo, Ramnagar, Kharinasi, Batighar, Mahakalpada, have turned into hub for intruders from across the border, political coupled with administrative support is said to have given boost to unsavory trend of infiltration. Locals alleged that with the infiltrators getting the political patronage, their unlawful stay was legalised over the years with sizeable number of them availing ration cards, voter’s identity card and BPL cards and allegedly enjoyed government benefits.

These Bangla infiltrators, destroying the mangrove cover in the coastal belt, have turned it either to some home-stead land or paddy fields as a result the illegal immigrants seemingly invited ecological disaster to the area. Massive prawn farming operation by them also brought about environmental degradation in several ways, alleged locals.

About 60 clusters of hamlets inhabit in the fringes of Bhitarkanika National Park and several villages have developed illegally within the sanctuary limits in the last half a decade by decimating mangroves. These areas are yet to be notifies as reserve forest area, adding to the complexities of protecting the unique mangrove forest, said forest officials of Rajnagar Mangrove forest.

The Bangladeshi infiltrators have also created the Bhitarkanika National park area into a safe haven for their criminal activities.

The local police had arrested some Bangladeshi immigrants in the year 2004 from Mahakalpada area on the alleged charge of circulating counterfeit currency notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500 denomination in Jamboo, Kharanashi, Talachua , Dangamal and Rangani areas. The local police had seized counterfeit currency notes and some printing machinery, etc, which were used for the making of counterfeit currency notes.

In 2001, the Rajnagar police had also unearthed six illegal radio stations, which operated in the sea-side hamlets of Rajnagar block .Local police had arrested one Bakuram Dey, on the alleged charge of operating the fake radio stations.

According to police, the radio stations, which were unearthed by the police, were established at Balabhadrapur, Baradia, Kuitkulla, Dushigaon, Odasahi and Dhamara village by the Bangladeshi immigrants. Through this radio station, the Bangla infiltrators had allegedly sent some valuable information about defence to their country.

Several cases of temple burglary and idol thefts in Rajnagar block were committed by these Bangladeshi infiltrators. Police also arrested about dozen Bangla immigrants on the alleged charge of selling the idols in the adjoining areas of Rajnagar, informed sources in the police department.

Every now and then, these Bangla infiltrators commit wildlife crimes. In last five years, the local police and forest officials arrested more than 40 Bangla immigrants on the alleged charges of poaching more than 45 endangered migratory bird species, 15 deer, six boars and a dozen of Olive Ridley sea turtles. The police have also seized antlers, hide and raw venison from their possession during the raids, informed police sources.

These Bangla immigrants are also involved in luring the gullible girls to West Bengal and outside the district with ulterior motives and later engaged them in the flesh trade or immoral trafficking. Some even lured the girls by giving false assurance of attractive marriage and job offers. The poverty stricken parents easily fall prey to such offers and the girls ended up in the flesh trade, informed police sources.

More than 2,000 cases have been registered in the local courts regarding the problems of Bangladeshi immigrants and about 60-70 percent case’s decision are going against the state government

Even after three years of the state government serving Quit India notice under the Foreigners’ Act, 1948, to at least 1551 Bangladeshi immigrants, who had come to the seaside villages after December 16, 1971, and have been residing in the coastal pockets of Mahakalpada block, but the deportation drive of 1551 Bangladeshi immigrants is yet to start.

The state government is sitting silent on the deportation drive of the Bangladeshi immigrants allegedly by encouraging them to reside illegally in the coastal patches and spreading crimes in the areas. Locals alleged that more than 3000 Bangla immigrants have allegedly infiltrated to the coastal pockets and they were residing in Kajalapatia, Batighar, Bahakuda,Kharanashi and Pitapata after the district administration served Quit India notice, on January 15, 2005.

The apparent intention is that sizeable section from this particular community may turn into the vote-bank in the coming general polls .The state government does not want to deport Bangladeshi immigrants, as the Bangladeshis immigrants have proved to be a major vote bank for the local political leaders, who tasted victory in the past. With much political interests at stake, the state government has either ignored the issue or launched steps detrimental to infiltrators’ interest haphazardly, alleged Ranjan Sahu, a local resident.

It seems the state government might have dragged its feet over the deportation subject without taking up the matter further, for which the final report for deportation of the Bangla immigrants is lying idle on the state government’s table, according to official sources.

To corroborate the point, the locals reiterate that a mere two thousand odd members of the community have been identified till date even though not less than 40,000 illegal immigrants are firmly ensconced in these parts. The Bhitarkanika National Park is the country’s only wildlife sanctuary where such immense population pressure is rising day by day. As senior state government officials from this part informed the dictate from the higher-ups in the past years had slowed down the move on this sensitive issue.

A drive to detect these foreign nationals was undertaken, in 2003, for the last time and since then the joint exercise by police and revenue staff of the district administration is yet to happen, the locals alleged.

The Coast Guard personals have recently enhanced vigil in the sea route of Bay of Bengal keeping in view on the basis of threat perception from the sea route by Bangladeshi intruders after the terrorists, who sneaked into Mumbai via sea route and attacked Taj, Oberai hotels and Nariman house in Mumbai.

Two ships ‘Suchitra Krupalini’ and ‘Rama Devi’ reached Paradeep Port on first week of December from West Bengal’s Haladia Port to monitor the coastline of the state to mitigate possible threat of cross-border activities and intrusion of Bangladeshis into the coastal pockets of Mahakalapada and Rajnagar block.

But the role of Coast Guard is limited and the state government has yet not been able to establish essentially required 18 Costal police stations, including Paradeep and Jamboo, despite the repeated advice from the Centre.

Experts strongly feel that the said migrants are the baseline informers for their native perpetrators of unrest. The situation is indeed pathetic and if any outside elements design some plot, they could enjoy a walk-over, like breeze. Is anyone listening?