Unsafe wheels put schoolkids at risk - Vehicles overloaded with schoolchildren go unpunished in Paradip because of lack of surveillance

Risky Game: An overloaded vehicle carries schoolchildren in Paradip. Telegraph picture Paradip, March 29: The safety of schoolchildren commuting through various modes of transport to their respective institutions here is at stake. The safety issues of the schoolchildren apparently do not remain in priority list of the authorities of the English medium private schools that have lately mushroomed in this port town. The sight of small children packed like sardines in pick-up vans, autorickshaws and cyclerickshaws are too glaring to escape one’s notice. The overloaded vehicles give a distasteful look of miniature cattle wagons full of children. “The journey is highly unsafe. Most of the vehicles that carry schoolchildren in Paradip traverse though the accident-prone national highway and state highway. With the vehicles being overloaded, threat of mishaps looms large,” said Binayak Swain, child rights activist. “There are around 20 private educational institutions in the port town and its periphery. Most of these schools do not have bus service of their own. Parents are forced to ferry their wards in private transports modes like vans, autorickshaws and cyclerickshaws. These vehicles do not stick to safety norms while ferrying the children,” he said. “My son is enrolled in a school that is around 2km from our residence. I accompany him to the school in a rickshaw. I was initially thinking of sending him on pick-up vans. But I gave up the idea as it is a not a safe mode of transportation,” said Suchismita Pattnaik, a homemaker. There is no mechanism to regulate the transport vehicles that are carrying schoolchildren. Neither the road transport department nor the civil administration is paying attention to the issue. Even the school authorities are found washing off their hands from this tricky issue. “We have hired buses on contract to ferry children from distant locations. We do not have any other school-owned transport mode for children. It’s the responsibility of parents and guardians to see that children are brought to school safely,” said James Tharanyl, principal, Saint Joseph’s public school. “The vehicles carrying children beyond their capacity are liable to face penal action. But the fact is that the administration is not in receipt of a single complaint in this regard. Still, the road transport authorities are being directed to keep watch on the school vehicles,” said Sarojkanta Choudhury, additional district magistrate. According to child rights activist Swain, there are instances of unlawful operation of school vehicles with LPG gas cylinders. Incidentally, the port town is not having any authorised centre for gas kits for vehicular use. The operators are putting the small children at risk. But they are going unpunished because of gross absence of surveillance by motor vehicle inspectors.    (sourced from the telegraph)

Education For All-

News cutting from The Dharitri dt.24.03.2011

News cutting from The Dharitri dt.24.03.2011

Land trouble for six primary schools in Paradip

MANOJ KAR

Classes at Loknath Colony Project Primary School are being conducted temporarily at an anganwadi centre and (right) the another primary school functioning in a thatched house in Paradip. Telegraph pictures Paradip, March 25: The government-run primary education system is the latest victim of dual administration in the port town. Six government-run primary schools do not have permanent buildings as the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) authorities refused to allot land to the state government to construct the buildings. At present, the schools are being operated from temporary structures. These schools are meant for slum children belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities. All these schools are housed in temporary accommodation extended by private organisations. Though flush with funds under reconstruction of school buildings programme (RSBP), the school and mass education department has failed bring up school buildings as the port authorities have thrown a spanner on their plan. “Within the Paradip Municipality’s jurisdiction, there are 14 government-run primary schools. “While eight of those located within the planned civil township have permanent buildings, the rest of such schools in slum settlements are languishing without buildings of their own,” said Surath Mallick, executive officer, Paradip Municipality. “The schools lacking building infrastructure are Bangalipada Primary School (ward-18), Loknath Colony Project Primary School, Lockpada Primary School, Bangalipada Primary School (ward-6), Balijhara Gholapada Primary School and Beer-Factory Primary School,” said Debendra Das, district inspector of schools, Kujang. “The schools are presently functioning temporarily in local anganwadi centres, the offices of self-help groups and youth clubs. Academic activities are getting affected for obvious reasons as the schools do not have their own infrastructure. Children enrolled in these schools are getting deprived of mid-day meal as there is no room for cooking foods for the school’s children,” said Mallick, executive officer of the municipality. The Jagatsinghpur district collector, Narayan Chandra Jena, said: “These schools are facing several problems. The administration has decided to solve the crisis as children from poor families are enrolled in these schools. The municipality authorities and the school and mass education department officials have been directed to submit a report regarding the lack of infrastructure of these institutions.” “The private building where our school is functioning also houses an anganwadi centre, an organisation’s office, and a self-help group office, besides a youth club. On most occasions, we are forced to teach students on the balcony of the building. There is no facility to provide meals to the children,” said Laxmi Mahakud, headmistress of the Loknath Colony Project Primary School. The PPT authorities, however, said the problem is that these government-run institutions have come up in unauthorised and encroached land. “The PPT’s policy is not against opening up of schools by the government. But it should be established in a litigation-free land,” said Pravat Kumar Nanda, secretary of the PPT.   (sourced from the telegraph)

Land trouble for six primary schools in Paradip

MANOJ KAR

Classes at Loknath Colony Project Primary School are being conducted temporarily at an anganwadi centre and (right) the another primary school functioning in a thatched house in Paradip. Telegraph pictures

Paradip, March 25: The government-run primary education system is the latest victim of dual administration in the port town.

Six government-run primary schools do not have permanent buildings as the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) authorities refused to allot land to the state government to construct the buildings. At present, the schools are being operated from temporary structures. These schools are meant for slum children belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

All these schools are housed in temporary accommodation extended by private organisations. Though flush with funds under reconstruction of school buildings programme (RSBP), the school and mass education department has failed bring up school buildings as the port authorities have thrown a spanner on their plan.

“Within the Paradip Municipality’s jurisdiction, there are 14 government-run primary schools.

“While eight of those located within the planned civil township have permanent buildings, the rest of such schools in slum settlements are languishing without buildings of their own,” said Surath Mallick, executive officer, Paradip Municipality.

“The schools lacking building infrastructure are Bangalipada Primary School (ward-18), Loknath Colony Project Primary School, Lockpada Primary School, Bangalipada Primary School (ward-6), Balijhara Gholapada Primary School and Beer-Factory Primary School,” said Debendra Das, district inspector of schools, Kujang.

“The schools are presently functioning temporarily in local anganwadi centres, the offices of self-help groups and youth clubs. Academic activities are getting affected for obvious reasons as the schools do not have their own infrastructure. Children enrolled in these schools are getting deprived of mid-day meal as there is no room for cooking foods for the school’s children,” said Mallick, executive officer of the municipality.

The Jagatsinghpur district collector, Narayan Chandra Jena, said: “These schools are facing several problems. The administration has decided to solve the crisis as children from poor families are enrolled in these schools. The municipality authorities and the school and mass education department officials have been directed to submit a report regarding the lack of infrastructure of these institutions.”

“The private building where our school is functioning also houses an anganwadi centre, an organisation’s office, and a self-help group office, besides a youth club. On most occasions, we are forced to teach students on the balcony of the building. There is no facility to provide meals to the children,” said Laxmi Mahakud, headmistress of the Loknath Colony Project Primary School.

The PPT authorities, however, said the problem is that these government-run institutions have come up in unauthorised and encroached land.

“The PPT’s policy is not against opening up of schools by the government. But it should be established in a litigation-free land,” said Pravat Kumar Nanda, secretary of the PPT.

  (sourced from the telegraph)

Classes at Loknath Colony Project Primary School are being conducted temporarily at an anganwadi centre and (right) the another primary school functioning in a thatched house in Paradip. Telegraph pictures

Funds blow to civic body - Members up in arms against embezzlement

MANOJ KAR

The Paradip Municipality administrative office. Telegraph picture Paradip, Nov. 23: Close on the heels of mysterious disappearance of immovable asset like ‘pindis’ or shelter structures, more skeletons have begun tumbling out of Paradip Municipality’s cupboard. The alleged misuse of urban development grants has come to the forefront with the civic body council drawing the state government’s attention. Majority of members of the urban local body (ULB) are up in arms against the money laundering allegedly perpetrated by the dissolved municipality body during 2008-09. “Fiscal embezzlement is crystal clear. An estimated Rs 2.67 crore were by and large misappropriated by the former ULB. After the new municipality council took over earlier this year, we have unmasked the corruptive practice,” vice-chairman of Paradip Municipality Basanta Kumar Biswal said. “The municipal body, while adopting a unanimous resolution, has knocked at the doors of the state urban development department. The state urban development minister has been apprised of the rampant misappropriation of taxpayers’ money. The council has pressed forth the point that the government should institute a probe by vigilance wing of state police apart from the special audit squad,” Biswal said. During 2008-09 financial year, authorities violated the rules and guidelines with impunity and laundered public money without adhering to mandatory tender bidding process. For street lighting, high-max lights were purchased without the mandatory tender bidding process. The materials were substandard and the lighting system gradually turned dysfunctional. “The misuse of funds during the mosquito control drive is evident. Anti-malaria lubricant to wipe out mosquito larvae was purchased from a fictitious farm instead of Indian Oil Corporation. The port town, with its 18 urban wards, required 40 to 45 barrels of larvae-killing oil, but the authorities at that time procured 137 barrels,” said Biswal. Over Rs 2 crore for urban infrastructure repair were mostly misused. For various projects, works were executed on paper only. Eighteen Balwadi workers recruited by the then ULB under Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) were mired in favouritism. “Without seeking the advice of the neighbourhood committee, appointments were made. However, the ICDS authorities terminated the recruitments after the urban local body members had taken up the matter,” Biswal said. “The ULB members have raised these corruption-related issued in the municipality council meet and they have adopted an official resolution in this regard. The state urban development department is probing the charges,” said executive officer of municipality Surath Mallick. Paradip Port Trust takes care of most of the work in urban infrastructure development in Paradip civil township. However, the municipality body is duty-bound to look after the civic amenities and sanitation measures in the township. The municipality had taken care of the drinking water supply and road laying and repair in a cluster of slum settlements, said Mallick. Paradip, Nov 23 Close on the heels of mysterious disappearance of immovable asset like ‘pindis’ or shelter structures, more skeletons have begun tumbling out of Paradip municipality’s cupboard. The alleged misuse of urban development grants has come to the forefront with the civic body council drawing the state government’s attention. Majority of members of the urban local body are up in arms against the money laundering allegedly perpetrated by the dissolved municipality body during 2008-09 financial year. “Fiscal embezzlement is crystal clear. An estimated Rs 2.67 crore was by and large misappropriated by the former ULB. After the new municipality council took over earlier this year, we have unmasked the corruptive practice”, Basanta Kumar Biswal, vice chairman, Paradip municipality told The Telegraph. “The municipal body while adopting a unanimous resolution has knocked at the doors of state urban development department. The State urban development minister has been apprized of the rampant misappropriation of tax payers’ money. The council has pressed forth the point that the government should institute a probe by vigilance wing of state police besides by special audit squad”, Vice chairman Biswal maintained. The said financial irregularities were perpetrated during 2008-09 financial year. The then authorities violated the rules and guidelines with impunity and laundered public money without adhering to mandatory tender bidding process. For street lighting, high-max lights were purchased without the mandatory tender bidding process. The materials were substandard. As a result, lighting system gradually turned dysfunctional. “Whiff of fund misuse in mosquito control drive is quite noticeable. Anti-malaria lubricant to wipe out mosquito larvae was purchased unauthorizedly from a fictitious farm while the public sector Indian oil corporation used to supply this oil in past. The port town with its 18 urban wards is in requirement of 40-45 barrels of larvae-killing oil, but the then authorities procured 137 barrels of such oil during the said period”, charged vice chairman Biswal. Over Rs 2 crore spent for urban infrastructure repair was mostly misused. For various projects, works were executed on paper only. Eighteen Balwadi workers recruited by the then ULB under Integrated child development scheme (ICDS) was mired in favoritism. Without seeking the advice of ‘neighborhood committee, the appointments were made. However, the ICDS authorities terminated the recruitment after the urban local body members took up the matter, he told. “The urban local body members have raised these corruption-related issued in the municipality council meeting and they have adopted an official resolution in this regard. The charges that were leveled by the council members are now being probed by the state urban development department”, said Surath Mallick, executive officer of the municipality. The major works in urban infrastructure development in Paradip civil township is shouldered by Paradip port trust. However the municipality body is duty-bound to look after the civic amenities and sanitation measures in the fast-growing township. The drinking water supply and road laying and repair in a cluster of slum settlements, both authorized and unauthorized, are taken care of by the municipality body, added Mallick. sourced from the telegraph

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.

Coastal Management Laboratory to be setup at paradip.

As part of World Bank’s aided Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project(ICZMP) , Orissa is in the streamline of setting up a coastal Management Laboratory for promoting wet land research and species research.In the initial phase the proposed laboratory would monitor programme on air, water and soil around Paradip coast. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patanaik is very optimistic about the project.While addressing a state level workshop Chief Minister Naveen Patanaik said that about 120 km out of 480 long coastline of Orissa would be covered through the ICZMP programme. He added,” It is essential to manage coastal zone by balancing and integrating demands of various sectors , awareness about its values and promote its right use by the local people who use it for their livelihood.” ICZMP would be implemented in pilot basis in three states comprising West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.The project in Orissa will start at two places – Paradip to Dhamra port(40 km) and Gopalpur to Chilika (80 km).The estimation says that about 25 lakh people will be benefited from the ICZMP project.