Odisha Govt Announces Rs 3 Lakh Ex-Gratia For Kin Of Keonjhar Accident Victims

The major accomplishments of the government include opening of the four gates of Srimandir, the abode of Lord Jagannath at Puri, unlocking of the Ratna Bhandar of Srimandir after four decades, hiking paddy’s minimum support price (MSP) to Rs 3,100 and rolling out its flagship women welfare initiative Subhadra Yojana.

In order to bring the governance closer to the people, CM Majhi reopened the Chief Minister’ Grievance Cell which had remained closed for 16 years. He, along with senior ministers and top officers, has started listening to people’s grievances every Monday.

Under CM Majhi’s rule, the bureaucracy has seemingly been more active. The CM’s presence in his office in the state secretariat for long hours and regular review of the progress of various projects and schemes have galvanised the administrative machinery starting from the top level to the grassroots.

In the Lok Sabha polls held early this year, the BJP won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats and the state got three lawmakers  — Jual Oram, Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw — inducted into the Union council of ministers. These three top leaders have been playing well-supporting roles in the state’s development process.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while launching the Mohan Majhi government’s Subhadra Yojana on Tuesday here, said the double-engine government in Odisha has already started delivering and the state would soon emerge as one of the fastest growing provinces in the country.

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Abhijit Mondal, the former SHO of Tala Police Station, is in CBI custody and is being probed on charges of giving misleading information and tampering with evidence. The investigating officials, however, doubt that he is just a cog in the wheel and his actions were steered by instructions from some influential brains.

Sources said while the investigation officials have been able to secure some incriminating evidence on how the former and controversial RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh tried to influence the initial investigation process, the CBI sleuths doubt that there are more within the administration who were involved in the bigger plot.

The first thing, sources added, which is under the focus of investigation, is under what or whose influence the post-mortem of the body was conducted after sunset. The general practice is that the autopsy is conducted before sunset.

The second question that is haunting the investigation team is whether the haste in conducting the post-mortem after sunset was done to ensure a similarly hurried cremation of the body on the same night.

The third point where the investigating officials are trying to join the dots is the source of influence that prompted the authorities to ignore the demand of the victim’s parents to preserve the body of their daughter at least for a day.

Sources added that from the orchestrated manner in which the entire process -- starting from post-sunset autopsy to hurried cremation -- was done, it is clear that not just one but multiple influencers could be behind the orchestration.

The sources also said that the investigation officials now firmly believe that some more influential brains had operated from behind the scenes with some pawns being in the forefront.

The body of a woman doctor was found in mysterious circumstances in the R.G.Kar premises on August 9 morning. Initially, one person was arrested in the case and later two more -- ex-principal Sandip Ghosh and suspended SHO Abhijit Mondal -- were also held.

(IANS)

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The first hour of the session belonged to Bangladesh as Mahmud challenged the edges of batters regularly and rocked India by taking out Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli in quick succession.

But Jaiswal (37 not out) hit six impressive boundaries while being watchful in defence to be the main run-scorer in the session. 

On the other hand, Pant was promoted to number five ahead of KL Rahul, and has looked solid while hitting five boundaries for his unbeaten 33 in his first Test innings after nearly 20 months.

Pushed into batting first on a spicy red-soil pitch and overcast skies, Bangladesh got early morning swing due to moisture in the surface. India got first boundary after 23 balls of the start of their innings, when Rohit unfurled a square drive through point off Mahmud, four balls after surviving a close lbw appeal off him, as ball tracking showed umpire’s call.

After Hasan troubled Rohit in the previous over, the pacer finally got the Indian skipper out when he got a length ball to nip away and take the outside edge to second slip. Hasan came back to dismiss Gill for an eight-ball duck, as the batter flicked behind to the keeper.

From the other end, Jaiswal did the bulk of scoring by bringing his wrists into play for the flick, followed by cover-driving and on-driving the fuller balls for more boundaries. But Hasan continued to strike as he lured Kohli to drive outside the off-stump and got a thick edge which was caught easily by the keeper.

But Jaiswal and Pant, who was dropped by Shadman Islam in the last over before lunch, ensured India didn’t get into further trouble. Despite some initial frenetic running between the wickets, the duo brought out flicks, cuts, drives, and pulls against pacers and spinners to establish an unbroken 54-run stand for the fourth wicket till lunch break came.

Brief Scores: India 88/3 in 23 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 37 not out, Rishabh Pant 33 not out; Hasan Mahmud 3-14) against Bangladesh at lunch

(IANS)

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