MAHABUBNAGAR

A  Shekhar, 25, committed suicide a year ago. A resident of Burgupalle village in Andhra Pradesh’s Mahabub - nagar district, he had bought half a hectare (ha) for growing paddy.

FOLLOWING two deaths and a series of misreported facts, the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) cancelled the environment ministry’s clearance to a thermal power plant in Sompeta in coastal Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) in Delhi has cancelled the environmental clearance to the coal-fired power plant that was to be built near Sompeta in northern Andhra Pradesh.

South Korean steel maker POSCO has announced an enhanced compensation package for people affected by its proposed mega steel plant near Paradip port in Orissa. Village residents demanding relocation of the project rejected the proposal. (Read about earlier protest: Police clears way for POSCO)

People agitating against the Pohang Steel Company's (POSCO) proposed plant in Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa appear to have softened their stance on the project following a meeting with chief minister Naveen Patnaik on June 13. At the meeting in Bhubaneswar, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) representatives agreed to allow the state government to continue its socio-economic survey of the three gram panchayats at the project site provided no policemen accompanied the surveyors. The villagers and activists had so far been resisting the survey that began on May 25.

The mining scam unfolding in Orissa shows companies, big and small, have been illegally extracting ores worth hundreds of crores of rupees for years.

The state vigilance department began probing the scam after the opposition highlighted irregularities in mining in July last year. Till date it has registered 11 cases against individuals and mining companies, including big names like Rungta Mines and Ms Serajuddin and Company. The department has also filed cases against some forest and mining officials who allegedly connived with mining companies.

People  belonging to Dongria Kondh tribal community have accused multinational mining company, Vedanta, of felling trees near Niyamgiri hills for bauxite mining.

The allegations were levelled when members of a fact finding committee of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MOEF) visited Kalahandi in the last week of January. The committee headed by retired additional director general of MOEF, Vinod Rishi, is looking into possible violation of forest and wildlife laws.

Government doctors serving in rural areas of Orissa are often found missing from workplace. So, the chief district medical officer of the tribal dominated Sonepur district decided to use technology to watch over the doctors.

Eighty-year-old  Champo Bariha, a resident of Chabripali village in the tribal district of Balangir, gets Rs 200 a month as old age pension and 25 kg subsidized rice that below poverty line (bpl) families are allocated. It was too little for his family of seven to survive on. Champo’s wife, Minji (70) died on December 17.

Public protests against posco’s steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa turned violent on May 15 when police lathi- charged people sitting on dharna and fired rubber bullets at them. Over 100 persons were injured. The protesters had been blocking the road to the South Korean company’s steel plant site since January 26. The police were helping the district administration acquire land for the project.

In orissa more than 100 people died of sunstroke in March and April, according to media reports. The official figure is 17. As relatives of those who died run from pillar to post to claim the Rs 10,000 compensation from the state government, summer in the state has peaked—Talcher in Angul district recorded 47.1°C on April 21. The maximum day temperature in the state crossed 40°C for 17 days in March and it remained 42°C from April 1 to 23.

an oil spill near the Gopalpur port in Orissa on April 12 has triggered concern over the safety of Olive Ridley turtles. The mishap occurred 17 km from the Rushikulya river mouth, one of the main nesting grounds of the endangered turtles.

The oil slick may have killed marine organisms like jelly fish that constitute turtle food, said Biswajit Mohanty, the coordinator of Operation Kachhapa, a turtle protection initiative. “When the hatchlings emerge from the eggs and make their way to the sea, they may find themselves facing a food crisis,” he added.

Orissa’s health officials are now part of a closed users group (cug) facility that allows them to communicate over cellular phones free of cost. Over 18,000 employees, including the health secretary, are linked through the BSNL phone facility launched in March.

a seven-month fishing ban imposed by the Orissa government near the coast, from the Dhamra river mouth to the Rishikulya river mouth, has angered fishers. The ban has dried up their income and they have no other means of earning a living.

THE Orissa government suspended operations in 128 mines of the state after mining officials detected largescale irregularities in their functioning.

THE Orissa government has accepted the Central governments recommendations to include primitive tribes and households headed by single women in the list of families below poverty line (bpl) as the state gears to conduct the 2009 survey to identify bpl families. Households headed by physically challenged persons, families of hiv positive persons will also be included in the list.

Company increases effluent outlets instead of plugging them

No unnatural tiger deaths in Orissa zoo since 10 died in 2000

Anyone can appeal against a project, says high court

Marine protected areas have put thousands of fishers out of business. It doesn't have to be so

Olive Ridley turtles missed their annual nesting trip to the Orissa coast last year. Conservation groups blamed the upcoming port at Dhamra. The turtles are back this year, and port proponents Tata and L&T claim vindication. They overlook the violations that have allowed the port at Dhamra in the first place

Few states illustrate the socio-economic faultlines of India like Orissa--rich in natural resources but with half its population living below the
poverty line. The old economy of fishers and farmers faces a new economy of extraction, dominated by the mining
industry. Pitched battles have clear political overtones. As the state goes to the polls, Ashutosh Mishra visited a few zones of
conflict

Hirakud farmers v industry

Mechanized boats and gillnets endanger rare species

How much more money needs to be spent to track turtle trail

Geo-tubes not for the long term

ORISSA Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for a 700-m long seawall using geo-tubes in Pentha village in Kendrapara
district on January 30. It will cost Rs 15 crore (see 'Bureaucracy on the beach', Down To Earth, September 16-30, 2008).

Hindalco continues to violate norms, damages crops

Hindalco Industries' smelting plant in Orissa's Sambalpur district faces closure.

Orissa plans to manage them

WITH wildlife habitat getting fragmented, elephants are more frequently straying into urban areas and causing mayhem. On January 1, a herd of elephants entered the Berhampur University campus and went on a rampage near campus staff quarters. The son of a staff member was injured. A few days before that a tusker had strayed into Jagannath Vihar, a residential colony in Bhubaneswar, and overturned a Tata Sumo vehicle. Its occupants got away lightly with minor bruises.

Pani panchayats to manage tanks, pay a part of the cost

A WORLD bank-funded project to rebuild irrigation tanks across Orissa to improve agricultural productivity and provide livelihood support to
villagers may flounder like several such schemes in the past. The Rs 546-crore Orissa Community Tank Management Project (

Orissa holds back excess land allotted to industry

arcelor Mittal, Jindal Steel and Power and Bhushan Steel may lose some of the land allotted for their proposed plants in Orissa, with the state government deciding to reassess the land requirement of industries. The focus is on the steel industry, which accounts for the bulk of investments in Orissa.

Orissa's floods made worse by full tank at Hirakud dam

Will Chilika's new mouth devour the lake?

chilika, Asia's largest brackish water lagoon, developed a new mouth near Gabakund village in Puri district of
Orissa on August 1. The development has alarmed not only the residents of Gabakund and adjoining villages but also environmentalists who fear

Affected by POSCO, Vedanta projects, people prepare for the final battle

after Vedanta and its Indian subsidiary, Sterlite, got the green signal to mine Niyamgiri for bauxite, Dongria Kondhs living in the hills have stepped up their vigil. They are determined to oppose any attempt at mining the hills.

School teachers in many parts of the country find the government's mid-day meal scheme a bit of a burden. For good reason it takes away
valuable teaching time. But teachers in more than 32,000 primary schools in Orissa do not have anything to complain about the mid-day meal
scheme. The scheme in these government and government-aided schools is run by women's self help groups (

pro- and anti- posco groups in Orissa clashed again. It is alleged that the hand of a
58-year old man of the posco -support group was chopped off on May 14 by project opponents led by the

south Korean steel giant posco continues to face stiff public resistance in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district where the company is setting up a 12 million tonne steel plant. On April 1, protesters violated the district administration's prohibition orders and entered the Balitutha bridge near the plant site.

the Vedanta controversy has acquired yet another twist, with the Orissa government trying to acquire more land in Kalahandi district's Lanjigarh block, the place where the company's one million tonne capacity alumina refinery is located.

orissa's rich mineral resources have turned the state into a veritable battleground. On May 11, 2007, three Pohang
Steel Company (posco) officials were kidnapped in Govindpur village in Jagatsighpur district. One of the officials was
released immediately and two others were released after 10 hours of grilling and after giving an undertaking that they will not visit the area
again.

a recent study reported a fractional increase in the population of Irrawaddy dolphins in Orissa's Chilika lake. The dolphin population in Chilika in Khurda district had gone up from 131 last year to 135 this year, said a February 2007 report by the Chilika Development Authority (cda), a government body. In spite of this, the government as well as environmentalists are worried about frequent reports of dolphin casualties in the lagoon due to the increasing biotic pressure on the lake.

maoists in Orissa may contest the forthcoming panchayat elections by proxy in the strongholds of Malkangiri and Gajpati districts. The elections will stretch from February to March.