The 17 km stretch of Dwarsuni ghat on NH-49 has turned into a death trap due to its poor condition and narrowness. Despite public demand for widening, and improved safety measures, the NHAI has only undertaken minor repairs, leaving the road prone to accidents. On Thursday, a tanker collided with a tea packet-carrying container on NH-49 at Bangiriposi’s Dwarsuni ghat, leaving drivers of both the vehicles dead. In October last year, two women of a family were killed and five others were grievously injured when the car they were travelling in got crushed between two trucks on the national highway stretch.

A survey conducted by Mayurbhanj Regional Transport Office (RTO) revealed that vehicles struggled while navigating the curves of the narrow ghat road and brake fail was the main reason behind frequent mishaps along the stretch. Big potholes, absence of signage and reflective tapes, damaged crash barriers also contributed to fatal accidents, it said.

The stretch on NH-49 has witnessed 160 accidents in the last two years, which claimed around 40 lives and left over 200 commuters critically injured or maimed.

He further alleged that neither advice nor guidance of Govardhan Peeth/Mutt, whose jurisdiction spans up to Prayag, was sought for the entire January 22 religious exercise.

The Shankaracharya also rebuffed the invitation, saying “Even if I was allowed to be there with 100 people, I wouldn’t have gone there that day”. He, however, clarified that he was not upset. “…. but happy like any other Sanatani Hindu as the current PM doesn’t believe in portraying himself as secular. He is brave and takes pride in Hindutva and the concept of idol worship.”

While praising PM Modi for his commitment towards Hindutva, he also added, “The pilgrimages are now being turned into centres of tourism in the name of development which means that Teerth Sthals are being turned into Bhog Sthals, perhaps this what is being lapped up by the people also in the name of development.”Over 7,000 people are on the invitee list of the temple trust — Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra — and they include cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, and industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, according to official sources.

The guest list also includes a large number of sadhus and seers, and some foreign invitees.

Sources said that Jharsuguda will be a major stop during the 66-day 6,700-km march across 15 states and over 100 Lok Sabha constituencies. Unlike 4,500-km Bharat Jodo Kanyakumari-Srinagar Yatra, this east-to-west travel plan will be on bus with short stints of padayatras.

The route to be taken by Gandhi was finalised at a meeting convened by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in New Delhi on Thursday. Though Congress reiterated that Bharat Joda Nyay Yatra will also not be a political rally, the timing is crucial as it would conclude just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

According to Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre, Sonepur, Phulbani, Angul, Balangir, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar also witnessed dense fog. Shallow to moderate fog occurred in Bhawanipatna, Paradip, Koraput, Keonjhar, Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Puri.

Several places in the state also experienced a slight drop in the night temperature during the last 24 hours.

While 11 places recorded night temperature of 12 degree Celsius or below, the mercury hovered around 8 degree Celsius at Koraput, which was the coldest at 8 degree Celsius with temperature dropping 4.5 degrees below normal, G Udayagiri (8.2) and Daringbadi (8.5), both in Kandhamal district. Phulbani recorded 9.5 degree Celsius, followed by Semiliguda (Koraput) at 9.7 degree Celsius, Ranital (Bhadrak) at 10.2 degree Celsius, Nabarangpur at 10.6 degree Celsius, Koenjhar at 10.8 degree Celsius, Kirei (Sundargarh) at 11.5 degree Celsius, Angul at 11.6 degree Celsius and Rourkela at 12 degree Celsius.

The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack recorded 15.9 and 14.5 degree Celsius, respectively. The cities had recorded 16 degree Celsius each the previous day.

The night temperature is likely to remain 2-3 degree above normal during next five days, the weather agency added.

While hotels and restaurants across the state witnessed huge rush on new year eve amid dance and musical performances, many thronged temples and popular sites with near and dear ones to usher 2024.

Apart from state capital Bhubaneswar, people from all walks of life engaged in accorded a grand welcome to the new year in their unique way in places like Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Baripada, Balasore and Puri.

All bid a cheerful farewell to 2023 and welcomed the new year with joy and gaiety. Many chose to begin the year by visiting places of worship and offering prayers, while others thronged hotels, clubs and pubs to celebrate.

In the pilgrim town of Puri, Jagannath Temple witnessed a heavy rush of devotees welcoming the new year by offering prayers. In view of the heavy crowd, the temple gates opened at 1 am in the night. The temple administration and district administration made elaborate arrangements for the smooth darshan of the Holy Trinity.As per the earlier decision, the temple authorities are prioritizing the decent dress code and enforcing the ban of tobacco consumption inside the temple complex.

People also flocked in large numbers to temples in other parts of the State to offer their prayers on the last day of the year. ISCOKN temple, Lingaraj temple also saw a crowd of pilgrims on the morning of the new year.

Lavish celebrations were held at star hotels, and clubs in Bhubaneswar as people welcomed the new year with light and dance shows and performances.

Laser shows and and other cultural events also marked the beginning of the new year at many places. People were seen welcoming the new year by bursting firecrackers during the zero night.

A large number of people visited beaches in the state, including Chandrabhaga in Konark and Puri, to witness the first sunrise of the year and offer prayers to the Sun God. Tourist spots and picnic sites also witnessed heavy footfall across the state.

Governor Raghubar Das and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have greeted the people on the occasion.

The Union Sports ministry suspended the newly-formed WFI panel under president Sanjay Singh on December 24, three days after he was elected as the federation’s head.

One of the reasons for WFI suspension was running of the federation’s office from the residence of Brij Bhushan, who was at the centre of a sexual-harassment case brought by seven female wrestlers, including a minor.

“The business of the federation is being run from the premises controlled by former office-bearers (Brij Bhushan) — which is also the alleged premises wherein sexual harassment of the players have been alleged and present(ly) the court is hearing the matter,” the ministry had stated in its letter.

The ministry also observed that the new body was working under the “complete control of former (WFI) office-bearers,” which violated National Sports Code guidelines.

Leading wrestlers including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat protested for months demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan.

After Brij Bhushan’s close aide Sanjay won the WFI election beating former wrestler Anita Sheoran on December 21, Sakshi said she would retire from wrestling, Bajrang returned his Padma Shri award and Vinesh her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award, saying they did not want any close associate of the BJP MP to run the federation.

The Sports ministry advised Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to form a three-member ad-hoc panel to run wrestling.

According to sources, an ATR-72 Alliance Air flight will take off from Rourkela at 4.05 pm on December 26 and land in Kolkata at 5.35 pm. The Rourkela-Kolkata fare is Rs 1,999. On other days, it will depart from Rourkela at 3.50 pm and will arrive at Kolkata at 5.20 pm.

It will leave Kolkata at 11 am and arrive in Rourkela at 12.30 pm.

According to revised timing, the flight from Rourkela for Bhubaneswar will leave Rourkela at 12.55 pm and reach Bhubaneswar at 2 pm and will depart from Bhubaneswar at 2.30 pm and reach at Rourkela at 3.10 pm.This flight service was started before the Men’s World Cup hockey this year.

Alliance Air will also resume flight services between Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda from December 27 with one-way fare of Rs 1,999. It will be available four times a week.

The regional administration confirmed that 276 of the original 303 passengers boarded the plane, while 25 others requested asylum in France. The aircraft took off from Vatry airport near Paris around 2.30 pm local time, and arrived in Mumbai shortly after 4 am.

The Indian Embassy posted its thanks on X, formerly Twitter, to French officials for ensuring that the Indians could go home.

The flight, en route to Nicaragua from Dubai, was grounded by French authorities after it landed at Vatry on Thursday for a technical stopover after an anonymous tip that the passengers were “likely to be victims of human trafficking”. The probe thereafter revealed that there were 11 unaccompanied minors among 303 passengers.

Two others were held and produced before a judge before being released and placed on assisted witness status, a French news channel said.According to news agency AFP sources, the plane may be linked to a crime syndicate attempting to smuggle individuals into the United States. US Customs and Border Patrol data showed a significant rise in Indians attempting illegal entry into the US, with many opting for ‘dunki’ flights to Nicaragua or other countries with lenient travel document policies, PTI reported.

Nearly 97 lakh Indians have tried to enter the US illegally in the financial year 2023, a whopping 51.61 percent jump from the previous year.

French authorities, however, are probing the case for immigration law violation, not human trafficking any more, reports said, citing judicial sources.

Khandekar, head of Mechanical Engineering department, was talking about ways to maintain good health, and one of his last words to students was, “Take care of your health.”

He suddenly felt uneasy and experienced pain in his chest. As he sat down for some time, the audience had no idea what was to follow.

Khandekar then began to sweat and collapsed on the stage.He was rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead, according to Dr Neeraj Kumar.

“After going through his medical history and examining him, we can say that he either died due to cardiac arrest or cardiac block. Specific details will be known in the post-mortem report,” he told India Today/Aaj Tak.

Khandekar — survived by his parents, wife and a son studying in Cambridge University — had been diagnosed with high cholesterol about five years ago, PTI quoted another IIT Kanpur professor as saying.

Born in Jabalpur, Khandekar did his B.Tech from IIT Kanpur and pursued his Ph.D in Germany.

He joined IIT Kanpur as an assistant professor in 2004, then became an associate professor and was later appointed as Department Head of Mechanical Engineering Department and Student Welfare Dean. He has eight patents to his name.

The 1957-batch IAS topper went on to became Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. He took over as Governor of Odisha in 1999 soon after the state was hit by a super cyclone of unprecedented severity. Rajendran’s experience in relief and rehabilitation stemming from his encounter with a cyclone in Dhanushkodi in 1964 as district collector of Ramanathapuram, helped him set up an efficient response plan to disasters.

“The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appointed me as the governor of Odisha after the cyclone hit the state. He asked me to take the lead instead of being a typical governor and address the situation. He also instructed the then chief minister to cooperate with me,” he had said during the launch of Tamil translation of his memoir ‘Manam Niraintha Makkal Sevai’ (Service Uninterrupted) at Raj Bhavan last year.

He handed over a copy of his autobiography in Odia to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in July this year. The retired IAS officer had then said that the President recalled all his services to Odisha for disaster relief and preparedness and contribution to the development of Higher Education in the state, and still considered him as Odisha Governor.Rajendran shared excellent relationship with all the three chief ministers with whom he worked and completed his tenure as governor in 2004.

He was also a member of UNICEF’s executive board and vice chairman of its program committee at New York.

Mourning his demise, Odisha Governor Raghubar Das expressed his condolences to the bereaved family.