Mission Shakti, Women and Child Development Minister Basanti Hembram attended the event as the chief guest and motivated the sportsperson of child care institution. She opined that this extraordinary event is set to place our young talents in the spotlight and that will develop the values of teamwork, discipline, fair play, equality and inclusivity among the children.

ORMAS Chief Executive Officer Punam T. Guha was also present and encouraged the children in her speech. She opined that the enthusiasm and remarkable performance of these young sportspersons will inspire others and will further improve the sports sector of Odisha.

A total of 600 districts-level champions hailing from child care institutions across the state come together at the state-level sports event to compete in grand fashion. These children have found safe and nurturing environments in the state’s 228 child care institution (CCI),which offer care, support and protection to those in need. On the first day, football, long jump, high jump and chess are conducted.

Pandian had recently sought voluntary retirement from service and his request has been approved by the Central government. The voluntary retirement of Pandian, a 2000 batch IAS officer, has been approved by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.

“I am directed to convey the approval of the competent authority for acceptance of voluntary retirement of V Karthikeyan Pandian, IAS (OD-2000) under Rule 16 (2A) of the All India Services Rules, 1958 with the waiver of the notice period as recommended by the State Government,” said a letter from the Under Secretary to Government of India, Bhupinder Pal Singh to the Additional Chief Secretary of Odisha’s General Administration & PG Department.

As Pandian’s move sparked speculations about his possible entry into politics, political observers were of the opinion that by opting for voluntary retirement the much talked-about bureaucrat has sent out a clear signal about his next course of action.

Pandian has been in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) since 2011.

“These OAS officers along with officers transferred vide Notifications/Office order No. (1) 32707 dated 12.09.2023 and (2) 36495 dated 13.10.2023 along with all previous orders of this Department who are yet to be relieved are hereby centrally relieved with effect from 21/10/2023 A.N so as to enable them to join in their new place of posting on or before 25.10.2023 positively keeping in view of the commencement of Special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Roll with effect from 27.10.2023,” the Revenue and Disaster Management department said in a notification on October 21.

On September 12, the government shifted 295 OAS officer and effected a minor bureaucratic reshuffle and transferred Rural Development department Special Secretary Sudarsan Parida as Secretary of Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) in Bhubaneswar, a day later. Another 14 officers were given new postings on September 27. New postings were assigned to 4 More OAS Officers earlier this month.

The Asian Para Games, will bring together elite para athletes from across the continent, offering a platform to them to showcase their dedication and talent.

Amongst the athletes competing from Odisha will be reigning Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat. He will be defending his gold medal in the para badminton mixed single’s event. In the previous edition held in Jakarta, Bhagat also secured a bronze in men’s doubles.

Other para-athletes from Odisha include Jayanti Behera (para-athletics), Soundarya Kumar Pradhan (visually impaired chess), Rakhal Kumar Sethi, V Ramesh Rao, Prafulla Kumar Khandayatray, and Pujaswini Nayak (wheelchair fencing).

Wishing the athletes success, Patnaik said, “We are immensely proud of our para-athletes who have worked tirelessly to qualify for the prestigious Asian Para Games 2022 in Hangzhou, China. The para-athletes are a testimony to human spirit and determination. I wish them and the entire India contingent the very best in their endeavour to bring laurels to the country.”

In his address, chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena stressed the importance of ensuring proper and timely implementation of the Renewal Energy (RE) policy and reaffirmed the state’s energy transition goals. He also emphasised on making renewable energy an integral part of the overall energy policy towards achieving installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Director (Finance & CA), GRIDCO GB Swain presented an overview of the incentives and exemptions available for promoting RE projects which included streamlining of access to land, statutory clearances and connectivity. He also highlighted the success of the single-window clearance committee system for facilitating coordination and hassle-free investment.

During the deliberation, the committee members presented their suggestions in determining appropriate land leasing costs for RE projects considering the unique land distribution and geographical conditions of the state. The need for a dedicated rooftop policy to maximise the potential of commercial and residential rooftops was also addressed.

The discussions also featured EV charging infrastructure, next phase of the state’s EV policy and the future action plan for development of wind energy. The meeting prioritised the consolidation of various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) working on the implementation of RE projects.

The state government has constituted the PAVG to act as a think tank and key advisor on diverse policy related issues. The PAVG is a body of intellectuals, professionals, and practitioners from various fields such as academia, research, industry, commerce, administration, finance, marketing and international developmental financing.

GRIDCO, being the nodal agency for the implementation of RE policy in the state, serves as the secretariat for the PAVG.

The members of the PAVG including Development Commissioner Anu Garg; Additional Chief Secretary, Energy Department, Nikunja Bihari Dhal; Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Vishal Kumar Dev; PK Pujari, former secretary (Power) and Chairman, CERC; Prof Sukumar Mishra, IIT Delhi; Prof Anoop Singh, IIT Kanpur; Prof Chandrasekhar N Bhende, IIT Bhubaneswar; Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power and Rajesh Srivastava, Aditya Birla Group participated in the deliberation.

Workshop on Green Energy

A workshop on the state’s transition to green energy was also organised by GRIDCO in the city on the day. Inaugurating the workshop, the chief secretary spoke on the state’s commitment to green energy as per Renewable Energy Policy 2022.

The participants discussed green energy, industry, transport, mining and agriculture sectors at different sessions of the workshop.

GRIDCO chairman Nikunja Bihar Dhal also spoke at the wrkshop.

According to a release from Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the problems faced by people in getting drinking water at Athgarh and Narsinghpur in Cuttack district, Athmallik in Angul and Pipli in Puri were reviewed at a high-level meeting.

It was decided to complete the under-construction pipe water supply projects at Narsinghpur and Athgarh. Besides, the quality of construction work was also stressed.

The meeting also decided to take urgent steps to resolve the problems in pipe water supply projects in Pipili after complaints were received about theft of water at some points of the project.

In order to ensure seamless pipe water supply in rural areas, it was decided to imlement Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA). It would detect the errors in the supply system from the projects and find ways to resolve those.

The 17-acre facility, built at an estimated cost of Rs 90.20 crore, can accommodate 190 buses at a time.

The foundation stone for CNBT was laid by the CM on January 23, 2021, on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who was born in Cuttack and spent his early childhood here.

Apart from dedicating the bus terminal, Naveen also laid the foundation stone for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Memorial, which will be constructed at an estimated coast of Rs 22 crore.

CHECK THE FEATURES OF THE NEW BUS TERMINAL

1. A three-storey bus terminal building has been erected over two acre land with separate dormitories for male and female passengers and staff, eight private rooms, commercial area, infant care rooms and waiting lounges. It also has a food court, ATMs and a cloakroom.
2. 180 bus bays have been constructed to accommodate 190 buses at a time on a sprawling 15 acre of land. There are five parking bus bays for 117 buses, 72 idle buses and two emergency vehicles.
3. Separate route and space have been allocated for local and Mo Bus services on the premises. There are dedicated entry and exit gates for smooth flow of inter-district and long-route buses, which has a separate path at the terminal.
4. There is also provision for parking of 275 cars and 1,695 seats spread across the terminal building and bus bays for the passengers.
5. The bus terminal has an Integrated Passenger Management System (IPMS) with three master display and 94 numbers of two line display which will make the journey hassle-free for the passengers.
6. There is also a state-of-the-art Aahaar Centre, which can accommodate around 1,000 people at a time, and Mission Shakti Cafe.
7. It also has a sewage treatment plant, rainwater harvesting system, plantation, toilets with a capacity of 122 closets and 91 urinals, solar panel system with a capacity of 40 KW, drinking water units, police outpost, 32 shops, CCTV surveillance and drainage system within its boundaries.
8. Two channels have been constructed for water to drain out of the bus terminus in case of heavy rainfall.

Head coach Sergio Lobera, Captain and Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, and the home-grown talent Tankadhar Bag were present on this occasion.

The Chief Minister congratulated them on their spectacular performance in the last season and extended his best wishes for the upcoming matches.

The coach and captain thanked the Chief Minister for his support towards football and creating best facilities for the players.

Chairing the meeting, Development Commissioner-cum-ACS Anu Garg stressed on expediting EAP which is aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable households from the impact of economic and climate shocks in Odisha. It would be possible by managing disaster-risks, and facilitating better use of digital data for resilience, service delivery and planning.

The Central Government has signed this agreement with the World Bank on July 14 with a cost of Rs.1,183 crore and the State Government’s funding is Rs.367 crore. The project has been declared effective from August 11 by the World Bank. The State Cabinet has approved this project on December 27 in 2022.

The will augment government effort in three areas like Increasing Coverage and scale up of an Adaptive Social Protection System, Disaster Risk Management Planning and Programmes through the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), R&DM Department, Electronics & IT Department and Better Data Quality through Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES). An Independent Verification Agent (IVA) will assess the results achieved by the relevant line agencies.

The different component of the project include: (i) Development and Implementation of Social Protection Delivery Platform (SPDP) (ii) State Data Policy guidelines and documentation for future roll out and adoption and (iii) Strengthening resilience through deployment of early warning dissemination technology systems, and expanded citizen outreach.

Strengthening Statistical Systems for Better Planning and Resilience, Improving digital access and management of data for evidence based policy making and planning, Implementation of computer assisted survey technology (CAPI) were discussed in the meeting.
Among others, Principal Secretary of Finance, Principal Secretary of Electronics & IT, other senior officers from Finance Department, Govt of Odisha and officials from World Bank Mission Team were present in the meeting.

57,085 Grievances have been received during the district public grievance meetings out of which 37,513 have been disposed till now (65.71%). Sh Pandian reviewed the progress with all the districts collectors today. He asked the Collectors to ensure personal attention towards disposal of the public grievances. It was informed that 24,722 letters have been written to the petitioners regarding their grievance redressal and 22,407 phone calls also made in this regard.

Pandian appreciated the collectors for their pro active and sensitive approach in resolving these grievances.

He also reviewed the Drinking Water Issues and Electricity related issues and directed to resolve them on priority.

He reviewed the progress of various important projects that have been sanctioned after the CMO district visit, progress of various Educational Institutions and Religious/Community projects sanctioned under CMSA and asked the Collectors to ensure the completion within the timeline. He emphasised that the community should be closely involved from the conception to the completion stage.

During the execution of various projects that have been recently sanctioned from Chief Ministers Special Assistance (CMSA) and other schemes, he asked the Collectors to ensure the implementation of 5T principles. Under Transparency – all sanctioned projects should have project pillar and information board, pre-execution photo, during execution and post-execution photo; Team Work – involvement of the community at all stages – conception, sanction and implementation; Time – execution as per the project timelines with emphasis on quality; Technology – to speed up the work all leading to Transformation.

Pandian also discussed various issues being faced by the districts and gave them suggestions on how to proceed towards resolving the grievances.

He told collectors that lon pending legacy issues relating to land like Gramkantha poramboke etc should be followed up closely and resolved in a timeframe to benefit people.

He also mentioned that all the colleges that have been taken up under the 5T College Transformation Initiative and will be doing good work will again be given further funds in next phase.

All the districts collectors and senior CMO officials were present during the meeting.