Minister of Law, ST & SC Development Jagannath Saraka flagged off the train carrying the pilgrims under the state government’s “Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana” at Rayagada railway station.

The senior citizens from 6 districts including Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangopur, Malkangiri, Kalahandi and Nuapada boarded the special train from Rayagada. They were accompanied by 30 escorts and the officials.

Under the government scheme, the senior citizens will visit pilgrim places Varanasi and Gaya. The senior citizens include 265 from Rayagada, 182 from Koraput, 130 from Nabarangpur, 79 from Malkangiri, 94 from Nuapada and 220 from Kalahandi.

The government had planned the pilgrimage in 24 phases during 2023-24 financial year. Later, pilgrimage to Varanasi and Gaya was decided for the pilgrims from these 6 districts.

Advisor of the government scheme Durga Prasad Samantray, Rayagada zilla parishad chairperson Saraswati Majhi, additional collector Bhaskar Raita, additional secretary of Tourism department Balmukund Bhuyan and senior Railway officials were present at the function.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Raygada SDPO Rashmi Ranjan Senapati and IIC KKBK Kanhar said the student, Pramod Kalaka of Similiguda village of Sesakhal Hata in Sadar block, was a victim of honour killing.

The arrested persons, Dipan Kumar Himirika of Khilamisaguda in Rayagada block, Murali Kandagiri and Hemant Jilakara, have been forwarded to court.

Dipan’s sister was in love with Pramod, who was the nephew of former Zilla Parishad president Gangadhar Puala. Though their families had previous enmity and opposed their relationship, Pramod and Dipan’s sister had decided to get married.

On Friday morning, Dipan and his two accomplices confronted Pramod at Gautam Nagar and told him to discontinue relationship with his sister. As Pramod did not agree, an argument ensued.

The argument escalated into violence as Dipan and two others beat up Pramod and attacked him with a knife. As Pramod died on the spot due to excessive bleeding, the three accused fled.

After Pramod’s brother Pradip Kalaka filed a complaint against Dipan, the police started investigation. They arrested all the three accused on Friday evening, the SDPO said.

A total of 52 buses will run in the district to connect to all panchayats. All 182 panchayats of the district will be covered under the scheme. 300 bus stops have also been set up for this purpose.

Launching the scheme through video conference, the Chief Minister said the scheme would bring happiness and joy to the people of the district and transform our rural transport system.

Stating that people’s opinions are important to him, Naveen said he came to know about the communication problems of the people from the visit of the Chief Minister’s office. It was only after that that the LAccMI Yojana was started.

The CM further said that the buses will connect village to village, improving social bonding and strengthen the rural economy.

Similarly, Rs 39 crore has been sanctioned for Jharsuguda and Brajrajnagar constituencies of Jharsuguda district. Total 957 projects will be implemented in 78 panchayats under 5 blocks of the district. As per the provision, each panchayat will get Rs 50 lakh.

Launching the scheme through video-conference from Bhubaneswar on Monday, the chief minister said besides development of villages and panchayats, the scheme aims at promotion, preservation and protection of the Jagannath culture and tradition of the state.

Noting that Odisha has always been rooted in its tradition, culture and history, he said Odisha is the land that gave Jagannath culture to the world. It propagates universal love, service and equality. It is based on inclusiveness and embraces everyone irrespective of caste and community.

“Development of digital infrastructure is one of the objectives of the scheme. Internet connectivity, skill development centre, works hub and banking facilities are its other features. It will also open up vast opportunities for youths, women and farmers in rural areas,” Naveen said.

The scheme was launched on October 10 with a budget provision of Rs 3397 crore. Total 90,723 projects will be implemented in 6794 panchayats across the state and an amount of Rs 10 lakh will be allocated for every village as part of the scheme.

According to a Vigilance release, the accused, Ramakanta Mallik, had demanded the illegal gratification from a family member of a contractor to process the file for signing of agreement between the latter and the Executive Engineer for execution of 2 works. The entire bribe money was recovered from him and seized.

While a case has been registered against Mallik under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, simultaneous searches are on at 3 locations linked to him to ascertain whether he has accumulated assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, it added.

On Sunday morning, Pritam had gone with his friends to have breakfast and then returned to his hostel room. Later, his friends went to attend classes in the college but Pritam did not turn up. On returning to the hostel, they knocked on the door of Pritam’s hostel room which was locked from inside but there was no response.

Suspecting something foul, they informed the superintendent of the hostel. He rushed to the spot and also knocked on the door of Pritam’s room. With Pritam no responding to repeated knocks, the superintendent informed the police.

A team from Chandili police station went to the hostel and broke open the door of Pritam’s room. They found him hanging from the ceiling. They brought him down and rushed him to Rayagada District General Hospital. But the doctors of the hospital declared Pritam brought dead.

The police have sent the body for post-mortem and informed Pritam’s parents. The cause of death would be ascertained after getting the post-mortem report, said IIC Hial Prakash.