News from Gajapati,ORISSA

Paralakhemundi(3.05.2007):

Posters warning the police and the excise department staff not to harass the poor and innocent tribals in the name of implementing the Excise Act has sprung up in several places of Gosani Block of Gajapati . The posters written in Telugu supposed to have been put up by the CPI(Maoists) has created a panic amongst the public while the police have started investigating the matter .The posters which had become a common feature last year , warning a few individuals and also a few political persons of the block has once more stirred up a discussion as to what is the intention behind the putting up of such warnings and who are its perpetrators . The contents of the posters is limited to warning the administration and the police to stop harassing the tribals who are manufacturing country liquor in limited quantities and selling it as a source of income .But the people who have taken up the tender for manufacture and sale of the same are using their own muscle power and also the help of the police and the Excise staff in order to curb the sale by individuals on their own . The group who have taken the tender by paying heavy amount have confessed that as there is heavy illegal distillation of country liquor by certain people in a few marked villages , and unless this is stopped they would be incurring heavy losses . But the warning in the form of posters cannot be taken of lightly as there is every chance that if this has been really put up by the CPI(Maoist) , then there is bound to be a retaliation if the same is not obeyed . Though no police force has been deployed in the villages of Uppalada , Batasiripur etc in the Gosani Block , once the hub of radical activities in Gajapati investigations into the same has already been started . Today morning more posters have sprung up in a few adjoining villages .

The Silver Jubilee Celebration of the Bus Stand Porters Union of Paralakhemundi was organized in grand manner at the Town Hall of Paralakhemundi . The meeting was presided over by Pramod Kumar Sahu while the chief guest of the evening was the veteran trade union leader Santosh Kumar Mohapatra . Amongst the other guests were the local political personalities Trinath Sahu(Paralakhemundi MLA) , Basant Das (BJD District President) ,advocate Upendra Nayak ,councilor Hari Bada and advocate Murali Pattnaiak . This organization which was initially affiliated to the INTUC has now been reorganized under the South Orissa Federation of Trade Union .

The Gajapati District administration has purchased 10 ambulances for the rural areas of the Gajapati District under the Rastriya Shrama Vikas Yojana (RSVY) , a decision that has been welcomed by many quarters but has also given way to certain practical problems regarding the buying of ambulances when the money could have been utlised for more immediate issues . The administration and the health authorities seems to have made an emotional decision without understanding the fact that if the money under RSVY had to be utilized for health purpose then the same could have been used for construction of 'operation theatres' at the different PHC or UPHC or Block hospitals which are reeling under the impact of lack of manpower and shortage of basic facilities .For a simple delivery or a cesarean pregnant ladies are shifted from blocks to the District HQ hospital in the absence of a proper OT with all instruments , which could go a long way in increasing safe motherhood . One doctor who talked to this correspondent over the necessity of 10 ambulances said "We are lacking behing in having a sterile and safe OT in any PHC and this is the major reason we are forced to refer the patient to the District HQ hospital , and by simply using the same amount to upgrade the OT hundreds of lives could have been saved" . The CDMO Dr Bijaya Mangala Mohapatra who inaugurated the said ambulances though appeared satisfied at the purchase of so many ambulances , could not explain the necessity of an ambulance when the other major facilities were lagging behind in almost all the block hospitals . The said ambulances will be at the disposal of the BDO's while two ambulances with special teams will be placed at the R Udayagiri and Paralakhemundi .It may be mentioned here that there is already one ambulance at the District HQ Hospital , one donated under the MP grant at Uppalada , one donated by Hindustan Petroleum at the JITM Engineering College , two with the Serango Eye Clinic at Ranipentha , one with the Deepti Sadan a missionary based at Paralakhemundi , one with the Gajapati Police and nearly ten more with a few missionary located in the interior blocks of Gajapati . While the Ambulance at the DHH takes around ten calls a month the other are rarely used or utilized . As the rate of using the Ambulance is almost same to that of the other private carriers and the rates are not negotiatable many patients prefer to use cheaper vehicles like trekker or jeep to ferry the patients .