Jagatsinghpur: Seven policemen were held hostage by a group of villagers opposing the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel plant for nearly five hours on Saturday before being set free in Jagatsinghpur district.

Seven policemen and the driver of police jeep which entered Patana village in Dhinkia panchayat were stopped by villagers, mostly women and were held captive, Additional Superintendent of Police

Cuttack: The Odisha High Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on a PIL seeking stay on the ongoing land acquisition for the Posco project near Paradip till June three and asked the petitioners to file a fresh affidavit.

The court, which was scheduled to hear the case filed by some residents from villages at the proposed plant site in Jagatsinghpur district, asked the petitioners to file the

Jagatsinghpur: After a break of two days, the district administration on Monday resumed the land acquisition process for the Posco project and managed to demolish 18 betel vine patches at Nuagaon village in the project area.

It handed Rs 37.50 lakh to the beneficiaries who handed over their betel vines to the district administration for land acquisition.

The United Action Committee (UAC) mem

Bhubaneswar: A thunder storm hit several parts of Odisha on Thursday afternoon killing 12 people and injuring 34 others.
According to the Met department, rain accompanied by thunderstorm lashed almost the entire Northern Odisha where the impact of the storm was quite visible in the state and the twin city also experienced sharp showers.

A twelve-year-old and a woman were killed in Rourkela w

Bhubaneswar: The decision of the Odisha government to resume land acquisition for the proposed steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district from Wednesday faced trouble on Monday with villagers supporting the project announcing non-cooperation and opponents demanding relocation of the proposed plant site from the fertile land.

Though we want establishment of Posco steel plant here, we wil

Bhubaneswar: Activists of non-Congress political parties on Monday staged demonstrations at several places in state protesting against the petrol price hike and demanding an immediate roll-back.

Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) in a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil describing the price hike as arbitrary and illogical and sought her intervention in the matter.

It demanded regulation of the p

Bhubaneswar: The Planning Commission today approved Odisha's annual plan of Rs15,200 crore for 2011-12, up from Rs11,000 crore for the last fiscal.

The state annual Plan was finalised here at a meeting between Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and chief minister Naveen Patnaik, an official statement said.

Commenting on the performance of the state, Ahluwalia said tha

Bhubaneswar: South Korean steel major Posco has been asked to submit an application for renewal of its lapsed MoU with the Odisha government in view of the comments by Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh over the export of iron ore in the earlier memorandum.
The Union minister has made some suggestions over the export clause in the lapsed MoU.

Bhubaneswar: A day after the Centre gave the final forest clearance to the South Korean steel major Posco

Bhubaneswar: Seeking investment in the backward KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region in the state, the Odisha government on Monday approved investments of Rs1045 crore in power and petroleum sectors, official sources said.

The state government is working out a policy on how to mobilise investment in KBK region.