BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to ensure that roads and bridges in the 33 worst Maoist-affected districts in the country are completed in time, Centre has decided to review and monitor progress of their construction regularly.

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa universities have been asked to fan out to remote pockets and adopt more number of tribal villages where campaigns against high dropout could be launched under the Project Gyanlok.

Bishnu Dash / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar May 06, 2010, 0:16 IST

SAMBALPUR: IT was yet another hot and sultry day for the denizens of Sambalpur with the district recording 44.5 degree Celsius today. With the temperatures hovering above 40 degrees in the past some days and the April sun sucking up the water levels, people fear acute water crisis. While the situation in rural pockets

Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi today proposed a host of new schemes in his Budget speech, which included setting up of new universities, medical and engineering colleges as well as a special employment generation programme. He also proposed 50 per cent reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies.

BHUBANESWAR: As the heatwave continued to grip Orissa, western and interior Orissa sizzled where the day temperature soared past 45.5 degree Celsius on Wednesday.

Both Titlagarh and Sambalpur recorded 45.5 degree Celsius whereas at Hirakud and Jharsuguda, mercury hovered about 45 C, the India Meteorological Department said.

SAMBALPUR: Women walking with pitchers on their heads and some struggling at tube-wells to fill up their vessels with water is a common sight in Sambalpur villages these days. With Sambalpur boiling at around 45.6 degree Celsius, the rural pockets of the district are experiencing severe water crisis.

Having faced insufficient rainfall in the last monsoon, all the water bodies have dried up.

BHUBANESWAR: After system of rice intensification (SRI) paddy, it is sustainable sugarcane initiative (SSI) which would be the next generation sugarcane production technique with the rising labour cost and water crisis in the State.

BHUBANESWAR: The blistering heat has gone from bad to worse in Orissa even as the alleged sunstroke toll rose to 17 today.

Four more deaths have been reported from the districts in the last 24 hours, the State Revenue Control Room stated. While the fresh death reports are yet to be verified, the official toll stood at two.

BHUBANESWAR: An unrelenting heatwave continued to scorch western parts of the State, while coastal Orissa experienced humid conditions for the third consecutive day.

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