The Confederation of Citizens Association has been protesting against collection of holding tax since 2011
BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa high court’s interim order asking the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to be lenient on people unable to pay holding tax in view of pandemic situation prompted the government to suspend tax collection at revised rates apart from protests.
The HC had said in its September 4, 2020, order, “The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation can collect the holding tax @50 % of the assessment involved but without prejudice to the rights and contentions of both the parties and subject to the final outcome of the writ petition. Further considering the continuation of pandemic situation due to Covid-19, it is also directed that in the event any consumer approaching the BMC, indicating his difficulty to pay the tax at one go and seeking instalments, the BMC shall do well in granting relief to the person.”
p Speaker tries to pacify members in assembly br /p
BHUBANESWAR: Normalcy failed to return to the assembly even as speaker Surya Narayan Patro chaired two all-party meetings to end the deadlock that has been continuing for the last four days.
Members of the treasury and opposition benches continued to protest as soon as the House assembled at 10:30 am, forcing the speaker to adjourn it till 11:30 and later till noon and then till 4 pm.
While members of the treasury bench protested in the well of the House, demanding an apology from BJP MLA Subash Chandra Panigrahi for attempting suicide inside the assembly, the opposition BJP and Congress raised issues related to paddy procurement. As chaos continued, no business was conducted yet again. Though Patro convened an all-party meeting in the pre-lunch session, it remained inconclusive as Congress followed by BJP staged a walkout alleging that the speaker had started discussion on the treasury bench’s demand for an apology from P
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BHUBANESWAR: Following confusion over promotion of students from classes I to VIII, the state government on Tuesday clarified that all private schools which have been conducting online classes can take the exams online.
“Those schools which have been able to conduct online classes for students during the last one year and have the required infrastructure can conduct the final examination in online mode for students of classes 1 to VIII,” school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said.
He said conducting online exams may not be possible for government schools as many students could not attend online classes due to various issues like internet connectivity and unavailability of smartphones. The government is planning to promote all students to higher classes without conducting the annual examination, Dash had said.
An elderly man gets vaccinated in Bhubaneswar
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha on Monday achieved one lakh vaccination mark of elderly people and persons with comorbidities (above 45 years) on a single day. The government a week ago had set a target of inoculating one lakh elderly persons on a daily basis.
Of the total 1,00,273, who received the shot, 95,576 are above 60 years and 4,697 with comorbidities. “Today we have crossed one lakh vaccination of people on a single day according to the target fixed by the health department,” said additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra.
Because of pre-registration glitches in rural areas, the vaccination of elderly was going slow. Although, mostly in rural belt, elderly were turning up for vaccination through mobilisation, they were returning home without taking vaccine as they were not willing to wait till the registration was done in Co-WIN portal. But the health department fixed the problems and expedited the vaccination pro