Ashok Chakra for Odisha Police's SOG officer who sacrificed his life fighting Maoists
New Delhi, Oct 14 : An Assistant Commandant of the Odisha Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has been conferred with the Ashok Chakra posthumously for sacrificing his life while fighting the Naxals, home ministry officials said Sunday.
Assistant Commandant Pramod Kumar Satpathy laid down his life on February 16, 2008 during a fire-fight between the security forces and the Maoists in the Gosama jungle of Ganjam district and adjoining areas of Phulbani district.
Keeping in view his heroism and bravery, Satpathy was awarded with the gallantry medal Ashok Chakra posthumously, a Home Ministry official said.
On February 15, 2008, at about 10.30 PM, more than 500 heavily armed Naxals carried out simultaneous and multi-pronged attacks on the police training school (PTS) armouries located in Nayagarh police station, two other police stations and one out post of Nayagarh and one police station and one out post in Ganjam, the officials said.
Naxalite cadres, many of them from Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand, participated in the operation in which more than 1,200 weapons of various categories, including sophisticated ones, were looted and 14 police personnel and one civilian lost their lives, the official said.
After carrying out the operations, the militants retreated to the outlying jungle area of Ganjam and Phulbani districts in hijacked buses and other vehicles along with their arms and ammunition.
Immediately after, Satpathy and other SOG members rushed to Nayagarh on motor cycles. Assistant Commandant Satpathy quickly made a plan and with available forces, including the SOG, the Orissa Special Armed Police, the CRPF surrounded the area where the Naxals were hiding.
Subsequently, the team led by Satpathy mounted an assault. However, the naxalites took advantage of their numerical strength and unleashed heavy fire, another official said.
In the encounter, the SOG team had to retreat and in the ensuing operation Satpathy lost his life.
The Ashok Chakra is the country's military award for valour, courage action and self-sacrifice. It is first in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
