Month: July 2019

Jharkhand HC bench recuses from hearing CBI plea in case involving Lalu Prasad

Source: .moneycontrol.com

A Jharkhand High Court bench recused itself from hearing a petition filed by the CBI seeking enhancement of the jail term of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and five others in a fodder scam case.

When the petition came up for hearing, Justice K P Dev said that since he had been a counsel for the CBI earlier, he wished to stay away from hearing the matter.

The bench of Justice Apresh Kumar Singh and Justice K P Dev then directed that the petition be sent to another bench.

A special CBI court had sentenced Prasad and five others to three-and-a-half years prison term while sentencing another convict to seven years of incarceration in the same case.

The CBI moved the high court seeking enhancement of the jail term of Prasad and five others, contending that the case pertained to conspiracy and the sentence should be the same – seven years – for all.Prasad has been serving jail term in a number of fodder scam cases in Ranchi.

Jharkhand government seeks national fair tag for Deoghar Shravani mela

Source: hindustantimes.com

The Jharkhand government will send a proposal to the Centre requesting national fair status to Deoghar Shravani mela, the cabinet decided on Tuesday. The formal proposal will be made soon.

Putting a seal on the tourism department’s proposal, the state cabinet decided to take it up with the Union government in the form of a recommendation with the plea to declare Shravani mela a national fair, said cabinet secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh in Deoghar while briefing media persons after the meeting.

The mela is held in Baidyanathdham (Deoghar) every year in the month of Shravan (the fifth month of Hindu calendar from mid July to mid August) wherein people offer Gangajal to the Shivalingam situated in Babadham temple. It is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India wherein kanwarias (devotees) in lakhs from various parts of the country and foreign lands throng the temple city.

The cabinet also put its seal on removing state value added tax (VAT) that is being levied on liquor and human consumption items sold at army canteens of the state besides the border security force (BSF) training school in Meru (Hazaribag).

It cleared the decks for the construction of two new roads and reconstruction of three existing roads as well.

The new roads sanctioned are: Dumka ring road (7.45 km) at the cost of Rs 36.77 crore (revised estimate), BishnugarhNarki road (22.96 km) in Bokaro costing Rs 41.57 crore and Fatehpur More- Bangi road via Bhelwaghati (Rs 50.51 crore) in Giridih.

The roads for which widening and strengthening was cleared are: Katra-Kerakona road in Gumla (11.40 km; Rs 56.72 lakh) and the 6.31 km Koeridih-Dighria road between Punasi and Jasidih in Deoghar district costing 27.92 crore.

110 raids, 19 states, 30 FIRs: CBI’s nationwide crackdown against corruption, arms smuggling

Source: indiatoday.in

In a nationwide crackdown, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday conducted searches at around 110 places in 19 states and Union Territories.

Sources have told India Today TV that CBI has registered around 30 new separate cases relating to corruption, criminal misconduct, arms smuggling and others.

This comes after the July 2 crackdown by CBI against bank fraud cases where the agency had conducted raids at over 50 locations in 50 cities across 12 states and Union Territories.

According to CBI, the raids were conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Thane, Valsad, Pune, Palani, Gaya, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Surat, Kolar and many other cities. The fraud amount in the 16 cases are over Rs 1100 crore which may rise during the investigation.

The newly registered 30 FIR’s have been lodged against the accused including various companies, firms, their promoters, directors, bank officials and private persons.

India Today TV has learnt that few of the raids are being conducted in Mumbai, Delhi, NCR, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Sources say that the government’s major agenda during the election was corruption cases in light of Rs 13,000 crore bank fraud by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

80 bonded labourers rescued from Kurukshetra

Source: tribuneindia.com

Around 80 bonded labourers, including women and children, were rescued yesterday from the owner of a brick-kiln in Kurukshetra. All belong to Nalanda and Banka districts of Bihar and were brought here by human traffickers.

The labourers were not issued release letters according to the 1976 order, nor were they rehabilitated or given remuneration according to the 2016 scheme. They reached Delhi and sat on strike at Jantar Mantar. After nine days of struggle, an FIR was registered against the principal employer at Pahwa police station in Kurukshetra yesterday and release certificates were issued to the labourers. However, children were still to receive the release certificates.

Some organisations such as the Bandhua Mukhti Morcha along with a team of the Human Rights Law Network and some students of law and foreign interns reached out to these labourers by creating a fund to collect money to buy tickets for them to go home in Bihar.

These landless people easily fell prey to human traffickers and after being trafficked, they ended up as bounded labourers. The employer, Minku Gupta, not only exploited them and took advantage of their vulnerable condition, but also harassed and physically assaulted them through goons.

These labourers wanted to go home but Gupta and the contractor did not allow them to leave. Several labourers had suffered injuries while several women and their children suffered due to inhuman conditions they were made to live in. 

Seeking to Achieve USD 5 Trillion Target, JD (U) Wants Special Category Status for Bihar

Source: news18.com

New Delhi: The JD(U) on Tuesday demanded from the government grant of special status category to Bihar for development of the state. Party member Sunil Kumar said development and prosperity of the state is important for achieving the USD 5 trillion economy target.

“Bihar should get special status category for development of the state,” he said while participating in the discussion on Union Budget in the Lok Sabha. Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka (INC) said it was not clear in the Budget what the government wants to achieve by taking the economy to USD 5 trillion.

The real issues are jobs, farmer distress and farmer suicides, he said, adding “we are disappointed by the Budget”. T Chazhikadan KL (M) sought urgent steps to push up prices of natural rubber for growers.

G Kirtikar (SS) demanded special package for Mumbai for development of the city. There is no special provision for Mumbai in the Budget, he said.

Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal) raised certain issues from the finance minister including the reason for reduction in the Budget allocation for MNREGA. “What is the roadmap to achieve USD 5 trillion economy,” she asked.

Hanuman Beniwal (RLP) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep prices of diesel and petrol under control. Vijay Baghel (BJP) said that the Budget has the name of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur.

“Ye Budget Nirmal hai, Ramneek hai aur Anurag se bhara hua hai,” he said in Hindi. T Rangaiah (YSRCP) said that the Budget has not proposed enough funds for irrigation development and agriculture infrastructure.

Helped by official, daughters of two ex-Maoists join school in Jharkhand

Source: hindustantimes.com

Daughters of two former Maoists were admitted into a residential school for girls in Dhalbhumgarh under East Singhbhum district, thanks to the initiative by Gudbandha block development officer (BDO) Seema Kumari.

Slain Maoist Sanjiv Munda’s daughter Sabera Munda and jailed Maoist Bhuglu Singh’s daughter Anisha Singh were given admission in Kasturba Gandhi Girls’ Residential School (KGGRS) in Class 6 on Friday.

“Their mothers have written letters to me requesting to arrange for their daughters’ education as they are very keen to go to school. I discussed the matter with the district social welfare officer and then talked to the Dhalbhumgarh KGGRS authorities who readily agreed to admit the two girls. I took them in my vehicle to the school on Friday and got them admitted in Class-6,” Kumari said on Monday.

She said both the girls had dropped out of school after Class 5 a few years ago owing to abject poverty and Maoist background of their fathers. “They told me that they wanted to go to school and become self-reliant by pursuing higher studies. We hope the girls succeed in their mission and inspire other parents to send their wards to school under ‘Beti Bachao, Bei Padhao’ mission,” added Seema.

Both the girls hailed from Jiyan village under Maoist-infested Gudabandha block, on the borders of Jharkhand and Odisha, about 90-km from district headquarters Jamshedpur. The development is also indicative of how East Singhbhum is slowly coming out of Maoists’ shadow of violence.

Carrying a reward of Rs 25 lakh on his head, Kanhu Munda had surrendered with his entire squad on February 15, 2017 by handing over their weapons to the then Jamshedpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Anop T Matthew. Squad member Bhuglu Singh, also from Jiyan village, had also surrendered on the day. Singh is in jail. Sanjiv Munda, on the other hand, was killed in an encounter with the police in 2013. He too hailed from Jiyan village and was a member of Kanhu Munda squad.

Jharkhand: Over 500 Muslims defy Sec 144 in Ramgarh to protest against mob lynching

Source: dnaindia.com

A group of over 500 people belonging to the Muslim community gathered in a school in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh on Monday to protest against the rising incidents of mob lynchings plaguing their community even amid prohibitory orders issued by the Ramgarh district administration, the Times of India (TOI) reported.

The group, under the banner of the Mutheda Muslim Mahaj, met at Chitrarpur High School just off the National Highway 23 in Gola Road area, to voice their grievances regarding violence against their community. They had earlier sought permission from the district administration for a demonstration rally, which was at first granted but cancelled later on keeping in mind the incidents of violence that are increasingly being associated with anti-mob lynching rallies in the state, the report said.

For a bit of context, a joint group of Muslim organisations had taken out a similar anti-mob lynching rally in state capital Ranchi on Friday but it ended with the group vandalising a Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) bus in protest demonstrations, according to a Hindustan Times (HT) report. The rally had been taken out specifically in protest of the lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand’s Seraikela Kharsawan district on June 18.

In light of this, the Ramgarh district administration, fearing disturbance centering around the rally, had on Sunday cancelled the permission for the rally and also issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that barred all unlawful assembly along the proposed route of the demonstration.

According to reports, even though the rally did not happen, hundreds of Muslims still gathered at the Chitrarpur High School to carry out their protest demonstrations, which, being an unlawful assembly, is also in violation of the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC.  

The district administration at Ramgarh in Jharkhand said it will take legal action in response to the incident on Monday.

TOI quoted Ramgarh Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Anant Kumar as saying, “What they (outfit) did was in defiance of the prohibitory orders and we would initiate lawful action against them now.”

On the other hand, the secretary of the Muslim outfit who led the protest demonstrations on Monday, Ahmad Khan, reportedly claimed that even though the permission for the rally had been denied, they had received police permission for a meeting after request on Sunday night.  Ramgarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar denied this claim, saying “no such permissions were issued,” according to the HT report.

The report further said that the Chief Speaker at the Muslim gathering, Sahjada Anwar, clarified the purpose behind the demonstration. The Supreme Court had issued directives to every state, including Jharkhand, to the Home Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) to review mob lynching cases every three months and constitute a task force to look into such cases. “However, nothing of that sort has been done in Jharkhand,” HT quoted an aggrieved Anwar.

Jharkhand Witnesses 35% Rainfall Deficit

Source: weather.com

Jharkhand is witnessing a 35 per cent rainfall deficit in this monsoon season, a Met Department official said here on Monday.

“Jharkhand has received only 181 mm rainfall against the normal 276 mm till now. In the last two days, the rainfall has improved and it will continue for next 48 hours,” S.D Kothal, Director of the Ranchi Met Department, told IANS.

“But the rain will shift towards the Himalaya region from July 10 to 12. When it will retreat, state will then witness an improvement of the rainfall.”

The worst affected areas of the state are Godda and Pakur where rainfall shortage is more than 70 per cent. Garwah and Chatra have witnessed over 60 per cent deficiency.

Due to the shortage, paddy sowing has not gained momentum.

Jharkhand has not received normal rainfall in the last two years.

In 2018, the Jharkhand government had declared 129 blocks in 18 districts as drought-affected and released Rs 490 million for immediate relief.

As per the Met Department’s data, Jharkhand received 72 per cent average rainfall in 2018. However, in some places, it was less than 50 per cent. The worst affected were Pakur and Koderma.

The average rainfall in the state is 1,027.7 mm, but in 2018 it received only 741.9 mm.

BJD, stakeholders miffed over no Odisha tourist spot in Centre list

Source: outlookindia.com

Bhubaneswar, Jul 9 Odisha Tourism Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi has said he would soon take up with the Centre the absence of the state”s tourist spots in the list of 17 sites that would be developed into world-class destinations.

Several Biju Janata Dal MPs have also asserted that they would raise the issue in Parliament.

Panigrahi expressed dismay over the Centre”s alleged apathy towards Odisha.

“The Union government has claimed that selection was done on the basis of the site”s natural, architectural and religious importance, but omission of places like Konark Sun Temple, Chilika Lake and the Buddhist circuit in Odisha raises questions about the selection process,” Panigrahi said.

During her maiden Budget speech last Friday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said 17 model sites chosen by the Centre would be developed into world-class destinations to encourage tourist arrival. She, however, did not elaborate which are the chosen sites.

In March 2018, then Union tourism minister K J Alphons had told the Lok Sabha that the sites include the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh), Ajanta and Ellora caves (Maharashtra), Humayun”s Tomb, Qutub Minar and Red Fort (Delhi) and Colva Beach (Goa).

The other tourism spots are: Amber Fort (Rajasthan), Somnath and Dholavira (Gujarat), Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh), Hampi (Karnataka), Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu), Kaziranga (Assam), Kumarakom (Kerala) and Mahabodhi Temple (Bihar).

BJD leader and Puri MP Pinaki Misra said the party, in its election manifesto, had promised to develop Puri as the cultural capital of the country. “I am surprised that not a single destination from Odisha made it to the list. The Sun Temple in Konark is an iconic site and has every reason to be on that list,” he said.

According to sources, the state BJP leaders are also disappointed over the non-inclusion of Odisha”s popular tourist destinations and were planning to draw the attention of the Union Tourism Ministry on the issue.

State BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan expressed hope that the Centre would revise the list in the interest of the state.

Representatives of the travel and the hotel industry in the state have urged the Union government to review the selection procedure.

“Odisha is endowed with a host of national heritage sites, attracting millions of domestic and global tourists every year. It is surprising that not a single location has found a place in the Centre”s list,” J K Mohanty, the chairman of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha, said.

Mohanty, also a member of state Tourism Promotion Council and Tourism Advisory Committee, said he had written a letter to Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel, urging him to reconsider the decision and take another look at Odisha”s potential.

Mohanty said destinations like the Sun Temple in Konark, Chilika Lake, one of the largest lagoons in the world; Bhitarkanika mangroves, which is a Ramsar site, have more tourism potential than some of the sites selected for promotion by the central government. SKN RMS HMB

First spell of rain exposes Patna’s drainage system

Source: hindustantimes.com

The ongoing construction work across Patna for flyovers, roads, drains and laying of underground pipes, filled the capital city’s roads with wet debris, as monsoon rains hit the city in the last 24 hours. The residents’ miseries are expected to continue, as the meteorological department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall across Bihar, in the next five days.

All major roads in low lying areas were overflown with rainwater, as commuting became a hazardous and daunting task, especially for pedestrians and those driving two-wheelers. The roads leading to Mithapur bus stand, Ashok Rajpath, Patna Medical College and Hospital, Jaganpura, Beerchand Patel road, Sabzibagh and Kankarbagh were chock-a-block for most of the day as vehicles moved at a snail’s pace, wading through the waterlogged roads, due to the incessant rain.

Rainwater also seeped into several residential colonies, commercial buildings and hospitals. The medicine department of the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) was flooded with the rainwater throughout the day.

By evening, authorities claimed that the hospital was cleared of water, but not before several patients were shifted to safer locations, including the ICU surgery ward.

“This lane is already congested and perennially choked with traffic jam. The construction work has made it accident prone. Every now and then, two-wheelers get stuck and fall, especially during night,” said Pratik Gupta, a general store owner near PMCH.

The Mithapur bus stand wore a deplorable look, as the rains left ankle deep sludge, making it extremely difficult for passengers to board and de-board buses.

A similar situation prevailed in Kankerbag, another low lying area in Patna, where people were seen wading through waterlogged roads.

Patna Municipal Corporation, however, claimed that waterlogging was much lesser this year, compared to previous years. “PMC has carried out advance preparations to deal with monsoon and had arranged for bobcat, super sucker and de-watering machines. The corporation has also prepared a list of areas, including government and public places, which are more prone to waterlogging. Open drains are being repaired and maintained. Portable diesel pump sets and super sucker devices would work in waterlogged areas,” said a PMC official.

“There are 38 drainage pumping stations in Patna district. Assistant engineers are being deployed at each pumping station. 12 mobile squads are also being deployed, who will work at an interval of 24 hours. The water level of the pumping station is continuously monitored and open drainage is cleaned for free flowing of water,” the PMC official added.