Category: Jharkhand

Ration snag in Jharkhand? Hunger probe team told of ailment

Source: telegraphindia.com

A three-member government committee on Sunday visited the Jharkhand village where Ramcharan Munda, 65, died last week and starvation was suspected to be the cause of death.

The team of sub-divisional magistrate Jai Prakash Jha, block development officer Priti Kisko and district civil surgeon Shivpujan Sharma spoke to Ramcharan’s family members and other villagers at Lurgumi in Latehar district, over 170km from here.

A villager told The Telegraph that the members were told that Ramcharan did not starve to death, but died of an illness.

The villager, who did not want to be identified, said Ramcharan’s daughter Sheela had told the probe team that her father had been ailing for eight days.

“He was first treated by a local doctor and then taken to a private nursing home, Bhagwati Sewa Sadan, for treatment,” the villager quoted Sheela as having said in the presence of her mother and other villagers, including the mukhiya.

“He was suffering from a liver problem. He had a swollen stomach and was not able to eat properly. The day he died, he had some food to take the medicine prescribed by the doctor. After eating, he slept. We thought we would give him the medicine when he wakes up, but he didn’t,” the villager quoted the daughter as saying.

Civil surgeon Sharma said the team spoke to seven people of the village.

“Out of the seven, four were family members. We came to know that Munda was ailing and was treated at a local nursing home,” Sharma said. “The report will be submitted to the deputy commissioner after two days, after probing some more aspects.”

State food and civil supplies minister Saryu Roy had on Saturday asked the district administration to exhume the body for post-mortem.

The civil surgeon said the body had not been exhumed yet. He did not give any reason why it was not done.

Right to food activists are not convinced that Ramcharan did not die of hunger.

“The government never accepts a case of starvation death and they have lots of ways to deny the fact,” Ranchi-based activist Balram, who uses no surname, told The Telegraph on Sunday. “I do not want to go deep into the matter. I just want the protocol of the investigation required in the case of starvation deaths to be followed properly,” he added.

Asrafi Nand Prasad, state convener of the Right to Food Campaign, said their team had also gone to the village and spoken to residents.

“They said ration was not distributed in the village for over two months. Munda was not physically strong enough to earn a living by working as a daily labourer. He also didn’t have food at home and some villagers helped him by giving him grains at times. His daughter, who lives in a nearby village, also used to help the father, the villagers said,” Prasad said.

“We fail to understand why she (the daughter) said what she did, if she did.”

11 Killed, 25 Injured After Bus Rams Into Truck In Jharkhand

Source: ndtv.com

New Delhi:  11 people were killed and 25 others injured after a speeding double-decker bus rammed into a truck following a brake failure at National Highway 2 near Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.

The accident took place near Danua-Bhanua area on National Highway 2 when the bus hit the rear of the trailer truck.

“The bus was running at a speed of 120 km/h when we got to know that the breaks are not working. The bus driver tried to control the speeding bus but it rammed into a truck coming from the opposite side. The lower deck of the bus got completely damaged and the passengers were pulled out from the bus after the accident,” an injured passenger Saurabh Kumar told ANI.

Pictures of the accident released by news agency ANI show the vehicle overturned and a crowd gathered at the site where the incident took place. 

“I heard the bus driver shouting that the breaks are not working and we should save ourselves, both the conductor and bus driver tried to save the passengers but they couldn’t because there was no way to stop the speeding bus,” another injured passenger told ANI.

Few of the injured passengers are said to be in a critical condition and they have been shifted to Ranchi for further treatment. 

Senior police officer Manish Kumar said, “We have visited the accident spot with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) team earlier as well, and that spot has been declared as a ”Black Spot” because at least 150 people have died in a road accident in the last six months on the same spot. We will be visiting the accident spot again with NHAI team for further research after this incident.”

Jharkhand Food Minister Orders Exhumation of 65-year-old’s Body to Probe Starvation Charge

Source:news18.com

Latehar: Jharkhand Food Minister Saryu Rai on Saturday directed the Latehar administration to exhume the body of a 65-year-old man for post-mortem in the wake of allegations that he died of starvation three days ago.

Reports published in a section of the local media have claimed that Ramcharan Munda, a resident of Lurgumi Kala village in the district, died of starvation on Wednesday after being denied ration over the past two months, a charge denied by the administration.

Talking to reporters here, Rai said he has taken a serious note of the allegation and directed the administration to follow strict protocol while carrying out an investigation into the case.

“If the reports are true and anybody is found guilty, he or she will be punished as per norms,” the minister said, adding the probe would cover all aspects in the case, including the allegation that Munda did not receive ration for two months.

He appealed to the opposition parties to refrain from politicising the issue.

Meanwhile, the sub-divisional magistrate of Mahuadand block in the district, Sudhir Kumar Das, asserted that Munda did not die of starvation and that his family gets all facilities entitled to it.

He also said the local ration dealer died three months ago, and his wife had taken charge of the public distribution system in the village.

“The administration had issued instructions to maintain offline records for distribution of ration following reports that poor internet connectivity is hampering transactions over point-of-sale machines. Munda and his family were given Rs 2,000 and 50 kg rice,” he added.

Several political leaders have reached out to Munda’s family after reports of his death surfaced in the local media.

Sources said local members of the Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have given the family 50-kg rice and Rs 5,000 in cash.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) general secretary Bandhu Tirkey, who met the bereaved family on Saturday, expressed hope that the government will take necessary action in the case.

“The food minister takes such issues seriously. I expect he will take action soon,” he added.

Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth lists issues to raise in parliament

Source: hindustantimes.com

BJP’s newly elected Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth on Friday identified a number of issues that he would raise before the parliament and other platforms to mitigate people’s woes and ameliorate the condition of Ranchi parliamentary constituency.

Speaking to media, Seth said that he had identified a number of issues like construction of railway over bridge (ROB) at various locations, traffic and water supply problems, stoppage of important trains at particular station, displacement issue, setting up of Forest Research Institute and developing tourist spots that need to be addressed.

“After being elected as Ranchi MP, I have been visiting the entire constituency since a fortnight to interact with people to know their problems. I assured them that their MP would raise the issues vehemently in Parliament and other platforms,” Seth said.

ROBS AT CHUTIA AND NAGRI

Speaking about his plans, Seth said that he would talk to railway ministry to construct ROB at Chutia and Nagri in Ranchi city. “We have identified that heavy traffic jams at these points create chaos at times. Construction of ROBs at these two points is urgently needed,” he said.

Seth also pointed out that people of small town like Muri didn’t have privilege to travel in Garib Rath as the train doesn’t stop at Muri railway station. “I will see if Muri becomes a stoppage for Garib Rath, “Seth said.

RISING POLLUTION LEVEL IN KHALARI COAL BELT

The Ranchi MP showed his concern over rising pollution level in Khalari coal belt. “Coal India Limited (CIL) is engaged in coal mining activities in this area. I have witnessed smoky atmosphere in Khalari and there is no water sprinkling to settle the dust. Traffic jams due to heavy vehicles transporting coal is another major issue. I will knock the doors of state pollution control board and other agencies to solve the problem, “Seth said.

FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN RANCHI

Seth also advocated for setting up a Forest Research Institute in Ranchi and up gradation of Ranchi University as a central university. “Jharkhand is reach in forest reserve but we don’t have a forest research institute. The migration of students from Ranchi for higher studies is another cause of concern,” he said.

NITI AAYOG’S ASSISTANCE NEEDED FOR WHOLESOME DEVELOPMENT OF RANCHI

Seth said that he would submit a report for the overall development of Ranchi to the NITI Aayog within two months. “The report titled–Antyodaya Se Sarvodaya Tak–would be prepared after consultation with every section of the society. I hope that Aayog would take a positive action in this regard,” he said.

SAMADHAN KENDRA IN ALL SIX ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCIES

Disclosing his plans on how to serve people better, Seth assured that he would soon open one office (Samadhan Kendra) in each assembly constituency under Ranchi Lok Sabha seat.

“It will be made functional on all seven days of a week except on holidays of festive nature. I will ensure to sit in these offices at least once in every ten days. People need not to visit my place for their work,” Seth said.

Jharkhand ration tragedy blamed on internet glitch

Source : telegraphindia.com

The death of a senior citizen in rural Jharkhand has been linked to starvation, allegedly triggered by a two-month ration freeze that the dealer has blamed on Internet glitches.

If the account is established, it will shine a torch on a little-debated aspect of the celebrated ration delivery system based on the online biometric model.

“Ramcharan Munda, 65, was not given rations for the last two months by his PDS (public distribution system) dealer. Our officials have found this to be true. There’s ‘zero’ written in the delivery chart for two months in respect of Munda,” Latehar deputy commissioner Rajiw Kumar told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Such a confirmation is a rare occurrence in Jharkhand. As many as 21 people have died in the state since September 2017 of suspected starvation, according to the state convener of the Right to Food Campaign, Asharfi Nand Prasad. But the state government has consistently refused to admit that any of them was caused by hunger, citing pre-existing ailments as the probable causes.

Munda, who died on Wednesday, hailed from Durup, a remote Latehar village more than 170km from Ranchi. Sources said Munda lived with wife Chamri Devi and daughter Sunila Kumari in a hut. His son died of TB two years ago.

Prasad blamed the state government for the recurring tragedies.

“The area in Latehar where Munda died of starvation lacks good Internet facilities. This was reported to the district administration by the PDS dealer,” said Prasad, who is part of a nine-member state government committee formed last year to formulate a protocol for defining and investigating starvation deaths.

“The state government should make the food supply offline, instead of following the existing biometric-based ration delivery system, in areas with network issues,” he added.

Deputy commissioner Kumar said he would investigate whether the PDS dealer had sold Munda’s rations to others at a premium.

“This is too serious a matter. I fail to understand how ration to this senior citizen was denied for two months on the pretext of poor online connectivity of the point-of-sale machine and an unresponsive biometric machine,” the deputy commissioner said.

Jharkhand has put in place a system of “express money” under which the panchayat head keeps Rs 10,000 that can be used during such exigencies. Kumar said he would find out why the money was not used in this instance.

James Herunj, state convener of NREGA Watch, said one of the NGO’s aid workers, Afsana, had visited Munda’s home a day after his death.

“The home had nothing, a clear sign that they lived in abject poverty,” he said quoting Afsana, who had reached the place after Munda’s family had created him using money pooled from fellow villagers.

Afsana said Munda and Chamri Devi were old-age pensioners but had not been receiving pension for the past five months.

Deputy commissioner Kumar confirmed Afsana’s visit to Munda’s home but could not say whether the couple were pensioners.

He said Afsana had informed SDO Mahuadarn Sudhir, who had sent an official to the Munda home with 50kg rice and Rs 2,000 for the family.

EESL Issues Tender for LED Street Lights in Gram Panchayats of Jharkhand

Source: saurenergy.com

The Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Union Ministry of Power, GoI, has issued a tender inviting bid for 24W LED Street Lights contract for all Gram Panchayats in the state of Jharkhand.

This tender was issued under EESL’s Street Light National Programme (SLNP).

The scope of tender includes designing, manufacturing, testing, supplying and five years on-site warranty of 24W LED Street Lights and other related works for all Gram Panchayats in Jharkhand.

Furthermore, a part of financing received from KFW Development Bank will be used for payment under this contract.

KFW has provided finance to India for the cost of project called Energy Efficiency in Energy Intensive Sectors (EESL II).

As per the bidding document, international competitive bidding will be conducted in accordance with KFW’s ‘Single Stage: Two-Envelope’ bidding procedure and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries.

The tender issuing body said that, in order to participate in the bidding under this invitation for bids, all interested bidders have to necessarily register themselves on the EESL portal i.e. https://eesl.eproc.in.

For the cost of bidding, the bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of its bid, and the purchaser shall in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.

Meanwhile, the bids will be submitted comprising two envelopes simultaneously, one envelope containing the technical bid while the other envelope containing the price bid; and both the envelopes enclosed together in an outer single envelope.

Blood banks across Jharkhand struggle with severe shortage

Source: hindustantimes.com

An unprecedented crisis in blood banks of medical colleges and hospitals across Jharkhand has put patients in a spot and the lives of many are on line as doctors are not able to carry on with treatment due to lack of blood. In the last 72 hours, two patients have died at the Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH) in Dhanbad and surgeries of over a dozen critical cases in different wards are on hold due to the blood crisis.

The crisis in blood banks has been attributed to several factors by authorities of hospitals such as PMCH, RIMS and MGMMCH. Many have cited the long duration of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, which meddled with the regular stocking up of blood at the blood banks.

PMCH authorities on Thursday held an emergency meeting and sent an SOS alert to donor clubs across the district for bailing out the institution immediately, as several critical patients continued to suffer.

On Thursday, relatives of three bullet-injury patients, Manoj, Nageswar and Sanjay, had to look for blood donors from their homes district of Giridih, so that the trio could be operated upon at PMCH. All three were admitted to PMCH in a critical condition on Wednesday night. Since the PMCH blood bank was nearly empty, doctors had to call for donors from Giridih.

Earlier on Tuesday, two gynaecology department patients Jyoti Kumari (20) and Shahjadi Khatoon ( 35) died allegedly due to lack of blood. However Dr AK Singh, an official at the PMCH blood bank said that both were severely complicated cases by the time they arrived from nursing homes. Under Janani Shishu Siraksha Yojana, both patients were entitled to get free blood from hospital. “The hospital had provided blood to them in time,” Dr AK Singh said.

PMCH Dhanbad requires 50 units of blood per day to cater to the requirement of patients. But on Thursday, the hospital’s blood bank was left with merely seven units of blood. “Of course there is an unprecedented crisis of blood as incoming flow is almost choked. However, we do not let the patients of hospital to suffer by linking them with donors”, said Dr AK Singh of PMCH.

Patients at hospitals Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) in Ranchi and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital (MGMMCH) in Jamshedpur are suffering from a similar crisis. Dr KK Singh, blood bank in-charge of RIMS Ranchi on Thursday said the crisis had aggravated badly but now the situation has improved. RIMS requires an average of 82 units of blood per day. On Thursday, the blood bank at RIMS had a stock of 200 units.

MGMMCH had 150 units of blood stocked on Thursday. The hospital requires 20 to 25 units of blood per day to cater to the requirement of patients. “We were facing a major crisis of blood for the past few days but now the stock has improved “, said Dr VVK Chaudhary, blood bank in-charge of MGMMCH Jamshedpur.

Plastic bags being widely used in Jharkhand 18 months after the ban

Source: hindustantimes.com

In a bid to protect the environment, use of plastic carry bags was declared a punishable offence in Jharkhand in September 2017 and the state government had put a blanket ban on manufacturing, import, storage, transportation, usage and sale of plastic bags. To enforce the ban, the state urban development department on October 25, 2017, had directed all 41 urban local bodies (ULBs) to make the respective towns under their jurisdiction plastic free.

The plastic ban was enforced with much fanfare and for the first six months, several ULBs took numerous measures to comply with the state government’s order and action was taken against end users in several cities.

Use of plastic carry bags declined largely during that period, as retail traders were scared of hefty fines of up to Rs one lakh and a jail term of five years under the new rule.

Customers too, were getting into the habit of using cloth and paper made bags.

Unfortunately, within a year, the zeal to curb plastic usage seems to have waned in the state.

Plastic bags have started dominating markets once again, and the drive against plastic has slowed down in most major cities in the state.

HT visited several markets in Jharkhand’s three major cities -Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur-to see the ground reality of enforcement, but found that plastic carry bags are largely in use.

RANCHI

In Ranchi, vegetable, fruit, fish and meat sellers are using polythene bags, that too of low quality, without any hurdle. HT visited Ranchi’s Lalpur and Morahbadi vegetable markets on Tuesday where many sellers were found using polythene bags.

At Lalpur market, a vegetable seller, Raja Ram, said, “Plastic was banned more than a year ago but now it has returned back and everyone is using such bags.”

When a fish seller was asked about violation of law, he said, “Fish cannot be carried in paper or jute bag due to the water content in fish.” Use of plastic bags are also rampant in retail grocery shops in the city.

In 2017-18, Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) had set up 11 enforcement teams to impose the ban in 53 wards of the state capital.

The teams were active for few months. They conducted several raids in malls and markets collected fines. However, such drives are hardly visible anymore.

“We admit the drives partially slowed down in initial months of this year. But an extensive drive has been started and is continuing for the last two months. In the past two months, we have collected Rs 1.40 lakh fine against use of plastic,” said RMC city manager Saurav Verma, who is leading the enforcement drive in Ranchi.

He said the use of plastic has extensively declined in malls and shopping complexes, which signalled success of the ban.

DHANBAD

Plastic carry bags are still in use in Dhanbad, even as the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) fines Rs 50 on consumers found carrying plastic bags. Traders and wholesalers are fined between Rs 5000 and Rs 50,000.

“Despite a strict ban, reports of poly bag use come from different parts of the city. But we are strict on it and flying squads crack the whip when we get such reports,” said Dhanbad town commissioner Chandramohan Kashyap.

DMC has already set up flying squads in its all five circles of Dhanbad, Jharia,Sindri, Katras, Chhatand for regular monitoring of the ban.

This year the DMC has sealed two plastic godowns in Jharia and Saraikhela areas of district. DMC additional town commissioner Sandeep Kumar said they have seized 130 kgs of plastic from wholesalers and retailers.

JAMSHEDPUR

The scene is not much different in Jamshedpur. Even as authorities claim that they had implemented the ban efficiently and action was being taken whenever the authorities got information about usage of plastic bags in markets, local shopkeepers have started using plastic bags regularly and with ease.

City manager of Jugsalai municipality, Abhishekh Rahul said, “We have been implementing the ban strictly. However, no raid was conducted at a large scale last month. Shopkeepers are not using banned polythene bags as they are still afraid of being fined. Only a couple of shopkeepers have been using it secretly and action would be taken against them.”

Notified Area Committees (NAC) in Jamshedpur, Jugsalai and Mango have imposed the ban strictly.

No MCI admission nod for Jharkhand’s 3 new medical colleges this year

Source: hindustantimes.com

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has denied permission to three newly set up medical colleges in Jharkhand, at Palamu, Hazaribagh and Dumka, to start academic sessions from 2019, citing faculty deficiency.

The state government had sought permission to start classes for 50 MBBS seats in each of the three medical colleges from the current session.

In the list released by the MCI for availability of MBBS seats in medical colleges across country, names of these three from Jharkhand are missing.

At present, the three medical colleges have only caretaker principals in the name of college administrator as well as faculty member.

While state’s health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni was available for comment, Dr Arun Kumar, superintendent of MGMMCH, who is the acting principal of Hazaribagh Medical College, said the permission was not granted for 2019 session due to 100% faculty deficiency.

“The college has all the infrastructure to begin operations, but no teachers. Appointment of faculty members is under progress,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated buildings of these three colleges constructed at a cost of Rs 885 crore on February 17 from Hazaribagh and the state government had promised that all three institutions would begin functioning from this July. The then union minister Jayant Sinha and chief minister Raghubar Das were also present on the occasion. The Prime Minister had also laid foundation of four 500-bed hospitals at Palamu, Dumka, Jamshedpur and Hazaribagh.

But even after four months of inauguration by Prime Minister, the state government has failed to appoint even a single teacher in all three medical colleges.

A senior official of state health department said that due to imposition of model code of conduct for parliamentary elections, the government’s hands were tied for three months from March to May, due to which appointment of faculty members in these medical colleges could not be done.

“By the time model code was lifted, the MCI deadline had ended,” the official said, requesting anonymity as the health secretary is himself dealing with the MCI on the issue.

The official said reluctance of doctors to join medical colleges of state had emerged as major hurdle in appointing teachers. On June 3, government had organised walk-in interviews for senior residents at Ranchi, but only 30% candidates turned up.


Onset of monsoon in Jharkhand likely by June 18

Source: hindustantimes.com

Jharkhand may expect the arrival of monsoon by June 18 as the southwest monsoon is likely to hit Kerala by June 8, weather officials said on Wednesday. Normal monsoon date for Jharkhand is June 10 and it should cover the state by June 15. However, it has never hit Jharkhand on the expected date since 2009.

The onset of monsoon in the state has been recorded between June 15 to June 25 in past one decade. In 2018, the southwest monsoon had hit Jharkhand on June 25, a delay of 15 days from its expected date, while it had hit Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of its normal date.

“Conditions are favourable for onset of monsoon in Kerala on Friday. If climatic conditions remain favourable with its current pattern, we may expect monsoon rain by June 17-18. However, it could be predicted only after it hits Kerala,” said SD Kotal, director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre. Even though the monsoon has been delayed by a week in India, a cyclonic circulation, which was over Jharkhand till Tuesday, brought relief from scorching heat across the state for last couple of days. Weather department said that excluding Palamu, maximum temperature was likely to get below 40 degree Celsius in most districts of the state.

The long-range forecast for monsoon, however, has worried farmers, as it has predicted 91% rainfall with possible deviation of 4% from June 1 to September 30 in northeast and eastern India.

“It’s a long-range forecast for the four-month monsoon, which may change after the onset,” Kotal said.

Farmers already faced drought in last kharif season due to deficient rainfall in last monsoon. In 2018, Jharkhand recorded 28% rainfall deficit during four-month monsoon period from June 1 to September 30, poorer than Bihar and West Bengal, which registered 25% and 20% deficit respectively.

The deficient rainfall impacted kharif crop in Jharkhand. The state government in November last year declared 129 blocks out of 264 blocks as drought affected. As many as 93 blocks were declared severely affected by drought due to poor sowing during rainy season last year.

Around 27% arable paddy land of the total target remained fallow. Of the 24 districts, sowing coverage could not reach 60% in seven districts even after the end of sowing season on August 15.

The centre released Rs 272 crore as drought relief to Jharkhand but the farmers are yet to get crop loss compensation. The poor monsoon had also impacted Rabi crops last year. Sowing coverage of Rabi crops was recorded in merely 7.58 hectares of land against the target of 11.69 lakh hectares this year.