Category: Ranchi

Modi in Ranchi today, to launch slew of welfare schemes, development projects

Source: hindustantimes.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a slew of welfare and development projects from Ranchi’s Prabhat Tara ground on Thursday, weeks ahead of the assembly polls scheduled this year-end.

Modi will dedicate country’s second Multi Model Terminal built at Sahibganj to the nation, inaugurate newly constructed state-of-the-art Assembly Building in Ranchi and lay the foundation of new secretariat building in Jharkhand capital.

He will also launch the Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana, Khudra Vyapari Dukandar Swarojgar Pension scheme and Ekalvya Model Residential School scheme.

“The PM will also launch several national projects from Jharkhand, which will help the country as well as state’s development and welfare schemes,” said CM Raghubar Das.

A pension scheme for small and marginal farmers will secure lives of estimate five crore farmers across the country including 10 lakh in Jharkhand by providing a minimum pension of Rs 3,000 per month to those who attain 60 years of age. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,774 crores for the next three years.

In Jharkhand, more than 1.16 lakh farmers have registered themselves under the scheme so far. Only small and marginal farmer, who own cultivable land up to two hectares, would be eligible for the scheme. Besides, the farmers, who are between the age group of 18 years and 40 years, would qualify for the scheme.

India’s second riverine Multi Model Terminal built at Sahibganj will be inaugurated by the PM through a two-way digital communication system from Ranchi.

The minister of state for shipping (independent charge) Mansukh Mandaviya will be present at Sahibganj.

Constructed at Rs 290 crore, the MMT is expected to open up industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route. Besides coal, stone chips, fertilizers, cement and sugar and other commodities expected to be transported through the terminal.

The Sahibganj Multi Model Terminal is estimated to generate 2,500 jobs.

The PM will launch construction of 462 Ekalvya Model Residential School in tribal dominated blocks across the country by 2022. A total of 69 such schools will be started in Jharkhand. These will be opened in every block with more than 50% tribal population as well as those that have at least minimum 20,000 tribal population.

Jharkhand will get its new assembly building after 19 years of its creation. Built at Rs 465 crore on 39 acres of land, the assembly building has the seating arrangement for 162 members. Separate press gallery, officers’ gallery and visitors’ gallery have also been constructed in the building. Besides, it has 22 rooms for ministers and 17 for assembly committees.

The Prime Minister will lay foundation of Jharkhand secretariat building, which will come up on 40 acres of land next to the new assembly building in the core capital. The state cabinet has recently approved Rs 1238.92 crore for construction of the building.

Free wi-fi zones in Ranchi from November

Source: telegraphindia.com

As many as 10 busy areas of the state capital, including places like Main Road, Morabadi and Doranda, will have free wi-fi zones from November.

The private agency hired by telecom major BSNL is about to complete a survey of the areas after which the City Wi-fi project of the state IT and e-governance department will rollout.

According to sources in the district administration, hotspots would be set up at Sadar Hospital (on Main Road), State Guest house (Morabadi), Collectorate Building A-block and Collectorate Building B-block (near Kutchery Chowk), registry office (Hinoo), Government Bus Stand (Birsa Chowk), RIMS Campus (Bariatu), Birsa Munda Bus Terminus (Kantatoli), Ranchi Municipal Corporation office (Ratu Road), SSP Residence (Ratu Road) and Hatia Guest House (Doranda).

A senior BSNL official said users would have to login in to a specified webpage using his/her name and mobile number, and then enter the OTP he/she would be sent to enjoy free high-speed wi-fi for half an hour.

“After half-an-hour users would have to recharge online from the webpage to continue the service. We will unveil the the webpage before the launch of the project later this year,” said a senior BSNL official.

Recharge amounts would vary between Rs 9 and Rs 69 to provide data between 1 GB per day to 30 GB for 30 days.

State IT director U.P. Sah said that the Ranchi district informatics centre officer was coordinating with the private agency for selecting the strategic points. “As per the agreement with BSNL the project will roll out in Ranchi by November,” he told The Telegraph.

City Wi-fi will also be launched in Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Palamau and Gumla, but later.

“The Ranchi landmarks (for setting up hotspots) have been identified, keeping in view footfall and importance. In the first phase we have selected 10 spots for high-speed internet data service as a part of the City Wi-fi project. The private agency hired by BSNL has almost completed the survey at all locations,” said Ranchi district informatics centre officer Shiv Bannerjee.

BSNL chief general manager (Jharkhand circle) K. K. Thakur said they had integrated the City Wi-fi project with their mobile data offloading (MDO) service.

“The private agency, Go IP Global Services, is currently conducting a survey. We will be launching the City Wi-fi project first in Ranchi by November. Surveys are also on in six other cities where the project will also be launched soon,” said Thakur.

PM Modi to launch farmers’ pension scheme in Ranchi on Sept 12

Source: avenuemail.in

Ranchi, Sep 10 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would launch three national level and two state level schemes from here on September 12.

“The Prime Minister will launch three national and two state level schemes here on September 12. The first scheme is Kisan Mandhan Yojna, under which farmers will get Rs 3,000 pension; the second is laying the foundation stone for 462 Eklavya schools exclusively for quality education; the third is a pension scheme for small shopkeepers,” the Chief Minister said in a press conference here on Tuesday.

Das said that under the farmer’s scheme, more than one lakh farmers have been registered in the state. As per the available data, Jharkhand is fifth largest state in terms of farmers pension registration. Farmers between the age of 18 and 40 years will get the benefits of the pension scheme after turning 60, Das said.

“Similarly, small shopkeepers between the age of 18 and 40 years will be eligible to get pension after turning 60. The small shopkeepers registered with the government will get Rs 3,000 pension per month. Of the 462 Eklavya schools, 69 will be set up in Jharkhand for providing quality education to the tribal children.

“The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the two state level schemes. First, the inauguration of the state Assembly building and the second is a multi-modal terminal at Sahebganj,” said the Chief Minister.

Jharkhand is set to get it’s own Assembly building, which has been constructed on a 39-acre land costing Rs 465 crore. It will have a sitting capacity of 162 legislators.

Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the new Secretariat which will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,238 crore on 68 acres of land.

The Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation India’s second riverine multi-modal terminal in Sahibganj built at a cost of Rs 290 crore in a record time of about two years.

Modi had himself laid the foundation stone for the IWAI’s Sahibganj multi-modal terminal (MMT) in April, 2017. It is the second of the three multi-modal terminals being constructed on river Ganga under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). In November 2018, the Prime Minister had inaugurated the MMT at Varanasi.

The MMT at Sahibganj will open up the industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to the global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route.

Fine-drive effect: Fear & loathing in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

Friday was almost unreal in the capital city. Almost all thoroughfares bore a deserted look. Even auto-rickshaw drivers, who are notorious for overloading, wrong-side driving, picking and dropping passengers at will from the middle of the road, were driving cautiously. Many autos stayed away from the road.

Traffic policemen attributed it to the fear the new Motor Vehicles Act, which has radically hiked fines for offences, has struck in the hearts of motorists. The decision of the Ranchi traffic police department to recommend suspension of licence of offenders for a period of three months has aggravated the fears, they said.

“Right from the morning traffic remained quite smooth,” said a traffic constable at Ratu Chowk. “Even during the peak hours of 9am to 11am when people rush to offices, there was less traffic than usual. That means people who don’t have proper documents of their vehicle are scared of venturing out on the road.

“Though the new Motor Vehicles Act is harsh in terms of fine and punishment, it has some positive impact,” he added. “Now the new rule fixes liability on parents with three years of jail and Rs 25,000 fine if their juvenile son or daughter is caught driving.”

The traffic policemen continued the enforcement drive through the day.

On Thursday, state transport commissioner Praveen Toppo issued a directive to the traffic police department saying that if anyone empowered to enforce provisions of the new law is found committing an offence under the same law, that person will be liable to for twice the penalty mandated for that offence under the new law.

Acting upon that order, Ranchi traffic superintendent of police Ajit Peter Dungdung slapped Rs 34,000 fine on traffic constable Rakesh Kumar on Harmu road on Friday morning.

“He was driving the bike and an ASI (assistant sub-inspector)-rank official was the pillion rider,” SP Dungdung said on Friday. “We can’t just ignore that he is from traffic department and was on duty.

“We can’t preach people to follow traffic rules and fine them when our own staff are not following the rules,” he added. “Though he was wearing helmet but pillion rider was without helmet hence he was imposed a fine of Rs 2,000. Then I started checking every paper of his bike. He was not carrying driving licence, the bike was without pollution-under-control certificate and it was not insured.”

The SP insisted that there would be no leniency in taking strong action against government vehicles and public servants.

A state government employee, who works at Project Building, said that for the past four days he has not been using his two-wheeler to go to office.

“The pollution certificate and insurance of my bike expired around two years ago. I did not get time for renewal, and honestly speaking I just ignored it because police never checked for these documents except helmet, driving licence and registration papers,” he said. “Today (Friday) I got the insurance policy paper but getting the pollution-under-control certificate is a challenging job because I will have to take my bike to the testing centre and there is no guarantee that I will not be caught on the way there.”

Awdhesh Kumar, an auto-rickshaw driver, said he had kept his vehicle off the road for the last three days as its pollution-under-control certificate had lapsed a month back.

“Early morning tomorrow (Saturday) I will visit the pollution testing centre to get the certificate,” he said. “It is safe early morning because traffic cops generally join duty around 9am. I can’t risk driving and paying the fine. I have already borrowed money to buy the auto-rickshaw. I also carry some children to school. I have stopped it till I have proper documents,” he said.

“Auto drivers fear that they will have to pay huge penalty for minor faults,” he added. “They also park randomly, pick up and drop passengers anywhere on the road. I will request the traffic department to properly train them about the law,” he added.

With new fines, axe on licence in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

If steep fines for traffic violations are not enough, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 also permits the suspension of a first offender’s licence for a period of three months, if the transport department deems fit.

Ranchi traffic police department on Thursday shot off a letter to the Ranchi district transport department, recommending the driving licences of as many as 203 people be suspended for three months. These traffic offenders were all caught and fined for violating various traffic rules, including not wearing helmets, under the amended motor vehicles Act from the evening of September 3, when it was enforced in the capital.

However, now the district transport department has to take a final call on the suspension of the licences. Offenders can approach the department, pleading against their licence suspension by promising they would not violate traffic rules in future.

Asked about this double jeopardy, Ranchi traffic superintendent of police Ajit Peter Dungdung explained: “The amended Act, in section 19, has the suspension provision. Now, fine and suspension of licence can go hand in hand. The person whose licence has been suspended will have to also undergo a driver’s refresher training course.”

The traffic SP added that they had prepared a list of people caught violating traffic laws from the evening of September 3 to Wednesday night.

Once the suspension of the driving licence is decided, the transport department will inform the person (driver). If the licence is issued from other district (outside Ranchi in this case) or state, the district transport department will write to the transport officer concerned to suspend the licence.

If the vehicle owner is found driving during the tenure of suspension, he will have to pay Rs 10,000 as fine. If the vehicle concerned is found out on the road during the tenure, being driven by someone else, that person has to pay up Rs 5,000.

Offenders are being fined for traffic rule violations such as jumping traffic light, driving without helmets, lacking insurance papers or pollution certificate, riding a two-wheeler with two or more pillion-riders, overloading, driving in defiance of one-way or without wearing a seat belt, among others.

Biker ire at cop

A plainclothes policeman who attempted to fine a biker without a helmet on Thursday morning near Mausi Bari roundabout under the Sector II outpost of Jagannathpur police station was subjected to the youth’s anger. In-charge of Sector II outpost Kaushal Kishore Thakur, in regular clothes, chased the bike and stopped the rider. The youth did not realise Thakur was a policeman and asked why he was being accosted. When Thakur said he was a cop, the youth said why a cop without uniform or helmet could harass a commuter without a helmet. As Thakur and the youth lost their cool, the driver of a passing car stopped and apparently asked why he (Thakur) was being so rude. An enraged Thakur allegedly took the man’s ignition key. A crowd assembled on the spot. Finally, Hatia DSP Prabhat Ranjan Barwar had to intervene. The DSP said he started a probe on why the issue took such a serious turn.

Double penalty

Transport commissioner Praveen Kumar Toppo on Thursday wrote to all traffic SPs DTOs and DSPs asking them to sensitise officials to follow traffic rules as in case they violate any rule, penalty would be double for them.

Delhi-bound IndiGo flight suffers bird hit in Ranchi, passengers safe

Source: hindustantimes.com

More than 140 passengers had a close shave after a Delhi-bound IndiGo flight suffered a bird hit at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport on Wednesday which forced it to abort take off, officials said.

The pilot aborted the take-off soon after the damage was detected. Airport sources said engineers were called to ascertain if there had been any damage due to the bird strike.

The airline made arrangements for the passengers to leave for their destination by another flight.

Birsa Munda Airport director Vinod Kumar Sharma said, “Indigo flight 6E-398 was scheduled to take off from the airport at 9.30 am. There were 144 passengers in the flight. As it started taxiing on the runaway, a bird hit its turbine.”

He said all passengers were safe.

Sharma claimed that bird hits have come down this year at Ranchi airport.

“This is the second incident of bird hit from January to August this year, while the number was five in the previous year,” he said.

Sharma also said they have engaged hired Birsa Agriculture University (BAU), Ranchi to study bird hits and suggest measures to eliminate the threat. “The university will study the reason of bird gathering near the airport and suggest ways on how to make it a bird free zone,” he said.

Environmentalists, however, say mushrooming buildings around the airport has jeopardized aircraft safety as kitchen wastes disposed by the residents attract birds.

Roadside eateries, shops selling meat and fish and irregular picking of garbage from nearby Birsa Chowk, Tupudana road and Hinoo area are aggravating the threat. The tall trees surrounding the airport provide a safe nesting place for the birds, they said.

Decomposed bodies of woman, daughter recovered from tank in Ranchi

Source: hindustantimes.com

The police on Monday recovered decomposed bodies of a 26-year-old woman and her five- year-old daughter from the soak pit tank of the house in which she was living as tenant in Ranchi’s Argora area, police said.

The police have registered a named FIR under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against prime suspect Samim, the deceased woman’s live-in partner.

“On information passed on by house owner Bhairow Tigga, we reached the spot and recovered the bodies of Rekha Tigga, a widow, and her daughter Priyanshi Tigga from the soak pit. It appears that the accused, in order to destroy the evidence, had thrown the bodies in pit, put bricks over them and cover the pit’s opening with the cemented slab. The bodies, which were found in almost decomposed condition, have been sent for postmortem,” said Hatia deputy superintendent of police Prabhat Ranjan Barwar.

He added that police suspect that the murders were committed between August 21 and August 22 as the deceased were seen last on August 21. A manhunt has been launched to arrest Samim who is now absconding, the DySP said.

“The woman, who originally hails from Hurhuri in Ranchi’s Ratu block, was a daily wage earner and living with her daughter in the rented premises at Uppar Kocha, Pipartoli in Argora. As per the information gathered from different sources, Samim, a mason, lived with them in the same house,” Barwar said.

According to the house owner Bhairow Tigga, who lives in a nearby separate quarter, Samim, Rekha and her daughter had been residing in his house on a monthly rent of Rs 1500 since April 28.

“On August 21, I saw her working as labourer in an under construction house in our locality. But, thereafter, I never saw her. Next day, Samim informed me that Rekha and her daughter had permanently left for their village. Two days later, Samim vacated the house. When I came here on Monday to clean the premises, I encountered a foul smell emanating from the house. We then informed the police,” Bhairow said.

Rekha’s elder sister Panchmi informed that Rekha, after the death of her husband, shifted to Ranchi’s Argora area for better upkeep of her daughter.

“Meanwhile, she befriended a mason Samim. After taking the present house on rent, both were living together like husband and wife. I had talked to her last on August 21 over phone. She disclosed about her poor health condition and her dispute with Samim. Next day, she didn’t pick up my phone despite repeated calls,” Panchmi said.

Birsa airport ready for more planes

Source: telegraphindia.com

Ranchi airport will throw open six additional parking bays from next month enabling passengers to board or alight from 11 aircraft at a time, the expansion mirroring a surge in air travel that the state capital has seen in the last four years.

“We received an approval from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) this month for operating six additional parking bays at Birsa Munda Airport. We will start using these within a week in September,” Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar Sharma told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Currently, the airport also uses two aerobridges that allow passengers to board aircraft directly from the terminal waiting area. These were introduced in 2013 when the new international terminal building was opened.

Sharma said two more aerobridges were being planned, but these would take another six months to come up.

“The work to install two more aerobridges was delayed due to technical reasons. We are in the final phase of awarding tenders for construction of aerobridges. Construction would be completed in the next six months. We hope to make these operational in 2020,” he said.

Sharma said marking and installation of lights for the additional parking bays, or apron area, had been completed in February-March. Subsequently, DGCA officials conducted an inspection. Its approval reached Ranchi earlier this month.

As of now, the apron area of Ranchi airport can accommodate three Airbus (A-320) and two 19-seater ATR planes. The new apron facility can accommodate five Airbus and one ATR plane at one time.

This means, as many as eight Airbus and three ATR planes can be parked at one time at the airport.

As per data shared by the transport department, while there were only 11 flights carrying 6 lakh passengers annually in 2014, 2018 saw 30 flights operating out of Ranchi.

The number of passengers is estimated to touch 22 lakh during 2018-19.

“With the airport witnessing increasing passenger footfall it was necessary to provide facilities for accommodating more planes. Once the new apron area functions, we expect more planes to serve Ranchi which, in turn, would lead to greater passenger flow. The new apron would make it possible for nearly 80 flights to operate from the airport in a day,” said a senior official in the Ranchi Airport.

Ranchi airport, spread over 1,568 acre, handled 6 lakh passengers in 2014-15. But the number increased to 10 lakh in 2015-16, 13 lakh in 2016-17 and 16 lakh in 2017-18.

New JPCC chief gets thunderous welcome

Source: dailypioneer.com

A sea of supporters gave a thunderous welcome to Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee’s (JPCC) newly appointed president Rameshwar Oraon amid loud beats of Dhols and Nagadas at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi on Wednesday. Oraon, a former IPS officer, who replaced another former IPS officer Ajoy Kumar at the helm in the Congress party here, was accompanied by the five executive presidents, who will take the reins of the party in their hand along with Oraon in Jharkhand.

Even though the Congress party had to face a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, Oraon seemed to be oozing with confidence on Wednesday as he walked out of the airport along with his team and greeted the party workers. “Sonia Madam Ki Lalkar, Badlo Badlo Yeh Sarkar (Sonia Madam has challenged to uproot this Government). This will be our slogan for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand,” said Oraon.

Interestingly, the new team on the driving seat for the Congress party here has representatives from Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Minority and even General caste. Manas Sinha, Rajesh Thakur, Keshav Mahto Kamlesh, Sanjay Paswan and Irfan Ansari –made executive presidents of the JPCC to maintain unity among workers and add a new spark of life to the otherwise ailing party—also seemed visibly enthusiastic about the polls.

“The sea of supporters here is evidence to Congress party’s growing support. Our role hereon will be to unite all our workers and put in all our efforts in winning the upcoming elections,” said Oraon as chants of Rahul Gandhi Zindabad and Sonia Gandhi Zindabad reverberated at the Congress party’s State headquarters in Ranchi later in the day.

Oraon admitted that the party has failed to gather all its workers and translate their electioneering into votes in the past. He, however, said that Congress party still found several supporters in the rural areas of Jharkhand and the party will cash on this support. “If you travel to the interiors, you will notice that people are unhappy with the ruling Government and they have a soft corner for the Congress party. I know that if we put in efforts, the results will be visible in the next elections,” said Oraon.

He added that the tribal community in Jharkhand is unhappy with the Government’s constant efforts of making changes to the Chottanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPT). “We will go to the interiors and inform the people about the failures of the incumbent Government,” Oraon said.

Oraon and his team of five executive presidents were appointed by party’s National President Sonia Gandhi on Monday. The position of President in JPCC remained vacant since former MP Ajoy Kumar’s resignation on August 9. Kumar, in his resignation, ridiculed his fellow leaders in the party which left many senior leaders red faced here. Oraon, however, said on Wednesday that he did not wish to talk about the past and only wants to focus on the future.

The party took out a huge rally from airport to Congress Bhavan via Rajendra Chowk, Mahatma Gandhi Road and Albert Ekka Chowk on Wednesday. During the rally, Oraon and his team garlanded statues of freedom fighters, including tribal hero Birsa Munda, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and BR Ambedkar.

Pipe gas and CNG push in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Arjun Munda and chief minister Raghubar Das will launch the piped natural gas supply and compressed natural gas-run vehicles at Prabhat Tara Maidan here on Friday.

Two CNG supply stations and a de-compression unit at Shyamali colony from where PNG will be supplied will also be made operational simultaneously, said K.B. Singh, executive director (eastern region) of GAIL India.

“While PNG will be supplied to 3,000 houses initially, we have a plan to increase the number by 7,000 more within a year,” Singh said.

PNG, he said, will be 10 to 15 per cent cheaper compared to using LPG for cooking.

“In Jharkhand, 551km of natural gas pipelines are being laid at an estimated cost of Rs 4,366 crore that aim at supplying PNG to 10.46 lakh households in 12 districts when completed,” Singh said.

Of the two CNG supply stations that will start on Friday, Khukri petrol pump is near Rajendra Chowk in Doranda within the city while the other is at Madhuban near Ormanjhi, about 25km outside the city limits, he added. “GAIL plans to commission 11 CNG stations in Ranchi within a year that will supply CNG to over 75,000 vehicles,” he said.

“Three auto manufacturers, Piaggio, Bajaj and TVS, have agreed to supply CNG-run autos,” Singh said.

He said they were also conducting awareness programmes for auto-rickshaw owners and drivers for smooth transition to CNG.

He said they would also organise meetings with bankers, vehicle suppliers and operators so that a conversion scheme (of existing vehicles) can be introduced.