Tag: Ranchi

Defence pension adalat a big hit in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

Over 700 people, comprising retired defence personnel or their dependants, sought redressal of their grievances at the 168th defence pension adalat, a two-day affair, that began at Kerketta Auditorium of the Dipatoli Cantonment in Ranchi on Thursday.

A range of problems were highlighted and most were resolved, said sources.

For instance, Surya Prasad Singh, an ex-serviceman from Ranchi who retired from the army more than 15 years ago, is yet to get the commutation value of his pension restored.

Sujit Shukla, an ex-serviceman from Garhwa who was with the army for 13 years and four months, said he had been denied pension.

“I had commuted a part of my pension at the time of my retirement. But, this yet to be restored though I ought to get it back now,” said Surya Prasad Singh.

“I’ve come here to seek reconsideration of my case,” said Sujit Shukla. “I had to retire… but was with the army for 13 years and 4 months, which is less than the 15 years of active service that is required to qualify for pension,” he explained, adding that he wanted to appeal to the authorities so that his case could be reconsidered and pension sanctioned to him.

The adalat, held for the third time in Jharkhand, is being organised by the principal controller of defence accounts (PCDA, pension)- Allahabad under the aegis of the controller general of defence accounts (CGDA)-New Delhi.

It was inaugurated on Thursday by Governor Draupadi Murmu.

“Since such a pension adalat has been organised in Ranchi, retired defence personnel should utilise it to their fullest benefit,” she said, going on to praise ex-servicemen for their contribution to the nation. She also thanked the armed forces and defence authorities for organising the adalat.

PCDA Vishwajit Sahay, in his address, spoke of the steps being taken to provide better services to defence pensioners by introducing a pensioners portal and issuing electronic pension payment orders (e-PPOs).

“More lines have been added to our call centre with toll-free number1800-180-5325 so that defence pensioners can seek clarification on any doubt or register their grievances,” he said.

CGDA Sanjiv Mittal said a comprehensive pension package was in the offing. “The entire process of pension sanction would be computerised,” he said. The adalat received an overwhelming response with 680 people registering grievances till 2.20pm on Thursday. More people were expected to turn up, opined a local defence accounts official, adding that most of the problems were likely to be resolved on the spot.

Open drain kills girl in Ranchi shocker

Source: telegraphindia.com

A four-year-old girl fell into an open, waterlogged drain barely 100 metres from her home in Hindpiri to be fatally swept away on Wednesday afternoon, her family blaming the Ranchi Municipal Corporation’s callousness for her death.

The girl, Falak, a close neighbour of RMC ward 23 councillor Sajda Khatoon at Nala Road in Hindpiri, was on her way to attend her tuition class when she slipped and fell into the arterial drain around 1.30pm.

Though dozens of bystanders jumped in to rescue her, she could not be found.

Four hours later, her body was recovered 5km away from the Subernarekha river in Chutia, where the drain flows into the river.

The killer drain, which channels dirty water of Hindpiri, Main Road and other adjoining localities, lacks every basic safety feature despite being situated in the heart of a so-called Smart City.

A bystander said that Falak had stopped to buy chocolates at a neighbourhood shop near the drain, which had neither any cover not barrier at that stretch, when she seemed to take a misstep and fell into the dirty water.

“I was right there, talking on my cellphone, so were many others. We rushed to the spot. I could clutch her schoolbag but could not save her, the currents of the drain water were so strong that she was gone,” a shocked Md Kasib told this paper.

Falak lived with her parents and younger sister Alia, who is 2 years old.

Her uncle Md Arshad said they could not believe a child could die so easily because of the city’s poor drainage system. “My niece became a victim of Ranchi Municipal Corporation’s carelessness. For hours we frantically searched for her across the stretch of the drain, all the way to Kadru. Finally her body was found stuck in garbage in the Subernarekha river,” said Arshad.

Ranchi Main Road from Ekra Masjid forks right to the narrow and potholed Nala Road with the uncovered drain.

“RMC built the drain but did not bother to cover it. At some places, people pooled in their own money and to put covers. The road has no flank. Not a single day passes when people and bikers fall in the drain,” said Md Imran.

“It gets dangerous in monsoon as the drain becomes a swollen river.”

He added that ward councillor Khatoon wasn’t bothered. “We have demanded a cover for the drain many times in the past but no one bothered to listen,” said Md Nasim, another resident.

Khatoon did not respond to phone calls when The Telegraph tried to contact her.

Ranchi deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya, who visited the locality around 3pm when Falak’s body was still missing, promised to get the open drain covered with concrete slabs, but did not give a deadline.

“This was a tragic incident. The drain has many criss-crosses. Apparently, the child was washed away towards Guru Nanak School. I will call a meeting of the RMC on open drains,” said Vijayvargiya.

Ranchi Lake beautification likely to be complete this year

Source: dailypioneer.com

The beautification work of Ranchi Lake, popularly known as ‘Bada Talab’, which has been underway for a long time now is being accelerated, said Deputy Mayor of Ranchi, Sanjeev Vijaywargiya.

The proposal to complete the work was scheduled pre-monsoon, by March end of this year, yet no substantial on site development can be witnessed. “We have come up with a budget of Rs 3.5 crores for the project and aim to develop the lake with advance technology, Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for all the sewage and drain water that is discharged in the lack causing water contamination,” said the Deputy Mayor.

A request for proposal will be floated within this week said Vijaywargiya. The work for the STP will start from September and would take about six to eight months for its completion. Water purification and development of a horticulture park around it also included in the project. The park along with the bronze statue of Vivekananda that was established earlier this year will be handled by the Tourism Department of the State.

The plan to undertake the beautification project for the lake has been on the RMC’s checklist from 2016. With intervention from the CM’s side this year the initial plan was to complete the work before monsoon so as to ensure recharging of ground water and rain water harvesting. “We have already decided to cut 10 per cent of the contractor’s payment due to the delay and are committed to ensure the project proves to be good quality work in due time,” told Vijaywargiya.

“We are looking forward to the renewal and beautification of the lake, we wish to see the iconic lake of Ranchi develop as a tourist spot. It is also important from the perspective of water conservation as we are going through major water crisis in the leading cities of our country,” said Manoj Kumar, a resident near the lake.

The other projects in process for the Ranchi Municipal Corporation includes road expansion of about 10-15 feet from Rotary Park to Laxmi Narayan Mandir in Upper Bazaar, pathway – eatery joint and park development around the Yoga centre present there, collaboration with Maheshwari Samiti in the Annapurna Yojna to provide food Rs.10 per plate with parking and seating space.

23-year-old is Chandrayaan-2’s Jharkhand connection

Source: telegraphindia.com

he Rs 978-crore Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon, which was successfully launched onboard the GSLV-MkIII-M1 rocket from the spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on Monday, has a Jharkhand connection.

Ranchi boy Gaurav Vaibhav, 23, who passed his 12th from Jawahar Vindya Mandir Shyamali in 2011, is a flight dynamics scientist for the mission, which is intended to help India become the fourth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon after the former Soviet Union and the US in 1966 and China in 2014.

Gaurav has been working with the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro’s) satellite centre in Bangalore since 2015 after completing his BTech in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Kerala.

“Chandrayaan-2 is very important to me as it is my first interplanetary mission experience,” Gaurav told The Telegraph on Monday. “I learnt a lot, and felt the heat of being part of this historic mission. Being a flight dynamics scientist, I am involved in designing and planning of events to make the lander achieve the required landing site on the Moon. This kind of work requires a lot of numerical computations and analysis.”

Chandrayaan-2, made up of an orbiter and a lander with a rover, is expected to throw more light on the Moon. The Chandrayaan-1 orbiter, Isro had earlier said, had “conclusively discovered traces of water” on the Moon. The first mission had also discovered water ice in the Moon’s north polar region.

Gaurav has been part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission for the last one-and-half years.

“Within this timeframe, I had carried out the lander trajectory analysis and successfully completed the allotted activities,” he said.

Asked if anyone else from Jharkhand is part of the mission, Gaurav said: “Since many centres of Isro are involved, there could be (other) people from Jharkhand or Ranchi also but I would not know.”

He said there were lows, of at times stumbling on a problem, and highs — of achieving the solution.

“It has been really a fabulous learning experience for me. There were many challenges. Being the maiden lunar landing mission of India, soft landing on the required site is critical. All the subsystems are expected to perform; even one small system failure may lead to crash-landing. Since this landing phase will be of roughly just 20 minutes, recovery of any failure within that time isn’t possible,” he said. “Working together with so many subsystems in an integrated manner strengthened me technically from every aspect.”

Asked why the mission’s July 15 launch was cancelled, Gaurav said: “Cryogenic filling in the launch vehicle is done just four hours before the launch because it is highly inflammable.

On July 14, the required pressure could not develop during cryogenic filling because of an unexpected gap in a valve. Hence the mission was postponed till the problem was rectified. Fortunately it was observed at the right time and a major catastrophe was averted.”

Gaurav’s father Sudhir Upadhyay, under secretary in the state home department, who lives in Harmu Housing Colony, said he was proud of his son for being a part of the historic mission.

Ranchi MP, parents take steps to solve school van issue

Source: dailypioneer.com

Lok Sabha member from Ranchi, Sanjay Seth, today, took cognizance of the order issued by Ranchi Traffic police banning small vehicles for ferrying kids from School. Seth talked to SSP and SP (City and Traffic) Ranchi and asked to take back the order at the earliest.

Seth said that there are several colonies in the city where buses cannot enter, many parents go out for work and due to distance of schools from home only small vehicles are the transportation means. The SSP and SP (Traffic) agreed to the arguments and said that the schoolkids can use small vehicles from tomorrow. The MP also appealed to Van and Auto operators to end their strike.   

Earlier, All School Parents Association (ASPA) president Ajay Rai led a delegation to SP (Traffic) Harilal Chauhan and informed him about the school vans and other vehicles being run by different schools.

Rai said that 20 to 30 per cent school vans are used by parents of different schoolchildren in the city, but after the administration banned the small vehicles schools have also sent notices to parents to transport the students on their own. Rai said that parents are baffled with the directive as many of them are unable to send their kids to schools on their own.

The SP (Traffic) said that security of children is the first priority of the administration, which cannot be compromised. He said that those drivers following the rules need not be afraid, but those who do not follow rules need to get commercial registration of their vehicles, else they will be penalised.

Ranchi doc performs 246 surgeries under Ayushman Bharat

Source: dailypioneer.com/

While the State Government is consistently seeking the support of doctors and hospitals in making the ambitious Ayushman Bharat Yojana a success in Jharkhand, a cardiac surgeon in Ranchi has gone out of his way to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of providing accessibility of expensive medical facilities to the poor.

Meet 54-year-old Dr Kunal Hazari, MS, MCh, who has successfully completed as many as 246 open heart surgeries in less than a year under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

Hazari, the Vice Chairman of Medica Superspecialty Hospital near Booty More, believes that every doctor should be accountable for the health of people living in the country. 

“We are all accountable for the health of our citizens – the government, the hospitals and the doctors,” Hazari said. The 246 surgeries that he performed includes Bypass Grafting, Valve replacements, Tetrology under Ayushman Bharat till now, Dr. Hazari started operating cases under this scheme from October 2018. Since then the graph of patients getting treatment under this scheme has just gone up. Today, out of every 40 patients he operates monthly, at least 35 are covered under this programme.

The scheme provides a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually for 10 crore poor and vulnerable families.

The beneficiary under this programme can undertake cashless benefits from public and private hospitals across the country. While Private versus Public Hospitals spark an endless debate in terms of facilities and also the eligibility to cover Ayushman Bharat patients, all the hospitals in the nation are accountable to treat patients under this scheme,said Hazari.

“If you are to provide healthcare facility, all the government hospitals need to be strengthened and equipped. Healthcare of its people is the liability of the Government,”he said.

The system or the chain of procedures for getting covered under the scheme is simple and requires the patients to have a ration card which in turn is needed to generate golden cards —  a facility available at the hospitals.

“The procedure and paper work involved has become so systematic and mechanised that now as doctors we can really focus on treating the patients. It also saves time. Talking about cardiac surgeries, time loss is equivalent to muscle loss,” said Dr Hazari.

The golden cards can be generated within half an hour after producing the ration cards meanwhile the patients can be admitted and the treatment procedures can start, he said.

The hospitals are known to receive funds from the Government within the stipulated time.

“Ayushman Bharat is much simpler for both patients and hospitals compared to the earlier BPL healthcare programme. The simple paperwork, systematic checking of facts post treatment, clearing of payments have all cumulatively built trust among private hospitals and doctors. The trend shows that they are taking it up now,” told Dr Hazari on the current scenario of the programme in the State Capital.

The programme cannot be fully crowned as a success as it has its own set of lacunas. Regularised price slabs for a certain type of medical procedure is one of the major issues that has to be resolved.

“With patients the treatment gets customised according to their body response, one patient can take five days to get discharged while others may take up to 10 days and one price bar cannot accommodate both. We are constantly trying to find solution to this gap,” said Dr Hazari who is also a member of Ayushman Bharat board for the state of Jharkhand.

There is a motion to increase the flexibility of the amount by 10 to 15 per cent.

“The satisfaction I get after treating the needy patients is the prime incentive for being an active force in this scheme by the PM for a healthy nation. Finance always comes secondary,” said Hazari.

The enthusiasm of government, doctors and the public is required for this scheme to be a success, government’s feedback and check system being the major drivers of the movement, he added.

Smoking in Bengaluru-Ranchi flight gets Jharkhand man deplaned

Source: hindustantimes.com

A Jharkhand resident has been arrested and faces up to 3 months jail or Rs one lakh fine for allegedly smoking inside the lavatory of a Ranchi bound flight. Deepak Kumar Sharma, a resident of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand was deplaned from an IndiGo airlines flight (6E 485) and handed over to the police on Friday.

A smoke alarm inside the aircraft went off, blowing the lid of Sharma’s illegal conduct, when the Airbus 320 aircraft enroute Ranchi landed at Patna around 2.30 pm, police said.

The passenger was first handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), tasked with airport security, before he was handed over to the airport police station that charged him with smoking inside the aircraft, said Garima Mallik, Senior Superintendent of Police, Patna.

The Police were considering if Sharma had to be charged under the non-bailable section of the relevant act, SHO of airport police station, Jaishankar Prasad said seniors were being consulted on the matter while Patna SSP said non-bailable section had not been invoked so far.

The incident raises questions over the airport security which shouldn’t have allowed the accused to pass through with a matchbox or a cigarette lighter.

According to airport sources, the accused could end up paying a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh or spend up to three months in jail for risking security inside aircraft.

Section 25 of the Aircraft Act states, “The owner or the operator and the pilot-in-command of every aircraft registered in India, shall exhibit or cause to be exhibited in prominent place(s) in the aircraft, notice(s) stating where and to what extent smoking is prohibited or permitted therein. No person shall smoke: (a) in any part of an aircraft or in its vicinity, in which a notice is displayed indicating that smoking is prohibited. (b) Anywhere in an aircraft during take-off, landing or refuelling or during a period in which a notice is temporarily displayed indicating that smoking is prohibited.”

Medicine-garden push in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

Ranchi Municipal Corporation is working on a proposal to grow medicinal plants at selected spaces in all 53 wards of the state capital.

The suggestion, deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya said on Friday, had come from a city doctor.

“Surgeon Suresh Agrawal, who is also working in the field of ayurveda, had formally submitted a proposal to promote planting of medicinal plants for residents to get natural home remedies. A few days ago he had made a presentation before the RMC and the idea was found worth implementing,” Vijayvargiya said.

“Initially, we have decided to dedicate a portion of each ward office premises for planting and in the next phase selected medicinal plants will be planted at parks,” he said.

The deputy mayor said that the next meeting will be convened very soon to work out the plan.

“Agrawal has assured all support; we will also invite experts of the forest department and Birsa Agricultural University to execute the project. They can identify different kinds of medicinal plants and how to grow these. We will also be able to preserve those medicinal plants which are on verge of extinction,” Vijayvargiya said.

Nakshatra Van in front of the Raj Bhavan and the Bio Diversity Park in Tupudana are the only parks in Ranchi with some rare plants of medicinal value. Agrawal, 67, said for the past one year he was meeting ward councillors requesting them to promote medicinal plants.

“I am a surgeon and run my private clinic. But for the past two-and-half decades I am simultaneously involved in clinical and ayurveda research. I have identified four medicinal plants, Amrita, Harsinghar, Sedwar and Vasak, which can cure 15 types of diseases. Amrita increases immunity and has been declared as the national medicinal plant. The other three plants are quite useful in body and joint pain, cough, fever, hair fall, bleeding, and irregular menstrual cycle. I also grow these plants at my clinic and prescribe to patients and the results are quite encouraging. Sedwar is a typical Jharkhandi plant which I use to cure pain,” said Agrawal.

Human trafficking kingpin held in Ranchi’s Khunti

Source: hindustantimes.com

Jharkhand police made a big success by arresting human trafficking kingpin, Panna Lal Mahto, accused of buying and selling thousands of girls, in Khunti district, police claimed on Friday.

Mahato is accused of selling at least 5,000 Jharkhand children, mostly tribal girls, to employers in New Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.Police also seized several documents related to illegal land deals and trafficking from his possession.

He was arrested from Khunti Tola under Khunti police station on Thursday midnight, said deputy superintendent of police (headquarters), Jaideep Lakra. He said, “We got a tip-off that Mahto was at the house of one Pakhnu Ganjhu in Khunti tola. When we reached to raid the house, he tried to flee with his SUV car but we caught him.”

He said, “We recovered a yellow-coloured file containing details of exchange of money related to human trafficking, a blue-coloured diary related to land deals, a white SUV, cheque books and ATM cards of different banks, non-judicial stamps and other items from him.”

The child welfare committee (CWC), Khunti, had also lodged an FIR against him at anti- human trafficking unit (AHTU), Khunti. A CWC member in Khunti, Baidyanath Kumar, said they had lodged a case against Mahto in August 2018 for his involvement in trafficking of minor girl from a Khunti block. “The girl was trafficked to Delhi last year. She was rescued by Delhi police, who handed her over to Delhi CWC. The girl was, thereafter, brought to Khunti CWC where her statement was recorded,” he said.

“The girl in her statement said she was assaulted and sexually abused. On basis of her statement, police lodged an FIR against Mahto under sections 363, 370 (4),370 (A), 371, 374, 354 (A) and section-8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,” Kumar said.

Mahto was also arrested in the past. Mahto and his wife Sunita Kumari had been apprehended in October 2014 on charges of human trafficking from a hideout in Shakurpur area in New Delhi, when they had gone there to collect their belongings for fleeing to some unknown place.

Khunti police said he had been out of jail on bail since September 2016.

Police said he was also arrested in 2004 and 2006 for human trafficking and other cases. The accused has amassed huge wealth and properties in Ranchi, Delhi and Khunti from their illegal trafficking business, police said.

At least 10,000 children are trafficked every year from Jharkhand to different parts of the country, claim NGOs. A majority of the victims are pushed into domestic works, while some land in brothels, they say.

Part of Jharkhand’s biggest dump yard to turn eco-park soon

Source: hindustantimes.com

Think of an eco-friendly park on a pile of garbage giving breather to people living in and around the area.

This imagination will soon turn into reality at Ranchi’s Jhiri, one of the biggest dump yard in Jharkhand, spread across 41 acres of land where more than 600 tonnes of garbage is dumped every day since past two decades.

The board of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has approved the proposal of an eco-park on a portion of the dump yard with an aim to reduce environmental hazard to people living nearby, clear dumping land and improve soil quality which has deteriorated drastically. RMC executive engineer Umeshwar Nath Tiwary said a detailed project report (DPR) in this regard was being prepared by a private agency. “The concept is to accumulate garbage spread across 41 acres of land in three to four acres through capping work and develop a park on it,” he said, adding, “Grass would be sown, varieties of flowers and trees suitable for such land would be planted there.”

Tiwary said the project would help improve the environment of the locality by reducing garbage pollution, prevent water and soil pollution, besides, it would help to reclaim large portion of the dumping site for scientific solid waste management.

It was a brainchild of Ranchi deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya who said that he saw such eco-park in Chennai. “It gave me an idea to develop a similar park in Ranchi’s Jhiri under green project initiative. It will give a breather to people living nearby,” Vijayvargiya said.

A stinking kitchen dustbin can unsettle one’s day. Imagine living in Anand Nagar, a colony of 200 families near Jhiri, that has to cope with over 20 lakh tonnes of garbage accumulated in past two decades.

Most residents of the colony are forced to live inside mosquito nets even in day time. “Flies make our lives miserable during the day while mosquitoes at night. We cannot eat in the open because of the flies,” said Lalti Devi (35).

“Since there is no waste recycling process here, flies and mosquitoes menace have increased seriously,” she said. A large number of residents are now planning to shift to other places after selling their properties.

A recent study conducted by the environment experts of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, found unscientific garbage dumping turning the soils in and around Jhiri poisonous spreading cancerous agents. The environment experts have found concentration of heavy metals like Chromium, Copper and Zinc in the soil.

Kirti Avishek, assistant professor at department of civil and environmental engineering at BIT, said, “Any vegetable or plant uptake the nutrition from the top soil. It means vegetable or any plant will absorb the heavy metals. When we eat such vegetables, it will enter our body, which could lead to several health hazards including cancer.”

RMC had hired two agencies — A2Z in 2011 and Essel Infra in 2015 — to collect and dispose city’s garbage and set up a waste processing plant at Jhiri for making fertilizers, eco-bricks and electricity out of the dumped garbage. However, RMC terminated both the companies for allegedly falling on their given tasks.