Tag: Ranchi

Even Ranchi Municipal Corporation is fed up with dug-up spots

Source: telegraphindia.com

Traffic snarls and people falling into dug-up stretches of roads — welcome to monsoon in the state capital.

The situation has become so bad that senior officials of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) are set to meet Ramchandra Sahis, the minister of drinking water and sanitation, to lodge complaints about the number of trenches dug by the department across the capital for repairing water pipelines and giving domestic water connections.

“In the last one-and-half months we have received over two dozen complaints from residents that trenches were dug on the road and on the flanks many months back by the department that are yet to be filled up,” deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya said on Monday.

“This causes multiple problems like disruption in traffic and people falling in the trenches. The RMC has to face public criticism irrespective of the fact that the drinking water and sanitation department is responsible for this. The RMC is not responsible if the drinking water department does not have sufficient funds or if officials have no control over contractors. Now we have decided to meet minister of the department to seek his intervention.”

Vijayvargiya, a resident of Kokar, said that on Kokar Chowk the road was dug up three months back. The department has finally covered the trenches with cement slabs. “But debris is yet to be removed and proper levelling work has still not been done. You can see a similar situation on the Kantatoli stretch. Due to such unplanned work, traffic remains affected and people face problems,” he said.

Rakesh Raman, a resident of Bandhgadi, complained that stretch was dug in one of the lanes of his locality a month ago.

“This lane is narrow and has no streetlight, hence people frequently fall in it. I had lodged a complaint with the RMC but there has been no solution so far,” said Raman.

Morabadi resident Vimal Krishnan said contractors executing the works leave the dug-up portions unattended. “As per the rule such stretches must be barricaded with reflective danger sign till the work is finished. But in Ranchi such procedures are not followed. There is risk of accident especially at night for those who are not aware,” Krishnan said.

Hiralal Prasad, chief engineer of the drinking water and sanitation department, admitted that such complaints have come from various parts of the capital.

“These trenches were dug up mainly for repair and to give domestic connections. But they must be filled up after the work is done. During periodical review meetings contractors were asked to properly fill the dug-up stretches with soil. We are going to issue a final warning to all contractors after which departmental action will be taken against them,” Prasad said when contacted.


Jharkhand: Three men thrashed in Ranchi, allegedly forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, say reports

Source: scroll.in

A mob thrashed three men and allegedly forced them to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Ranchi, Jharkhand, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

Aamir Wasim, who lodged a complaint at the Doranda police station, said he and his friends, Altaf Ali and Ali Ahmed, had gone to the airport area on Friday to take photographs when the incident took place. “We were riding our two-wheelers and were in kurta pajamawhen some people besieged us,” Wasim told The Hindu. “Without any provocation, they beat us up and told us to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. As the crowd got bigger, we fled from the spot,” Wasim said, adding that security personnel near the Birsa Munda Airport rescued them.

Community members blocked the MG Marg near Church Complex, demanding that the culprits be arrested. The demonstration went on till late evening on Friday. “We have deployed police along the MG Marg to prevent further escalation,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Anish Gupta on Saturday. “Now the area is peaceful. We are keeping a close watch on the situation.”

A similar incident was reported in Barpeta district in Assam on the same day. Three youths were beaten up and allegedly forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Jyoti Gaon area, according to Northeast Now.

Wajed Ali, who filed the first information report, said four people on two motorcycles thrashed Rakibul Haque, Burhan Ali and Kurban Khan, who were working there at a medical store. “They also forced the trio to chant “Jai Shri Ram”,” Ali said. Ali claimed the four suspects verbally abused Haque and tried to kill him by strangling him.

On June 18, a 24-year Muslim man was assaulted by a mob and forced to say “Jai Shri Ram” in Jharkhand’s Seraikela Kharsawan district. He died four days later. On June 24, a 25-year-old Muslim man was allegedly beaten up, verbally abused, and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Diva area of Maharashtra’s Thane district. The same day a 26-year-old madrasa teacher and two others were allegedly assaulted in Kolkata for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram”.

Retired Ranchi University teachers demand dues

Source: telegraphindia.com

Around 150 teachers under the aegis of Retired Ranchi University Association staged a demonstration on the varsity campus on Saturday to demand their dues.

The demonstration began around 11 in the morning and continued till 2pm till the protesters met Vice Chancellor Ramesh Kumar Pandey and discussed the issue with him.

A university official confirmed the stir by the retired teachers and said the situation reflected the sorry state of higher education in the state.

“It was painful to see the retired university teachers agitating in the same campus where they used to command respect. Though only 150 ex-teachers took part in the agitation, the actual number of sufferers is not less than 500,” the university official said requesting anonymity.

Ram Eqbal Tiwary, retired head of the department of mathematics of Ranchi University and president of the association, said they were left with no option other than taking recourse to agitation.

“Teachers, who have retired during 2006-10, have not received their arrears so far. Moreover, the fixing of pension in accordance with the recommendation of Seventh Pay Commission has also not been done so far. Several retired teachers have not got their leave encashment and gratuity amounts as well,” Tiwary said.

Vice Chancellor R.K. Pandey said he gave a positive assurance to the teachers.

“The demands of the retired teachers are justified. The money for payment has to be released by the state government. The university is not in a position to do anything. But I have promised my full co-operation to them,” Pandey said.

Set up in 1960, Ranchi University is the oldest varsity in the state and has produced many bureaucrats and technocrats.

Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth had recently raised the demand of converting the varsity into a central university in Lok Sabha.

Asked about the sufferings of the retired teachers, Seth said he would look into the matter.

“I will talk to government officials and see how the problem can be solved. It is unfortunate that they have to agitate for their genuine demand,” he said.

Director of higher education department Dinesh Prasad said the payment of dues and pension in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission were awaiting approval from the finance department. “Efforts are underway to get the approval soon,” he added.

Water conservation in ‘dry’ Ranchi planned

Source: dailypioneer.com

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raghubar Das stressed on water conservation, the State Government has prepared strategy on water conservation and re-charging depleting ground water table. The State Government from July 7 to September 15 is to launch a concerted save water drive across the State. The campaign though is Government initiatives, but ruling BJP too has jumped in the exercise.

The save water campaign from July 7 to September 15 is to witness voluntary participation of ruling party MPs, MLAs, ministers, besides CM Das himself participating at the campaign. BJP chief whip and MLA, Radha Krishna Kishore said, “From July 7 to 15, all MLAs, ministers, MPs will volunteer their participation in water conservation. Water conservation is need of the hour.”

The Ranchi district administration moving a step ahead too has decided to dole out cash incentives to panchayats taking a lead in water conservation.

Ranchi Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rai Mahimapat Ray on Tuesday held a meeting on water conservation and announced cash incentives for panchayats selected for mini watershed planning. Best performing panchayats will get cash incentives ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Ray said, “On July 7, the district administration will launch the drive on which there will be plantations drive and Shram Daan (volunteer participation) by people. The Chief Minister will himself participate at the function in Kanke.” The State Government and Ranchi District Administration stressing on water conservation is due to depleting ground water table, which has become a cause of concern not only for administration but also for residents of the city.

According to city-based Geologist/Environmental Scientist Dr Nitish Priyadarshi ground water table in State Capital in last 15 years has gone down by 3 metre to 25 metres, with areas such Kanke, Ratu Road, Morhabadi, Harmu largely affected due to ground water depletion.

Priyadrashi said, “The main reason for depleting ground water is lack of water management, which includes over exploitation of ground water and shrinking water bodies. In last few years lots of deep boring has been done. These deep borings in the State Capital has forced the water table to move down, as well as Ranchi plateau consists of metamorphic rocks which are relatively impermeable and hence serve as poor aquifers.”

The over exploitation of water table can be gauged from the fact in localities such as Upper Bazar, Harmu area, Kishore Ganj are facing severe water crisis with borings too becoming failure. Atul Choudhary, a resident of Upper Bazar said, “In our house there are two borings but both of them have failed. We are left with no other alternative but to depend upon water supplied through water tankers by civic bodies which too are irregular.”

Apart from uncontrolled deep borings, the other reasons behind depleting ground water are shrinking surface water in State Capital. Ranchi city that used to have more than 52 to 55 ponds and smaller water bodies during Independence, but now only a dozen odd water bodies exist. Even rivers flowing beside the State Capital are crying for existence. Due to growth of City, these large ponds, rivers and water bodies are encroached by construction companies. “Shrinking natural water bodies have lowered groundwater level and as a result people suffer during summer,” said Nitish Priyadarshi.

In 1946, JB Auden, a British geologist who visited Ranchi to explore for underground aquifers, found that ground water level in Ranchi was not reliable due to the presence of Archaean rocks–the oldest rock formations. To meet the increasing demand for surface water, three dams–the Dhurwa Dam in 1962, Kanke Dam in 1954 and Getalsud Dam in 1971– were built in and around the city to cater to a population, but the depressing fact is that neither administration nor citizens have taken effort to protect these water bodies. Priyadarshi claimed that administration and citizen should take some measures such as putting a ban on construction at recharge area or catchment areas, construction of artificial water reservoirs, regular cleaning of ponds, lakes and rivulets and dams.

In a first for Indian Railways, eight trains from Bihar to have ‘Entertainment-on-Demand’ facility soon

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: In a first for the Indian Railways, the Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) has come up with an ‘Entertainment-on-Demand’ (EoD) facility for passengers through an in-coach video and audio streaming platform.

The facility will allow the passengers onboard to watch videos and listen to audio of their choice from a large digital library to kill the boredom during the journey. More interestingly, it would be free of cost for the entire journey.

On Monday at Danapur divisional HQ, a formal demonstration of this first-of-its-kind service was made by senior divisional commercial manager Aahdar Raj following the direction of DRM PK Thakur.

Spokesperson of Division, Sanjay Kumar Prasad said: “This kind of entertainment facility can be availed by passengers on board initially in select eight long journey express trains including the Patna-New Delhi Rajdhani through their devices like laptop, smart mobile phones using local wireless connectivity within the coaches without wasting their data”. Prasad said that EoD is being provided by Danapur division for the first time in the history of Indian Railways.

“The said facility will be made available for use in the Rajdhani express and the Sampooran Kranti express by July and in six other express trains by August 15 this year”, he claimed, adding that the objective behind launching this facility is to make the train journey memorable and to give an experience similar to that of an international flight. There would a digital hub of around 7000 Bollywood, Hollywood new and old movies and 12000 different programs under various subjects of public interest also.

Besides video and audio delights, Prasad said: “special category for elderly passengers will be available which includes devotional songs, movies, artis, bhajans. For kids, videos and audios on culture, general awareness, education and other healthy information would be available”.

The six express trains slated to have the facility from August are the Patna-Mumbai Suvidha express, Patna-Bandra Humsafar express, Patna-Kota Express-I, Patna-Howrah Jan Shatbdi express and Patna-Ranchi Janshatbdi express and the Patna-Kota express-II.

Prasad said that the process for launching this facility is near completion. “Following the response of passengers after the initial launch in eight trains, it can be considered to provide this facility in 70 other mail and express trains of the division in future”, he said.

BJP MP from Jharkhand demands railway zone in Ranchi

Source: business-standard.com

A BJP MP from Jharkhand has demanded a railway zone in state capital Ranchi, close on the heels of the railways approving a separate zone, South Coast Railway, despite an internal committee advising against the move.

Sanjay Seth the MP from Ranchi met Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav on Tuesday and listed 31 demands of the state relating to railways.

A letter submitted to Yadav demanded, “Immediate creation of a new zonal office at Ranchi in pattern of South Coast Railways, which is the newest zone of of Indian railways created just before general elections.”

“Jharkhand gives more than Rs 20,000 crore per year of only freight revenue, which makes the state more than deserving to have a zonal headquarter in state capital of Ranchi,” it stated.

The letter said that the zonal headquarters can be created by either shifting the present headquarter of South Eastern Railway from Kolkata to Ranchi or by merging certain portions of East Central Railway like Dhanbad division with Ranchi.

“If a zonal office is not created immediately, Jharkhand will never be able to harvest the benefit of its mineral resources and will always be remotely controlled by Bihar and West Bengal,” it said, adding, “Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on a similar logic and now it is high time to separate its railways from the two states.”

The South Coast Railway, the new railway zone in Andhra Pradesh with headquarters in Visakhapatnam and covering the jurisdictional area of Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions, was carved out by the railways with the former Waltair division being merged with Vijayawada division.
Seth has also demanded a Rail Neer plant at Aragada, connectivity to smart city, running the Ranchi Rajdhani on all seven days of a week, licensing of coolies, ambulance services, LHB rakes for trains among other amenities.

GoAir flight meets with accident at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport: Narrow escape for 165 passengers

Source: indiatvnews.com

A GoAir flight met a freak accident after its rear portion hit runway during landing. Bengaluru-Ranchi flight G-8/375 was carrying 165 passengers when its rear portion hit the runway of Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi. The pilot was able to control the flight and all passengers were deplaned safely.

The incident took place at 1:30 pm on Sunday. A flight engineer carried out a check up of the the airplane which was then declared grounded. The plane was to take-off for Bengaluru at 2.20 pm but it was not allowed to take off till 7.30 pm.

Passengers who were due to travel to Bengalur were forced to wait at the Ranchi airport. They were onboarded on flight G6/116 incoming from New Delhi and the plane proceeded to Bengaluru.

Passengers who were due to travel to New Delhi were also inconvenienced. They were told that the flight for New Delhi will leave by 8:30 pm. However, the flight was cancelled at 9 pm.

Ranchi death reminds what not to do on escalators

Source: indiatoday.in

Thirteen-year-old Parthiv Shah, who fell to his death from an escalator in Ranchi’s Nucleus Mall, has once again raised an outrage over safety concerns in upscale malls and about preventable tragedies, which are allowed to happen because of largely unmonitored movement of visitors.

Closed circuit television camera footage acquired by the Ranchi police shows the boy climbing over the moving handrail of the escalator on the first floor to reach the ground floor.

It proved to be a fatal mistake by the boy who was apparently trying to have a feel of a moving slide on the escalators.

He climbed over the handrails but could manage to hang on it before he lost his balance and fell on the ground floor, 30 feet below. His skull was fractured, and within seconds, there was blood all around. Eyewitnesses recall he did not even cry and died on the spot.

The shocking footage shows how the boy, a Class VI student of Bridgeford School in Jharkhand’s capital city, awkwardly climbed the handrail chest down before losing his balance-and life.

In the footage, Parthiv is seen standing near the escalator with his hands touching the handrail. That was perhaps the moment when he seemed to have assessed the possibility of doing a stunt.

The 1.44-minute CCTV footage established that Parthiv’s fall was completely preventable and while the mall management, somewhat rightly, has blamed the incident on the guardians for not monitoring their children visiting the mall, the onus should also be on them for not deploying an adequate number of security persons to stop such a misadventure by visitors.

Parthiv was the only child of retired Navy man Raj Kumar and Ranchi anti-human trafficking unit sub-inspector Durga Gupta. The boy had gone to the mall for shopping with his relatives, who were not close by when the boy attempted the fatal stunt.

Accidents near escalators are not unusual in India.

In January this year, an 18-month-old toddler died after falling from an escalator at a Bengaluru Metro station onto the main road 50 feet below. The child, who was with her grandfather, suddenly slipped and suffered head injuries. She was rushed to a state-run hospital where she died.

In April 2018, a 10-year-old boy died of severe head injuries that he sustained when his school bag snagged in the moving handrail of on escalator in Chennai’s Express Avenue Mall.

A mall employee in Patna admits that most accidents happen because of “user behaviour.” “We have seen visitors running on escalators or walking backwards on them. Many times, we also see people not holding the handrails, and talking on mobile phones. All this can prove dangerous,” he said.

“The most common (reasons) that cause people to lose balance are because some refuse to hold onto the handrail, while others carry heavy objects. Besides, walking up the escalator steps and even leaning against the side of the escalator must be avoided,” added a security professional working with a mall in Patna. Escalators provide convenience, but the recent incidents are giving a bit of a scare.

Hawkers’ hub in Ranchi to become no-vending zone

Source: hindustantimes.com

From Monday, vendors will not be allowed to put up stalls on 1.5-km stretch from Kutchery Chowk to Sarjana Chowk, known as hawkers’ hub, as Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has declared the stretch no-vending zone.

The vendors would be shifted to the newly-constructed Atal Smriti Vendors’ Market built at Kutchery.

The shop allotments process has already been completed. However, a section of vendors have decided to protest against the RMC’s move, alleging irregularities in the allotment process.

The stretch – comprising Kutchery Chowk, Saheed Chowk, Albert Ekka Chowk, Sarjana Chowk, part of main road — is a major hawkers’ zone in the city. More than 1,000 hawkers earn their livelihood in the stretch.

Deputy municipal commissioner Shankar Yadav said, “The notice has also been given to vendors. They will now put up their stalls at the newly constructed multi-storied building.”

Atal Smriti Vendors’ Market, a four-storied building, was built on 2.94 lakh sqft area at the cost of Rs 54 crore. The market has 472 kiosks for street vendors on ground and first floors. On the second floor, 108 shops have been built. Further, 23 offices are on the third floor and a banquet hall for marriage, anniversary and other purposes on the fourth floor.

Chief minister Raghubar Das had inaugurated the building on November 16 last year.

“A total 752 vendors had been identified on the stretch in a survey. However, 569 hawkers were found to be genuine. Around 150 vegetable or fruit sellers were excluded from the list of shop beneficiary, as perishable items such as vegetables and fruits were not allowed inside the market,” Yadav said. Cemented platforms were being constructed for them, he said.

However, Jharkhand Sikshit Footpath Dukandar Mahasangh (JSFDM) has cried foul in distribution of shop allotment. “Many hawkers who are not genuine got shops here,” said JSFDM central president Ishtiyak Ahmed.

NIA arrests engineer in Ranchi for connection with PLFI

Source: zeenews.india.com

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested an engineer from Ranchi, Jharkhand, for his connection with banned group Peoples’ Liberation Front of India (PLFI). Sources told Zee Media that the arrested engineer identified as Jitendra is an associate of PLFI chief Dinesh Gope. NIA said that Jitendra has been arrested in connection with terror funding and he has been remanded to judicial custody till July 3. Jitendra was arrested from his residence at Ranchi’s posh Prem Nagar area.

NIA sources said that Jitendra used to invest the levy money which was illegally collected by PLFI members. Meanwhile, Jitendra’s brother had rejected the NIA’s claim and said that his brother has nothing do with the PLFI. Sources told Zee Media that Jitendra belongs to a high-profile family.

It may be recalled that in February this year the NIA had conducted raids at 10 locations in Jharkhand and West Bengal in connection with a terror funding case involving the PLFI. At that time, the NIA had raided the residences and offices of close aides and companies associated with Gope in Ranchi, Gumla, Khunti and Kolkata.

The NIA had seized cash approximately Rs 3.41 lakh, incriminating documents pertaining to payments/investment by PLFI chief/cadres in various firms and immovable properties, fake PAN cards and fake identity cards, bank accounts details and fixed deposits, documents showing payments made to the various shell companies, 40 mobile phones and other digital devices containing incriminating information during the raids.