Friday 18 March 2011

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Bihar govt keen on developing Kesaria stupa

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 03:33 PM PDT

PATNA: The state government has asked the Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation to develop the area around the world famous Buddhist stupa at Kesariya in East Champaran district.

Replying to a question of JD-U’s Satish Kumar, tourism minister Sunil K Pintu said in the legislative council that Rs 1.38 crore has been sanctioned for construction of toilets, a boundary wall and a ticket counter at the protected site at which a cafeteria and a tourist information centre would also come up. The minister admitted the site, visited by a large number of tourists from Asian countries every year, does not have basic facilities for them.

Replying to another question, the minister said Rs 1.67 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of a tourist complex at Someshwar Nath temple at Areraj in East Champran. He said the state government has decided to develop Areraj-Rampurva sites on its own as the Centre has been sitting on a state proposal to develop the sites at a cost of Rs 2.68 crore, since 2009.

 

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Meghalaya to follow Bihar’s way of declaring assets

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 02:45 PM PDT

Shillong, Mar 16 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Wednesday said the government was working on a policy to make it mandatory for politicians, bureaucrats and government servants to declare their assets annually.

‘Filing of Income Tax return is a mechanism to check assets annually. Since the tribal population here is exempt from filing IT returns, the policy would ensure that declaration of assets is also mandatory for them,’ Sangma said told the assembly.

He said the policy would be implemented at the earliest and would help in checking corruption.

Meghalaya would be one of the few states in the country to have such a policy. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made it mandatory for politicians and bureaucrats to declare their assets annually.

Saying the government was serious in checking corruption, the chief minister promised to overhaul the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and make it an autonomous body.

‘The ACB is not an autonomous body. The ACB is further working with a skeletal staff of 10 people,’ he said.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma suggested that every ministry must have a vigilance officer to check corruption. The chief minster agreed it was a sound suggestion.

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Bihar Industry Association organizes 3-day health camp

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 02:33 PM PDT

PATNA: Maximum number of urology or cardiology related cases figured at the three-day free health check-up camp held here at Bihar Industries Association hall from March 15 onwards.

About 40 per cent of the patients who attended the camp were found to be suffering from diabetes. Some patients below the age of 30 were found to be suffering from severe heart ailments. Jointly organised by Medanta the Medicity, Gurgaon and Lions club of Patna Vishal the health camp was held under the guidance of eminent cardio-vascular surgeon and chairman-cum-managing director, Medanta, Padmashree Dr Naresh Trehan.

Any patient who has been recommended from this camp to Medanta will get 10 per cent discount on treatment,” said Abhijeet Kumar, head marketing, Medanta. Other eminent doctors of Medanta, including urologist Padmashree Dr N P Gupta, cardiologist Dr R C Keshriwal and neurologist Dr A N Jha, were also present at the camp.

Altogether 14 doctors along with their para-medical team carried out four basic tests, including ECG, ECO, blood sugar and uroflowmetry.

“More than 560 patients have registered from all over the state for the check-up,” Diljeet Khanna, president, Lions club of Patna Vishal said.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday Dr N P Gupta said, “Urine problem can lead to severe prostate gland enlargement including its total failure. Thus, regular intake of 3-4 litres of water is necessary to avoid any urology problem.”

Cardiologist Dr Farrukh Ahmad said, “To avoid heart-related problems one must stop smoking, eat less fat, avoid crash diet and do regular exercise.”

Medanta is also planning to open one of its branches here in Bihar for which talks are in progress with health ministry.

 

 

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Nitish magic tempts food brands to Patna Shining

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 07:30 AM PDT

New Delhi: It's a perfect case of a no-go area becoming a go-go one. With a vastly improved law and order scenario in Bihar after Nitish Kumar's return to power as the state's chief minister, food retail chains are queuing up to enter capital city Patna to whet the urban Bihari's appetite.

 

While Domino's Pizza, the first food retailer to enter Patna five months ago is planning to add two more stores, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Barista, Cafe Coffee Day and Subway are finalising plans to open stores in the city.

For these food retailers, there are two specific reasons for including Bihar in their business plans: Better law and order and rising demand for branded food.

"Domino's Pizza was already a well-recognised brand in Patna because of our dominant presence on national television. Our store in Patna, in fact, holds a record in terms of highest sales when it opened in October last year," says Dev Amritesh, senior vice-president (marketing) at Jubilant Foodworks, the master franchisee of Domino's Pizza in India.

For Domino's, the next step is opening another pizza store in the plush Boring Road area of Patna in the next few months followed by another outlet in the Kankar Bagh area of south-central Patna.

For McDonald's too, Bihar is on top of its expansion plans for eastern India. "Once our base in Kolkata becomes stronger so as to act as the centre for supplying the logistics to other locations, we will enter Patna among other cities in Jharkhand and Bihar," Rajesh Kumar Maini, general manager at McDonald's India told FE.

Pizza Hut, which is present in Varanasi, Bhubaneswar and Guwahati, is expected to enter Patna soon, industry sources said. Delhi-based Chinese fast-food Yo! China is already present in Patna. Coffee chains like Barista and Cafe Coffee Day too are expected to open outlets at the Patna airport, sources said.

Sources also attributed the heightened interest from food retail chains to several market research studies to gauge the eating-out trends in cities like Patna, Ranchi, Bokaro and Muzaffarpur. But why enter Patna now? According to the branded foods industry, in Patna, dining out is more popular than home delivery. Also, the current wallet-share of dining-out is going to home-grown restaurants. "A family of four spends Rs. 500-700 on an average on eating out, which happens 3-4 times in a month. People love Chinese, Indian and continental food and that’s why others are keen to come here," an executive working for a leading restaurant in Patna said. For the fast food majors, Patna and other cities in Bihar are part of their expansion plans for tier-II and tier-III. "In smaller towns, the advantages are many. People tend to come to the outlet to eat and do not like home-deliveries. Also, the restaurants are in a particular part of a town which can be accessed without taking out the car in most cases. So there are no parking hassles, unlike in metros," said a senior executive of a leading food brand. But the main challenge for organised food retailers is the lack of quality real estate. "We are dependent on our Kolkata kitchen to supply the logistics. Real estate is an issue in Patna," said Amritesh.

Even McDonald’s is apprehensive on setting up its central kitchen in Patna. "We will scale our presence in Kolkata from 3 to 10 outlets soon before foraying into Bihar, Assam and other locations in West Bengal. Central kitchen will have to be in Kolkata initially," Maini said.

 

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Seminar on astrology held in Patna

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 12:28 AM PDT

Indian Council of Astrological Sciences organised a convocation-cum-seminar in Patna on March 13, 2011. Bihar HRD Minister PK Shahi inaugurated the seminar. Several top astrologers of India attended the seminar. Eight students got gold, silver and bronze medals in Jyotish Praveen and Jyotish Visharad courses.
Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Students pay homage to Japan disaster victims

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 11:54 PM PDT

 

Students of S Raza High School expressed their grief and sorrow paying tributes to earth quake and Tsunami victims of Japan in Patna on March 12, 2011.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

   
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