Friday 3 June 2011

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

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


Over 427 new Silos in Bihar soon

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 05:47 PM PDT

Patna, Jun 1 (PTI) The Bihar government would set up 427 silos for which it has signed a MoU with Nabard for a Rs 276 crore loan, to increase storage capacity of foodgrains.
Stating that the 500 tonnes silos would be constructed at all blocks, state Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak told newsmen here: “We will construct the new silos for increasing foodgrain storage capacity in Bihar”.
Stating that storage was a major problem and not agriculture production, the minister said the state had targetted 5 lakh tonne wheat this time, but unfortunately it could not be achieved.
“In case of paddy, the target has been surpassed at 11 lakh tonne against the targetted 105 lakh tonne,” he said.
Alleging that the Food Corporation of India was not cooperating with the state for storage, he said, “The FCI is supposed to ensure storage of 6 lakh tonne of foodgrains, but it has provided facility for only 1.5 lakh tonne”.
The FCI, he said, was not paying sufficient attention to Bihar for having godowns as compared to a state like Punjab.

Bihar demands independent body for BPL survey

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 07:45 AM PDT

Patna, June 01 (ANI): Bihar’s Planning Commission on Tuesday demanded for the establishment of an independent National Poverty Commission for Below Poverty Line survey. Secretary of the Bihar’s Planning Commission Vijay Prakash said, for the better formulation of the policies, there is a need of an independent body that can keep a constant check on the survey list and provide accurate figures. Prakash added that issues like education, health, sustainable livelihood and good governance need more importance

Bihar committed to focus on quality water supply

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 06:09 AM PDT

Patna, May 31: Public health engineering department (PHED) minister Chandra Mohan Rai said the state government was committed to provide quality and potable water to the people.

Addressing a news meet at his office today, Rai said: "In the past few years, there has been a continuous tapping of groundwater resulting in the depletion of the water table. This has been because of the continuous drought in the state for the past few years."

Rai said, in the past couple of years, the state has received scanty rainfall because of which the groundwater table has gone down. The 17 districts of south Bihar have been affected by droughts. Moreover, 11 districts of the state are affected with groundwater having higher fluoride content and high arsenic content.

Rai said as the state has been facing drought for two consecutive years, the state government has decided to provide water supply through area-specific pipelines. In the drought-prone areas, around 1,770 pipelines will be set up in the drought-hit areas.

Similarly, around 379 pipelines would be set up for the areas affected by high fluoride content. These would be run with the help of solar power. The minister also urged the people to come forward in conservation of groundwater.

The minister said: "Earlier we used to consider groundwater as pure and pristine. But, now, even groundwater is contaminated, posing a serious threat to the people. Pollution of groundwater is more dangerous than pollution of surface water. The people of the state have also been facing the problem of groundwater contamination with arsenic, fluoride and nitrate.

Rai called upon the scientists and academicians to create awareness in the society about the harmful effects of the use of contaminated water. The minister also listed the schemes taken by the state government in provision of water supply in Bihar.

"Under the multipurpose Biddupur water supply scheme, works on providing safe drinking water to 19 villages is going on. Similarly, under Maner water supply scheme, 26 small villages are covered, where supply of drinking water is going on," the minister added.

AC buses to ply Patna roads by next week

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 05:42 AM PDT

PATNA: Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) will run eight new 32-seater air-conditioned city buses by next week for commuters.

Four AC buses each would ply on two routes — route number one from Gandhi Maidan to Khagaul and route number two from Gandhi Maidan to Danapur. These AC buses will operate from 5am to 11pm and be available every one hour on their respective routes.

These Marco Polo buses of Tata Motors will have modern facilities including CCTV cameras, emergency alarm button, inbuilt fire extinguishers, Global Positioning System (GPS), electronic ticketing machine (ETMs) and music system. These buses will have six seats reserved for women, two for old people and two for the physically challenged.
“The fares of these AC buses is yet to be decided, but is likely to be double the fares of Non-AC ones running in the city,” Uday Singh Kumawat, transport secretary who is also holding the charge of administrator, BSRTC told TOI.

A proposal to have women bus conductors in these buses is under consideration. Eden Transport, a private firm, will run these buses too, along with the existing fleet of 70 city buses.

Besides, bus stops would also be constructed by next month. Kumawat said, “These bus stops will be like those in Delhi, with electronic board displaying the timetable of buses and the routes, and sufficient standing space with shade for commuters.

Misuse of residential plots by doctors in Patna

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:06 AM PDT

Patna, May 31: A few doctors are allegedly running multi-storeyed nursing homes in the plots allotted to them by Bihar State Housing Board for residential purpose.

Taking note of this, the housing board has recently served notices to many of the occupants. According to departmental sources, around 110 plots sprawling over more than 300 cottahs in Lohia Nagar were allotted in different phases to doctors in 1981.

Plots of four cottah and 2.5 cottah in Doctors' Co-operative Colony were distributed to beneficiaries on various terms and conditions, most important being that a private clinic can be operated on the ground floor and the first floor should be utilised for residential purpose. Such arrangement is termed as commercial-cum-residential plots.

Housing board sources said recently it was brought to the notice of the board that many of the occupants are violating that norm and running multi-storeyed nursing homes on their premises.

Consequently, the board served notices to around 20 members of Doctors' Co- operative Society in mid-April for violation of Section 78 of Bihar State Housing Board Act, 1982 related to violation of utilisation norms of housing board land.

"The matter of commercial utilisation of residential and residential-cum-commercial plots in Doctors' Co-operative Colony in Lohia Nagar is being looked at and we have also served notices to those who have been alleged of violating housing board norms," said a senior official of Bihar State Housing Board.

He added: "Besides, we are looking after the revenue aspect in case of flouting of such norms. Further, various norms of Housing Board Act are being studied in present day context. For instance, the definition of "clinic" in the act would be studied in relation to prevailing practices. All such matters would finally be put in front of the board and consequently actions would be taken by it."

According to the sources, a reputed heart hospital near Rajendra Nagar flyover, neighbouring Doctors' Co-operative Colony is running on a residential plot belonging to the housing board.

However, housing board sources clarified that this plot does not come under Doctors' Co-operative Colony.

Residents on the other hand, seem to have adjusted with the upsurge of medical facilities in their neighbourhood. "It is good that we have so many nursing homes in the vicinity. We do not need to go to distant places for diagnosis. Besides, there is enough space in the area and the vicinity never looks congested," said A. Bhanti, a homemaker in Kankerbagh Housing Society.

What Bihar thinks today,India thinks tomorrow

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 03:34 AM PDT

PATNA: What Bihar thinks today, India thinks tomorrow! The Budget proposals envisaging transfer of cash subsidy directly to the beneficiaries in case of LPG, kerosene and fertiliser is a Bihar model being replicated by the Centre. Bihar already boasts of a number of government sponsored schemes in which the cash subsidy is directly transferred to beneficiaries. This is not the only case.

There are several other schemes and programmes of the state government which are being emulated by the Centre and other states as well. Bihar is also the first state to have introduced bicycle scheme for the schoolgirls which not only became very popular in the state but also attracted nation-wide attention.

“Now, several other states have such a scheme for school girls. But in Bihar , the money is directly made available to girl students to procure their bicycle and even school uniforms to avoid any leakage,” BJP spokesperson Sanjay Jha told ET, adding the bicycle scheme will now also cover boys. The introduction of the bicycle scheme made Bihar the first state to have adopted an effective system for transferring cash directly to the targeted beneficiaries (schoolgirls) of subsidies.
Bihar government has a number of schemes in which the money is directly transferred to the intended beneficiaries of subsidies. The chief minister has been advocating for such a cash transfer policy which need to be adopted for myriad schemes having subsidy component .

It is good that the Central government has now taken the cue from Bihar with the Union Finance Minister pushing for cash transfer policy in lieu of subsidies meant for LPG, fertiliser and kerosene,” speaker of the Bihar assembly Udai Narain Choudhary told ET.

Patna suffering from Streetlight disorder

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 01:05 AM PDT

Patna, May 31: They stand tall on the roads serving no purpose. Many of them are half broken, resembling wreckage.

The streetlights in the state capital have a sorry story to tell. While some are broken, many others have stopped functioning. . Residents complain, but many have given up. They have got used to their pleas falling on deaf ears.

While almost entire Patna has been affected with a streetlight disorder, some of the prominent areas, including Patliputra Colony, Gardanibagh, Kankerbagh, Digha, Aashiana Road, Jagdeopath-Rukunpura, Serpentine Road, Indrapuri, AG Colony, Lodipur, Police Lines, Rajivnagar, Anisabad, Danapur, Khagaul, Rajendra Nagar and Patna City are the worst sufferers.

Residents blamed the step-motherly treatment meted out by Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) for the situation.

Since the past 10 years, Patna Electricity Supply Unde rtaking (Pesu) and Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) have been taking care of streetlights in the city. However, in the past couple of months, the streetlights have been orphaned, literally. Sources in PMC said the civic body is in a fix as to whom to impose the burden of setting things straight.

"The matter was taken up at several meetings of the standing committee of PMC and at present we are planning to float tenders to invite companies for installation and maintenance of streetlights and high-mast lights. The company, which will be awarded the tender, will have to pay the charges to Pesu for the electricity consumed by these lights. Besides, the company would be allowed to give their advertisements on the electricity poles, for which the respective charges would have to be paid to PMC," Afzal Imam, the PMC mayor, said.

Shashi Shekhar Sharma, the principal secretary of the urban development department, said the PMC should be responsible for providing infrastructure or fittings for streetlights in urban areas of Patna.

Sources in the Pesu said PMC had paid Rs 58 lakh to the undertaking in 2000 for maintenance of streetlights between 2000 and 2004. After the fund was exhausted, the complete utilisation report was submitted in 2004 and since then PMC was requested to maintain the streetlights.

Pesu sources said that during a very high-level meeting in September 2004, BSEB and Pesu were instructed to restart the work of maintenance of streetlights in Patna despite strong reservations of both. After the decision was taken, PMC deposited Rs 15 lakh in October 2004. After the fund was exhausted, another utilisation report was submitted.

"Rajivnagar has been infamous for criminal activities. Even though criminal activities have reduced in the past couple of years, absence of streetlights enhances the scope of such activities. Patliputra is a posh area and Gosaitola, which happens to be the epicentre of notorious activities, is just at its doorstep. Even then, there have been very few streetlights functioning at these places," said Ravindra Kumar Singh, an advocate of Patna High Court, and a resident of Rajivnagar.

Watch the first looks of ‘Singham’

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 10:23 PM PDT

After a string of comedy super hits over the past few years, director Rohit Shetty is back to working on the genre which he loves the most. This year, the talented director is churning out his latest cop action flick, Reliance Entertainment’s SINGHAM, which is the remake of a hit Tamil movie.
Like in all his movies, this time too fans will get to see the magic of the Rohit Shetty-Ajay Devgn jodi along with southern beauty Kajal Aggarwal who plays the lead opposite Ajay. Her brilliant performances down south are what brought her to the notice of the ace director.

The latest buzz is that since the backdrop of the movie is around Maharashtra, considering Ajay Devgn is seen playing a local Marathi cop, Rohit Shetty has cast as many as 15 Marathi actors for the authenticity of movie.
This star cast comprises of Ashok Saraf, Sachin Khedekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Anant Jogue, Vijay Patkar, Agasthya Dhanorkar, Suchitra Bandekar, Jayant Sawarkar, Suhasini Deshpande, Meghna Vaidya, Ashok Samarth, Kishore Nandlaskar, Ravindra Berde, Pradeep Welankar and Hemu Adhikari.
In fact, even composers Ajay-Atul, who are creating waves on the Marathi film music scenario, have been roped in for the music of the film.
The shoot of the film is currently in progress in Mumbai, after which the entire unit will move to Wai, in the Satara district for the next segment.
SINGHAM will hit screens on 22nd July this year.
More on bollywood at glamsham.com

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