Friday, 29 April 2011

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

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

Nepali encroachers grab Bihar land

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:29 PM PDT

New Delhi: It’s a land grab with International dimensions. Thousands of villagers in seven border districts of Bihar have lost their land and homes to encroachers from Nepal – triggering a significant rise in violence and conflict along the state’s border with the Himalayan Kingdom. The land grab, it appears, has its genesis in a warped century old border treaty. The Indian authorities’ inability to ensure pillars demarcating the border stay intact, making it worse.
Rashud Ansari, villager, said, “The land which should be part of Bihar is occupied by Nepal. But all the papers for that land are with India and are from India.”
People residing at the Indo-Nepal border have been crying foul for long. Slowly, the land on the Indian side is disappearing. Farmers here are losing their farm lands, their livelihood, rather everything. The local authorities are well aware about this issue but their hands seems tied down.
Though the 600 Km long open Indo-Nepal border is patrolled by the Sashatra Seema Bal or SSB, pillars demarcating the border are regularly uprooted. Intelligence estimates suggest that 716 International border pillars have disappeared along the Indo-Nepal border. 281, out of that number, are pillars which have been uprooted in Madhubani district, 116 pillars from East Champaran district, 61 pillars from West Champaran and 3 in Araria district.
The SSB agrees that the problem is serious and that it has been escalated to the Central government.
“Boundary has not been demarcated by both countries. Disputes exist in only 7 districts and we have already reported the matter to the Central government through our HQ. Many pillars have gone missing and the State government must look into it,” said Aditya Mishra, Inspector General, SSB.
Ironically, the very basis of setting up these pillars lies in a treaty signed by the British in 1816, declaring the river Mahakali as the border between the two countries. The Sugauli Treaty, as it is know, is meaningless as the river has changed course several times southwards into Indian land.
Suresh Mahto, Farmer, said, “Our village was first settled over there, then they uprooted it and settled it here. Alot of Fighting took place and even, guns were used. It was just too much but it was only after the fighting that they moved.”
With farmers turning landless, literally overnight, most try mass protests, but ultimately end up migrating to bigger towns or work as landless labourers.
“A lot of people here are leaving their homes and are going to other towns because of the amount of problem Nepal is creating in illegally occupying our land,” said Ramesh Kamgaar, a villager.
Though the Nitish Kumar government wrote to the Centre on the issue during its first tenure, the lack of pressure has now only meant continuing misery for Bihar’s border residents.

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Bihar labourer gives life to three

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 08:25 AM PDT

CHENNAI: A migrant labourer from Bihar, who had a fall from the second floor of a building under construction and declared brain dead by the Government General Hospital, on Tuesday gave life to three persons. His two kidneys and a liver were donated to patients in different city hospitals.

Rambabu, a 18-year-old migrant labourer comes from a family of eight members, including four sisters. He came to Chennai ten days ago, to join two of his relativeswho work in a construction firm. At the work site in Chromepet on Saturday, Rambabu fell from the second floor and lost consciousness. He was taken to the Government General Hospital.

When the condition became critical, he was later shifted from casualty trauma to the Intensive Care Unit of Institute of Anesthesia on Monday, where he was declared brain dead by a panel of doctors. “As his organs were still working successfully, they were harvested with the consent of the family members,” said R Veena, a grief counsellor of Mohan Foundation which plays a major role in counselling victim’s family at the Government General Hospital.
Veena had a tough time with the family due to language problems. She called up students of Mohan Foundation, who had enrolled for a month’S programme on organ transplant. Pallavi and Bhavana from Delhi and Gujarat, who could speak Hindi, explained to Rambabu’s family the significance of organ donation and got their consent. “Though his family was initially reluctant, they obliged to donate all organs, save cornea,” Veena said. Due to non-availability of suitable recipients, Rambabu’s heart could not be transplanted. His

heart valves were donated to Frontier Lifeline Hospital.

“Irrespective of language, caste, creed and state, the family wholeheartedly agreed to donate his organs. It shows their kindness and sympathy even at the time of tragedy,” said Dr J Amalorpavanathan, convenor of the state organ transplant registry. Rambabu’s one kidney and liver were donated to Stanley Medical College Hospital, while another kidney was harvested by the Government General Hospital.

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Ganga project worth Rs 7000 crore approved

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:25 AM PDT

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the project for the cleaning of River Ganga to be implemented by the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) at an estimated cost of Rs. 7000 crore.

The share of the Government of India will be Rs 5100 crore and that of the State Governments of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will be Rs 1900 crore.

The World Bank has agreed in-principle to provide a loan assistance of one billion dollars to the Government of India for the NGRBA project, which will form part of the central share of the project. The duration of the project will be eight years.

NGRBA was constituted in February 2009 as an empowered planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganga River under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The objective of the authority, which is chaired by the Prime Minister, is to ensure conservation of the river Ganga and to maintain environmental flows by comprehensive planning and management, adopting a river basin approach.

The project is envisaged as the first phase in a long-term programme of World Bank support to NGRBA.

The project will support NGRBA’s objective of Mission Clean Ganga. The project has been designed keeping in view the lessons learnt from the previous Ganga Action Plan and International River clean-ups.

The project will have three components relating to (a) institutional development for setting up dedicated institutions for implementing the NGRBA program, setting up Ganga Knowledge Centre , strengthening environmental regulators ( Pollution Control Boards )) and local institutions (b) infrastructure investments including for municipal sewage, industrial pollution, solid wastes and river front management, and (c) project implementation support.

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BSEB to get Rs 90 crore Monthly for electricity purchase

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:20 AM PDT

Patna, Apr 27 (PTI) The state government today sanctioned a monthly grant of Rs 90 crore to the Bihar State Electricity Board (BESB) for purchase of electricity from the NTPC in the financial year 2011-12, according to the Principal Secretary (Cabinet coordination and secretariat) Ravikant. The decision to provide a monthly grant to the BSEB for electricity purchase from NTPC in 2011-12 was taken at a cabinet meeting presided by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he told reporters at a briefing. The BSEB will altogether receive a grant of Rs 1080 crore from the state government in this fiscal under non-plan expenditure head, Ravikant said. In another decision, the state government approved creation of a police circle in Raghopur area in Vaishali district and sanctioned 12 posts for the purpose, he said. PTI KDK

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Tigers migrated from Valmiki Reserve to beat the heat

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:45 AM PDT

As winters are at their end and the hot summers are just to enter, the precaution to preserve tigers has been started. To provide them cool and pleasing weather the tigers are being migrated from one Tiger preserve to another.

The tigers of Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar's West Champaran are taken to the Royal Chitwan Tiger Reserve in Nepal, as it is the only Tiger Reserve in close proximity to the Bihar's Tiger Reserve. During the hot summer season, the tigers would slip inNepal's reserve, which is like a summer resort for them and thus they feel free to go in and come out with please.
In order to beat the heat this step has been taken as according to D S Srivastava, member of the Effective Evaluation Management East and North East of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Delhi.

However, not all tigers are lucky as the tigers of Valmiki Tiger Reserve as such luxury is not available for the tigers of Palamu Reserve. The tigers would be staying in the Palamu Tiger Reserve during the bad hot summers. India is the only country where the endangered species are taken from the wildlife destinations of India to different parts across the border, however, when asked that whether this affects the number of tigers, the answer was positive.

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S K Puri Park to be renovated soon

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 11:41 PM PDT

atna, April 25: Parks are meant for kids to play in, elderly citizens to enjoy their evenings and for professionals as well as homemakers to unwind after a hard day at work. But unfortunately most of the green patches in the city have turned into dumpyards over the years. But the worst appears to be over. Patnaites will get back their rightful breathing space with the urban development department launching a drive for renovating the parks.

The children's park at Sri Krishna (SK) Puri had been lying neglected for years. With no fencing and rides for kids, children of Boring Road and SK Puri areas hardly felt like visiting the park. Nor did their parents prefer to take a stroll along its broken walkways.

The preferred destination of the morning-walkers of Boring Road and SK Puri areas was Patna zoo, around 2.5km away. The reasons were obvious — ditches and garbage in the neighbourhood park.

But the scene has started changing. If all goes well, kids will be back to SK Puri Park. Elderly citizens have started revisiting the lungs of the locality with renovation work under way.

The ditches have been filled with earth. Walkways have been repaired. A boundary wall has been erected. Garden lights, too, have been installed in places.

Sprawling over 2 acres, Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam (BRPNN) is the caretaker of the park. According to sources, the nigam has outsourced the job of renovating the park to a private agency. The renovation is estimated to cost around Rs 2-2.5 crore.

"As much as Rs 40 lakh has been spent for fencing and setting up benches. The lighting cost us Rs 30 lakh. The levelling of the park has been done and artificial grass will be grown after the rains. Saplings will also be planted at various spots," said a nigam official.

After the renovation of the park is over, fresh tenders would be floated to invite private players to maintain the park. A nominal entry fee would also be introduced.

"The entry fee of the park will be either Rs 2 or Rs 5. It will be decided later. There will be caretakers and a park in-charge. They will be under our supervision," the nigam official said.

Morning-walkers expressed happiness over the changing face of the park. "This is the only park in the Boring Road-SK Puri area. For several years, it remained neglected and garbage was dumped here. Few people still came here for jogging but the experience was pathetic. I am happy that the government has finally woken up from its slumber and decided to do something about it. We need green lungs like these in an otherwise concrete jungle," said Neeraj Janvenu, a freelance writer.

Chandrashekhar Kumar, a retired government employee, who was doing yoga in the park, said he was happy with the changes.

But just the efforts of the nigam will not be enough to reclaim the park. The residents of the areas should actively participate in its upkeep. After all, it is their property.

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