Wednesday, 8 June 2011

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

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

Bihar preparing for Bhutanese guests

Posted: 08 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT

Patna, Jun 7 (PTI) Preparations are afoot by Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) to welcome tourists from Bhutan in the coming tourism season. A six-day and seven-night tour package, including food, accommodation and sight-seeing is being worked out for the proposed visit of the Bhutanese, state Tourism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintoo said. The trip to Buddhist circuit destinations in the state from Bhutan would involve journey by road and railways. The train journey would start from Randia, a small place few kilometres away from New Jalpaiguri (NJP), which would conclude at Bodh Gaya and from where tourists would visit Rajgir before going to Kesaria and Vaishali by road, he said. “The train will have two air-conditioned and eight non-AC bogies”, he said. Thousands of tourists from Bhutan visit Bodh Gaya, especially during winter when there are a number of Buddhist festivals. The route of the Buddhist circuit has been charted out and the food menu and accommodation facilities are being planned for nearly 800 tourists who would arrive on the first special train, he added. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during his recent Bhutan visit emphasised on promotion of tourism and said the state government would welcome tourists from here with open arms.

Bihar to have 10 crore new trees in next 5 years

Posted: 08 Jun 2011 07:41 AM PDT

PATNA: Bihar is going all out to expand green cover in the state. The state government has set out an ambitious plan to plant 10 crore trees over the next five years, in order to increase the forest cover of the state.

After bifurcation of Bihar, the state has a poor 9.89% forest cover. The total forest and green cover area of the state is 7178 square km, against its geographical area of 94,163 square km, which is just 0.84% of the country’s forest cover.

The plantation drive would be carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( MNREGA) scheme. The plants would be tended by BPL households. After the scheme is completed in 2015, the state’s forest cover is expected to go up by 15%.

The government has taken the cue from a successful experiment carried out by a bureaucrat. Tirhut divisional commissioner SM Raju had managed to plant 96 lakh trees in a single day on August 30, 2009. He had enlisted participation of three lakh people in 7,500 villages spread over five districts in this effort.

Students of class VI to class X are also being involved in the scheme. They will be organized into Eco Clubs and each club will be asked to plant trees. The students will also take care of the plants, for which each school boy would be given Rs 100 per year.

Besides, the state JD-U has decided to chip in the effort. It would enroll one lakh members, who would plant one tree each.

Bihar CM to visit China on June 12

Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:40 AM PDT

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Monday once again deplored the midnight police action against yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his supporters at Ramlila ground in Delhi and said the Centre should explain its position on the police action to the Supreme Court. The apex court has issued notice to the Centre on a petition filed before it in this connection.

“Only Congress can do this. On the one hand, it was paying reverence to the Baba and on the other hand police swooped on him. Some leaders of Congress were holding parleys with Baba and some were abusing him,” Nitish said taking a dig at Congress. “All democratic forces are now united against the Centre,” he added.

The CM was, however, non-committal when asked if he would invite Baba to stage satyagraha at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. “Invitation is not extended for holding protests,” he said.

Referring to his upcoming weeklong China visit beginning June 12, Nitish said the visit is under the exchange programme between the two neighbouring countries. “The visit has been finalized following the initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs and the invitation extended by the Chinese envoy to me. The delegation will visit Beijing, Shanghai and one more place before returning on June 18, and hold talks on bilateral issues,” he said.

The official delegation led by Nitish will include water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chowdhary, tourism minister Sunil Kumar Pinto, development commissioner K C Saha, CM’s secretaries S Siddhartha and Atish Chandra. President of Bihar Chamber of Commerce O P Sah and Bihar Industries Association’s president S P Sinha will be non-official members of the eight-member delegation who will go at their own expense.

The CM said he was not sure that the current situation in the country could lead to midterm elections. “Congress knows ‘jugad’ (manoeuvring) to cobble a majority. There are several parties which can extend support to the UPA government. There is hardly any chance of a snap poll,” he said.

At the Janata Darbar, where cases related to police and revenue departments were taken up, about 1,200 applicants turned up with their grievances. The CM, however, said about 90% cases were related to family feuds.

Nitish warns against tampering with environment

Posted: 08 Jun 2011 03:38 AM PDT

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar has warned against tampering with environment and asked people to love and plant trees. While addressing a function to mark the World Environment Day here, he said that the environment and forest department will soon announce its plan of forestation.

The CM said that excess tampering with environment, pollution and chopping of trees in the name of development and industrialization causes global warning. Increasing use of air conditioners in offices, homes and vehicles is causing more pollution, Nitish said and added that global warming is melting the glaciers rapidly.

Referring to a report about pollution in Falgu river in Gaya, the CM said that he was quite upset to read the report. Nitish asked State Pollution Board chairman Subhash Chandra Singh to rush to Gaya, see the situation personally and submit a report with recommendations for the possible steps to be taken to save the river.

He said that earlier big orchards were found in each village which is now rare and asked people to plant fruit-bearing trees. “Each one should take a pledge to plant at least one tree,” Nitish said while appreciating the practice of tree plantation at Dharahara village in Naugachia in Bhagalpur district on the birth of a girl child.

He directed the environment and forest department to create a cell for internal analysis as to how many trees are planted in a year and how many of them survive.

Chairing the function, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said that under MGNREGA, 6,000 trees will be planted in each panchayat every year. He also said that there is a target to plant one crore trees along the roads and asked people to plant at least 10 trees in their lifetime. Modi said that for banning the use of polybags in the state fully, people`s suggestions would be invited.
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