Maoists opened fire on a police station in Giridih district and set on fire a truck on the Grand Trunk road near the Giridih-Dhanbad border, police said today.

A group of Maoists resorted to indiscriminate firing on the Pirtand police station here and the security forces returned fire, SP A V Homker said.

A couple of blasts were also heard, he said, adding no casualty was reported in the incident.

Director charged with accepting undue favours from various companies Commerce ministry official held for graft New Delhi: Aug 24, DH News Service The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested R K Jain, Director (Anti-Dumping) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, for allegedly drawing undue favours from various companies by violating official regulations. The probe agency had on August 19 registered three cases against Jain, officials of three private companies and a tout under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act , 1988, and the Indian Penal Code. Jain, arrested on Monday, was produced before the court on Tuesday. The CBI also carried out searches at 15 places, including the residence and office premises of Jain, an Indian Costs and Accounts Service officer. Searches conducted Searches were conducted at Delhi, Noida, Mumbai and Jharkhand which include the residential and official premises of accused persons and companies. The searches yielded incrementing documents, Rs 7.25 lakh cash, documents relating to several bank accounts, bank lockers and investments in real-estate. A laptop has also been seized. The Director (Anti-Dumping) was responsible for dealing with complaints regarding non-compliance of anti-dumping provisions against the delinquent companies. The first case is related to Director (Anti-Dumping) in the Department of Commerce and officials of Cheminova India Ltd. In this case, it was alleged that Jain was in league with the company which was the beneficiary. The CBI alleged that while discharging his official duties, the director was seeking undue favours/illegal gratifications from the affected company. According to sources, the CBI registered a case and thereafter searches were conducted. In the second case, cost accountant of Demaco Polymers Limited, Delhi, and Jain have been named. The third case was registered against Jain, a tout, director of Shivam Iron & Steel Company (SISCO), Giridih, Jharkhand, and the company itself. According to the CBI, the tout in this case mediated between buyer and seller (representative of the Laxhmi Spark Udhoyg Limited, Hazaribag and SISCO, Giridih) for ensuring supply of coal as part of the deal. Jain allegedly sought gratifications and undue favour for getting coal linkage for SISCO, Giridih, Jharkhand, from the ministry of coal “by abusing his official position and using his personal contacts with the officials in the coal ministry.” Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/91212/commerce-ministry-official-held-graft.html

Jharkhand government has decided to mobilise special police forces in the Naxal-infested areas where the railway projects were stalled because of the rebels.

After the constitution of Jharkhand in November 2000, the first chief minister Babulal Marandi had signed a MoU with the railway ministry in February 2002 for construction of six railway projects at an estimated cost of Rs 1,997 crore, scheduled to be completed by 2007.

When the MoU was signed, the railway ministry had agreed to provide two-third of the total cost to be spent on the projects in Jharkhand.

Thereafter, dispute started over the share of contribution by the state and the railways when Marandi resigned to join the Union cabinet.

In February 2008, NDA-led Arjun Munda government decided in a meeting with the railway ministry that the budget amount for the projects would be shared equally between the state and the railways.

As the state government could not hand over the required land for the projects, construction works were delayed by 3 years and the project cost went up by 21 per cent with total amount exceeding Rs 3,292 crore from Rs 1,997 crore.

Subsequently, Arjun Munda government extended the period of the MoU by five years for completing six railway projects, Ranchi-Hazaribagh-Koderma, Koderma-Giridih, Deoghar-Dumka, Dumka-Rampurhat, Koderma-Tilaiy and the remaining 30km of the Lohardaga-Tori rail link.

According to a senior police official, Naxal rebels torched valuable equipment of contractors engaged in laying the new line between Barkichampi and Tori in May this year.

On three occasions, the Naxals abducted workers engaged in laying tracks on this section.
Courtesy: Tapan Chakravorti

Twenty-four children were injured when a lightning struck a school building in Jharkhand’s Giridih district Thursday, police said.
According to police, lightning struck the Lalchand High School situated under Dumri police station of Giridih district, around 190 km from Ranchi, Thursday afternoon when more than 300 students were studying in the school.

In the incident, 24 schoolchildren were injured. They were admitted to a hospital where condition of seven was reported to be serious, police said.

About three years ago, the state government proposed to install conductors on each school building to prevent damage due to lightning strikes. All the schools are yet to be covered under the project.

According to official data, this year lightning strikes have claimed at least 29 lives. Every year 50-60 people die in such incidents.

Source: Thaindian.com