It was a black Wednesday for Jharkhand when more than 1,000 CPI (Maoist) activists, armed with modern weapons, blocked the National Highway 100 (NH), which connects Chatra to Bagodar via Hazaribag for four hours from 8 in the morning and fired indiscrimately.

The extremists also blew up a police vehicle in which a wireless supervisor of Giridih police Oliver Purti was killed and three other policemen were injured at Roll Pathar on Holong Ghati under Bishungarh police station.

Hazaribag SP Praveen Kumar Singh said they also hurled powerful bombs on the police. Narrating details of the incident, the SP said, "A Ranchi- bound Tata 407 police van of the Giridih police was ambushed by armed Naxals as it reached the Holong Ghati."

However, driver of the vehicle Shoma Khalko despite receiving serious injuries showed exemplary courage and did not stop the vehicle and reached the BSF hospital at Meru where Oliver Purti was declared brought dead.

The other injured including Shoma Khalko, constable Ram Karan Manjhi and SI RR Pandey were given first aid and later rushed to the Hazaribag Sadar Hospital.

According to the reports, the Maoists, after blowing up the police vehicle captured the 5 km stretch of Hazaribag-Dhanbad road via Bishnugarh and Bagodar (NH-100) blocked it from both the sides.

Neither any pedestrian nor any vehicle were allowed to move. They also fired more than 200 rounds to create panic among the commuters.

Following the blockade, passenger traffic between Hazaribag to Bagodar, Dhanbad and Kolkata was suspended for more than six hours.

The SP said he along with the CRPF, STF and the district police from Bishnugarh, Barkatha, Gorhar and a police team from Bagodar in Giridih rushed to the spot and cleared the road blockade at about 1 pm.

Terming the attack as an act of desperation by the Maoists, who are losing ground in the state, CM Madhu Koda said this incident will not deter the police.this incident will not deter the police.
Source : The Times Of India

Pay less, suffer more seems to be Jharkhand State Electricity Board’s latest mantra.

With power allocations from the central grid slashed, the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) today ordered periodic blackouts throughout the state. The cuts were ordered following breakdown in the Damodar Valley Corporation’s thermal power units in Jharkhand and Bengal.

As per the new policy, Khunti, Gumla, Simdega, West Singhbhum, Chatra, Lohardaga, Giridih and Sahebganj would receive power for not more than 16 hours a day.

Figures of the central load despatch centre states that the state has a net power deficit of over 240MW during the peak evening time. Against an average demand of 800MW, generation from Patratu and Tenughat averaged at an inadequate 290MW.

Efforts were made to meet the deficit by drawing from the central pool but the state electricity board was allowed to draw only 270MW, leaving a deficit of 240MW.

The JSEB purchases power at an average of Rs 2.70 per unit but average revenue collection from these districts range from 0.46 paisa to 0.62 paisa per unit.

“If you want power, you have to ensure that revenue collections in your district increase. On most days, JSEB is forced to buy power at Rs 8 to Rs 10 per unit from the central pool. We are to pay through the nose. Unless bill collections increase, the JSEB would collapse,” said power board chairman Brij Mohan Verma.

JSEB records indicate that collections from Adityapur division are the highest at Rs 3.28 per unit while Garhwa has the lowest at Re 0.27 per unit. (See chart)

The JSEB chief said 90 per cent of the power supplied to Chatra, Giridih, Latehar and Chakradharpur are stolen.

However, the situation was likely to improve by the end of this month when the unit at Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited is commissioned. The unit has been under repair for a year.

Source : The Telegraph

Several equipment worth lakhs bought by government offices in the district are not being put to proper use.

Two years ago, the police department bought at least 14 generator sets of 15KVA — each costing Rs 2.6 lakh — to lit up the police stations. There are 17 police stations in Giridih and barring one or two, all fall under Maoist stronghold areas.

The fear of rebels being very high, the policemen keep their doors locked during day hours. As a consequence, generator is an absolute necessity. But except in three police stations — Mufassil, Dumri and Tisri — the generator sets are gathering dust.

The police officers said that so far no arrangement was made for diesel necessary to run the generator sets.

On January 1 last year, an incinerator worth Rs 32 lakh was installed and inaugurated at Sadar hospital for disposal of bio-waste. The incinerator was expected to serve not only the Sadar hospital but also other nursing homes and clinics in the headquarters.

Along with the incinerator, the Sadar hospital also bought 416 garbage bins and 10 trolleys for collecting bio-waste and dumping them in the incinerator.

But even after 17 months, it is yet to become operational since the hospital authorities have not been able to arrange for a three-phase electric line for running the valuable machine. “I am making all efforts for not only arranging a three-phase line but also a new transformer for the hospital so that the works get done quickly,” said civil surgeon Vijay Kumar Singh.

Similarly, 101 streetlights installed on the way to Madhuban village and Parasnath hills have not been lit up since they were installed in 2006. Sources said it could not take off because of a transformer.

Source : The Telegraph

Like the Gandhis are known as family of prime ministers, Hazras in Mahesiadiggi village are known as a PDS dealer family.

Across two generations, five members of the family have got licences for PDS and kerosene to serve the village and two other adjacent ones.

Bhuneshwar Hazra was the first person of the family to get a PDS licence at the village and opened an outlet years ago. His son Mukesh has got another licence but his centre is at Sondiggi, a neighbouring village of Mahesiadiggi, about 50km from the district headquarters, in Deori block.

The licence chain does not end here. Mukesh’s wife Manju Devi also have a PDS licence to serve villagers in Badatand, another adjacent village to Mahesiadiggi. Lakhan Hazra, Bhuneshwar’s brother, grabbed a licence of kerosene hawker to distribute oil in the village. The family saga ends with Lakhan’s son Angrej who also got licence of distributing kerosene oil.

Sources said two leaders — one a former MLA and other a former minister — helped the family get licences as it was not possible in the usual way to get so many PDS licences for a single family.

Residents in the village also complained of not getting PDS items — rice, wheat, sugar among others — regularly. “The family does not follow rules and do as they wish while distributing the essential commodities, including kerosene,” alleged one of the villagers.

According to the government rule, one PDS centre should be there for a population of 1,900. However, there are around 1,100 PDS and around 100 hawker licence holders in Giridih to cater to a population of 20 lakh.

Sub-divisional officer (civil) Iqbal Alam Ansari, the licensing authority, tried to wash off his hands: “Their licences are old and as those are for different areas it is not technically wrong.”

When asked how a husband and wife both could have been given licences, Ansari first said “it could not be possible” but later said he would “go into depth of the matter”.

Source :SHAHNAWAZ AKHTAR
The Telegraph