Ranchi Apr 21 PTI A man vying for the mukhiyas post and two of his supporters have been booked for pro-Pakistan slogans allegedly raised in a procession in Giridih when he was on his way to file nomination papers for the coming Jharkhand rural poll police said on Thursday Supporters of Md Shakir Hussain 45 the panchayat poll candidate from Dokodih panchayat allegedly raised Pakistan zindabad slogans when they accompanied him to the election office on Wednesday the police said As a video of it went viral on the social media police swung into action We have arrested the mukhiya candidate Md Shakir and his two supporters Asif and Sohaib on charges of spreading hatred in the society and violating the model code of conduct Giridih Sadar sub-divisional police officer Anil Kumar Singh told PTI The three will be be sent to jail on Thursday after completing some procedures such as the COVID test he said The process for filing nomination papers for the first phase of the panchayat election in Jharkhand began in 72 blocks of 21 districts of the state from April 16 As many as 1127 panchayats will go to the poll in the first phase on May 14 and counting will take place on May 17 Altogether 6267 candidates have so far filed nomination papers for the first round for the post of mukhiyas and members of the panchayat samiti zila parishad and gram panchayat members The nomination for the first round will conclude on April 23 On Wednesday the process for the second phase of polls started in 50 blocks under 16 districts A total of 872 panchayats will go to the polls in the second phase on May 19 to elect 103 zila parishad members 1059 panchayat samiti members 872 mukhiyas and 10614 panchayat members officials said The Jharkhand State Election Commission on April 9 announced the four-phase rural poll in the state between May 14 and May 27 PTI SAN NAM KK KK KK

Ranchi Apr 18 PTI The Jharkhand government on Monday handed over cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of those who died in a recent ropeway tragedy in Jharkhands Deoghar districtState Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh and Tourism Minister Hafizul Hasan gave away the chequesSpeaking on the occasion Patralekh said As announced by Chief Minister Hemant Soren the government is providing compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the family members of those who died in the ropeway accident The administration will try to extend all other possible help to the bereaved families Three people lost their lives in the ropeway accident at Trikut Hills around 20 km from the temple town of Baidyanath DhamAll other 60 tourists who were stranded for hours after the ropeway malfunction were safely evacuated in a marathon rescue operationLocal people who saved the lives of tourists immediately after the accident took place were also honoured in the programmeDamodar Ropeways and Infra Ltd DRIL which provided the cable car service in Deoghar had also announced that it would provide Rs 25 lakh each as compensation to the next of kin of those who died in the accidentThe Deoghar administration has sealed the ropeway site at the hills and asked the operator to maintain the status quo of the place ahead of the start of a probe into the accidentCCTV cameras have also been installed to keep vigil on the site officials saidMeanwhile Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation JTDC Ltd has issued an order to suspend adventure sports activities at Hundru Jonha and Panchghag waterfalls till further orders an official release said PTI SAN NAM BDC BDC

Ranchi Mar 31 PTI Tribal and right-wing outfits on Thursday protested against the Covid-related conditions imposed by the government on religious processions for Sarhul and Ram Navami festivals terming them impractical Jharkhand government through a notification on Wednesday had allowed religious processions with certain restrictions including cap on number of persons in any religious procession at 100 Even if multiple processions converge at a place or there are arrangements made for reception of a procession the total number of persons should not be more than 1000 the order said adding the procession should conclude by 6 pm and playing of pre-recorded music or DJ will be prohibited Two major festivals of the region - Sarhul and Ramnavmi fall on April 4 and April 10 respectively Kendriya Sarna Samiti KSS president Bablu Munda said In Sarhul procession thousands of tribal people worship nature God and they celebrate the festival by singing and dancing on the streets In such a situation how can the restriction of 100 people be followed KSS general secretary Krishna Kant Toppo said We also protest the time restriction for procession that is till 6pm We demand the government to reconsider the terms and conditions and allow the Sarhul procession to return home by 11 pm Meanwhile different Ram Navami Puja Committees have also protested against the restriction of 100 people and timing Convener of Ram Navami Puja Committee Chutia Vijay Sahu said Even if we ensure 100 persons from our side who will take the responsibility of thousands of common men who join the procession on streets Is this condition practical He also pointed out processions generally proceeded from local temples after completing religious rituals around 2 pm to 3 pm to the main Tapovan temple This generally takes six to seven hours So it is never possible to return home by 6 pm We demand the government reconsider its restrictions Otherwise people may violate them he said Meanwhile state BJP president Deepak Prakash said People were deprived of Sarhul and Ram Navami festivals for past two years due to Covid-19 pandemic Now the situation is normal and government should not put any restrictions on religious celebrations He said that if government did not revoke its restrictions for processions BJP would take to the streets in protest against it PTI SAN NAM JRC JRC

Ranchi Mar 30 PTI Jharkhand government has allowed religious procession with certain conditions in view of upcoming Sarhul and Ram Navami festivals State disaster management department issued a notification in this regard on Wednesday Other than religious procession all other kinds of processions will remain prohibited the order said Opposition parties and a section of ruling parties have been demanding relaxation for religious procession in view of the two major festivals of Jharkhand The Sarhul festival will be celebrated on April 4 and Ram Navami on April 10 in the state The order however said that the number of persons in any religious procession should not exceed 100 Even if multiple processions converge at a place or there are arrangements made for reception of a procession the total number of persons should not be more than 1000 The religious procession should conclude by 6pm and playing of pre-recorded music or DJ will be prohibited the order said The participants of processions should sanitize their hands and wear masks properly covering their mouth and nostrils PTI SAN NAM JRC JRC

Ranchi Mar 28 PTI Banking services at public sector banks were affected in Jharkhand on Monday as a major section of employees did not report for duty on the first day of the nation-wide strike called by a joint forum of central trade unions to protest against various wrong policies of the governmentThe two-day strike was also supported by the All India Bank Employees Association AIBEA However there was hardly any impact on the services of private sectors banks in the stateJharkhand chapter of the Bank of India Employees Union BoIEU claimed that more than 2000 branches of various public sector banks remained shut across the stateBank employees were seen on dharna outside the gates of their bank branches Trade union workers also took out protest marches in various parts of the stateSaket Kumar Sharma assistant general secretary of BoIEU Ranchi zone told PTI that they were protesting against various issues including privatisation of banks sale of public sector units and outsourcing in the banking systemWe are also demanding re-constitution of the old pension scheme he saidMeanwhile five workers of Heavy Engineering Corporation HEC Limited claimed they suffered injuries in a scuffle with bandh supporters here who wanted to stop them from entering the plantThe workers were on their way to the HEC plant for the morning shift when the incident took place The workers alleged that they were beaten up by the trade union members The workers are undergoing treatment at a facility of the companyHEC officials however claimed that production remained unaffected as there was about 90 per cent attendance on MondayINTUC central secretary and vice president of Indian National Mines Workers Federation INMWF AK Jha claimed that coal dispatch and road transportation remained affected in JharkhandCoal production was affected by more than 70 per cent Dispatch and transportation have totally been affected he told PTIHowever coal companies including Central Coalfields Limited CCL and Bharat Coking Coal Limited BCCL claimed that there was no impact of the strike on coal productionA CCL official said that only transportation was slightly affected at Charhi Barka Sayal and Kathara-Bokaro projects while production was almost normalThe joint forum of central trade unions opposing privatisation in any form is on a two-day nationwide strike and their demands include the scrapping of the proposed changes in labour laws and the national monetisation pipeline Increased allocation of wages under MNREGA Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act and regularisation of contract workers are also part of their demandsApart from the ten central trade unions -- INTUC AITUC HMS CITU AIUTUC TUCC SEWA AICCTU LPF UTUC -- the joint forum also includes independent sectoral federations and workers associations PTI SAN NAM NN NN

Ranchi Mar 27 PTI The Jharkhand governments flagship Grain ATM project that aims at modernising the public distribution system has failed to attract more than one bidder even after completion of the second deadline on March 23 an official said on SundayThe government is now contemplating extending the last date for submitting the expression of interest by a week or so he saidThe food and public distribution department had planned to set up Grain ATMs at 10 locations across the state to check leakages in the supply chainThe primary focus was to install these multi-commodity automated machines at high-volume fair price shops and state food corporation godowns in populated areas by June this year the official saidThe department also planned to set up Grain ATMs at more than 2600 fair price shops in the state he saidIt had accordingly floated an expression of interest EoI for the project in February and extended the deadline for submitting bids till March 23Till now only one bidder has shown interest in the project To finalise it we need at least two biddersWe are now planning to go for another extension of the last date by a week or so to invite more bidders Food public distribution and consumer affairs director Dilip Tirkey told PTIA Ranchi-based bidder has so far shown interest in the project he said The Grain ATMs will mainly be established at fair price shops and they will be linked to e-PoS point of sale machines There will be a biometric authentication system in the unit The benefit of the initiative is that PDS dealers cannot provide lesser amounts of foodgrains to beneficiaries Once a PDS dealer pushes the button of kg it will automatically come to the departments record and a beneficiary will get food items another official saidThe move is to check irregularities in the supply of ration as beneficiaries of the public distribution system often lodge complaints against PDS dealers for malpracticesThe department had suspended more than 100 PDS dealers on basis of such complaints in 2020 the official saidAround 228 crore beneficiaries who are registered under the priority household category of the food security scheme in Jharkhand get 5 kg of grains a month at Re 1 per kg while 9 lakh BPL households enrolled under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana programme are entitled to 35 kg of grains per month at Re 1 per kgHarayana is stated to be Indias first state to set up a Grain ATM - Annapurti- in Gurugram in July 2021 This machine can dispense up to 70 kg of grains within five to seven minutes PTI SAN NAM BDC BDC

Ranchi Mar 26 PTI The number of flights operating at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi is likely to rise to 32 during the summers an official said on SaturdayThe airlines operate in two schedules winter and summer The summer schedule which is starting from March 27 will conclude on October 29Airport director Vinod Sharma said Number of flights is expected to increase from 28 in the winter schedule to 32 in the summer schedule He said that though 28 flights were listed in the winter schedule 24-25 flights operated on a daily basis with the arrival and departure of 4000-4500 passengersThe Ranchi airport has recently been adjudged the second best in Customer Satisfaction Index CSI published by the Airport Authority of India AAIAmong the 68 airports of the country where the survey was conducted Ranchi bagged the second rank Sharma saidHe said that the survey is conducted among passengers on various parameters including parking arrangements entrance facility washrooms cleanliness and seating arrangements PTI SAN NAM SOM SOM

Ranchi Mar 25 PTI Members of the opposition BJP on Friday created a ruckus in Jharkhand Assembly over a cargo vessel mishap in Sahibganj the day before and demanded a CBI probe into the incident alleging that it occurred during illegal transportation of stone chips to BiharAt least three persons were reported missing as six trucks on board a cargo vessel which was on its way to Katihar in Bihar fell into the Ganga in Sahibganj according to officialsProceedings in the Assembly had to be adjourned twice first till 12 pm and then till 2 pm amid uproar by BJP-led MLAs in the well of the House seeking a probe by the central agency into Thursdays incident and compensation for families of those who died in the accidentThe saffron party also demanded suspension of Sahibganj deputy commissioner DC and the superintendent of police SP alleging that the transportation was being done under their patronageParliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam however told the Assembly that no casualty had been reported thus farAdministrations of both the states - Jharkhand and Bihar -- are jointly carrying out search operations Divers from the two states have been pressed into service to trace the missing people Alam saidA four-member committee has been set up to probe the allegation of illegal transportationEarlier during the question hour BJP leader and former CM Babulal Marandi said In July 2021 I wrote to the chief ministers of Jharkhand and Bihar informing them about the illegal transportation of stone chips via Ganga Apart from authorised ferry ghats banks there are also some illegal ghats operating on the routeI demand a CBI probe into the matter and the suspension of Sahibganj DC and the SP as they too are involved in the illegal practice Godda legislator Pradip Yadav who joined the Congress after the JVM P split said that government should take cognizance of it and a fair investigation should be conducted into the incident PTI SAN NAM RMS RMS

Ranchi Mar 24 PTI The Jharkhand government will request the Centre to extend the deadline for paddy procurement till April 30 this year in case it fails to achieve the target by March 31 a senior minister informed the state Assembly on ThursdayThe target for 2021-22 is 80-lakh tonne and the deadline for procurement is expiring on March 31The state has achieved over 71 per cent of its paddy procurement target till March 23State Food Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Rameshwar Oraon told the House We have already achieved 7133 per cent of the target till March 23 and there are seven more days to goWe are hopeful of achieving the target by March end In case we fail to do so a request will be made to the Centre to extend the deadline till April 30 Oraon was replying to a question raised by BJP legislator Manish Jaiswal over poor paddy procurement in the statePaddy is the main crop for farmers in Jharkhand but average procurement is 50-55 per cent every year I would like to ask the government for how long farmers will remain in such condition Jaiswal askedCongress MLA Rajesh Kachhap also participated in the debate and raised a question over inadequate procurement centres in the stateProcurement centres should be extended to the panchayat level he saidIn the absence of procurement centres farmers are forced to sell their produce at a very low price to private parties BJP legislator Raj Sinha saidResponding to the questions state Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh said procurement centres are being extended to the panchayat levelHe also said that paddy procurement has increased in past two yearsProcurement target in 2018-19 and 2019-20 was 40-lakh tonne while achievement was 53 per cent and 56 per cent respectively In 2020-21 the target was increased to 60-lakh tonne and the achievement was a whopping 103 per cent For 2021-22 the target was increased to 80-lakh tonne and the achievement is over 71 per cent till now the agriculture minister saidA farmer in Jharkhand sells paddy produce at minimum support price MSP of Rs 2050 per quintal including Rs 180 bonus from the state governmentPointing out that the government was working to improve milling capacity Patralekh said Tenders for 19 rice mills have been floated Until basic infrastructure is ensured procurement cannot be made successful So we are also working to increase the number of godowns PTI SAN NAM MM MM

Ranchi Mar 20 PTI A self-styled zonal commander of banned outfit Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee TSPC carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head was arrested along with one of his associates from here a police officer said on SundayThe zonal commander of the Maoist organisation was identified as Bhikhan Ganjhu alias Deepak Ganjhu alias Netaji while his associate was identified as Rahul Kumar MundaForty-year-old Ganjhu was wanted in 26 cases including murder registered under different police stations of Chatra and Ranchi the police officer saidRanchi senior superintendent of police SSP Surendra Kumar Jha told reporters Ganjhu was active in Khalari McCluskieganj Piparwar and Tandwa It was challenging to arrest him due to several reasons However the police made continuous efforts to nab the extremist and finally he was arrested The SSP said that based on a tip-off on March 17 evening a 23-member quick response team QRT was set upThe team conducted a raid at Delatoli under Sadar police station and arrested Ganjhu and MundaAccording to a statement issued by the police Rs 1232 lakh in cash seven mobiles two routers TSPCs central sub-zonal committees letterhead one laptop five debit cards a passbook a cheque book and a two-wheeler were recovered from themThe Jharkhand police along with central armed forces have been carrying out an operation against Maoists in Lohardaga and neighbouring districts since February 8Till now nine Maoists have been arrested while one has been killedFive top Maoists carrying rewards ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 25 lakh have also surrendered before the security forces PTI SAN NAM MM MM