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Ranchi: BJP National President Nitin Gadkari took strong exception to the action of Jharkhand MLA Ram Chandra Baita for abstaining from yesterday’s Rajya Sabha election voting. BJP’s Ajay Maru lost with just 17 votes in his favour.

Ranchi: Nominated MLA to Jharkhand Vidan Sabha J P Guiliesten breathed his last in Patna after a long period of illness. He was suffering from cancer. There was a pall of gloom in the political arena of the State. All the legislators offered their condolences to the grieved family.

Ranchi: Mani Ratnam’s eagerly awaited ‘Ravan’ could not be screened in the Ranchi theatres due to a dispute between the exhibitors and distributors. The huge crowd gathered at all the three theatres were a disappointed lot. The distributors put the entire blame on the producers for demanding exorbitant extra money from the initially agreed amount.

In this photo taken Wednesday, June 16, 2010, Indian security officers carry the body of an alleged female Maoist or Naxal fighter that was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in West Midnapore, West Bengal State, India. At least eight Naxal fighters were killed in the incident between a government security unit and the left-wing rebel group, Indian media reported. PICTURE TAKEN ON JUNE 16, 2010.

Ranchi: The Congress and JMM candidates Dheeraj Sahu and K D Singh respectively won their Rajya Sabha seats comfortably and the BJP candidate Ajay Maru could muster only 17 of the required 28 votes.

BJP has 18 MLAs in the current Vidhan Sabha plus its alliance partner JD(U)s two. One of the BJP MLA Ramchandra Baita abstained and the two JDU votes went to JMM candidate. Thus Ajay Maru was restricted to just 17 votes foiling all his ambition of making it to Rajya Sabha the second time. Ramchandra Baita’s stand has been taken note of by the State leadership and the High Command informed accordingly.

JMM’s K D Singh managed 32 votes with the entire JMM, AJSU, JD(U), RJD and Independents Chamra Linda and Videash Singh voting in his favor. Ajay Maru has severely criticized JD(U)’s stand of switching allegiance and went to the extend of stating that it had been the Party’s habit since the inception of the State. He appealed to the High Command leaders to take a note of this. He alleged that the Jharkhand MLAs have ‘sold’ their vote to an industrialist and that too an outsider.

Industrialist K D Singh won the Rajya Sabha seat from Jharkhand with a comfortable margin, whereas Congress candidate Dheeraj Sahu just managed to scrape through with the required 28 votes. Former CM Madhu Koda’s wife and Independents MLA Geeta Koda alongwith Enos Ekka, Bandhu Tirkey and Harinarain Rai voted for Congress. The Congress has 14 MLAs and its alliance partner JVM 11.

CPI (Male) Binod Singh and BJP’s Ramchandra Baita abstained, while JVM’s Phool Chand Mandal and Arup Chatterjee’s votes were found invalid.

According to the reactions received from various circles it was more or less established that the money power still rules and morality a poor second. The Parties’ speech only reek of hypocrisy and double standards.

Ranchi: Both Dheeraj Sahu and KD Singh of Congress and JMM respectively are expected to have a smooth passage in tomorrow’s Rajya Sabha (RS) elections for the two RS seats in the State. Though BJP’s Ajay Maru is making frantic efforts to garner 28 seats, hios effort seems to be futile as no major hiccup is e4xpected in the last moment.

Independent MLAs Bandhu Tirkey and Geeta Koda have already given their consent in favor of Congress and both Harinarain Rai and Enos Ekka are expected to tow the Congress line. Arup Chatterjee may also prefer to vote for Congress in the last moment. RJD is still keeping mum on the voting.

Both Congress as well as JMM have confirmed supprt of 25 votes each and Congress has been assured of atleast two Indepedents support. JMM has 23 seats combined of JMM/AJSU and two assured seats of Independents Chamra Linda and Videsh Singh.

Elections to the two Rajya Sabha seats will be held on 17th at the Jharkhand Vidan Sabha and results are expected to be declared late in the evening.

Ranchi: The 36 year old Kudko Murders is still haunting former CM Shibu Soren. The hearing in the case was complete and the lone accused Shibu Soren is facing the judgement of the Giridih Court on Tuesday.

Shibu returned to Ranchi from Chennai last night and is expected to reach Giridih early morning on Tuesday. The Judge fixed 15th June for passing the judgement after both the prosecution and defense rested their cases on 3rd June.

The allegation against Soren rests on the fact that he was physically present on the day of murders in Kudko. The case was registered against Soren and 10 others in year 1974. Eight of the accused were released in 1986 while one died during the trial. In this case Soren was taken into custody in 2004.

Ranchi: Fear amounting to terror was writ large on the faces of JPSC officials in Ranchi. Specially after the registering of FIR against the entire top brass the workers were fearing Vigilance raid any moment for the purpose of consolidating evidence.

The number of applications seeking leave has gone out of proportion.

The Vigilance department too confirmed that they would be enquiring in-depth into the entire appointment matter and would question all concerned.

It may be recalled that Governor M O H Farook had advised the Vigilance Department to lodge FIR against all the corrupt officials including Chairman Dalip Singh and the same was carried out by the department in filing FIR against 32 persons. The cases registered in the FIR are under sections 420, 423, 424, 467 and 468 of IPC. In addition the Vigilance Bureau has evoked sections 13(2) of Anti-corruption against the alleged offenders

Ranchi: The notorious and dreade4d PLFI Sub-zonal commander Safal Gope was shot dead by the Gumla police on Monday. Acting on a tip-off that the PLFI big-wigs were assembling in Rakmasera village in Gumla, the Gumla police headed by SP A K Singh raided the village. Sensing police presence the PLFI members opened fire and a fierce battle ensued as the police replied with several rounds of fire.

The dreaded naxalite Safal Gope received bullet wounds during the shoot-out and succumbed to his injuries. One more of his accomplice was seriously wounded according to A K Singh.

Safal Gope was wanted by the Jharkhand police in several cases of murder, loot, arson, extortion, blackmail and rape. More than two dozen cases have been registered against him.

The killing of the dreaded PLFI terrorist is considered to be a feather in the cap for the State police. Police recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition and two motorcycles from the spot of encounter.

It may be recalled that the Maoists have called for a 48 hour bandh in Jharkhand, Bihar & Chhatisgarh from midnight of Sunday.

Ranchi: Governor’s third Advisor V S Dubey assumed charge on Saturday. He spoke to the officials of the various departments allotted to him. The 16 departments allotted to him include Cabinet Secretariat, Work Reforms and Rajbhasha, Finance, Commercial Taxes, Land Revenue & Reforms, Planning & Development, Cabinet Vigilance, Cabinet Election, Industry, Mines, Road Construction, Energy, Forest & Enviornment and Urban Development

Ranchi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the State’s Vigilance department are keeping a strict vigil on certain political leaders and nearly a dozen government officials. These people are allegedly involved in the transfer/posting game played during the uncertainity period of the Shibu Soren led government in alliance with the BJP and AJSU. The Governor M O H Farook’s directive on the matter was not adhered to while initiating these transfers.

It is alleged that crores of Rupees exchanged hands for the ‘creamy’ posts, which were ultimately ‘recovered’ by the transferred officials through corrupt methods.

Proper evidence and information have been collected against these corrupt persons and the strict vigil kept on their movements as it is expected that they will attempt to launder the ill gained wealth.

Ranchi: In a vital judgement the Jharkhand High Court (HC) directed the Dhanbad DC to restore the possession of the 2.59 acres of land to the lawful buyer Rajiv Tulsyan. The land was allegedly (re) bought by Hemant Soren from the raiyats Paika Murmu, Mangal Murmu and Chand Muni Devi on March 30, 2007, 21 years after it was legally sold to Rajiv Tulsyan

The HC quashed the order of the Commissioner, Chhotanagpur Division that had restored the land to the raiyats after their petition for the same under the provisions of the CNT Act. The Court opined that the raiyats had no valid reason for filing restoration petition and felt that the raiyats were set up my certain selfishly motivated interested persons. The Court also took serious view of the fact that the raiyats had concealed information of sale of the said plot to Hemant Soren.

Ranchi: Acting on the Governor M O H Farook’s directive of Wednesday, the Vigilance Bureau registered FIR against 32 officials of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC), including Chairman Dr. Dalip Prasad and other Commission Members for alleged corrupt practices in selection and appointment to various posts as civil servants, university teachers and officials in the examination conducted by JPSC in year 2007. The cases registered in the FIR are under sections 420, 423, 424, 467 and 468 of IPC. In addition the Vigilance Bureau has evoked sections 13(2) of Anti-corruption against the alleged offenders

Sampat Meena, DIG of Police, holding additional charge of Vigilance, said that more persons are likely to be fall in the dragnet. Investigations are on, he added.

It may be recalled that Chairman Dalip Prasad was suspended from his post on the 13th of April this year. He was made the Chairman on September 22, 2004.

Governor M O H Farook has instructed the Vigilance Department to complete the investigations within 90 days. He has told the Bureau to appoint 50 retired CBI sleuths to assist them if need be. He advised the Bureau to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter and look in depth on the assessment of all major examinations conducted by the JPSC.

The accused include Dr. Gopal Prasad Singh, Shanti Devi, Radha Govind Singh, Usha Rani Singh, Dr. Arvind Kumar, Dr. M S Kantha, Bateshwar Pandit, Prof. Parmanand Singh, Albert Toppo, S S Ahmad, Nandlal, Sohan Ram.

Ranchi: Jharkhand Governor M O H Farook held the first cabinet meeting with his three Advisors V S Dubey, Wilfred Lakra and RR Prasad after the imposition of President’s Rule in the State this month. The Cabinet approved three proposals.

In an important decision the Cabinet approved the stipends of Interns in all the three medical colleges of the State from Rs.5000 to Rs.7000 per month which would be effective from the first of April this year itself.

The next approval relates to the Rural Development Department. The Hydernagar sub-division made after bifurcating from the Hussainabad in Palamu District would now get a BDO and eleven other officials. This includes a Sub-divisional officer, one Agriculture official, Panchayat overseer, Main Writer, Writer, Order Implementer and Chowkidar.
It may be recalled that the Sub-division was created in 2008 itself.

The third approval relates to the Jharkhand Human Right Protection Commission in which the Commissioner as well as two Members’ post have been given the green signal. It was decided that the Commissioner’s post would be valid for five years and would be given to a retired Chief Justice of High Court. 70 years of age has been fixed as the limit. The retired Chief Justice appointed would be fully well versed with the Human Rights provisions. The appointment would be conducted by a panel comprising the CM, Speaker, State’s Home Minister and leader of Opposition. The recommendation to the post would be made by the Governor.

The details of the meeting was provided by Cabinet Secretary Aditya Swarup.

Ranchi: The forth coming Rajya Sabha elections in the State has no party claiming straight victory. The Congress candidate has the assurance of 11 of the JVM votes to his Party’s 14 but is still running short of 3. Added to the worry is the off-the-cuff remark of JVM’s Samresh Singh who stated that the voting would depend upon the positive action of forming a democratically elected government .

Worried by this remark, the Congress Party’s State-in charge Keshav Rao rushed to Ranchi and had meeting with JVM Supremo Babulal Marandi, who assured him the full support of all his 11 MLAs. He has assured the presence of all his MLAs for the D-day.

A joint meeting of all the legislators of Congress-JVM has been convened for 16th evening prior to the voting on 17th instant.

According to reliable information the Congress legislators would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to assess her about the possibilities of forming a government in the State with like minded Parties and would approach JMM for the same after the Rajya Sabha elections

Ranchi: Union Home Minister P. C. Chidambaram arrived in Ranchi late Thursday night and held a high level meeting with all the senior most officials at Raj Bhavan on Friday morning. He advised the Secretaries of all the departments in the State to fix their priorities by the end of this month itself so that all the developmental work scheduled for the current fiscal year is completed successfully.

He laid special emphasis on timely completion of all the poor people oriented programs under the BPL & Antodya and to ensure proper distribution of food grains, old age pension, cycles to middle school children and adding more self serving women’s organization to the PDS fold.
The Home Minister urged the department officials to provide more work to the people under MNREGA. He instructed the officials to complete all the work on priority basis under the PM Sadak Yojna and Indira Awas Yojna. He assured the Chief Secretary A K Singh proper co-ordination of the Centre for the implementation of these work.
He advised the officials to set up a time table for completion of work in such a way that it can be properly monitored and completed in a practical manner rather than restricting it to files. He told the officials not to worry about the duration of the President’s Rule as their work remained unchanged irrespective of any change politically. They should set an example with dedicated work for the welfare of the State per se.

Chidambaram said that Jharkhand was gaining negative publicity for the rampant corruption. He warned the officials to be on high alert and ensure that total stop be put to all corrupt practices as there would be zero tolerance for it and corrupt persons would be dealt with sternly. He instructed the officers to initiate necessary proceedings to fill up the vacant posts in the Health and Education departments. He warned the government doctors not to be callous towards their responsibilities and perform their duties conscientiously.

Speaking on Naxalism, the Union Home Minister said that the Centre would provide all the help to the State to curb naxalism and towards the development of the State. He assured the Governor M O H Farook that the Centre would definitely consider the request for financial support for the infra-structural needs of improving the STF (Jharkhand Jaguar) and Cobra Batallion. The Governor urged the Home Minister to include Khunti, Giridih and Ranchi (Rural) in the Focus Districts of Naxal affected areas.

All the three Advisors R R Prasad, Wilfred Lakra and V. S. Dubey were present at the meeting along with Chief Secretary, all departmental Secretaries and DGP.
The Home Minister held separate meeting with all the senior officials of State Police and Central Reserve Force to discuss the Law & Order situation.

Ranchi: Bhaskar Bhavani, a renowned professor teaching accountancy to MBA students of the prestigious Xavier Institute of Social Sciences (XISS), Ranchi, has proved that greed overcomes intellectuality.

He managed the unknowing and innocent Bhavna Pal of Raipur, Chhatisgarh in hoodwinking her to marry him through a marriage website.

The professor’s family joined him in tormenting the hapless bride for dowry demanding even an luxury car. They went to the inhumane extent of forbidding her to meet or even talk to her near and dear ones.

She somehow managed to escape from the clutches of her in-laws and fled to her house in Raipur and narrated the happenings.

The aggrieved parents immediately lodged a complaint with the local police and a case under the Dowry act was lodged.

The Raipur police sent innumerable reminders to the alleged Bhaskar Bhavani but he did not respond.
As per the investigations in Ranchi, the culprit has been absconding with his entire family for the past fortnight to evade the non-bailable arrest warrant against him.

The students as well as the neighbors of the culprit do not speak high of him and reiterate that the entire family is capable of performing such inhumane acts.

The Ranchi police is keeping a strict vigil for the accused.

Ranchi/Sahebganj: In a nerve rackling incident the five assasins of JMM leader Muktar Ansari, who was shot dead in broad daylight, were nabbed by the furious villagers of Sahebganj district of Jharkhand.

While attempting to flee from the clutches of the agitated villagers the culprits sought shelter in a hutment. The fury of the villagers was such that they set afire the hut and three of the culprits were incinerated alive. The other two trying to escape became the victims of police bullets, who just managed to reach the spot.

The entire area was in a precarious mood of tension and administration clamped section 144 as precautionary measure.

Till the filing of report no arrests have been made.

|| P. Vijay Raghavan ||
Ranchi/Daltonganj: The blistering heat added to the misery of long drawn power cuts has compelled the people of Daltonganj to lodge their protest in a unique manner.

Daltonganj has been witnessing a heat wave for the past three months and to add to their woes the strong gale about a month and half ago uprooted the main tower at Sonenagar, thus plunging the city into darkness. Though temporarily electricity was partially restored, it was like a drop in the ocean as the entire city was hardly getting couple of hours of power.
 

The restoration work on the tower was going at snail’s pace and the Shibu government practically non-functional then; there was no control over the maintenance staff. The innumerable complaints and pleas of the locals fell only on deaf ears and none of the officials prepared to give a definite answer.

The residents decided to lodge their protest in a unique manner. Hundreds of residents made a bee-line to the Koel river banks every night for the past few days (nights) with their beddings to catch up with their sleep under the sky and cool comfort of the river banks. The Koel River at present is totally dry.

The idea behind the protest was to catch the media’s attention and proved successful as the entire local and national channels rushed to the spot to cover the unique protest.

The agitated people were waiting for just this opportunity to express and voice their anger against the administration and JSEB. This correspondent spoke to many residents and every one of them echoed the misery of the past 45 days being forced on them.

Vishwanath Ram Bhura, president of the minorities’ cell of RJD is also amongst the hundreds spending their nights on the river banks and minces no words as he cursed the inefficient governance of the JMM/BJP alliance. He squarely blamed them for the present crisis and alleged that these selfish leaders have forced the people to sleep outside under the open skies.

Ramesh Giri, an established businessman of the area more or less shares the sentiments of Vishwanath but feels that situation would improve under the President’s rule. He pleaded with the media to highlight the apathy of the JSEB towards its consumers.

Local MLA K N Tripathi could not be contacted for his comments.

JSEB officials in Ranchi totally refuted the allegations of apathy. M P Yadav, General Secretary of JSEB Association and the Chief coordinator, said that the two towers that were damaged in the strong gale had to be dismantled and reconstructed and erected. Each tower takes around 4 days and the work on the towers commenced the very next day i.e. the 2nd of this month itself and as of today is fully operational. He added that the other towers in the Bihar area of the Sone nagar were yet to be repaired forcing power cuts. Sone is providing 25MW and 15 MW is being consumed for emergency services and Railways and 10-12MW for the City. Load shedding is done partially with 2-3 hr intermissions and services would regain normalcy within the next 7-10days.

Ranchi: Jharkhand Governor M O H Farook has instructed the Vigilance Department to lodge FIR against all the members of Jharkhand Pradesh Selection Committee (JPSC) including Ex Chairman Dalip Prasad & Secretary A. Irani.

The Governor was convinced that the accused were found guilty prima-facie on charges of corrupt practices in the assessment of the second JPSC conducted examination. 19 persons selectede in the fraudulent second exam of JPSC have already been removed.

JPSC ex chairman Dalip Prasad has been accused of favoring his relatives and earning money by corrupt practices. Just a week ago he resigned from his post as chairman after the Vigilance started probing the matter. It may be recalled that former Governor Syed Sibte Razi had already recommended the expulsion of Dalip Prasad eight months ago to the President of India during the then President’s rule in the State.

Many more prominent personalities are likely to come under the Vigilance dragnet in the case.