PATNA: Union secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways A K Upadhyaya said on Tuesday that inauguration of the newly constructed bridge, Mahasetu, across Kosi river, in Supaul district linking the two halves of Mithila region would be historic for the nation, including the Mithila region, as this would constrict substantially the distance of the East-West Corridor.

"Distance of the two halves of the Mithila regions would be squeezed lessening considerably the time to cover road distance between them," he said, adding Union minister, road transport and highways, P C Joshi is arriving to inaugurate the Mahasetu on Wednesday. This would set a new paradigm in the annals of national highways (NHs) serving the purpose by shortening the distance to North-East states from rest of the country.

During an interaction with the members of the Bihar Industries Association (BIA), Upadhyaya said that most of the NHs in the state would be four-lane ones while others will be six-lane under the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) programme.

He said that the work for four-laning the NH over the Koilwar bridge across Sone river is being done. He said that there already existed two-lane NH stretch over Koilwar bridge and another two lanes is to be constructed to widen it for smooth flow of traffic. He said that the Mokama-Hathidih road bridge would also be a four-lane one under NH scheme.

Upadhyaya said that in Bihar the coverage of NHs is 38 square km out of 100 square km area as against national average of 22 square km per 100 square km. BIA's plea was that the coverage of NHs should be done on the basis of population density which is less in Bihar, only 4.4 km NH per lakh population as against national figure of 6.9 km NH per lakh population.

BIA president K P S Keshri said that the NHs are the lifeline of the economy to benefit the people and so the NH construction in Bihar should be done on the basis of population density. Keshri sought six-laning of Gandhi Setu across the Ganga near Patna by creating iron super structure and laying concrete structure as its foundation and columns are solid.

Upadhyaya said that Patna-Bakhtiarpur-Khagaria stretch of NH would also be a four-lane one with adding of two lanes to the existing two lanes.

To a TOI query regarding demand of road construction minister Nandkishore Yadav to denotify the NH 101 and 103 which are in bad shape and could not be maintained by the NHAI, Upadhyaya said that in the current financial year only Rs 1,000 crore was available for maintenance of NHs, but in the next fiscal hopefully the maintenance amount would be increased to Rs 2,000 crore.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/NHs-in-state-to-be-made-four-lane-roads/articleshow/11801924.cms

HC seeks reply on shifting of power project


PATNA:The Patna high court (HC) on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and the state government on shifting of the site of 130 mw Dagmara hydel power project coming up in Supaul district over river Kosi. The hydel power project, which was earlier planned to be set up between Dagmara and Simri, was shifted between Dudhaula and Bhaptiahi in Supaul, 12 km away from the original site.

The shifting of the site was opposed by the local people who later filed a PIL in the HC under the banner 'Dagmara Jal Vidyut Pariyojanasthal Bachao Sungharsh Samiti'. Thursday's order was passed by a division bench of the HC, comprising Justice T Meena Kumari and Justice Gopal Prasad.

The petitioner's advocate Yogesh Chandra Verma informed the court that the plant's detailed project report (DPR) was prepared in 2010 itself at a cost of Rs 5 crore. He said that the shifting of the site at this stage now would cause a huge loss to the state exchequer, besides delaying the project. Even the revised project report was submitted to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for the original site, the court was informed.

The court expressed its displeasure on the matter and issued notices to the chairman-cum-managing director,NHPC Limited, and the state directing them to file a counter affidavit in this connection. The court gave four weeks'time to file their replies.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/HC-seeks-reply-on-shifting-of-power-project/articleshow/11829879.cms

Bridge Opens 78 years after Destruction


Supaul: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways C. P. Joshi, in Supaul on Wednesday, inaugurated the 1.87 kilometer Kosi Mahasetu bridge linking Supaul with Darbhanga nearly 78 years after the existing bridge was destroyed in the epic 1934 earthquake in Bihar that left over 30,000 people dead and scores maimed and injured.

The laying of the foundation stone was done by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003.

Built at the cost of Rs. 418 crore by the Gammon India, the 4-lane Kosi Mahasetu is expected to cut drive time from Patna to Supaul from 12 hours to six hours eliminating the need to go through Saharsa and Khagaria, officials said.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that he was very happy with the opening of the bridge that connects Supaul, Saharsa, and Madhepura on one side and Darbhanga and Madhubani on the other.

Joshi, usually a fierce critic of the Bihar government, showered the Chief Minister with praise saying he was happy to see Bihar moving on the path of progress under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.

Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav and Energy Minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav were among many who were present on the occasion.


http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2006/bridge1w.jpg

Source: Patna daily

Bihar to computerise medicine records in state hospitals


Patna, Feb 10 (PTI) Bihar Health Department will computerise the record of medicines for distribution among patients at the state-run hospitals, an official said. Expressing concern over the reports of medicines getting expired and dumped into fields in Araria, Samastipur and Begusarai districts, the department's Principal Secretary Amarjit Sinha said, "Now we have decided to computerise the records and stocks of medicines from April 2012." Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corportation Limited has been set up and the inventory of the medicines and records would now be computerised from April, 2012. "We have come across reports from several districts about the medicines being thrown into drains or being kept in open on the rooftop," he said, adding "It was wrong and we should be proactive to avoid waste." "We have set a procedure for disposal of the expired medicines available at government hospitals," Sinha said. He said altogether six medical colleges and hospitals are functional in the state and there has been significant increase in turnouts of patients because of setting right the OPDs there. The department had so far issued health cards to more than 1.4 crore school children between the age group of six to 14 years under the new generation health guarantee programme, Sinha informed.


http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-to-computerise-medicine-records-in-state-hospitals/961599.html

9213 villages to have banking facility soon


PATNA: To comply with the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) prescription, all 9,213 villages in the state, each with a population of 2,000, would have banking facility through bank correspondent (BC) model by the end of the current fiscal, ending March 31.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who reviewed the bankers' performance till December 31, 2011, at the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) meeting held on Friday, said that of the villages identified, 7,988 had already been covered under the BC model, in which a person so deputed carries a handset to carry banking transactions. The bankers have assured to cover the remaining 1,225 villages by March 31, he said.

According to Modi, for the next phase of the spread of banking services under BC model, the villages having a population in the range of 1,000 and 2,000 were being identified. "The list of such villages is being prepared," he said. However, every village with a population of more than 5,000 would have an independent banking facility through fully functional branch housed in a pucca building (or a brick and mortar branch, as bankers call it) by September this year, Modi said.

Similarly, two blocks -- Ghat Kusumha in Sheikpura district and Ismailpur in Bhagalpur -- which did not have a bank's branch would now have it by March 31 this year, he said, adding that with this, all the 534 blocks in the state would have achieved bank linkage. Otherwise, barring Patna district, all the 37 districts in the state are considered unbanked districts as of now, Modi said, adding that a significant achievement would have been made by September this year to fill the gap.

The government, with active cooperation of banks, would launch Savings Bank Account Opening Campaign in the state, which would make it easier for the government to transfer money in the accounts of beneficiaries availing themselves of 32 schemes related to social security, scholarships, pension, among others, without any delay, as the money would be sent through electronic transfer to those accounts, Modi said.

According to him, the banks had opened 87.52 lakh no-frill accounts of the poor with initial zero sum balance to bring them into banking net and to also promote saving among them. Of them, transactions were taking place through 68 lakh such accounts. The bankers had decided to give a loan of Rs 10,000 each to two lakh such account holders, Modi said.

Incidentally, the credit-deposit (CD) ratio of three districts is: Bhojpur (24 per cent), Saran (23 per cent), and Siwan (20 per cent).


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/9213-villages-to-have-banking-facility-soon/articleshow/11843333.cms

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-to-construct-4lane-road-between-patnagaya/959753.html

Bihar to construct 4-lane road between Patna-Gaya

PTI | 11:02 PM,Feb 04,2012
Bodh Gaya, Feb 3 (PTI) The Bihar government will construct a four-lane road between Patna and Gaya to improve connectivity and boost tourism to the Buddhist pilgrimage site, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said. The construction of the road would take place very soon, the Chief Minister said at the inaugural function of the three-day 'Buddha Mahotsava' at Kalchakra Maidan in Bodh Gaya. The Chief Minister eulogized Lord Buddha and his principles saying that the middle path preached by Gautama was the only way to proceed on the path of peace, brotherhood and communal amity in this world. Kumar also took note of lack of cleanliness and hygiene conditions at Bodh Gaya and asked the Nagar Panchayat to ensure foreign tourist have no complaint in this regard, he said having recalled a complaint made to him by a foreign tourist sometimes back. Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said tourists inflow from across the country and abroad to Bihar has increased substantially, particularly those willing to visit sites of Buddhist pilgrimage.

The GOB needs to give attention to developing expressways around the city of Patna within a distance of 80-100 kms. Along with Gaya, a 4-lane road to Vikramshila is also a must. This way, the entire surrounding area around the city will develop too.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-02/patna/31016502_1_hydel-power-flyover-land-reforms

Patna to get another flyover
TNN Feb 2, 2012, 05.06AM ISTTags:Sheikhpura|Patna|Jagdeo Path stretch|flyover
PATNA: Patna is all set to get yet another flyover with the Bihar government sanctioning the construction of a four-lane one for the Sheikhpura-Jagdeo Path stretch on Bailey Road at a cost of Rs 161 crore. The government also sanctioned Rs 27.23 crore for setting up two small hydel power units to generate 1MW each.

The flyover, with 91 spans and 25 pillars, will be completed in the financial year 2013-14. The hydel power stations of Bihar Hydro Electricity Development Corporation will come up at Dehra and Sipaha in Aurangabad district by March 31, 2014.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-20/patna/30646895_1_convention-centre-cabinet-okays-rs-budget-session

Cabinet okays Rs 274 cr for convention centre

TNN Jan 20, 2012, 09.33PM ISTTags:proposal approved|Patna
PATNA: The state cabinet on Friday approved a proposal for construction of an international convention centre near Gandhi Maidan here and sanctioned Rs 274.2 crore for the project. The detailed project report (DPR) for the convention centre would be prepared by a selected consultant architect, which will get a consultancy fee of 1.8% of the project cost.

It also approved a proposal for registration of births and deaths by anganwadi sevikas working under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The anganwadi sevikas will act as deputy registrar working under the registrar-cum-panchayat sevak for registration of births and deaths within 21 days. They will get Rs 20 for every registration. The directorate of statistics will give technical training to them for the purpose.

It's good that Patna is getting a convention centre. Now the Government needs to construct an international cricket stadium/upgrade the existing stadium to that level along with revamping the existing auditoriums in the city/districts.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-07/patna/31033728_1_science-city-planetariums-darbhanga-and-gaya

Cabinet nod for Science City in Patna in next fiscal

Abhay Singh, TNN Feb 7, 2012, 03.45AM ISTTags:The move|state government|Shribhagwan Singh

PATNA: The cabinet clearance of an ambitious programme of the state government to establish a Science City at Patna and two new planetariums, one each at Darbhanga and Gaya, in all likelihood, would now occur in the next financial year, as the nagging problem of getting the required land for at least two of them is still in the process of actualization.

Moreover, attractive features, called 'events' in the lingua of science and technology department, that Science City and the two planetariums would have for enjoyment by children and the interested public from the point of view of mass science awareness is also still in the process of shortlisting, even as the details of other attractive features that befit them have already been collected.

http://telegraphindia.com/1120210/jsp/bihar/story_15113910.jsp

Cobra to flow from Feb. 15

ANAND RAJ

The Bihta brewery of Molson Coors Cobra. Picture by Ashok Sinha
Patna, Feb. 9: The much-publicised investment proposal from global beer giant Cobra, a multinational company promoted by Lord Karan Bilimoria, is set to start flowing from February 15.

Production will commence that day at the brewery owned by Molson Coors Cobra India, a joint venture of Molson Coors and Cobra Beer, at Bihta, some 40km from Patna. In June last year, Molson Coors Cobra took over the brewery owned by Iceberg Industries Limited after buying 100 per cent stake in the company.

Bilimoria had in August last year met chief minister Nitish Kumar on setting up the brewery. The company would initially invest $35 million in its India operations, a majority of which would be utilised for the future expansion plans of the brewery operations in Bihar, a company press release had said after its chairman met Nitish.

Renovation and modernisation work is going on in full swing in the brewery with new machines and technology being installed to produce 5 lakh cases of beer per month.

“Earlier, we had taken a decision to start production from February 10 but since some of the work is in the final stages, the date has been extended to February 15….The complete renovation and modernisation work of the plant would be completed by March-end or the first week of April,” Daya Shanker Prasad Srivastava, general manager (operations), told The Telegraph.

The company would make an initial investment of Rs 40 crore for renovation and modernisation of the brewery plant to enhance its production capacity, Srivastava said.

The plant’s current capacity is 1.5 lakh cases per month which would be enhanced to 5 lakh cases, Srivastava said. Each case contains 12 bottles of 650 ml.

He said the beer factory would contribute Rs 50 crore as tax — excise and sales — to the state exchequer.

Asked why the beer giant is still carrying the old name “Iceberg Industries Ltd”, Srivastava said: “We could not change the name as a lot of formalities have to be completed. This would be done later.”

Lord Bilimoria, chairman of the Cobra Beer Partnership, explained to The Telegraph last month why he was keen to invest in Bihar.

In a statement to The Telegraph, Lord Bilimoria said: “In June 2011, Cobra Beer entered into a joint venture with Molson Coors — the last of the global brewing giants to enter India — forming Molson Coors Cobra India (Cobra has already been in a global joint venture with Molson Coors since May 2009). We own the only brewery in the state of Bihar, and have almost completed the expansion and upgradation of the brewery, doubling its capacity from two million cases to four million cases. Over the past six-and-a-half years, Bihar has been transformed through the sheer good governance and inspirational leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy chief minister Sushil Modi and their team. Crime has been reduced six times in six years, and the state has one of the fastest GDP growth rates of all the states in India, well ahead of India’s national growth rate. The beer market in Bihar has grown significantly in this period — we are very excited about our future in the state, and privileged to be a part of the Bihar success story, and to be the first multinational to start manufacturing in the state.”

Bilimoria is expected to be in the state to attend the government’s conclave for NRIs from February 17-19.

The beer market in Bihar has grown approximately 10 times — from an annual seven lakh cases to 70 lakh cases — since November 2005 when Nitish took charge of the state.

Bihar has not been transformed. There is a long way to go. GoB must work much harder as time is ticking for 2015 elections. Before they know it, it will be there.

http://telegraphindia.com/1120210/jsp/bihar/story_15117032.jsp


Geo Miller & Company Pvt. Ltd, Gammon India Ltd to develop 24x7 distribution network
PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

Patna, Feb. 9: Residents of the state capital may soon be spared the trouble of erratic water supply. The authorities have finally selected the agencies to develop a round-the-clock distribution network for the city.

Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) has selected the consortium of Geo Miller & Company Private Limited and Gammon India Limited for the job.

Funds for the new project under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was sanctioned nearly three years ago and the funds earmarked for it are scheduled to lapse at the end of the current fiscal (on March 31, 2012).

So the authorities are extra keen to speed up the project. The sanctioned amount for the scheme is Rs 534 crore.

A source said the work could be awarded within a week. The actual work is expected to begin in March.

The consortium of Geo Millar and Gammon were selected after financial bids submitted by the applicants for this scheme were opened yesterday. Under the new water supply scheme, the agencies would construct 72 new overhead water tanks and at least 25 tube-wells across the city.

The Telegraph in its edition dated December 13, 2012, had reported about BUIDCo inviting firms to design, build, operate, manage and maintain the new 24x7 water supply system in the state capital.

“The selection of the consortium of Geo Miller and Gammon is a big achievement for us. The scheme has been already delayed by three years. The JNNURM is scheduled to lapse by the end of this fiscal. Also, all earlier efforts taken by us to execute the scheme had failed because of some issue or the other. It had become a matter of concern for us. However, now we have selected two of the most efficient firms in this sector. We are sure that this scheme will be a big success,” said a senior BUIDCo officer.

At present, Geo Miller is working on a number of water supply projects across the country, including water treatment plants in Hyderabad, Bhopal and Udaipur in Rajasthan.

Gammon India, on the other hand, has built the Kosi Mahasetu, which was inaugurated yesterday by chief minister Nitish Kumar and Union minister of road and highways C.P. Joshi. The cost of the project was Rs 400 crore.

The BUIDCo officer said: “We intend to issue the work award to the selected consortium within a week. We want the work to start next month. The project has to be completed within 24 months from the date of commencement of the execution order.”

He added: “This is among the last few projects given to BUIDCo at the time of its constitution in 2009, on which the work is still to commence. BUIUDCo has started work on 23 projects within the past six months. The finalisation of the Patna water supply project is like the icing on the cake. This is the biggest water supply project ever undertaken in the country. Once this project is completed, we can say that the people of Patna would literally be able to drink the water of Ganga.”

According to the project plan, the city would be divided into two zones — north and south. The Delhi-Howrah railway track would be the dividing line. The northern part would be supplied water from the Ganga.

New tubewells and reservoirs would be constructed for supplying water to the southern zone. The consortium would manage the supply network for 10 years, after which, it would be handed over to the civic body.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120208/jsp/bihar/story_15104501.jsp
Bridge brings capital closer
KHWAJA JAMAL

Chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurates the bridge at Pilkhi village in Muzaffarpur on Tuesday. Picture by Gopi Raman

Muzaffarpur, Feb. 7: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today inaugurated a bridge over the Budhi Gandak at Pilkhi village in the district, much to the relief of the residents of Madhubani and Darbhanga.

The 255-m-long and 7-m-wide bridge, which falls under Morol block, would reduce the distance between Jainagar in Madhubani and the state capital by almost 60km.

Earlier, the residents had to travel about 178km from Madhubani to reach the state capital.

The chief minister said: “The trip (to Patna and back) would be hassle-free and there would not be any snarl. Built at Rs 21 crore, the bridge has come up within the one-year deadline that was set by the Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation. This shows that the work culture in the state has improved significantly.”

Nitish also called upon the residents of the state to maintain communal harmony and peace and shun caste hatred.

“The state is marching fast on the path of development. The government just needs the support and goodwill of the people so that Bihar becomes one of the most powerful states in the country soon. No one can stop Bihar from becoming a developed state if the people extend their support to the government,” Nitish said.

The chief minister added that the state has now become a subject of various studies. “Everybody is talking about the janata darbar. Elected representatives from Nepal and foreign media teams have come to Bihar to see how the state is progressing. My aim is to deliver development based on justice and ameliorate the condition of poor people,” Nitish further said.

Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav and revenue and land reforms minister Ramai Ram reached the village in the afternoon to inaugurate the bridge.

“I have asked Nand Kishore to prepare a detailed project plan to facilitate road connectivity to all bridges that are being constructed on various rivers across the state,” he said.

Nand Kishore said all proposed bridges in the flood-prone areas of north Bihar would be constructed in the next four years.

Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation managing director Bipin Kumar and road construction department secretary Pratyaya Amrit were also present on the occasion.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/patna/30675650_1_power-generation-land-acquisition-mega-project

Bihar big leap towards 'power'

TNN Jan 29, 2012, 02.35AM ISTTags:NTPC|Nitish Kumar
PATNA: "Bihar has attempted a big leap today towards self-sufficiency in power generation," said chief minister Nitish Kumar after he broke a coconut and laid the foundation stone of a 1980MW thermal power project at Shivanpur in Aurangabad district on Saturday.

The Nabinagar Power Generating Company Pvt Ltd project, a joint venture of NTPC and Bihar State Electricity Board, is to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 12,965 crore. It will have three units with capacity to generate 660MW each in the first phase likely to be commissioned by 2015. The mega project requires 2,833 acres of land at the site, including 1,872 acres of private land.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-20/patna/30646867_1_road-bridges-digha-sonepur-traffic-load

Bridging the Ganga

Faizan Ahmad, TNN Jan 20, 2012, 06.03AM ISTTags:Patna-Hajipur Gandhi Setu|Ganga|Digha Ghat
PATNA: Crossing the Ganga would soon be easier in the state with four bridges coming up at different places and another four being on cards. Already, there are four bridges across the river, spread over 445km in the state.

Among the proposed bridges, one is to be built parallel to the Patna-Hajipur Gandhi Setu which is in a bad shape. "A new four-lane bridge from Kachchi Dargah to Biddupur in Vaishali district has been proposed," said road construction department (RCD) minister Nand Kishore Yadav. The Gandhi Setu will remain operational but only for light vehicles. The other three existing bridges on the Ganga are at Buxar, Bhagalpur and Mokama.

The four bridges under construction are the rail-cum-road bridge between Digha Ghat in Patna and Sonepur in Saran district; the rail-cum-road bridge in Munger and the two road bridges between Ara and Chhapra and Bakhtiarpur (Patna) and Tajpur (Samastipur). Of them, the Digha-Sonepur one is likely to be completed by March 2014 at a cost of Rs2,921.46 crore while the one in Munger is likely to be opened in June 2013. Its cost will come around Rs2,000 crore. "The stones of these two rail-cum-road bridges were laid by the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee," Yadav recalled.

The minister told TOI the Ara-Chhapra bridge, being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs676 crore, would be completed by July 2014 and the one between Bakhtiarpur and Tajpur by May 2016 at an estimated cost of Rs1,602 crore.

"The bridge connecting Kachchi Dargah and Biddupur, which will ease the traffic load on the Gandhi Setu, is in the DPR (detailed project report) stage," Yadav said and added the government was working seriously on this project since there was no other feasible way to solve the Gandhi Setu problem.

Also in the DPR stage are the two bridges between Manihari (Katihar) and Sahebganj (Jharkhand) and Sultanganj (Bhagalpur) and Aguani Ghat (Khagaria).

The initial preparation to start work on the 1800m long bridge between Mokama and Begusarai has begun. It will entail a cost of Rs400 crore, the minister said and added all the new bridges would be of four lanes.

Given how many rivers Bihar has, it needs bridges across the State, both small and big. Also, they need to prioritise urban development which is sorely lacking. I partially agree when the opposition accuses nitish of being very good at publicity.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-11/patna/31049867_1_medical-colleges-nrhm-fund-medical-professors

'State govt to spend 85% of NRHM fund by March end'

TNN Feb 11, 2012, 02.46AM ISTTags:NRHM fund

PATNA: State principal secretary (health) Amarjeet Sinha said on Friday the state government would be able to spend 85 per cent of the funds received under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) by March. "We will be able to use 85 per cent of the funds received under NRHM by March end," Sinha said.

He said the state had its quota of Rs 1,098 crore under NRHM for 2011-12, but the Centre has so far provided only Rs 600 crore. "The state government will request the Centre to release the rest of the funds," Sinha said.

Sinha said the state health department from April 2012 will start computerizing the record of medicine meant for distribution among patients turning up at the government hospitals. The step was taken in view of reports pouring in from different parts of the state, including Araria, Samastipur and Begusarai districts, where medicine after their expiry were dumped into fields or thrown into drains. The computerization work would be done by Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corportation Limited.

On teachers' scarcity in medical colleges of the state, Sinha said: "To avoid scarcity of teachers in the six government-owned medical colleges, the state government has decided to adopt the Chhatisgarh model wherein retired assistant professors would be appointed against the vacant posts on contract."

He said more than 140 retired medical professors have shown their interests to work on contract basis. Sinha said as per the state's population, Bihar should have 20 medical colleges in accordance with the yardstick fixed for the purpose and added efforts are on to start new medical colleges at Bettiah, Madhepura and Biharsharif. He said the state health department under the Nai Pidhi Gram Swasthya Yojana has so far issued health cards to more than 1.4 crore schoolchildren in the state in the 6-14 years age group. Replying to a query, Sinha said the health department would accord top priority to eradication of kala-azar.

Not just more medical colleges, but more engineering colleges as well. The government should see about constructing medical colleges/engineering colleges in every district.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bihar-for-electricity-transmission-through-smart-card-grid/907529/0

Bihar for electricity transmission through smart card grid

The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) today pitched for establishment of a smart card grid for power transmission to regulate supply to consumers and prevent theft of the commodity.

Electricity transmission through a smart card grid should be considered by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and other stakeholders so as to regulate consumption of the commodity and prevent its theft, BERC Chairman U N Panjiar said at the three-day, 28th meeting of the Forum of Regulators (FOR) at Bodh Gaya.

Electricity supply through a smard card grid should be give due consideration as the mechanism was bound to improve utilisation of the commodity and prevent its pilferage and theft under the present transmission sytem, Panjiar said.

He also rued the fact that Bihar has been receiving inadequate electricity from the central quota, so much so that the state was able to meet only 40 per cent of the demand for the commodity.

The state government was working hard to meet domestic demand for electricity by purchasing it from power power producers and distributors, but the gap between demand and supply continued to be a problem, the BERC Chairman said.

Efforts were being made to generate power from renewable sources like solar and biogas to meet the growing demand for electricity in Bihar, Panjiar said.

With the state government having to make do with purchase of electricity from producers and distributors at a generally high rate to meet domestic demand, Panjiar urged the CERC and other stakeholders to formulate a policy for common tariffs for electricity throughout the country.

The Chairpersons of all State Electricity Regulatory Commissions and Joint Electricity Regulatory Commissions are attending the meeting to discuss and analyse issues of common interest and requiring a common approach, undertake research on issues relevant to power sector regulation, evolve measures for protection of the interest of consumers and promotion of efficiency, economy and competition in the power sector.

All these announcements are fine. The moot issue is: how much of this is being implemented?

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/bihar-tourism-to-develop-starrated-hotels-at-key-tourist-destinations-across-the-state-15428

Bihar Tourism to develop star-rated hotels at key tourist destinations across the state

By P Krishna Kumar | New Delhi


Bihar Tourism will set up star-rated hotels of different categories at key tourism destinations across the state. The destinations identified include the capital city, Patna and in the Buddhist Circuit like Rajgir, Bodhgaya, Vaishali, etc. This information was given by Navin Kumar, Dy. General Manager (F&A/TT), Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. He said that the government is planning to set up hotels both under government investment and under Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode. He was speaking at the road show organised by Bihar Tourism in New Delhi January, 13, 2012. He said that while there is ample accommodation available in Rajgir and Bodhgaya currently, there is a paucity of quality accommodation in other places. The State Tourism Department is currently conducting a ten-city road show in India to promote the state in the domestic market.

He said that steps are on to develop tourism infrastructure for Aqua, Eco, Heritage, Wildlife, Cruise Tourism, etc. in the state. In Patna, Bihar Tourism is planning to develop various bathing Ghats and provide heritage monuments on the banks of Ganges with LED lighting as part of the beautification drive. The State Tourism Department has plans to introduce house boats and ‘shikharas’ on the river Ganges.

In order to promote Pilgrim Tourism, the Tourism Department has identified tourism circuits around Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh religious sites and is promoting packages of different durations for the convenience of religious travellers. On the Aqua Tourism front, three cruise services are already operational on the Ganges – one from Kolkata to Varanasi; Farrakha to Patna; and on the Ganges in Patna, which are all popular with tourists, Kumar said. For Adventure Tourism, the State Tourism Department has introduced trekking in Rajgir with trips ranging from four to six hours. It has also set the ball rolling to set up ropeways at Rajgir and Rohtasgarh Fort. For Eco and Wildlife Tourism, the state is promoting wildlife safaris in Buxar, Valmiki Nagar and Udaypur.

Unfortunately, the cruise they are talking about could be a lot better. Quality accomadation is a problem in Patna and moreso in other parts of the State. Rajasthan is a good model in this aspect.

My wishlist for Patna vs. the actual progress on the ground:

1. Outer ring road
2. Amusement park
3. Convention Centre
4. Cricket stadium
5. Reliable public transport
6. Proper pavements
7. More medical+engineering colleges
8. Proper roads

Things to look forward to:

1. IIT Patna
2. AIIMS Patna
3. Museum
4. Convention Centre

What in addition to this?

http://www.bihartimes.in/Newsbihar/2012/Feb/newsbihar01Feb7.html

Decks cleared for Borlaug Institute in Bihar

Patna, Feb 1 (IANS) The Bihar government will provide 200 acres at a token Re.1 per acre on a 99-year lease for setting up a Borlaug Institute for agricultural research, an official said Wednesday.
The institute will be located at Pusa in Samastipur district.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Birla-to-invest-Rs-500cr-intate/articleshow/11945455.cms

Birla to invest Rs 500cr in state

PATNA: Though the 'Global Summit on Changing Bihar' is not about attracting investment, India Inc honcho Kumar Mangalam Birla on Saturday announced the plans of his Aditya Birla Group to invest Rs 500 crore in Bihar in the next six months to set up a cement unit. He was addressing the summit's plenary session on 'Transforming Bihar: Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges'.

Queried about it later, he told TOI, Birla said, "We are expediting our plan and looking for suitable land. It will be finalized very soon." He, however, declined to reveal the possible locations.

The panellists at the plenary included Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, emeritus professor at the London School of Economics, Lord Meghnad Desai, and Bihar chief secretary Navin Kumar. The session was moderated by former Union minister and chairman of Institute for Rural Management Yogendra K Alagh. Institute for Human Development (IHD) chairman Alakh Narayan Sharma presented the background paper.

Sen said despite encouraging growth rate, National Sample Survey has shown that there has been no decline in poverty in Bihar. However, many good things have happened in the state in the last few years, including return of law and order and fiscal responsibility.

"Bihar, in the next five years, should concentrate on improving these two aspects further; only then more inclusive growth will be possible," he said. Sen noted that growth took place mainly due to public sector investment with more central funds coming and, to some extent, due to private investment in construction.

Stating that Bihar stands on the cusp of development, Birla complimented CM Nitish Kumar for transforming challenges into opportunities, but expressed his concern over the low CD ratio of only 32.2% in the state. Against deposits of Rs 99,000 crore, the credit stood at Rs 22,000 crore. Banks need to lend more.

He also said that government must encourage private investment in education and infrastructure, and praised the state's new industrial promotion policy. He also called for speedy approval of projects.

Lord Desai said, "Bihar is a success story after remaining a failed state for a long time, and its image outside the state has improved dramatically.

"Now, people think about their future and the new generation's future seems to be better than that of their parents."

The LSE professor said development is now more objective and for better quality of life.

He suggested that all villages be connected with Internet, since the technology is getting cheaper. He also called for making life better, particularly of women and girls by taking care of their education and nutrition.

Sharma of IHD said Bihar should target 14-15% GDP growth over the next 15-10 years. This will facilitate more public investments and help forge partnership with Bihari diaspora and other stakeholders. Chief secretary Kumar made a presentation on the achievements and challenges during the last six years. To a query, he said government is trying to set up power units to meet higher demand in future. For now, it is trying to meet demand by purchasing power from private utilities at high rates.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-17/patna/31070514_1_stalls-saris-sangh-president-pushpa-chopra


'Patna Haat' to come up in city

TNN Feb 17, 2012, 02.19AM IST
Tags:
Patna Haat|Delhi Haat
PATNA: A 'Patna Haat' on the pattern of 'Delhi Haat' is likely to come up in the city soon.

Inaugurating the 17th Mahila Udyog Mela at the DAV-BSEB Colony ground on Thursday, state industries minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha said the state government was in the process of identifying a site for the 'Patna Haat'.

The fair, organized by the Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh, will conclude on Monday. More than 200 stalls have been put up at which creations of women entrepreneurs from Pune, Faizabad, Varanasi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bangalore and Patna besides Lahore and Karachi are on display. "In a first, the Patna fair has gone international with one of the stalls selling saris and suit pieces with Pakistani embroidery on them," said Sangh president Pushpa Chopra.

Bangalore-based designer Pallav Chandra said his cotton and silk saris and dress materials of natural fabrics were available in the price range of Rs 850 to Rs 5,000. Abdul Mazeed from J&K has brought pashmina shawls and stoles. Also on sale are saris with hand and block painting on themes like 'Chhath' and 'Holi' festivals, designed by Sunita Prakash and her team.

Mahila Kalyan Sangathan has put up nine stalls. "We have brought products of weavers from Varanasi, Bhagalpur and Kolkata," said Sangathan president Anukampa Rai. There are also stalls selling furniture, carpets, home decor items and kitchen appliances.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Japan-firm-to-design-Bihar-Museum/articleshow/11919161.cms

Japan firm to design Bihar Museum

PATNA: Japan's Maki & Associates along with Mumbai's Opolis Architects will develop the architectural design of the proposed Bihar Museum on Bailey Road in the city. The project is scheduled to be completed by March 2015.

Giving this information, state art and culture minister Sukhda Pandey said on Thursday the two firms were selected from among 26 agencies which had applied for the assignment. "The government has also identified 35 acres of land in Vaishali district for developing Buddha Museum," she said and added the holy relics of Lord Buddha, presently kept in the Patna Museum, would be shifted to the Vaishali museum.

The minister further said an open-air sculpture park would soon be developed on the campus of Patna Museum. A cafeteria will also be opened there. "Facilities for drinking water and toilets are also being developed on the museum premises," said museum director U C Dwivedi.

An exhibition, which will showcase major events and developments of Bihar during the last 100 years, will begin at the Patna Museum on Friday, the minister said and added the exhibition would remain open for visitors till March 22.

The state directorate of museums has also initiated a drive to document rare manuscripts for its preservation. A move has also been made to map the archaeological sites in Vaishali and Nalanda districts.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/PU-likely-to-set-up-college-of-journalism/articleshow/11919127.cms


PU likely to set up college of journalism

PATNA: Patna University (PU) is likely to set up a full-fledged college of journalism to promote media education and research in the state.

Giving this information to TOI here on Thursday, PU vice-chancellor Shambhu Nath Singh said that the college would be set up on the pattern of Columbia School of Journalism so that it could impart training in all aspects of journalism to its scholars. A sound infrastructure would be created to carry out meaningful communication research which is not being done properly anywhere in the country. The VC said the UNESCO had agreed to support PU's venture and provide all the necessary infrastructural and academic facilities. The college would have about 10 departments dealing with different aspects of print and electronic media. Besides, it would also provide short-term training to working journalists. The details of the proposal are being formulated and would be placed before the various statutory bodies of the university for their approval. The state government would be approached for sanctioning posts of teaching and secretarial staff for the college.

PU is also contemplating to have academic collaboration with some reputed foreign universities so that our faculty members and students might get an opportunity to interact with the academics and scientists from overseas, the VC said. Collaborative research in different fields would certainly raise the academic standard of the university, he said.

A delegation of academics from Iran had visited PU recently and agreed to have an academic exchange programme with the Persian department of the university. This collaboration would not only provide job opportunities to the students of the Persian department, but also increase the number of scholars, the VC said.

Singh said the university would also like to take up consultancy work with a view to providing useful services to different sectors of the society. There are many departments in the university which could provide their know-how and expertise to the people on payment of some reasonable charge. This would not only give some incentive to the faculty members, it would also enrich the university exchequer. Details of consultancy services are being finalized, he said.

Expressing his concern over the dwindling strength of students in some departments, particularly humanities, the VC said that the university is contemplating to create endowments and fellowships in these departments to attract the scholars. The domain of some of the existing endowments would also be extended to cover the scholars of these departments,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/LSE-Nalanda-varsity-tie-up-on-the-cards/articleshow/11905740.cms

LSE-Nalanda varsity tie-up on the cards

PATNA: The London School of Economics and Political Science (informally LSE) is mulling the idea of setting up its global partner university chapter at the proposed Nalanda International University (NIU), says LSE pro director, Professor Stuart Corbridge.

He is likely to discuss this matter with one of the NIU governing body members, Lord Meghnad Desai. "It would be wonderful if we can utilize this opportunity to set up a separate chapter for social scientists in the eastern part of this region," said the pro director, who is in-charge of research and international affairs of LSE.

Corbridge, who has done extensive grass root research in the remote areas of Bihar and Jharkhand during the '90s, was in town on a three-day personal visit. He told TOI, "A large gathering of Indian alumni of LSE would meet at British High Commission, New Delhi on Thursday, in which the issue of tie-up is likely to be taken up."

The pro director has co-authored a book entitled 'Seeing the State: Governance and Governmentality in Rural India' and a number of research articles with a Bihar-cadre IAS officer, Manoj K Srivastava. Srivastava has a long association with Corbridge during his research on Bihar and at LSE.

He said the LSE has university-wise partnership in teaching and research with Columbia University, New York, Peking University, Beijing, Sciences Po, Paris, University of Cape Town and National University of Singapore.

After China and US, students of Indian origin constitute the third largest group in LSE. "Indian advisory board would be meeting on Thursday to seek advice and guidelines for identifying an Indian institute or university as one of the global partners."

Corbridge's main research interests include governance and accountability, including Right to Information, participation and empowerment, forest policies and politics in eastern India.

Quoting a recent figure, he said, "Indians normally spend nearly $4 billion on their children pursuing higher studies in some of the best universities." He expressed concern over lack of interest among Indian students in pursuing in-depth research in social sciences.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Floriculture-centre-to-come-up-in-Nalanda/articleshow/11901431.cms

Floriculture centre to come up in Nalanda

PATNA: The state government is all set to establish a modern floriculture centre at Bhaganbigha in Nalanda district for cultivation of flowers, including rose, jasmine, gerbera and tuberous, in greenhouses, glass houses and Shednet houses.

Agriculture secretary-cum-director, National Horticulture Mission (NHM), N Vijaylakshmi, told TOI that a single greenhouse would cover 10,000 square metres with facilities for controlling temperature and humidity level for creating ideal climatic condition for growing the respective flowers round the year. She said every greenhouse will have a fogger for creating misty rain for providing moisture to flowering plants.

She said the state government, in collaboration with NHM, has planned development of floriculture in a big way. Extreme weather conditions - temperature below 3-4 degree Celsius and above 25-30 degree Celsius - in Bihar at different points of time are not suited for growing exotic flowers, including cut roses, which have good demand in Patna and other cities in Bihar. As of now, exotic flowers are imported from Bangalore and other cities.

Under a government and NHM plan, 90% subsidy is given for creating greenhouse, Shednet house and for purchase of planting material, so as to encourage farmers to take to floriculture in a big way, she said.

Vijaylakshmi said that a greenhouse was recently set up at Janipur on the outskirts of Patna for growing Gerbera, used in making bouquets and decorating houses. My dream is to promote floriculture, which would generate self-employment among youths, she said adding that a course of diploma in floriculture may be started in future.

Despite high demand for marigold and other exotic flowers round the year, particularly during marriage season and elections, in Bihar, flower cultivation in the state is low. Agriculture scientist Anil Kumar Jha said that under the National Horticulture Mission, 768 acres, mostly in Patna and Jehanabad districts, have been brought under flower cultivation with 90% subsidy for growing marigold and 50% subsidy for growing rose and other exotic flowers. The target is to bring another 300 hectares land under flower cultivation.

According to state horticulture directorate sources, the farmers given subsidies grew rose plants in 68 hectares producing 86.48 lakh flowers and 161.1 lakh spikes of gladiolus in over 80 hectares during the last financial year. Tuberous (rajnigandha) was grown in 105 hectares with an annual yield of 522 tonnes and Jasmine in 70 hectares, sources added.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-02-15/news/31063344_1_patel-engineering-bihar-government-construction-firm

Patel Engineering gets Rs 234-crore order from Bihar government
PTI Feb 15, 2012, 08.03PM IST
Tags:
SH-81|Patel Engineering|Highway project
MUMBAI: Construction firm Patel Engineering today said it has bagged a Rs 233.98-crore order from the Bihar government for upgrading a 86.8-km highway project in the state.

"...the company has bagged Rs 233.98 crore order for the upgradation for Sikkadi-Chandi-Sandesh-Sahar-Bihta-Danvara- Nasirgunj Road ( SH-81) in the state of Bihar from the Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd," it said in a filing to the BSE.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-to-computerise-medicine-records-in-state-hospitals/961599.html


Bihar to computerise medicine records in state hospitals
PTI | 05:02 PM,Feb 10,2012
Patna, Feb 10 (PTI) Bihar Health Department will computerise the record of medicines for distribution among patients turning up at the state-run hospitals, department's Principal Secretary Amarjit Sinha said. Talking to reporters here, Sinha expressed concern over the reports of medicines getting expired and dumped into fields in Araria, Samastipur and Begusarai districts. "Now we have decided to computerise the records and stocks of medicines from April 2012," he said. Sinha said Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corportation Limited has been set up and the inventory of the medicines and records would now be computerised from April, 2012. "We have come across reports from several districts about the medicines being thrown into drains or being kept in open on the rooftop," he said adding it was wrong and we should be proactive to avoid waste. "We have set a procedure for disposal of the expired medicines available at government hospitals," Sinha said. He said altogether six medical colleges and hospitals are functional in the state and there has been significant increase in turnouts of patients because of setting right the OPDs there. The department had so far issued health cards to more than 1.4 crore school children between the age group of six to 14 years under the new generation health guarantee programme, Sinha informed. (More)

http://www.rediff.com/business/report/patna-airport-safety-3000-trees-to-be-felled/20120216.htm

Patna airport safety: Over 3000 trees to be felled


Bihar's capital city will lose its green cover to ensure smooth air traffic operations at the Patna airport. More than 3000 trees will be felled in Patna as they pose a threat to air traffic.

For the safety of Patna airport, trees in the Sanjay Gandhi [ Images ] Biological Park (Patna zoo) are likely to be cut or pruned soon, officials said on Thursday.

The Airport Authority of India [ Images ] and other airlines operators have decided to request the state government to cut trees.

"AAI has identified over 3000 trees spread across 17 acres in the Patna zoo as unsafe for flight operations at the Patna airport," Divisional commissioner K P Ramaiah said.

The Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park has a rich and diverse variety of trees such as semal, bamboo, amaltas, banyan, kusum, arjun and putranjiva.

He said the AAI raised the issue during its airport environment management committee meeting at Patna.

The Patna airport director Arvind Dubey admitted that trees in the Patna zoo were proving to be operational hazards. Some of the trees can be dangerous to flights while landing.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-16/patna/31066243_1_pds-shops-antodaya-biometric

PDS outlets in state to be computerized soon

TNN Feb 16, 2012, 03.06AM IST
Tags:
Public distribution system|Foodgrains
PATNA: The state government has decided to streamline the functioning of the much-maligned public distribution system (PDS) on which a large number of BPL families depend for foodgrains. The PDS, run by the dealers at their will, would soon be computerized and the beneficiaries would be informed about the supply of ration.

Disclosing this to mediapersons here on Wednesday, food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak said that Patna and Nalanda districts have been selected on pilot basis and soon it would be expanded to the entire state. Similarly, the godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the State Food Corporation (SFC) would also be computerized and CCTV cameras would be installed there.

"The project for digitization of BPL cards and ration cards will be started soon in Patna and Nalanda districts and expected to be completed in six months. In the first phase, the cards will be digitalized with all information about the beneficiaries and a data base will be prepared," he said.

Rajak was accompanied by principal secretary of the department Shishir Sinha. In the second phase, he said that each beneficiary in the state will be provided biometric cards which will be linked with Aadhar. The job of digitalization and biometric will be given to the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the minister said and added the first phase will entail a cost of Rs 96 crore.

Moreover, in bid to plug loopholes and check pilferage of the foodgrains meant for the 1.36 crore Antodaya and BPL card holder families, a new system of doorstep delivery is being introduced under which foodgrains from the godowns of the SFC would reach the PDS shops and it would be announced through the public address system so that all the beneficiaries are informed.

The minister said that for the supply of computers to all the 534 blocks an order is being placed with Bihar Electronic Development Corporation (Beltron) and soon the appointment of data entry operators will begin.

Digitization of BPL cards and ration cards in the entire state would be done in three months, he said, adding that Beltron has been directed to supply computer to 534 blocks in the first phase of computerization. Data entry operators would be appointed for this, he added.

Expressing satisfaction over paddy procurement, Rajak said, "We have fixed a target of 30 lakh MT by April 30 and the progress is very encouraging. So far over eight lakh MT paddy has already been procured and farmers have been paid through account payee cheques on the spot.

A total of Rs 800 crore has been paid."The government has also purchased six crore gunny bags to store the rice. The government is also constructing as many as 423 godowns of which 51 will be completed by March end and the rest by June end.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120220/jsp/bihar/story_15155208.jsp

Firm push to swanky summit hub dream

PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

Patna, Feb. 19: Ten workshops at five medium and small conference halls of a three-star hotel. The lack of any five-star facility in the state capital was not only felt during the three-day Global Summit on Changing Bihar-2012, but was also raised during a session on tourism.

However, if the state building construction department (BCD) has its way, the capital may get a swanky hub — International Convention Centre — to host such events by the end of 2014. For, the department has selected DDF Consultants Pvt. Ltd to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) on the proposed facility.

According to sources, the department is likely to sign an agreement with Consultants Pvt. Ltd by the end of this month and the company would get four months to prepare the detailed project report.

A dream project of chief minister Nitish Kumar, the convention centre is to likely be developed over an area of 47,955sq metre or 12acres near Gandhi Maidan at an estimated cost of Rs. 274.20 crore.

The sources said the convention centre would be developed on a plot marked for the residences of the district and sessions judge, several legislators, the divisional office of BCD, the superintendent, the civil surgeon and a proposed police office. Sources in the building construction department said the buildings would be razed to build the International Convention Cen-tre by the end of 2014.

Building construction minister Damodar Raut told The Telegraph: “It has been observed that the increasing number of famous people, government and non-government organisations from across the world are being invited to Patna for various conferences and other events. Such events are helpful for the for the state’s development. However, in the absence of any exclusive convention centre, many common people are not getting benefits of such events.”

He added: “According to the requirements and the ideology of chief minister Nitish Kumar, we have decided to develop the proposed International Convention Centre near Gandhi Maidan because it is in the heart of the city. The state cabinet gave its nod to the scheme on January 20. Our department has also selected the firm, which would prepare the DPR for the project. Our plan is to complete the work by the end of 2014.”

The sources said the state cabinet had on March 10, 2010 given its in-principal approval for the development of the centre on an area spread across 12acres. On December 12, 2011, the building construction department approved the preliminary project report prepared by an architect selected through national competitive bidding on August 11, 2010.

The sources added that the proposed centre would have a main convention hall on a built-up area of 18,450sqkm and a seating capacity for 5000. There would be another hall, called Gyan Bhavan.

I really have to ask the Government of Bihar: they came to power in November 2005. Now it is over 6 years, how long does it take to build a convention centre?

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120220/jsp/bihar/story_15154514.jsp
After beer, cheers to barley- Karan Bilimoria pledges more breweries
AMIT BHELARI Patna, Feb. 19:

Beer baron Karan Bilimoria has some promises for Bihar to say cheers.

“If everything goes well, the day is not far when we will have at least 10 breweries in Bihar,” the chairman of Cobra Beer told The Telegraph on the sidelines of the three-day global summit that came to an end today.

“Bihar has a lot of potential and it is one of the fastest growing states in the country. When I decided to set up a brewery in Bihar last June, many people had told me that it was not a wise decision. But the brewery in Bihta has started functioning. We have doubled our capacity and are using latest equipment to produce beer at the unit. If everything goes according to the plan, we will have at least 10 breweries in the state in future,” he added.

Bilimoria, however, refused to divulge details of his plans for Bihar. “At present, I cannot talk in details. I cannot also reveal the amount of money that we will invest in Bihar. But one thing is for sure — if a state like Odisha can have five breweries, Bihar will certainly have 10 in years to come.”

Earlier, the brewery at Bihta, some 40km from the state capital, had a capacity to produce 1.5 lakh cases of beer every month. After Bilimoria’s company took it over, its monthly production capacity was raised to 3 lakh cases. Production commenced on February 15 at the unit owned by Molson Coors Cobra India, a joint venture of Molson Coors and Cobra Beer. In June last year, Molson Coors Cobra had taken over the brewery owned by Iceberg Industries Limited after buying 100 per cent stake in the company.

On expansion of business in Bihar, Bilimoria said: “We will focus on barley production in Bihar. Barley is an essential component for beer. But I am surprised to see why people have not used barley so far. We are currently purchasing barley form Haryana. Very soon, barley grown in Bihar will be used in the Bihta brewery. This will also create income opportunities for farmers.”

Agriculture expert in the Bihar government Anil Kumar Jha said though the climate of the state was suitable to grow barley, people cultivate wheat and maize. “This is because there is a lack of marketing facilities. If the administration can ensure a market for barley, the farmers will certainly grow it,” he told The Telegraph.

On the other hand, Bilimoria expressed happiness to be a part of the “Bihar success story”. He said, “We are getting necessary support from the state government and are looking forward to similar response in future. The leadership in Bihar has achieved great success, especially under the stewardship of (chief minister) Nitish Kumar.”

He added, “Margaret Thatcher was called the ‘Iron Man of England’ for steering Britain from being the ‘Sick Man of Europe’ to a model of free enterprise. Similarly, Nitish Kumar has changed people’s perception about Bihar. I would say he is the ‘Iron Man of Bihar’. It is true that lots of mistakes have happened in the past. But time has come to promote Brand Bihar globally. We have to encourage industry in the state and sky is the limit for Bihar.”

Bilimoria also said he has plans to adopt some Gangetic dolphins. “Dolphins are rare species and we have to save them. I saw a few in the Ganges yesterday. They are beautiful. I have heard that these dolphins are facing danger. I am planning to adopt some of them. Let’s see what happens,” he added.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120220/jsp/bihar/story_15156799.jsp

‘Miles to go to compete with southern states’

HARD TALK/ Sanjay Kumar

How far has the state reached in strengthening healthcare delivery system and quality of treatment services in the last few years?

To be precise, we have come a long way in improving healthcare delivery system in the government sector. I will not be exaggerating if I say that there has been quite a turnaround. Figures and health indicators speak for themselves. While in 2006, the average turnout at primary health centres every month was 39. It reached 8,183 in 2011. Similarly, the routine immunisation coverage that was 18 per cent in 2004 reached 68 per cent last year. Infant mortality rate in the state has come down to 48, which was 61 in 2002. Maternal mortality rate, which was 312 in 2007, has also decreased considerably and was registered at 261 in 2011. But yes, as we started from a dismally low baseline in 2005, things are taking time in getting reflected. We still have a lot to do before we can claim of competing with the likes of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where government-run healthcare system has made a name for itself. Total fertility rate, which is 3.9 and the highest in the country, is a major cause of concern. We plan to bring it down to 2.1, even lesser than the national average of 2.6, in few years. And it is not an easy task because it involves socio-economic issues as well.


What are the main constraints and roadblocks that have crippled the public health sector in the state?

The main challenges that we are facing in the primary healthcare system are shortage of trained manpower and gaps in physical infrastructure. At the same time, there have been endeavour to overcome these constraints. Since the advent of National Rural Health Scheme (NRHM) in the state about seven years ago, 1,700 doctors have been hired on contractual basis. Similarly, 8,000 nurses have been appointed as well. At the district-level, specialists are being hired to implement various health schemes. Shortage of infrastructure is also being addressed. The state needs about 20,000 health sub-centres. The existing number is half the requirement. Similarly, as against the required 3,000 additional primary health centres, we have only 1,544. There are plans to convert the six-bed primary health centres into 30-bed ones. Besides, the existing facilities are not delivering to the capacity. We have to ensure presence of skilled manpower and physical infrastructure concurrently. All this will happen, but step by step. Budget is not a constraint. In fact, we have not been able to absorb funds available through NRHM because of these constraints. Though about Rs 600 crore of Rs 1,098 crore granted for the state in the current fiscal has already been spent, we hope to spend 80-85 per cent of the total amount by March.

Doctors are often found absent from duty in government hospitals. The situation has not changed much even as the current government claims to revamp the health department?

First of all, people’s faith has grown in government hospitals. As they are going into hospitals, the doctors’ absence is being noticed in several cases.

If there is a pressure of demand on the system, supply will have to cope up with that. We are trying to ensure that doctors do their duties properly. In the remote areas, many doctors do not show interest in attending duties at the primary health centres because of the lack of housing facilities. We will address the issue soon. We have to ensure housing facilities for doctors and paramedics up to the primary health centre level. If this happens, the doctors will not have any excuse to be outside places where they are posted. I also believe a ban on private practice by government doctors will be the best way to ensure their presence at government hospitals even if we have to pay them non-practising allowances. The state will come up with a policy on it soon.

Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation has been projected as a panacea for many problems in the health sector. Why has it remained elusive for several years?

There were talks earlier to constitute the body, but it came into being only last year through a cabinet decision and is finding its feet. Of the total 16 posts that have been sanctioned for the corporation, 10 have already been filled up. The rest will also be filled up once it gets operational in phases. In the first phase, the corporation will begin centralised procurement of drugs.

A centralised drug inventory management system will also become effective to ensure proper availability, maintenance and management of medicines in government hospitals, right from medical colleges to health sub-centres.

Through the system, online indenting of medicines will be done and civil surgeons will be entitled to distribute drugs to the primary health centres and lower level hospitals according to their requirements. At present, the drug availability in hospitals in supply-oriented. Our effort is to make it demand oriented. In the second phase, the corporation will start procuring equipment for medical colleges.

Bihar State Health Society has often been accused of taking over the health directorate, which has virtually remained defunct for several years.

NRHM calls for co-ordination and co-operation between Bihar State Health Society and the directorate. I am happy to share this with you that in many years, most of the posts are filled up for the first time with right kind of personnel. The directorate is entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out monitoring and inspections of health institutions and for that resources are made available to them as well. But yes, I do agree that there should be greater interaction between two wings.

Tell us about your life journey so far?

I was born in Patna on June 4, 1966. My father retired as a superintending engineer in the public works department.

Before graduating from St Stephen’s College in Delhi, I did my schooling from Patna, Darbhanga, Delhi and Mussoorie. Later I want to New York, USA and did my masters in physics. It was during my PhD in theoretical physics from the US in 1990 that I came down to India and sat for civil services examination. My entry into the service was totally unplanned as I cracked it in one go.

What would you have been if not an IAS officer?

I would have been teaching physics in some university or doing research. But I am happy with the job that I am doing. I think public administration is a good way of making changes in society.

Government must aspire to make Patna a metropolitan city. That should be their dream. All the cities in India must compete against each other in providing services, amenities and development. That way, each city will replicate facilities across India and people can live wherever they wish to. The most important thing is that the government should think that whatever is there in Dubai, Delhi or London that same thing should be there in Patna too. If there is 24-hour water supply in London, than why not in Patna? If one can drink water out of a tap in New York why not in Patna? If there can be an efficient bus service in MH/karnataka, why not in Patna? Never be satisfied, a la Robert Frost's miles to go before I sleep adage. If there can an Essel World near Mumbai or Appu Ghar near Delhi, than why not near Patna as well? Their target should be to make a Patna a metro.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Lack-of-preservation-facilities-hits-food-processing-industry/articleshow/11957452.cms

Lack of preservation facilities hits food processing industry

PATNA: The state government measures for giving a prop to food processing industry which will help in getting better value addition through processing of its rich horticultural resources, fruits and vegetables, without providing cold chain and air cargo facility for marketing them has exposed chinks in its industrial promotion policy.

The Bihar Industries Association (BIA) and the Bihar Chamber of Commerce have been demanding the creation of cold chain and air cargo facility at Patna for more than a decade for preserving perishable vegetables, fruits and the processed vegetable and fruit products so that they could be sent to distant markets.

The matter is hanging fire at the level of the state government, said BIA president K P S Keshri here on Tuesday stating that the creation of cold chain for carrying vegetables, fruits and their processed products, and running cold chain vehicles for carrying them at sub-zero level to the markets is imperative as they are perishable items.

The state government in order to tap the natural bounties of the state from the farms had come out with food processing policy with subsidies for establishing food processing units, but the creation of cold chain, common facility centres and air cargo facilities was important for getting good return on investments, he said. Keshri said that fruits, including litchi, mango and other luscious fruits, of the state are high in demand across the country -- both raw and processed forms.

Preservation of litchi pulp and other fruits at sub-zero temperatures (-20 degree C to -40 degree C) is important for processing them round-the-year at the food processing industries, said chairman of the Kedia group of Industries based at Muzaffarpur, R K Kedia.

Adding preservatives for preserving the processed fruits is the other way, but storing the fruits at sub-zero level would sustain the processing industries round-the-year, Keshri said.

At present, the food processing units in Muzaffarpur and Hajipur are processing litchi in pulp form for exporting them to the big food processing industries in the country which process them further to produce fruit juice and natural drinks as there is no cold chain and common facility centre in Bihar, Kedia said.

The Kedia group is one of the leading litchi exporting entrepreneurs of the state. It has set up a big food processing industry, Unique Foods, at Muzaffarpur, but due to lack of facilities it would be difficult for it to match the leading food processing units in the countries to which the Kedias have been providing litchi and fruits in pulp forms. Kedia told TOI that air cargo facility can be provided at an air strip in Muzaffarpur.

Kedia said that the government should waive the upper limit of Rs 5 crore for getting 35 per cent subsidy given to food processing industries. This waiver is necessary because the setting up of cold chain and units for manufacturing tetra packs for packaging litchi, mango, grape, apple and other fruit juices involve investment of more than Rs 10 crore.

PATNA: Bihar accelerated its growth rate to 14.8% in 2010-11 but still continued to be at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of per capita income in the country.

This was the highlight of the Economic Survey 2011-12, which was tabled in the state legislature on Wednesday by deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio. The state's economy grew at an annual rate of 11.36% between 2004-05 and 2010-11, riding on substantially higher public investment.

Yet, the state's per capita income at current prices stood at Rs 16,592 during 2011-12, which was nowhere near the national average of Rs 46,492. "The momentum of the growth has to be sustained for several years to close the gap between Bihar and the national average," said Modi.

Highlighting the results of the governance and fiscal management, he said the revenue surplus of state increased from Rs 2,498 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 6,272 crore in 2011-12. The capital outlay increased steadily from Rs 5,211 crore to Rs 11,448 crore during this period while development expenditure on social and economic services increased from Rs 17,000 crore to about Rs 43,000 crore. "The gross fiscal deficit has been 2.43% in the budget estimates of 2011-12, which is lower than the 3% limit fixed under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act," the deputy CM said.

Modi said between 2004-05 and 2010-11, the sectors reporting a growth rate of more than 15% were manufacturing (23.30%), construction (19.61%), communications (27.23%) and trade, hotels and restaurants (20.22%).

The survey report indicated a phenomenal fivefold increase in registration of new vehicles from 80,000 during 2005-06 to 3.87 lakh during 2010-11. Similarly, the number of mobile phone connections in the state increased to 4.48 crore in 2010-11 compared to 42.14 lakh in 2005-06.

The report also highlighted steady upward trend in per capita development expenditure (PCDE) during 2001-02 to 2010-11. From Rs 930 in 2001-02, the PCDE went up to Rs 3,467 in 2010-11, implying an annual growth rate of 17%. During the period, the country's PCDE grew at an annual rate of 13.6%. "The share of social sector spending in the total budget of Bihar increased from 18.9% in 2001-02 to 31.9% in 2010-11," Modi said.

"There are, in all, 36 large-scale units in Bihar besides six such units under the central sector. A total of 1.89 lakh medium, small and micro units were set up in the state till December 2011, an increase of around 60% over the year 2000. The highest increase of about 62% was noticeable in tiny and micro sector followed by 58% in artisan-based units. The State Investment Promotion Board has approved 603 proposals till date involving an investment of over Rs 2.48 lakh crore and employment to 1.85 lakh persons," the report said.

On the power front, however, the situation remains critical. Bihar has the lowest annual per capita consumption of electricity at 122.11 kWh against the national average of 778.71 kWh. Up to January last, a total of 17,363 villages and 19.67 lakh BPL families were connected to the grid under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme, the report said.

BOOM CONTINUES

Growth rate: 14.8%

Per capita income: Rs 16592

Mobile phone connections: 4.48 crore

Vehicles registered: 3.87 lakh

Literacy rate: 63.8%

Road length increase: 119%

Villages electrified: 17,363

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-boasts-of-14-8-growth-in-2010-11/articleshow/11998258.cms

:)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120220/jsp/bihar/story_15156799.jsp

‘Miles to go to compete with southern states’

HARD TALK/ Sanjay Kumar

How far has the state reached in strengthening healthcare delivery system and quality of treatment services in the last few years?

To be precise, we have come a long way in improving healthcare delivery system in the government sector. I will not be exaggerating if I say that there has been quite a turnaround. Figures and health indicators speak for themselves. While in 2006, the average turnout at primary health centres every month was 39. It reached 8,183 in 2011. Similarly, the routine immunisation coverage that was 18 per cent in 2004 reached 68 per cent last year. Infant mortality rate in the state has come down to 48, which was 61 in 2002. Maternal mortality rate, which was 312 in 2007, has also decreased considerably and was registered at 261 in 2011. But yes, as we started from a dismally low baseline in 2005, things are taking time in getting reflected. We still have a lot to do before we can claim of competing with the likes of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where government-run healthcare system has made a name for itself. Total fertility rate, which is 3.9 and the highest in the country, is a major cause of concern. We plan to bring it down to 2.1, even lesser than the national average of 2.6, in few years. And it is not an easy task because it involves socio-economic issues as well.


What are the main constraints and roadblocks that have crippled the public health sector in the state?

The main challenges that we are facing in the primary healthcare system are shortage of trained manpower and gaps in physical infrastructure. At the same time, there have been endeavour to overcome these constraints. Since the advent of National Rural Health Scheme (NRHM) in the state about seven years ago, 1,700 doctors have been hired on contractual basis. Similarly, 8,000 nurses have been appointed as well. At the district-level, specialists are being hired to implement various health schemes. Shortage of infrastructure is also being addressed. The state needs about 20,000 health sub-centres. The existing number is half the requirement. Similarly, as against the required 3,000 additional primary health centres, we have only 1,544. There are plans to convert the six-bed primary health centres into 30-bed ones. Besides, the existing facilities are not delivering to the capacity. We have to ensure presence of skilled manpower and physical infrastructure concurrently. All this will happen, but step by step. Budget is not a constraint. In fact, we have not been able to absorb funds available through NRHM because of these constraints. Though about Rs 600 crore of Rs 1,098 crore granted for the state in the current fiscal has already been spent, we hope to spend 80-85 per cent of the total amount by March.

Doctors are often found absent from duty in government hospitals. The situation has not changed much even as the current government claims to revamp the health department?

First of all, people’s faith has grown in government hospitals. As they are going into hospitals, the doctors’ absence is being noticed in several cases.

If there is a pressure of demand on the system, supply will have to cope up with that. We are trying to ensure that doctors do their duties properly. In the remote areas, many doctors do not show interest in attending duties at the primary health centres because of the lack of housing facilities. We will address the issue soon. We have to ensure housing facilities for doctors and paramedics up to the primary health centre level. If this happens, the doctors will not have any excuse to be outside places where they are posted. I also believe a ban on private practice by government doctors will be the best way to ensure their presence at government hospitals even if we have to pay them non-practising allowances. The state will come up with a policy on it soon.

Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation has been projected as a panacea for many problems in the health sector. Why has it remained elusive for several years?

There were talks earlier to constitute the body, but it came into being only last year through a cabinet decision and is finding its feet. Of the total 16 posts that have been sanctioned for the corporation, 10 have already been filled up. The rest will also be filled up once it gets operational in phases. In the first phase, the corporation will begin centralised procurement of drugs.

A centralised drug inventory management system will also become effective to ensure proper availability, maintenance and management of medicines in government hospitals, right from medical colleges to health sub-centres.

Through the system, online indenting of medicines will be done and civil surgeons will be entitled to distribute drugs to the primary health centres and lower level hospitals according to their requirements. At present, the drug availability in hospitals in supply-oriented. Our effort is to make it demand oriented. In the second phase, the corporation will start procuring equipment for medical colleges.

Bihar State Health Society has often been accused of taking over the health directorate, which has virtually remained defunct for several years.

NRHM calls for co-ordination and co-operation between Bihar State Health Society and the directorate. I am happy to share this with you that in many years, most of the posts are filled up for the first time with right kind of personnel. The directorate is entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out monitoring and inspections of health institutions and for that resources are made available to them as well. But yes, I do agree that there should be greater interaction between two wings.

Tell us about your life journey so far?

I was born in Patna on June 4, 1966. My father retired as a superintending engineer in the public works department.

Before graduating from St Stephen’s College in Delhi, I did my schooling from Patna, Darbhanga, Delhi and Mussoorie. Later I want to New York, USA and did my masters in physics. It was during my PhD in theoretical physics from the US in 1990 that I came down to India and sat for civil services examination. My entry into the service was totally unplanned as I cracked it in one go.

What would you have been if not an IAS officer?

I would have been teaching physics in some university or doing research. But I am happy with the job that I am doing. I think public administration is a good way of making changes in society.

Don't understand your simile and happiness on backwardness of Bihar. The fact that Bihar is lagging behind South Indian states must be making you very happy. It really makes me sad to see people like you around.

:)

Don't understand your simile and happiness on backwardness of Bihar. The fact that Bihar is lagging behind South Indian states must be making you very happy. It really makes me sad to see people like you around.

it is very unfortunate that some people are happy at the backwardness of bihar. i would say bangalore was not much developed till 1995. it is only after infosys started its operations there and other IT companies started follwing their trend. except for the weather there other things are similar to other indian cities. and i hope delhi is the best when it comes to infrastructure. every cities have its own ups and downs throughout its journey.today's bangalore has massive contributions from outsiders and it is really nice that most of them respect local culture. same kind of behaviour is expected from the local people. the locals in bangalore are known for their warm hospitality. Major IT companies have started expanding to other cities also. already after kolkata, bhubaneshwar is emerging as IT destination in the east, followed by guwahati. bihar too will have IT SEZ very soon , if i am not mistaken. IT SEZs and swanky building may become white elephants in years to come. already there is such a trend in hydrabad.
last but not the least, letz respect each other's culture and their sentiments. letz not make fun of other states.

^^+1. When you make fun of any state you also make fun of India. Have some respect please.

PATNA: Bihar accelerated its growth rate to 14.8% in 2010-11 but still continued to be at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of per capita income in the country.
substantially higher public investment.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-boasts-of-14-8-growth-in-2010-11/articleshow/11998258.cms

Great news. What Bihar really needs to do is control its population. Which means educating FEMALES and getting them more EMPLOYMENT. But good progress nevertheless. Nice article.

seriously muthu , a smiley - I mean how old are you , ten ??

Dear Friend ,
if u see my comment (icon) , it was only for the headline on this message which read like this ((((‘Miles to go to compete with southern states’ ))))

I am not happy or sad coz bihar is poor or what ever .... why should i be ,
just when some one trying to compare with south india , made me laugh ...
there are enough states in north which are way ahead ..like haryana ..gujrat ...to compare at start ..sorry if i made some thing wrong ,my intension was totally different


seriously muthu , a smiley - I mean how old are you , ten ??

PATNA: Bihar accelerated its growth rate to 14.8% in 2010-11 but still continued to be at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of per capita income in the country.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-boasts-of-14-8-growth-in-2010-11/articleshow/11998258.cms

14.8 %? That's incredible (though such enormous percentages make me a bit skeptical.) Even 9% as a CORE rate of growth compared to an all india average of 6.9% is impressive. Anyone knows what benchmarks are they using to quote these figures?

^ low base

14.8 %? That's incredible (though such enormous percentages make me a bit skeptical.) Even 9% as a CORE rate of growth compared to an all india average of 6.9% is impressive. Anyone knows what benchmarks are they using to quote these figures?

Percent increase can some time be misleading, especially when the base against which the increase is being computed is small. More precisely,

%-increase = (new - old) * 100 / old

which clearly indicate that for two economies that post same increase in magnitude, i.e., have same (new - old), number for the one with smaller base will be bigger than the other.

My worry is not that growing at 14 % may be overestimated. My worry is the following:

1. Absence of power supply means that industries won't come.
2. High growth rate is driven by government spending, not investment
3. Patna lacks the environment to attract big companies.
4. Higher education in the State is inadequate.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-boasts-of-14-8-growth-in-2010-11/articleshow/11998258.cms

Bihar boasts of 14.8% growth in 2010-11

PATNA: Bihar accelerated its growth rate to 14.8% in 2010-11 but still continued to be at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of per capita income in the country.

This was the highlight of the Economic Survey 2011-12, which was tabled in the state legislature on Wednesday by deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio. The state's economy grew at an annual rate of 11.36% between 2004-05 and 2010-11, riding on substantially higher public investment.

Yet, the state's per capita income at current prices stood at Rs 16,592 during 2011-12, which was nowhere near the national average of Rs 46,492. "The momentum of the growth has to be sustained for several years to close the gap between Bihar and the national average," said Modi.

Highlighting the results of the governance and fiscal management, he said the revenue surplus of state increased from Rs 2,498 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 6,272 crore in 2011-12. The capital outlay increased steadily from Rs 5,211 crore to Rs 11,448 crore during this period while development expenditure on social and economic services increased from Rs 17,000 crore to about Rs 43,000 crore. "The gross fiscal deficit has been 2.43% in the budget estimates of 2011-12, which is lower than the 3% limit fixed under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act," the deputy CM said.

Modi said between 2004-05 and 2010-11, the sectors reporting a growth rate of more than 15% were manufacturing (23.30%), construction (19.61%), communications (27.23%) and trade, hotels and restaurants (20.22%).

The survey report indicated a phenomenal fivefold increase in registration of new vehicles from 80,000 during 2005-06 to 3.87 lakh during 2010-11. Similarly, the number of mobile phone connections in the state increased to 4.48 crore in 2010-11 compared to 42.14 lakh in 2005-06.

The report also highlighted steady upward trend in per capita development expenditure (PCDE) during 2001-02 to 2010-11. From Rs 930 in 2001-02, the PCDE went up to Rs 3,467 in 2010-11, implying an annual growth rate of 17%. During the period, the country's PCDE grew at an annual rate of 13.6%. "The share of social sector spending in the total budget of Bihar increased from 18.9% in 2001-02 to 31.9% in 2010-11," Modi said.

"There are, in all, 36 large-scale units in Bihar besides six such units under the central sector. A total of 1.89 lakh medium, small and micro units were set up in the state till December 2011, an increase of around 60% over the year 2000. The highest increase of about 62% was noticeable in tiny and micro sector followed by 58% in artisan-based units. The State Investment Promotion Board has approved 603 proposals till date involving an investment of over Rs 2.48 lakh crore and employment to 1.85 lakh persons," the report said.

On the power front, however, the situation remains critical. Bihar has the lowest annual per capita consumption of electricity at 122.11 kWh against the national average of 778.71 kWh. Up to January last, a total of 17,363 villages and 19.67 lakh BPL families were connected to the grid under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme, the report said.

BOOM CONTINUES

Growth rate: 14.8%

Per capita income: Rs 16592

Mobile phone connections: 4.48 crore

Vehicles registered: 3.87 lakh

Literacy rate: 63.8%

Road length increase: 119%

Villages electrified: 17,363

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/patna-airport-no-1-in-passenger-traffic-growth/articleshow/12006898.cms

Patna airport No.1 in passenger traffic growth

PATNA: For the second straight year, Patna airport has emerged No.1 among 46 airports in the country in terms of growth of domestic aircraft movement and number of passengers, says Bihar's economic survey 2011-12.

According to the survey, tabled in the state assembly Wednesday, Patna airport overtook the airports of Port Blir, Varanasi, Vadodra, Raipur, Agratala, Chandigarh and Madurai in terms of total number of passengers for domestic flights in 2010-11.

"The number of domestic passengers jumped from 1.76 lakh in 2004-5 to 8.38 lakh in 2010-11. Till August last year, the movement of approximately 7.7 lakh passengers was recorded" the report said.

In 2009-10, the Patna airport had handled a total of 5,52,440 passengers. It had had registered a growth of 42.2 per cent in terms of passengers' flow in 2009-10, which was also highest in the country.

The report further said that freight movement through Patna airport had increased by 68 percent since 2004-5. In 2004-5, the freight movement was recorded at 1,035 tonnes. It increased to 3,279 tones in 2010-11 and to 5,865 tonnes by August 2011.

"The unprecedented growth in traffic at Patna airport was achieved despite the fact that the Airport Authority of India has declared it dangerous due to its short runway' the report said.

Last year, the Airport Authority of India had said that Patna airport handled 5,52,542 domestic passengers in 2009-10, which was 60.4 per cent more than the corresponding figure of 3,44,446 for 2008-09. Amritsar airport with a domestic passenger growth rate of 51.8 percent during this period stood second followed by Dibrugarh with a corresponding figure of 47.4 percent growth.

If its true, its good news. However, my feeling is that there can be even international flights particularly to the Gulf/USA. Also, the GoB needs to look at smaller town aviation. Delhi-Gaya, Delhi-Bhagalpur also needs to be looked at.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120223/jsp/bihar/story_15169229.jsp

Cool ride awaits tourists

Patna, Feb. 22: Tourists traveling to Bodhgaya from the state capital would soon be able to cover the distance in swanky air-conditioned buses.

The Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) has selected Mahindra Logistics Limited to operate a bus each for the up and down trips along the route. The corporation has also issued the work order and the commuters can expect these buses to be on the road in April.

“We have selected a firm that would run two AC deluxe buses on the Patna-Bodhgaya route. The firm has been given a month’s time to procure and deliver the buses,” said D.K. Shukla, the managing director of BSTDC.

The corporation had invited intending operators in the first week of December last year for running daily AC luxury buses on Patna-Bodhgaya and Patna-Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR) routes. “Mahindra Logistics Ltd would provide two 40-seater AC buses for operation on the Patna-Bodhgaya route. The buses would operate in a public-private-partnership mode,” said Shailendra Kumar, the general manager of BSTDC.

Once the new buses become operational, the tourists would be able to book tickets from the counter at BSTDC’s headquarters at hotel Kautilya Vihar on Buddha Marg in the state capital.

At present, four Volvo buses of BSTDC operate on two routes — Patna-Purnia and Patna-Ranchi. These buses also also start from the BSTDC headquarters.

Luxury buses apart, BSTDC has been successfully running four 35 seater (2/2) non-AC tourist buses on the Patna-Bodhgaya route since 1996. Two buses in the up and as many in the down trips cover the distance of about 110km between Patna and Bodhgaya in nearly four hours.

The buses leave Patna at 7am and 2pm daily. According to recent surveys, around 60 per cent of the international tourists comingto the state travel along the Patna-Bodhgaya and Rajgir-Nalanda routes.

Besides the Patna-Bodhgaya route apart, the corporation seems to be facing a tough time in finding operators for running similar luxury buses between other tourism destinations in the state.

“For some reason or the other, the corporation is not getting operators willing to run luxury buses on other tourism-based routes in the state including Patna-VTR, Patna-Nalanda-Rajgir and Patna-Kaimur among others. One of the reasons, sources said, is apprehen-sion of the operators about generation of sufficient revenue from based operations of buses,”a BSTDC official said.

He added: “If no operator shows interest in running buses on other routes, then the corporation may buy chassis from the manufacturer and get the body assembled on its own.”

If operators are unwilling, the government can look at subsidising operations. When all is said and done, a cash-strapped state like Bihar needs every bit of capital and tourism promotion is a must.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-to-announce-park-protection-policy-soon/articleshow/11998327.cms

Bihar to announce park protection policy soon

PATNA: The Bihar government would soon announce its new policy for the development and protection of parks, said urban development minister Prem Kumar in the legislative council during pre-lunch session on Wednesday.

Replying to a question of Basudeo Singh of the CPM, the minister said that this proposed policy would come into force in the 2012-13 financial year. The government is committed to develop and protect parks located in various parts of the state, he said.

The minister said that the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam has developed six parks, including those at S K Nagar, S K Puri, Kankerbagh and Rajbansinagar, at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore. Soon after the new policy comes into force, all such parks in the state would be properly developed, Kumar said.

Ruling party member Mahachandra Prasad Singh, while intervening during the minister's reply, said that the park at S K Nagar is closed. This park is yet to be handed over to the PMC for its maintenance. This park is totally in a bad shape, he said.

To another question, the minister said that the government has also decided to develop 28 towns in the state. The government is in the process of preparing a detailed project report in this regard, Kumar said.

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=752642

Bihar: 4500 Km Rural Roads Constructed Under PMGSY

Bihar government has constructed 4500 km of road as against a target of 19000 km under the Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) aimed at improving rural road connectivity in the villages and areas and human habitation, a senior official said today.

In the fiscal year 2011-12 alone, the rural roads with a length of 2000 km has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1600 crore against a target of 5000 km with a total cost of Rs 2500 km, Rural Works Secretary B Rajendra told reporters here.

In addition, the Central agencies have constructed 10500 km road till date in Bihar under the Central flagship programme as against a target of 16000 km, he said.

In the fiscal year 2011-12 alone, 1500 km rural roads have been constructed by the Central agencies at an estimated cost of Rs 515 crores, Rajendra said.

Under the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for road connectivity in tribal and backward areas, the Union Rural Development ministry has sanctioned 1899 kms road project in nine districts of Bihar - Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad, Nawada, Rohtas, Jamui, Munger and Kaimur to connect roads for human habitats with a population of 250 or more, Rajendra said.

Under the state government's scheme of similar nature called 'Apki Sarkar Apke Dwar (Your government on your door), 28.96 km road has been constructed in 2011-12 with a cost of Rs 8.87 crore to connect areas affected with extremism with the mainstream through quality roads, he said. More

The state government has under the scheme called the Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (CSGSY) built 536.82 km road at the cost of Rs 337.94 crore in the fiscal year 2011-12 to connect habitats with population between 500 and 999, Rajendra said.

Under the schemes for new roads/bridges on the minimum requirement, the rural works department has constructed 107.21 km road and two bridges this fiscal, while another 8.35 km road has been built this financial year under an integrated plan for roads in the Scheduled Castes (SCs) dominated areas, he said.

In all, the state government has constructed 4321 km roads in rural area with a cost of Rs. 2582.90 crores in the fiscal year 2011-12, the rural works official said.

i would say bangalore was not much developed till 1995. it is only after infosys started its operations there and other IT companies started follwing their trend.

This kind of comment was uncalled for. Bangalore had major institutions like HAL, ITI, ISRO, DRDO, BEL and several private companies even in the 70s. Infosys started operations in the early 1980s. Texas Instruments set up shop in 1985..
Also 'development' cannot be equated to the presence of IT companies.

and i hope delhi is the best when it comes to infrastructure.. Delhi benefits from being the capital, getting funds is not a nightmare.

today's bangalore has massive contributions from outsiders and it is really nice that most of them respect local culture. same kind of behaviour is expected from the local people.

The problem is many of them don't. They expect locals to learn their language. There are plenty of 'outsiders' who earn their livelihood here and make several derogatory remarks about our language/culture/films etc..

^^well said mahesh...Many idiots think bangalore developed coz of only IT

^^well said mahesh...Many idiots think bangalore developed coz of only IT

very funny. just because i mentioned that bangalore developed just becase of IT, i am an IDIOT. and frankly speaking it is a fact that bangalore developed because of IT. guess who is buying premium apartments in bangalore, who visit the swanky malls, pubs, hotels, bars etc in bangalore. i hope according to your opinion it is the public sector employees? but the leading newspapers, intellects etc are in favour of IT view. if u say so, so should have soem logic. why bangalore is called the IT city, why not PSU city? why south bangalore is developed? why not the east bangalore. it is not necessary that just because you are from bangalore, everything what you say is correct.
it is very unfortunate that in a public forum like this, you never bothered to use some harsh words like IDIOTS. so according to you all intellects are bunch of IDIOTs ryte? u need to intropect.

@engineer.Akash
just becase you put engineer, that does not mean that i need to agree with you and i am an IDIOT.
@Mahesh
i would say you reply to my post is far more polite than akash though there are differences in our opinion.
******************************
there are many ways to augment my stand on what i said.
like why there so much traffic jam in south bangalore, electronic city. why did BMC build evevated highway from silk board junction to e city. why they are building elevated highways on the way to marathahalli junction? everyone knows how many people a public sector company employs? why north bangalore was lagging despite the presence of large number of PSUs, but not MNCs till BIAL became operational. why there is a sudden increase in land prices towards Bangalore airport. it really funny that still some people are of the opinion that a few PSUs can drive a city's growth

@Mahesh
i would say you reply to my post is far more polite than akash though there are differences in our opinion.

I am always polite :D

Coming to your post, I would like to say:

Bangalore has developed not just because of IT, although IT plays a major role. The city has always had light industry, especially since the 60s. A significant portion of the city's economy also involves defense, aerospace, pharma, biotechnology, medical tourism, education etc. PSUs were more important in the past because our govt. didn't encourage private enterprise/foreign investment.

All areas of Bangalore are developing, not just the south. And traffic jams are found everywhere, not just in IT areas ! You also need to remember that Hosur road is part of the 'golden quadrilateral' linking Chennai with Bangalore, hence you have traffic from E-City as well as highway traffic, that was one of the reasons the BETL was built.

Bangalore has developed not just because of IT, although IT plays a major role. The city has always had light industry, especially since the 60s. A significant portion of the city's economy also involves defense, aerospace, pharma, biotechnology, medical tourism, education etc. PSUs were more important in the past because our govt. didn't encourage private enterprise/foreign investment.

again coming to the debate
i would say HAL, NAL, BHEL etc don't contribute much to the growth except for sprawling campuses. i would like to request you to go through the growth trend of bangalore from 1960 to 2010. if you say so there are large number of PSUs and other type of industries in other major indian cities too like lucknow, jaipur, bhopal etc. those things which you have mentioned are common in almost all major indian cities. just have a look. don't u think real estate growth in bangalore is triggered by IT/ITES sectors. IT employs the maximum numbers of people with disposable income, which in turn is driving demand for malls and multiplexes, hotels apart from real estates. why most of the malls are located nearby IT HUBs.why there are not many malls in east bangalore.i hope you read times real estae papaer of timesofindia. such questions will never end. and i hope we should stop discussing about bangalore in this forum.

Rs 7K cr revenue surplus budget for Bihar


PATNA: Beginning next financial year, people in Bihar would have to pay more for items such as motorcycles, four-wheelers, tobacco and tobacco products, bricks and apartments as deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi proposed to hike taxes on them in the state budget presented for the financial year 2012-13 in the assembly on Friday. He has also introduced taxes on a few new items. However, the budget projects a revenue surplus of Rs 7,088.59 crore, showing buoyant revenue receipts.

The deputy CM also either reduced taxes on some other items or freed them from existing taxes, and also gave a substantial sop to media industry operating in the state by freeing newsprint from entry tax. He also announced a slew of new schemes and opening of two medical colleges in the state.

Overall, Modi managed to present a budget involving an annual expenditure of Rs 78,686.82 crore, including Rs 28,000 crore under the state annual plan. On the other hand, the state's total receipts is to the tune of Rs 77,384.34 crore. Although the budget has fiscal deficit of Rs 7,569.43 crore, it is within legitimate limits of less than 3% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP), and is actually 2.87% of the GSDP.

To build on revenue receipts further, builders operating in the state would have to pay 1% tax under a compounding scheme on the total sale value of residential and commercial complexes. Besides, three categories of brick-kiln dealers, who used to pay annual tax of Rs 60,000, Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh, would now have to pay 15% more. Similarly, Modi raised the current tax on tobacco and tobacco products from 13.5% to 20%. Moreover, as part of compounding scheme, the tax paid by work contractors has been increased from 4% to 5%. He said that the tax payable by work contractor had been raised, because the state did not have any tax slab of 4%.

Given the rising pollution in towns in view of the high number of motorcycles and four-wheelers, additional levies have been imposed on them to provide funds to finance pollution mitigating measures, Modi said, adding the levy would be 6% on motorcycles of all values, apart from 6% on cars costing less than Rs 4 lakh and 7% on all cars costing more than Rs 4 lakh. Besides, dealers of motorcycles and chassis of heavy and other vehicles would have to pay respective trade tax of Rs 150, Rs 250 and Rs 200 per annum.

For relief to consumers, Modi lowered entry tax on raw tobacco from 8% to 4% to curb its diversion. Besides, items such as 'jhaadu', 'kaajal', 'mehndi', 'makhana', 'sewai', dry 'singhada', flour of 'singhada' and 'ramdana' have been exempted from tax. Earlier, the tax levied on 'makhana' was 5% and that on other items 13.5%.

The Rs 100 fee payable on VAT registration, too, has been removed. The rate of central sales tax payable on interstate sales by tiny and micro sector units would be reduced from 2% to 1%. Moreover, 'dharmshalas', marriage halls and community halls run by charitable non-profit making bodies have been exempted from luxury tax.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Rs-7K-cr-revenue-surplus-budget-for-Bihar/articleshow/12022350.cms

Bihar to develop astro tourism circuit soon


PATNA: A high-level delegation under the leadership of science and technology minister would soon visit the Kolkata-based National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) to discuss the modalities to develop the first-ever astro-tourism circuit at Taregna in Patna district.

Replying to a question of Basudeo Singh (CPM) during the pre-lunch session of the Bihar legislative Council on Friday, science and technology minister Gautam Singh said: "The principal secretary and some senior officials will accompany me during the visit to NCSM for developing astro-tourism circuit."

NCSM, an autonomous society under the ministry of culture, government of India, was formed in 1978. Today it administers 27 science centres/museums/planetariums spread all over the country.

The minister said the department has already sent two proposals for developing the astro-tourism circuit, but, till date, no response has been received so far. "Now we have decided to personally visit the NCSM," the minister said.

The famous sixth century astronomer-mathematician, Aryabhatta, is said to have camped at Taregna and nearby Khagaul to carry out his studies on celestial bodies. The names of both the places have astronomical associations, Taregna coming from 'tare (stars)' and Khagaul from 'khagshastra (astronomy)'.

The minister said CM Nitish Kumar had announced in 2009 to develop this region as a major tourist site which will attract astronomers from all over the world. A research centre would also be set up for those who are willing to pursue deep knowledge in astronomy, he said.

We are also planning to set up a science centre in the state capital, he said.

Researchers and tourists from various parts of India and abroad had gathered at Taregna, a place associated with Aryabhatta, to watch the rare total solar eclipse on July 22, 2009.

Aryabhatta was born in Pataliputra (then Kusumpura) in AD 476 (on April 13 according to some experts) and at the age of 23 wrote his monumental work 'Aryabhatiyam'.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-to-develop-astro-tourism-circuit-soon/articleshow/12021679.cms

Bihar govt initiates steps to check road accidents


PATNA: The state government has said the speed limit of private buses ferrying schoolchildren on major routes in the city has been restricted to five km per hour. This was been done in an effort to check frequent accidents of these buses.

This was stated by water resources development minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary while replying to a question of Nawal Kishore Yadav (RJD) in the state legislative council on Thursday. Chaudhary also said additional traffic police personnel have been deployed at all strategic routes to prevent accidents.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-govt-initiates-steps-to-check-road-accidents/articleshow/12012272.cms

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Afer-Maharashtra-Katju-targets-Bihar-govt-on-media-issues/916309/


After slamming Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over attacks on journalists in the state, Press Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju today targeted the Bihar government alleging the media in this state was harassed if it wrote against the government.
Katju said the information he had gathered about the media in Bihar is "not good" and reminded the Nitish Kumar government that its alleged action against the press was a violation of the Constitution. A three-member PCI team would be sent to Bihar soon for an investigation, he added.

He said if any reporter wrote anything against the government, ministers or officials in the state, pressure was built on the owner and the management of the media house for removing him from service or to transfer him to small towns.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Afer-Maharashtra-Katju-targets-Bihar-govt-on-media-issues/916309/



He said if any reporter wrote anything against the government, ministers or officials in the state, pressure was built on the owner and the management of the media house for removing him from service or to transfer him to small towns.

Is that the reason why many journalists and columnists write a lot of good things about Nitish Kumar and his government?

:)

New schemes in state budget


PATNA: Bihar government would launch a new scheme, Mukhya Mantri Awashesh Sadak Yojana, to construct/renovate 38,167 kms of roads in rural areas which had remained untouched under different schemes. The state's annual budget for financial year 2012-13 has provided for this, said deputy chief minister and finance minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, on Friday.

The state government would take measures for afforestation under a scheme named 'Bihar Hariyali Mission' to be launched under second Agriculture Road Map and implemented in the next five years from 2012-13 to 2016-17. It would aim at raising the forest cover to 15% from the present 9.72%.

The state government has made budgetary provision of Rs 10 crore for opening a model school each in 265 blocks in the educationally backward parts of the state. This would be done under a central scheme to open a model school each in 530 educationally backward blocks in the state. Out of this, the Centre has given approval for model schools in 370 blocks.

Under Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, 225 model villages would be created in areas inhabited by Dalits for their all-round development. The government would provide Rs 40 lakh for developing each of the model villages. The state's contribution would be Rs 12.72 crore.

The government would give Rs 1,000 each as incentive to the Indira Awas beneficiaries who would complete construction of their Indira Awas in four months under the Indira Awas Protsahan Yojana.

Besides, there is a proposal to establish two medical colleges at Bettiah and Pawapuri and six new nursing colleges in financial year 2012-13. On the occasion of Bihar Diwas on March 22, district-level emergency referral (health) services - Jayaprabha, Janani and Shishu Arogya express - would be launched, Modi said. He added the government would provide 504 ambulances for free service to women, newborn babies, accidental case handling, for sick senior citizens and sick BPL people.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/New-schemes-in-state-budget/articleshow/12023014.cms

While Nitish has done well in changing Bihar's image, he has used the media very well too to drown out the sounds of his failures.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-making-efforts-to-develop-ramayana-circuit/969365.html

Bihar making efforts to develop Ramayana circuit
PTI | 07:02 PM,Feb 29,2012

Patna, Feb 29 (PTI) Bihar Tourism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintu today they are making relentless efforts for ensuring phase-wise development of Ramayana circuit in the state. Replying to a question of ruling JD(U) MLA Niraj Kumar in the state legislative council, Pintu said the state government was making sincere efforts for ensuring development of Ramayana circuit in Bihar. A consultant is being appointed for the purpose and after that a detailed project report would be prepared. The minister said the state art and culture department is executing the works related to renovation and beautification of Sita Kund in Munger division. He said the state government was irrevocably committed to ensuring development of all religious, historical sites and different circuits including Buddhist and Ramayan circuits in Bihar.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bbcl-to-undertake-upgradation-of-201-phcs-in-bihar/970166.html

BBCL to undertake upgradation of 201 PHCs in Bihar
PTI | 06:03 PM,Mar 02,2012

Patna, Mar 2 (PTI) Bihar health minister Ashwani Kumar Chaubey today said that his department would coordinate with the building construction department for upgradation of 201 primary health centres with 30-bed facilities within a year to be carried out by the Bihar Building Construction Ltd (BBCL). Replying to a short notice question of the ruling JD(U) MLA Manjeet Kumar Singh in the state assembly, he said the state government had sanctioned Rs 339.90 crores for upgradation of 201 PHCs with 30 beds in all 38 districts during the financial year 2007-08. The amount was later allotted to the state building construction department for undertaking construction works for the upgrading the PHCs, Chaubey said. He said the Bihar Building Construction Ltd (BBCL) has been tasked with construction of the PHC buildings for upgradation of 30 beds. The health minister said that he would be in touch with the building department minister Damodar Raut to ensure early start of works for upgrading the PHCs which will be completed within a year. He proposed the health corporation would not be involved in the construction works as the state building construction company is preparing the DPRs for upgradation of the PHCs.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/bihar/bihar-to-monitor-road-construction-online_760552.html

Bihar to monitor road construction online
Last Updated: Saturday, February 25, 2012, 16:12
Comments 3
Tags: Bihar, Road construction

Patna: Bihar has become the first state in the country to monitor road construction projects online.

B Rajendra, secretary in the Rural Works Department, said: "We are the first to do online monitoring. It will prove helpful to build quality roads and provide transparency."

He said the decision was meant to ensure timely completion of the projects and to minimise irregularities.

"The department has provided the latest technology, including digital signatures, along with closed user group mobile phones to all officials, particularly engineers, for online monitoring," Rajendran said.

Thanks to online monitoring, the department was receiving the work progress report, status of road carpeting and financial status on a regular basis, he said.

"The department will start uploading all the data collected on its official website within two months," he said.

The department is also planning to publish data on 9,000 contractors registered with it on its website. Plans are to start online registration of contractors.

He said Bihar was the first state to put details regarding Class 1 to 8 of all its 70,000 government-run schools online.

According to one official, Bihar laid over 25 percent of its entire road network just in the past six years.

Former chief minister Lalu Prasad once famously promised to build roads as smooth as actress Hema Malini's cheeks.

That unkept promise has been fulfilled by his successor and political foe, Nitish Kumar, who has promised to cut travel time between Patna and any village to six hours or less.

Since 2006-07, Bihar has constructed 27,606 km of roads, besides repairing 1,657 km of national highways, official sources said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120303/jsp/bihar/story_15205993.jsp

Cabinet route to rural roads
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Patna, March 2: The state cabinet today gave its nod for re-organisation of work divisions under the rural works department to ensure greater responsibility and accountability for constructing roads in rural areas.

The re-organisation of 101 work divisions would be completed very soon and it would come into effect from April 1, sources said.

At present, there are four-six work divisions in each district but because of non-defined jurisdiction of different divisions it becomes very difficult to fix responsibility and also it creates problems in identifying which roads fall in which division, the source said.

Re-organisation would not only increase the work efficiency of the department but would also ensure responsibility and accountability on the officials concerned.

Executive engineer would head each work division whereas an assistant engineer would be appointed in every block besides a junior engineer at every 10 panchayats.

All the guidelines would be put on website once the re-organisation is completed, the official said, adding that the department would create a database of contractors and their registration would be made online to bring more transparency.

In another significant decision, the cabinet sanctioned Rs 100 crore for construction of model school in block headquarters.

The state government has decided to open 265 model schools in block headquarters with an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore on each building.

It also approved Rs 60 crore for the development of Maoist-affected districts — Kaimur and Munger — under integrated action plan, sources said.

www.telegraphindia.com/1120303/jsp/bihar/story_15205993.jsp

On board, dream homes

Patna, March 2: Hafeez Contractor, touted as the star architect of the country, today came up with masterplans and models of his first projects for the state.

A mere glimpse of his models proves why he is considered the best in the business of architecture. His housing re-development projects for Bahadurpur Colony in Patna and satellite township development in Gaya can prove to be beyond the expectations of most residents of the state capital but he has done it in only 40 days.

The 61-year-old legendary architect, who has set landmarks across all spheres of real estate, ranging from residential townships to commercial projects in five countries, is one of the official empanelled architects of Bihar State Housing Board (BSHB). The Telegraph, in its issue dated January 21, had reported about Contractor signing the agreements with BSHB for redevelopment of sectors 3 and 6 of Bahadurpur Housing Board Colony in Patna and development of satellite townships in Gaya.

Contractor was in the state capital today to give a presentation of his projects. What would make people desperate for getting flats in any of residential societies developed according to his plans is the element of complete housing solution. “I believe that the concept of a house should not be confined to mere accommodation but it should provide a holistic environment, including facilities for leisure, shopping, health among other activities. That is the reason why I consider that residential facilities apart, amenities are also equally important in residential societies,” said Contractor.

Contractor has planned to develop 4,602 flats under the redevelopment project of Sector-3 of Bahadurpur Housing Colony of which 1,120 middle income group (MIG) flats would be reserved for rehabilitation of BSHB allottees and existing occupants and the remaining 3,482 would be sold. Similarly, Sector 6 would have 3,832 flats, including economically weaker group (EWS), lower income group (LIG) and higher income group (HIG) (rehabilitation flats – 1,632 + saleable flats – 2,200). The social infrastructure proposed in his housing redevelopment projects for Patna range from 5-star hotels, malls, schools, hospitals and office buildings among others.

“The re-development project of Bahadurpur Colony is going to change the face of old Patna. The proposal for this project along with the township development at Gaya has already been sent to the state cabinet and we would get the work on the project completed within 18 to 24 months after the corresponding approval,” said a senior BSHB official.

According to sources, the re-development projects at Bahadurpur Colony would be undertaken in four stages.

Buildings would be constructed on open land in the first stage, existing occupants would be relocated in the newly constructed ones in the second state, the old and dilapidated buildings would be demolished in the third stage and landscaping would be done in the fourth and final stage.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-govt-sanctions-stadium-in-182-blocks/968709.html

Bihar govt sanctions stadium in 182 blocks
PTI | 06:02 PM,Feb 28,2012

Patna, Feb 28 (PTI) Bihar Art, Culture and Youth Affairs minister Sukhda Pandey today told the assembly that the state government had sanctioned construction of sports stadium in 182 of 534 blocks under Mukhya Mantri Khel Bikash Yojna. Replying to a question of Lalit Kumar Yadav (RJD), Pandey said the state government has decided to construct a new stadium in each of the blocks in Bihar. Out of 534 blocks of Bihar, the state government has sanctioned construction of sports stadium in 182 blocks. Pandey said state building construction department would ensure the construction of the stadium in the identified blocks

An International cricket stadium should be built in Patna. Even Rajkot and Nagpur have it.

Also the Government of Bihar should have a mindset that, whatever there is in another state, that should be there here too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Trial-production-at-railways-wheel-factory-from-March-12/articleshow/12127610.cms

Trial production at railways’ wheel factory from March 12


PATNA: Decks have been cleared for trial production of wheels at the railways' Belapur wheel factory near Chhapra from April this year with the casting trial all set to begin from March 12.

The railways has got clearance from the Union ministry for environment and forest to start production at the factory, said chief administrative officer (workshop) Rajiv Mishra. This will be the first major factory of the railways to become functional in the state this year. The project has cost Rs 1,417.23 crore.

The factory, the second of its kind in the country after the one in Bangalore, has the capacity to produce about one lakh wheels of goods wagons, passenger coaches and locomotives per year using the latest technology, sources said.

The railways would require at least one lakh wheels every year after the commissioning of the dedicated freight corridors. Since it has decided to run more goods trains across the country, more wheels will be required for goods trains, an ECR official said.

The wheels required by the railways are currently manufactured at the Bangalore factory and the heavy industries ministry's factory at Durgapur in West Bengal, the sources said.

According to a Railway Board official, wheels are also imported, especially for locomotives, from foreign countries to bridge the demand-supply gap. One imported wheel, including its axle, costs Rs 3 lakh. "The Chhapra factory would help the railways save foreign currency," the official said and added the greatest advantage of this factory would be that the Hajipur-headquartered East Central Railway (ECR) would no longer need to send its wheels and axles to Bangalore for their periodical reconditioning.

ECR general manager Varun Bharthuar took personal interest to ensure the factory became functional. Raw materials have reached the factory premises, the sources said and added there was a plan to manufacture 2,000 wheels during the trial period.

According to the sources, the railways have acquired over 138 acres of land for the project. While the factory is spread over 52 acres, another 35 acres of land is meant for the siding yard and 51 acres of land for a residential colony for the factory's employees.
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-will-ensure-total-literacy-by-2020-Minister/articleshow/12113616.cms

Bihar will ensure total literacy by 2020: Minister

PATNA: Bihar human resource development minister P K Sahi on Friday said his department has made significant initiatives for ensuring total literacy in the state by 2020.

Replying to a debate on budgetary demands of his department totalling to more than Rs 15000 crore for 2012-13 in the state assembly, Sahi said, "We are marching steps forward in the field of education and would be able to ensure cent per cent literacy by 2020".

At present, the state has one teacher each on 58 children in a school, but the teacher-pupil's ratio will be further increased 1:35 in times to come because of the plan for large-scale appointment of teachers, Sahi said. Out of over 2.13 crore children between the age group of six years to 14 years, enrolment of 2.09 crore children has been ensured ever since the Nitish Kumar government came to power in 2005, which is a record. Sahi said till now, three lakh teachers have been appointed since 2006 and around 30,000 teachers have been appointed following the directive of the apex court.

"Now we have started accumulating various indicators of education during the NDA's rule," he said and castigated the erstwhile governments for their "failure" in the field of education. The house later passed the budgetary demands by voice vote.

I wish that Government of Bihar without indulging in regionalism of any kind, will have a vision to build in Bihar whatever is there in other states/countries. Whatever is there outside, it should be there here too.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120301/jsp/bihar/story_15195682.jsp

Flight hope on revamped airstrips

PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI
A stretch of the runway at Bhagalpur airport. Picture by Amit Kumar

Patna, Feb. 29: Chartered flight services might soon take wings in the state with the government planning a major upgrade of airfields in Bhagalpur, Madhubani and Saharsa.


The civil aviation department has initiated the process by getting the estimates for carpeting of the runways at Bhagalpur and Madhubani airfields prepared by the state building construction department. Work for this will begin soon.

“To augment civil aviation operations in the state, we are focusing on development of district airfields as small aviation hubs. We will upgrade the airfields in Bhagalpur, Madhubani and Saharsa over the next few months. The process will include complete repair of the airstrips and enhancing security. This includes construction of boundary walls and fences,” principal secretary (cabinet co-ordination department) Ravikant told The Telegraph. The state civil aviation department functions under the cabinet co-ordination department.

Another senior civil aviation department official said: “We had asked the building construction department to prepare estimates for the three airfields. The department has submitted the estimates for two of them around a week ago. The civil aviation department would soon release the funds to start the repair work, to be undertaken by the building construction department. In the later stages, a guest terminal might also be constructed.”

According to sources, the length of the runway at Bhagalpur airfield is 3,400ft (1,036m) and 3,200ft (975m) both at Madhubani and Saharsa. The Saharsa runway was carpeted in 2008, while those in Bhagalpur and Madhubani have developed potholes and need carpeting.

The airfield upgrade is being done to promote services of chartered flights in the state. “The domestic airfields also need to be upgraded to augment the transport of smaller aircraft. Subsequently, the services of chartered flights may also be started if the department gets corresponding proposals from operators,” said Ravikant.

Bhagalpur residents seem elated about the chartered flight proposal. “A chartered flight service used to operate from Bhagalpur 37 years ago. It was stopped because of poor revenue generation. The situation is different now. The airstrip is extremely important for development of the entire region. Time and again, we have demanded commercial air services on the Calcutta-Bhagalpur-Muzaffarpur-Patna route. We urge the authorities to meet our demands,” said Mukutdhari Agarwal, the president of Eastern Bihar Industries Association.

Of the 21 airfields in the state, the Indian Air Force at present controls those in Bihta, Purnea and Darbhanga. Nine others, including Jehanabad and Ara, are categorised as “kutcha and abandoned”, while the rest are labelled as metalled with reinforced cement concrete.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Bidders skirt park route
PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

Patna, March 1: Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) — the implementing agency of Shaheed Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park development plan — has decided to execute the project on contract after it failed to garner a single bid from any private player across the country, leading to one of the biggest setbacks to public-private partnership (PPP) schemes in Bihar.

“We did not receive a single bid from private parties for undertaking the project. On the basis of our analysis, we have come to the conclusion that the investors might have considered the risk factor to be too high to generate revenue from such a mega park project in the state capital. It is because of such reasons that a few interested firms had earlier asked us to allow them to develop commercial complex inside the park, on which we did not agree. A few others were apprehensive about the possibility of change in the government machinery in the future,” said a senior BUIDCo official.

He added: “We were of the belief that the PPP mode would be a win-win situation for both the private sector and BUIDCo. As a facilitator, BUIDCo had to provide land for the park development project to the private sector. Whereas, the private player would get rights to develop, operate and appropriate self-determined user fee for the infrastructure set up by them. Moreover, the Patna High Court has also issued directives for the development of the project and even chief minister Nitish Kumar is keen on it.”

Contrary to the plans of getting full financial contribution from private parties for the Rs 242.96-crore project, the state government would be required to cough up the entire development cost on its own.

There is also a positive outcome, as the project would now be completed within a year after commencement of work against the earlier completion period of two years.

Though BUIDCo seemed enthusiastic about the PPP scheme, it was not “good enough” for investors. Subsequently, BUIDCo is now abuzz with “damage control measures”.

“We are immediately sending a proposal to the state government to allocate funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore (actual construction cost) for the project. The funds can come from various sources, including non-planned expenditure among others,” said the BUIDCo official.

The corporation officials claimed that the work had to be executed in any case because the high court had issued directives in the past to the state government to re-develop the park.

Moreover, high-level authorities in the urban development department are in favour of allocating and releasing funds as the chief minister had also shown keen interest on the project.

The official added: “The corporation would float fresh tender for selection of a developer soon with a bidding due date of 21 days and award the contract to the selected firm(s) by the end of March. In such a case, the firm would be given a time period of not more than a year for completion of the project.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Varsity results to go online
KHWAJA JAMAL
Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University. Telegraph picture

Muzaffarpur, March 1: The vice-chancellor (VC) of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University, Bimal Kumar, today said the varsity has signed an agreement with a private agency to facilitate publication of online results.

The university has also decided to computerise the examination system to combat the menace of tampering with marks.

Bimal told The Telegraph that the varsity has signed an agreement for a year on an experimental basis with an agency called Kendriya Bhandar. If the performance of the firm is found satisfactory, then the university would ink a deal for the next three years.

The agency would provide answersheets, admit cards, marksheets and provisional certificates at a cost of Rs 26.50 for each student. The VC also took a dig at the examination department and said it was in the grip of criminals.

According to sources, the university is struggling to tackle the problem of pending results.

The VC, however, said the university has not completed formalities for inviting tenders for the agreement with any private agency in facilitating online results. The procedures are being completed and the matter will be put up before the purchase and sales committee of the university for a final nod.

The issue of signing an agreement with Kendriya Bhandar has, however, snowballed into a controversy. A host of senators are up in arms against the varsity’s decision. Harendra Kumar, a senator, has alleged that the VC has been minting money by corrupt means. The VC has transgressed the rules and regulations of inviting tenders before signing an agreement, he said.

On the other hand, the VC told The Telegraph that he has already signed an agreement with Kendriya Bhandar, adding that formalities would be completed in a few days. Satish Chandra Mishra, another senator, said he would lodge a complaint against the VC to Governor Devanand Konwar and chief minister Nitish Kumar for his alleged corrupt practices.

PATNA: Replicating the world largest Hindu temple in Combodia's Angkor Wat, the Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust ( BMMT) on Sunday said they will build a bigger temple in Bihar's Vaishali district.

To be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore, the five-storied and 222-feet tall temple will come up at a sprawling campus spread over 15 acres at a place near Ismailpur village on Hajipur-Bidupur road, which will be christened as Angkor Nagar, BMMT's secretary and ex-IPS officer Acharya Kishore Kunal said.

Land worth around Rs 30 crore has already been acquired for the purpose from locals, he said.

The proposed temple will be named 'Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir' and it will house the statues of Radha-Krishna, Shiva-Parvati, Ganesh, Surya, Vishnu and ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

It will take upto five years to construct the temple and another five years to give the final finishing touches to it, Kunal said.

On selection of the specific site for construction of the world's largest Hindu temple, he said the place has mythological significance as it was said that the deities Ram, Lakshman and Vishvamitra had set their foot on the village and were welcomed by the King Sumati of the Vaishali kingdom.

The 'bhumi pujan' for the proposed temple will be held tomorrow, Kunal said adding the temple was being constructed to mark the centenary celebrations of the BMMTs.

The Angkor Wat temple was built in Cambodia in the 12th century during the rule of then Cambodian king Suryavarman (1141-1152 AD).

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Worlds-largest-Hindu-temple-to-come-up-in-Bihar/articleshow/12135968.cms

PATNA: In the centenary year of the foundation of the state of Bihar, the Mahavir Mandir Trust, Patna, will be doing 'bumi-pujan' on Monday for construction of a replica of Angkor Wat temple which is the largest Hindu temple in the world. It is in Cambodia and was built in the early 12th century during the reign of the Cambodian king Suryavarman (1141-1152 AD).

Trust secretary Acharya Kishore Kunal told TOI that the Trust is going to recreate the Angkor Wat temple at a place five km from Hajipur on main Hajipur-Bidupur Road in Vaishali district on a sprawling campus of 15 acres of land which has been christened 'Angkor Nagar'.

"The name of the temple will be 'Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir'. The site is blessed as Ram, Lakshman and Vishwamitra were welcomed here on their arrival by King Sumati of the Vaishali kingdom," Kunal told TOI.

As far as the size of the main temple is concerned it will be the largest Hindu temple in the world with its 'shikhar' 222 ft. tall which no temple in the country or the world has, he claimed.

The constructed area of the main temple will be more than one lakh sq. ft. Like the famous Angkor Wat temple this Ram Mandir will be five-storied and have five 'shikhars. Apart from Ram and Sita, it will house many other deities such as Radha-Krishna, Shiva-Parvati, Ganesh, Surya, Vishnu and 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

"It will be a Rs 100 crore project. The land's estimated value is Rs 30 crore. Land is already available with the temple. Construction cost of the structure will be Rs 30 crore," he said.

Thereafter, the finishing work and installation of various deities will require another Rs 40 crore. The construction of the structure may take three to five years and the entire finishing work may take 10 years, he said.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Angkor-Wat-temple-Bhumi-pujan-today/articleshow/12141459.cms

Please build a proper 4-lane road to the temple or ensure the road currently is good. The Government should 4-lane all roads from Patna: to Gaya-Bodh Gaya, Nalanda and Bhagalpur if possible. Alongside these roads, facilities like hotels, eateries, gas stations, trauma centres, ambulances all need to be provided. Presently, Bihar fares poorly in this.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Japanese-architect-Maki-chosen-for-Patna-Museum,-despite-jury%E2%80%99s-recommendation/25708

Japanese architect Maki chosen for Patna Museum, despite jury’s recommendation

The £45m Patna Museum in India is to be designed by the Japanese architect Maki and Associates, despite the international jury’s initial recommendation for the London-based architect Norman Foster.
A government statement released on 15 February explained: “After deliberating as per the pre-set evaluation criteria including the technical and financial evaluation, the winning design selected was that of the internationally known Maki and Associates along with their Indian partner Opolis. Maki and Associates were awarded 77.56% while Foster + Partners were a close second at 75.59%.”

The Bihar decision has caused concern to some international members of the jury. The seven-person jury comprised three Indian officials, as well as Neelkanth Chhaya, the dean of the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, and three international members—the Indian-born artist Subodh Gupta, the Irish architect Roisin Heneghan and the Victoria & Albert Museum’s director Martin Roth.

Following the announcement, Roth told The Art Newspaper: “After a thorough discussion, the jury chose the Foster scheme. We felt it was the best design. At the very last moment, the officials questioned the result.”

The Toronto-based consultants Lord Cultural Resources directed the architectural selection process. Barry Lord confirmed that in terms of overall points awarded, including financial considerations, Maki was slightly ahead of Foster.

A Foster spokeswoman said that “we are naturally disappointed not to win the contract”.

The three other architects on the short-list had been Daniel Libeskind (New York), Coop Himmelblau (Vienna) and Snøhetta (Oslo).

Bihar state, which lies in eastern India just south of Nepal, was the centre of the Maurya empire in the third century BC. It is also the place where the Buddha gained enlightenment.

The existing Patna Museum, set up by the British in 1917, is an antiquated and unsuitable building, with poor environmental conditions. It has a particularly fine collection of sculptures, including the Didarganj Yakshi statue, excavated on the banks of the Ganges in 1917.

The Maki scheme involves galleries on two levels, around a courtyard space. Their architects have already begun work on developing the scheme. Construction is expected to start in November.

Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has been the driving force behind what promises to be one of the finest museums in India, promises that the building will be completed in mid 2015.

Let's hope they get started on an Outer Ring Road, cricket stadium, sports complex and a international standard library.

PATNA: Replicating the world largest Hindu temple in Combodia's Angkor Wat, the Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust ( BMMT) on Sunday said they will build a bigger temple in Bihar's Vaishali district.

To be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore, the five-storied and 222-feet tall temple will come up at a sprawling campus spread over 15 acres at a place near Ismailpur village on Hajipur-Bidupur road, which will be christened as Angkor Nagar, BMMT's secretary and ex-IPS officer Acharya Kishore Kunal said.

Land worth around Rs 30 crore has already been acquired for the purpose from locals, he said.

The proposed temple will be named 'Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir' and it will house the statues of Radha-Krishna, Shiva-Parvati, Ganesh, Surya, Vishnu and ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

It will take upto five years to construct the temple and another five years to give the final finishing touches to it, Kunal said.

On selection of the specific site for construction of the world's largest Hindu temple, he said the place has mythological significance as it was said that the deities Ram, Lakshman and Vishvamitra had set their foot on the village and were welcomed by the King Sumati of the Vaishali kingdom.

The 'bhumi pujan' for the proposed temple will be held tomorrow, Kunal said adding the temple was being constructed to mark the centenary celebrations of the BMMTs.

The Angkor Wat temple was built in Cambodia in the 12th century during the rule of then Cambodian king Suryavarman (1141-1152 AD).

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Worlds-largest-Hindu-temple-to-come-up-in-Bihar/articleshow/12135968.cms

:banana: Great news for Bihar! After the TOVP in Mayapur, Maitreya Project in Khushinagar, The Stupa Project in Gujarat, now this! :cheers:

:banana: Great news for Bihar! After the TOVP in Mayapur, Maitreya Project in Khushinagar, The Stupa Project in Gujarat, now this! :cheers:

Since the Government is not contributing money for this project I suppose its fine. But at this stage of the state's development, this money could have been used for constructing a good quality medical college/engineering/dental college. If the MM contributes Rs. 100 crore, the GoB should have contributed Rs.50 or a matching Rs. 100 crore. Then with Rs. 200 crore, a proper state-of the art- new college could have been built. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a new temple and realise it will boost tourist flow and thus the economy of the vicinity. However Bihar currently needs every bit of capital to go into infrastructure building as there has been little investment in this area for the previous 20-25 years. For this reason, I am not entirely happy with the news. :ohno: At this stage, I don't think its a priority.

Since the Government is not contributing money for this project I suppose its fine. But at this stage of the state's development, this money could have been used for constructing a good quality medical college/engineering/dental college. If the MM contributes Rs. 100 crore, the GoB should have contributed Rs.50 or a matching Rs. 100 crore. Then with Rs. 200 crore, a proper state-of the art- new college could have been built. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a new temple and realise it will boost tourist flow and thus the economy of the vicinity. However Bihar currently needs every bit of capital to go into infrastructure building as there has been little investment in this area for the previous 20-25 years. For this reason, I am not entirely happy with the news. :ohno: At this stage, I don't think its a priority.

Well, I hope they built in on the lines of the big Vedic Temple in Mayapur, which besides being a religious and spiritual center/project, will provide many facilities and amenities to the people. In addition, it will have a huge tourism potential and will lead to development in the area and surrounding regions. Let's hope for the best! :D

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/CM-launches-work-on-Kanti-power-unit/articleshow/12168388.cms

CM launches work on Kanti power unit

MUZAFFARPUR: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday launched the work on 195 MW capacity third unit of Kanti Bijli Utpadan Nigam (KBUN) by pushing a button to lift the boiler on the eastern side of the existing plant at Kanti. Addressing the local public on DAV School campus inside the restricted area, the CM announced that the sssfirst unit of Kanti power plant, which is presently under renovation, would be commissioned in April while the second unit would be operational from October next.

The third unit on which work has been started on Tuesday would start generating power in next three years. The CM appealed to National Thermal Power Corporation CMD Arup Roy Chaudhary and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) CMD B Prasad Rao, both of whom were present, to help the state to overcome its adversaries by extending full cooperation to complete all the new power projects on time.

He made a fervent appeal to the NTPC CMD to start the work on the fourth unit also immediately. The CM assured the people that the state would not only be self-sufficient in power in next three to four years but it would also be in a position to supply power to other states after the commissioning of all the Kanti and Nabinagar power projects by that time.

Reacting to a demand for 24-hour power supply by someone from the audience, Nitish said, "Bijli ke liye bahut paapad belne parte hain." He said the state government had placed the demand for electrical equipment before BHEL in 2006 but it has been able to supply those machineries after six years. He said starting a new plant was not an easy task and narrated the problems being faced in Barh project.

The CM said that originally the capacity of both the third and fourth units of Kanti, under its expansion plan, was 250 MW each. But the local Patahi airport authorities, working under Airport Authority of India, objected to the proposed height of the chimney. As a result, the height of the chimney had to be curtailed and then the capacity of the plant was also brought down to 195 MW.

Earlier, the CMDs of both NTPC and BHEL, state's power minister, Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Kanti MLA, Ajit Kumar welcomed the CM on the occasion.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Work-on-Durgawati-project-to-begin-soon/articleshow/12168371.cms

‘Work on Durgawati project to begin soon’

PATNA: The state government announced in the Bihar Legislative Assembly that work on the Durgawati project would begin soon. Minister for water resources department Vijay Chowdhary said that the project was delayed because of the irregular decisions taken by the irrigation minister during the RJD regime as a result of which matter pertaining to the project was taken up by the Supreme Court (SC) which also put a stay on its work. The minister said that a sum of Rs 200 crore has been spent on the Durgawati project during the period 1975 to 2005.

He said that the NDA government in Bihar filed an interlocutory petition in the SC and got the matter resolved. Now the state government is all set to spend Rs 400 crore. Tender has already been issued and very soon work on the project would start. The minister was speaking while giving reply to the debate on his department's budgetary demand.

The cut motion was moved by Dinesh Kumar Singh (RJD) which was rejected by voice vote by the House. Later, the House passed the budgetary demand of Rs 2,957 crore. The members who participated include Ramanand Ram, Dulalchand Goswami, Shaligram Yadav and Jawahar Prasad. Chowdhary said shortage of potable water is now a world phenomenon. Now it is the need of the hour that one should curtail per capita consumption of water as also launching an awareness campaign about proper use of it.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Vaishali-gets-first-all-woman-police-station/articleshow/12154954.cms

Vaishali gets first all-woman police station


PATNA: The first all-woman police station in Vaishali district was inaugurated by Muzaffarpur Zonal IG Gupteshwar Pandey on Monday. The police station is located on the premises of naka number-2 on Jarhua Road near Bazar Samiti, Hajipur.

Vaishali SP Upendra Kumar Sinha said the new police station is very spacious and its first SHO would be Kiran Paswan. He said that besides the SHO, a junior SI (JSI) Soni Kumari and an ASI have been posted in the police station.

Six women constables have also been posted there besides one section of armed constables, SP said. Sinha said that the number of constables in the police station would be increased in future. He said that the objective behind setting up an all-woman police station was to cater to the needs of the woman complainants in the district.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Govt-to-develop-Shaktipeeth-circuit-in-state/articleshow/12090867.cms

Govt to develop Shaktipeeth circuit in state



PATNA: The state government has decided to develop new 'Shaktipeeth' tourist circuit for which a consultant has been appointed to prepare a detailed project report (DPR). State tourism minister Sunil K Pintu on Wednesday announced in the Bihar Legislative Council that all the 'Shaktipeeth' temples spread over in different parts of the state would be covered in the circuit.

Replying to a question of Baleshwar Singh Bharati of the BJP, Pintu said that tourists would have an opportunity to visit famous 'Shaktipeeth' temples, including the one at Thawe (Gopalganj) and Ugra Tara temple (Saharsa), through a conducted tour in luxury buses.

The minister said that tourists would also be able to visit West Bengal's famous Tarapeeth temple through a conducted tour of 'Shaktipeeth' temples from Bihar.

In another question of Neeraj Kumar of the JD(U), Pintu said that the government is committed to develop Ramayana circuit in a phase-wise manner. In the first phase, a consultant would be appointed to prepare a DPR of all the sites associated with the Ramayana. A famous village, Sitamarhi, at Meskaur block in Nawada district would also be considered in the Ramayana circuit. This circuit would be developed in the state on the basis of both archaeological as well as mythological places associated with the Ramayana, he said.

Pintu, while replying to Basudeo Singh of the CPM, said that all the ancient religious places would be developed for attracting tourists. He said that famous Tripur Sundari temple, Indraeshwar Mahadeo temple, Bankhandi, Hanuman mandir, Lali Pahari mandir, Ringi Rishi, Jallapa Asthan (all in Lakhisarai) are also important religious places from tourist point of view.

To develop another ancient place, Sikrigarh, in Purnia district, the tourism minister said: "We have written a letter to the DM, Purnia, asking him to send a proposal to develop this ancient site." This is one of the important tourist places of Purnia district, he said while replying to the calling attention motion of Ramchandra Prasad of the RJD.

In reply to Mahachandra Prasad Singh of the JD(U), Pintu said that Sitakund in Munger district is one of the famous tourist sites in the state. Conservation work here is being done by the department of art and culture. After the completion of conservation work, basic infrastructure and civic amenities would be developed, he said.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-04/news/31121504_1_mauritius-government-rajesh-jeetah-bihar-minister

Mauritius-based entrepreneurs to invest in Bihar

Rajesh Jeetah|Patna|Mauritius|India

PATNA: Several entrepreneurs in Mauritius have shown interest in the medical institute project likely to be built jointly with India, Mauritius tertiary education minister Rajesh Jeetah said here today.

The institute is proposed to be built in the joint name of the first Indian president Rajendra Prasad and father of the Nation of Mauritius Seewoosagur Ramghoolam.


Jeetah said that his government might consider tax exemption to entrepreneurs interested in investing in the proposed medical institute at Mairwa in Bihar's Siwan district, sources said.

Jeetah met Bihar minister for Health Ashwani Kumar Choubey here yesterday.

The Nitish Kumar government had earlier offered Mauritius government a proposal to set up a medical college hospital at Mairwa in Siwan district, according to state health minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey.

Choubey said he has handed over a letter in this regard to Mauritius Art and Culture Minister Mookhesswar Choonee during the three-day Global Bihar Summit on changing Bihar that ended here on February 19.

"We have also written a letter to Mauritius Prime Minister to give his consent for setting up the medical college hospital proposed at Mairwa in Siwan," Choubey said.

As of now, Bihar cannot attract private investment because the environment which Bangalore/Hyderabad/Delhi has, Patna doesn't. Also, given the condition of infrastructure is too poor to attract large scale manufacturing. Bihar has a fertile soil and tourism potential so industries like agro processing and tourism need to be given focus. Bihar gave mandate to Nitish Kumar for development. The goal is not be on par with other states but to be the best state in India.:)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/States-second-zoo-to-open-at-Rajgir/articleshow/12038494.cms

State’s second zoo to open at Rajgir

PATNA: State Wildlife Council on Saturday sanctioned the state's second zoo at Mrig Vihar, Rajgir in Nalanda district. There is at present only one zoo in the state at Patna. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by CM Nitish Kumar and attended by, among others, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and members of State Wildlife Council.

Nitish said a large number of tourists visit Rajgir. A zoo would not only save the animals but also provide an attractive tourist spot to the visitors. He also held discussions over Ghorakatora pond at Rajgir and talked about the efforts being taken to develop it as a tourist spot. Vehicles have been banned in the area and tourists can reach the pond only by cycles and tonga.

A new ropeway was also sanctioned for Rajgir. The CM directed officials to take steps for creation of ropeways at Mandar Hills near Bhagalpur and Rohtas Hills in Rohtas district. The meeting also discussed the Valmikinagar Tiger Project in West Champaran district.

Along with ropeways, the government should look at hot air balloons, cable cars, golf courses, amusement parks and tourism guides training. The whole industry of tourism needs to be organised and trained. I have said so in the past, that Bihar needs to close the gap between it and other states. How to do so? The only way is to establish the same sort of industries that exist elsewhere in Bihar too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Patna-varsity-senate-okays-Rs-334-crore-deficit-budget/articleshow/12038339.cms

Patna varsity senate okays Rs 334-crore deficit budget

PATNA: Amid noisy scenes created by the volunteers of Chhatra Janata Dal (U) and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) outside the historic Wheeler Senate House, the Patna University (PU) senate on Saturday passed a Rs 334.36-crore deficit budget for the financial year 2012-13.

Even before the annual meeting of the senate could start, a section of agitating students owing allegiance to Chhatra JD (U) reached the venue and tried to ransack the Wheeler Senate House. They broke furniture and shouted slogans against the PU vice-chancellor. They were protesting against the Press Council of India chairman's remarks against the Nitish government and demanding immediate elections to the university students' union. Later, the volunteers of ABVP also joined the agitating students.

The meeting of the senate started at least two hours behind the schedule as VC Shambhu Nath Singh was not being allowed to enter the hall by the agitating students. For some time pro-VC J P Singh presided over the meeting in the absence of the VC. Presenting the budget, pro-VC J P Singh pointed out that the budget estimates envisage an expenditure of Rs 357.03 crore against an income of Rs 22.67 crore from all sources.

The expenditure is likely to be met with grants from the education department (Rs 342.83 crore), self-financing courses (Rs 7.33 crore), science and technology department (Rs 4.20 crore) and directorate of distance education (Rs 2.67 crore). He pointed out that due to non-receipt of statutory grants from the state government to the tune of Rs 11.27 crore for the last seven years, the university was facing difficulties in clearing its outstanding liabilities, including payment of electricity charges, municipal taxes, and judicial expenses.

Further more, only about 400 teachers were working in the university against total 888 sanctioned posts causing an adverse impact on academic activities. Earlier, PU VC Shambhu Nath Singh, in his address, said that a postgraduate diploma course in bioinformatics (of three semesters) would be started at PU Computer Centre from the next academic session. A new faculty of computer science and information technology comprising the new department of computer science would also be started.

He said networking of the university has already been started under National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology and the university has already got a connectivity of 1 GBPS. The BSNL has provided 400 nodes to different colleges and departments and the university is trying to acquire computer systems for these nodes. The university is likely to introduce IP surveillance system to maintain discipline on the campus. It has also written to the Union HRD ministry to provide 17,000 Akash tablet PCs for its faculty members and students, the VC added.

Higher education in Bihar is in pitiable condition. None of the colleges have good infrastructure and what's worse, the Government is unwilling to go in for PPP to set up medical/engineering/vet/other colleges. Tie up with institutes in TN/KA/AP/MH and solve the problem. Like Dubai has Dubai Academic City, Bihar can have Bihar Academic City. :cheers::lol: :lol:

It beats me why the Government of Bihar is so reluctant to go for PPP in higher education. When Bihari students themselves study in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi, why not invite these institutes to set up base in Bihar?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/New-initiative-Ganga-path/articleshow/12024308.cms

New initiative: Ganga path

PATNA: The state budget for 2012-13 has taken several new initiatives. The foremost among them is the Rs 2,234-crore scheme for the construction of 21-km-long Ganga path along the bank of the river in Patna.

Besides, construction of a 6.78-km-long road would be completed in 2012-13 along the Saidpur drain to ease traffic pressure on the Ashok Rajpath. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi made this announcement while presenting the budget in the state assembly on Friday.

In the next 10 years, 10 lakh self-help groups of 1.25 crore rural women would be formed on the basis of their habitations - 65,000 village and 534 block-level organizations would be formed for empowerment of women in order to promote entrepreneurial and other activities among them. Under self-employment mission, 15 lakh rural youths would be given skill training in the next 10 years, Modi said.

The state government would launch training programme for engineers, architects, builders and 15,000 artisans for construction of quake-resistant buildings in 2012-13, Modi said. With the approval given by the Centre to the Durgawai reservoir scheme, work would be started on the project in the next financial year and completed by 2014. This would help irrigate land in the command area of the project in Rohtas and Kaimur districts, he said.

A major initiative has been taken for the setting up of hi-tech nurseries at eight places - Muzaffarpur, Bettiah, Motihari, Rajgir, Dehri, Buxar, Katihar and Banka. At least 63 departmental, permanent nurseries for growing quality plants would be established by the state directorate of horticulture. The latter would transfer 100 nurseries to the forest department. In financial year 2012-13, at least 82 such nurseries would be set up, Modi said.

Besides, there would be a scheme for creation of Kisan Paudhshala (farmer's nursery) on 1,500 acres of land of the farmers for growing popular varieties of plants. Every Kisan Paudhshala will have a capacity of growing 10,000 plants. As many as 115 private nurseries would be established by farmers or other persons. Each private nursery would have a capacity of growing 20,000 plants, he said. In 2012-13, Bihar Forest Academy would be established. Air Quality test centres would be opened at Gaya and Muzaffarpur and environment test centres would be established in nine towns: Muzaffarpur, Begusarai, Gaya, Sasaram, Purnia, Darbhanga, Bettiah, Bhagalpur and Rajgir.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/New-schemes-in-state-budget/articleshow/12023014.cms

New schemes in state budget

PATNA: Bihar government would launch a new scheme, Mukhya Mantri Awashesh Sadak Yojana, to construct/renovate 38,167 kms of roads in rural areas which had remained untouched under different schemes. The state's annual budget for financial year 2012-13 has provided for this, said deputy chief minister and finance minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, on Friday.

The state government would take measures for afforestation under a scheme named 'Bihar Hariyali Mission' to be launched under second Agriculture Road Map and implemented in the next five years from 2012-13 to 2016-17. It would aim at raising the forest cover to 15% from the present 9.72%.

The state government has made budgetary provision of Rs 10 crore for opening a model school each in 265 blocks in the educationally backward parts of the state. This would be done under a central scheme to open a model school each in 530 educationally backward blocks in the state. Out of this, the Centre has given approval for model schools in 370 blocks.

Under Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, 225 model villages would be created in areas inhabited by Dalits for their all-round development. The government would provide Rs 40 lakh for developing each of the model villages. The state's contribution would be Rs 12.72 crore.

The government would give Rs 1,000 each as incentive to the Indira Awas beneficiaries who would complete construction of their Indira Awas in four months under the Indira Awas Protsahan Yojana.

Besides, there is a proposal to establish two medical colleges at Bettiah and Pawapuri and six new nursing colleges in financial year 2012-13. On the occasion of Bihar Diwas on March 22, district-level emergency referral (health) services - Jayaprabha, Janani and Shishu Arogya express - would be launched, Modi said. He added the government would provide 504 ambulances for free service to women, newborn babies, accidental case handling, for sick senior citizens and sick BPL people.

We have been hearing about these new medical colleges for 5-6 years but till now no action. :bash::ohno::bash:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/More-seats-fountains-at-Patna-zoo/articleshow/11985882.cms

More seats, fountains at Patna zoo

PATNA: Patna zoo will wear a new look very soon with a slew of activities currently going on. The road within the zoo - approximately five km in length - is being renovated and three-foot-wide footpath is coming up on both its flanks. Besides, sitting facilities are being increased and three fountains are being installed in the lake.

An official told TOI it was around 10 years ago when the renovation of road in the zoo was done. At present, the road is full of potholes. "The renovation work is likely to be completed by the end of next month," said zoo director Abhay Kumar.

He said that footfalls in the zoo is rising at a fast clip. In 2010-2011, about 18 lakh people visited the zoo. "The footfall is increasing by over 14,000 to 15,000 per annum. The renovation is aimed at improving infrastructure of the zoo," added Kumar.

In addition, sitting facilities in the zoo are being increased. Over 20 more benches are being installed. This is being done on suggestions from visitors. This work, too, will be done before March end.

The zoo lake is also in for a new look. "A total of three fountains are being installed in the lake. They will beautify the lake and also draw more boat riders," said a senior official. Besides, work is also in progress for renovating the zoo's railway station meant for 'toy train'.

The railway station's shed is small and does not cover the entire train when it stops there. Therefore, zoo authorities are getting the total shed area increased. In a beautification bid, the entire area of the railway station will be covered with mosaic tiles.

Zoo authorities will also set up a new nursery in the lion's enclosure. "Four animals (one male and three female) are living in the lion's enclosure. Among them, one lioness is an African hybrid. It was necessary to create a nursery for them," said the zoo doctor, Dr Ajit Kumar. The nursery will provide a better ambience to animals, he added.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-05/india/31123671_1_bihar-open-prison-rules-2008-open-jail-central-jail

Bihar to have its first 'open jail'
IANS Mar 5, 2012, 12.37PM IST
Tags:
prisoners|inspector-general (prisons)
PATNA: Some convicts in Bihar will soon get a chance to live with their families, step out for work and lead a life similar to that outside prison, thanks to the state's first open jail that will begin functioning in May in Buxar district.

"It will be the first of its kind in Bihar where convicts would be able to live with their families in an atmosphere conducive to development of their skills and talent so they could make useful contributions to society," a prison official said.

According to Anand Kishore, inspector-general (prisons), over 100 prisoners, mostly convicts serving life terms across the state, who have a few years of imprisonment left and have shown good character during incarceration, would be chosen for the open jail.

Officials in the prison department said convicts, currently lodged in the Bhagalpur central jail, Gaya central jail, Muzaffarpur jail and Beur jail in Patna would be considered for it.

Manoj Kumar Sinha, a jail official of the Buxar central prison, told IANS that an open jail is being constructed over 42 acres of land.

"The state government has constituted a committee headed by the inspector general (prisons) to prepare a list of convicts who would be allowed to live in the open jail," he said.

According to him, their good conduct, the period already spent by them in jail and other such things would be taken into account before they are transferred to an open jail.

The inmates of an open jail would be allowed to roam around freely during daytime and their attendance would be taken twice, in the morning and night.

"Work has been going on in full swing and the jail would be ready by March 31 and the convicts along with their families will start living there by May," Sinha said.

The prisoners would not only be allowed to work inside the jail premises but also go to a workplace within a five-kilometre radius. The inmates would also be allowed to have a savings account in the nearest bank or post office for depositing their income.

An official of the Buxar district administration said about 13 double-storey apartments with two-room flats on each floor are now getting the final touches to house such inmates.

Superintendent of Buxar jail S.K. Ambastha, who has been assigned the additional charge of the open jail, said the state government had enacted new legislation by the name of 'Bihar Open Prison Rules-2008' to run this prison.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-04/patna/31121139_1_agriculture-bihar-government-farmers

Bihar government woos manufacturers of agriculture tools
TNN Mar 4, 2012, 12.25AM IST

PATNA: The state departments of agriculture and industry are wooing the manufactures of agriculture implements from different states to set up their industries in Bihar.

A huge demand for agriculture implements by the farmers is being witnessed at the five-day state level Agro Fair, 2012, organized here with participation of agriculture implements manufacturers of different states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Jharkhand. About 30,000 farmers are likely to visit the fair to purchase farm equipments for which there is provision of state subsidy on the spot.

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/BIH-three-cbwtf-for-waste-management-to-be-set-up-2952440.html

Three CBWTF for waste management to be set up

Patna: Bihar government has set up the Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) in three districts of Bihar, including Patna, and another unit will be set up in Gaya district for biomedical waste management, the Health Minister Ashwini Chaube said on Wednesday.

Replying to a starred question by the BJP MLC Kiran Ghai in the legislative council, he said the CBWTF units have been set up in Patna, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur districts, while another unit will come up soon in Gaya for biomedical waste management, he said.

Chaube said some hospitals have been provided with incinerators to dispose of such waste materials, besides installation of the CBWTF units. The health minister said it has been decided to destroy biomedical wastes by incinerators or CBWTF in six government hospitals even as the details were being gathered from the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) about the number of private nursing homes which have sought permission for installation of incinerators.

Besides, a contract has been signed with three agencies for disposal of biomedical wastes of the government health facilities ranging from the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to the sadar hospitals in the districts, he said, adding that private hospitals and nursing homes too could employ the services of these agencies.

One interesting thing is that improving roads was like low hanging fruit for Nitish Kumar. Bihar's roads were the worst in India when he took over. Slowly they are improving. However, once good roads are built you need a good frequent bus system to link up all the 38 districts of the State. You need well-maintained bus terminals all over the state and use of technology to coordinate the buses themselves. Then you need restaurants along the sides of the roads with ambulances, trauma centres, hospitals, clinics and proper road signs in English and Hindi. The whole system of roads in Bihar has to revamped along with building good roads. The challenge in Bihar is, after building good roads, what then? Then the work of building up a modern state can really take off and that will take time. Government has to get cracking on it.

An interesting article about roads construction in Bihar.


http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2910563.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

In Bihar, C&C takes the road less travelled


RECENTLY IN PATNA:
In Chief Minister Mr Nitish Kumar's vision of a ‘changing Bihar', it is clear that infrastructure takes priority when it comes to attracting investments. Sure enough, companies are lining up to bag road and infrastructure projects. Among these large and small construction companies are Gammon India, Atlanta Constructions, NEC, Madhucon, Navyug Constructions and C&C Constructions.

The Gurgaon-headquartered C&C Constructions says it was among the first to get into the State through a joint venture with Hyderabad-based BSC — at a time when many other companies were wary about investing in the State.

“We have built roads passing through 20 out of the 38 districts in the State. Even in flood-prone North Bihar, where construction is difficult as it is restricted to just five months in a year, we have completed most works ahead of schedule,” C&C's Chief General Manager, Mr Ashok Kumar, told visiting media persons in Patna recently.

“Most roads in remote and flood-affected locations are steam-cured and have been built five feet above the highest flood level to ensure that connectivity does not get affected during floods”, he said.

Mr Kumar said C&C had so far completed 10 road projects in Bihar, covering a total of 646.50 kilometres. These include National Highways, State Highways, and one integrated toll plaza on NH-31. The company is also involved in building major and minor bridges and culverts

Mr Kumar, however, admitted that land acquisition was still proving to be a hurdle. “In the Mokama-Munger stretch, we are targeting completion ahead of schedule despite it being a troubled area. Land for nine-km has still not been handed over to us by the State Government, despite Bihar offering the highest compensation,” he added.

RISK-TAKER

C&C, which terms risk-taking in tough terrain as its USP, says it sees itself as a ‘partner in nation-building'.

The company claimed it had generated 33 lakh man-days of jobs annually in Bihar since 2006 and helped the State earn revenue of Rs 200 crore in the form of taxes, royalty, cess etc.

“We plan to complete the Rs 656-crore Muzaffarpur-Sonbarsa stretch on NH-77 ahead of the November 2013 schedule, as also the Rs 440-crore Mokama-Munger stretch on NH-80 and the Rs 908-crore, Patna-Bakhtiyarpur stretch scheduled to be completed by March 2014,” Mr Kumar said. C&C claimed that all the completed State Highway projects were already benefiting users.

“In Kulshera, banana and maize farmers now sell their produce in their farms itself and are also getting a better price,” he said.

The company, which is mainly into roads projects, is also involved in building airports, telecom, rail and urban infrastructure, power transmission projects etc. It is also involved in projects in Afghanistan.

(This reporter's trip to Bihar was hosted by C&C Constructions)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120308/jsp/bihar/story_15224373.jsp

Centre sounds positive on road link

ALOK KUMAR
Gaya, March 7: The Centre has responded positively to a letter of Gaya MP Hari Manjhi seeking direct road link between south Bihar and north Jharkhand districts.

In his letter to the Union minister of road transport and highways, C.P. Joshi, Manjhi stated that a few districts did not have direct road link, compelling people to take circuitous route.

Joshi, in his reply to the MP’s letter, said the ministry was looking into the matter and it had been referred to the chief engineer (P-3) for necessary action.

The Union government proposed to construct alternative roads in underdeveloped areas of states that could reduce distances, but places in southern Bihar and northern Jharkhand were allegedly not included in the plan.

The MP requested Joshi to get the highways constructed by National Highways Authority of India under the joint-highway-road project. In his letter, the MP said lack of proper roads was hampering development works in these districts of Bihar and Jharkhand. His letter added that direct links would help these sectors grow and generate employment opportunities. It added that direct links would also reduce the pressure on GT Road.

Citing an example, Manjhi said there were no proper roads in Rajauli (Nawada), Fatehpur, Mohanpur, Barachatti, Imamganj, Dumaria (Gaya), Nauhatta (Rohtas), Hunterganj (Chatra district in Jharkhand), Chhatarpur (Palamu), Sudhipar (Garhwa). Social activist Muniram Dubey said once direct roads are constructed, people of south Bihar and north Jharkhand will get shorter routes to Varanasi in UP, Dhanbad and Ranchi in Jharkhand and to Calcutta.

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I feel government should also look into construction of new auditoriums, libraries and art galleries. Cultural facilities are sorely lacking in Patna currently.

http://tenders.bih.nic.in/tenderdocs/TD-01-25-02-2012.pdf

Due to unavoidable reasons the Bids Scheduled on 20-12-2011 is hereby cancelled. Following is the
revised tender re-inviting bids.Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation invites Sealed Technical
and Financial tenders in the prescribed original tender document from reputed, financially sound,
resourceful and experienced software consultants for developing, hosting and maintaining the official
website of Bihar State Development Corporation Ltd.
The Bid Document may be received personally during office hours on all working days by paying Rs 1500
in cash or can be downloaded from our website (www.bstdc.bih.nic.in) in which case a demand draft Rs
1500 in favour of “Managing Director, Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation, Patna” and should
be enclosed with the bid document at the time of submission.
The last date for submission of bid is 14
th
March 2012 up to 03:00 P.M. at the office.The bids will be
opened on the same day at 04:00 P.M. before the authorized representatives of the participating bidders.
For further details Contact :
Pushpam Pr.
+91 7549743883

http://tenders.bih.nic.in/tenderdocs/TD-06-31-01-2012.pdf

NOTICE INVITING APPLICATIONS FOR OPERATION OF MOTOR BOAT/ HOUSE
BOAT/SHIP & FLOATEL ON PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP UNDER SUBSIDY SCHEME
Department of Tourism, GoB invites applications for supplying and operating cum
maintaining of Motor Boat/House Boat/Ship/Floatel in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode
from reputed Firms/Organisations/Individuals having experience in the field of above
mentioned items. The Motor boat/ house boat/ ship/ floatel will run under the banner of
B.S.T.D.C. Ltd. on Fixed Rent basis. The project is rated as a highly profitable commercial
venture from the tourism point of view. The chosen private partner will have to work in close
coordination with and under control, supervision and direction of the Bihar State Tourism
Development Corporation Ltd as well as the state Govt.

Nice updates cosmicbliss :cheers:

India to Replicate Cambodia’s Angkor Wat


Indians who haven’t yet seen Cambodia’s 12th-century Angkor Wat temple have reason to cheer: the World Heritage site is being recreated on the banks of holy River Ganges, in the eastern state of Bihar.

To be built by the privately-run Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust, the temple will have five stories and stand 222-feet tall. It will be taller than Tamil Nadu’s Brihadeeswarar temple, making it the “tallest Hindu temple in the world,” the trust announced Monday. The estimated cost of the 10-year long project is about $20 million, or one billion rupees, the trust says.

So what inspired this initiative?

“I have always been fascinated by the beauty and grandeur of Angkor Wat,” Acharya Kishore Kunal, secretary of the trust, told India Real Time. “Recreating the masterpiece would be a tribute to India,” he added.

Built during the reign of Hindu King Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat is one of Cambodia’s prime tourist destinations. Spread across a sprawling campus of 203-acres, the temple was chiefly dedicated to Lord Vishnu, one of the Hindu Gods, until the late 13th century. In the years ahead, the temple became dedicated to Lord Buddha.

Its Indian replica, “Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir,” will be built on a 40-acre campus on the Hajipur-Bidupur road, about 20 kilometers from Bihar’s state capital, Patna, the trust says.

The place where the temple will be built is, “no ordinary site,” Mr. Kunal says. Legend has it that Hindu deity, Ram, and his brother Lakshman set foot here, he adds. Lord Ram is chiefly worshiped by Hindus across the globe and believed to be an earthly incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Mr. Kunal claims that the temple venture will “drastically boost” tourism in India, although the country’s tourism officials appear oblivious of the initiative.

“We have not heard or seen any news reports of the temple,” a spokeswoman for India’s Ministry of Tourism said. In Bihar, Priteshwar Prasad, the assistant director of tourism, said he had, “no knowledge” of the shrine. After India Real Time informed Mr. Prasad of the venture, he was quick to add that the project will, “definitely put Bihar on the global map.”

The Ministry of Tourism in Bihar may be pleased with the venture, but not everyone welcomes the move.

An official from the Cambodian embassy in New Delhi said the trust has not gotten permission to replicate Angkor Wat. “We are quite unhappy with this development,” she said, adding that the Cambodian government may request the Indian government to stall the project.

“We won’t let anyone confuse the world that there are two Angkor Wats,” Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, told the New Zealand Herald.

Mr. Kunal, of the trust, said his group, “did not deem it appropriate” to communicate with the Cambodian government since the temple will, “not be an exact replica” of Angkor Wat. Three key differences will distinguish the Hindu temple from its Cambodian counterpart, he added.

First, the temple’s central tower will be 222-feet long, 12 feet higher than the one at Angkor Wat, he said.

Why 222-feet? According to ancient Hindu belief, the number 222 is auspicious and brings good fortune, he says.

The second distinguishing feature, Mr. Kunal says, is that the shrine will be built using concrete and granite, not the sandstone that was used to erect Angkor Wat. “We believe the material is far superior to sandstone,” he adds.

Third, the temple will house colossal marble idols of several Hindu deities, he says. These include Lord Ram and his consort Sita, Lord Krishna and companion Radha and Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Angkor Wat, on the other hand is chiefly dedicated to Lord Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

“The Cambodian government should understand that we are not competing with Angkor Wat in any way,” he asserted.

The end objective, he says, is not to supersede the grandeur of the Cambodian shrine but to, “create a magnificent Hindu temple for our land.”

The trust plans to begin construction of the Hindu temple this May.


http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/03/09/india-to-replicate-cambodias-angkor-wat/?mod=google_news_blog

Azziz282, China developed because of Overseas Chinese investment initially. Do you think Biharis from other States/countries can invest in Bihar? Realistically, I don't see big investment flowing to Bihar as of now. its only after NRBs invest that others will come in a big way. How much do you think they could invest and what sort of investment?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/New-police-headquarters-building-soon-Chief-minister/articleshow/12216260.cms

New police headquarters building soon: Chief minister

PATNA: Bihar Police will soon have a new state-of-the-art headquarters, Police Bhawan, equipped with the wherewithal of disaster management.

This was announced by CM Nitish Kumar while inaugurating the All India Police Housing Conference, organized jointly by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) and Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation (BPBCC), at a posh hotel here on Saturday. The new Police Bhawan will be located outside the secretariat campus on which the police HQ is currently located.

The CM emphasized the need to use green building and earthquake-resistant technologies in all government buildings to be constructed so as to conserve energy. There should also be a proper maintenance schedule and funds for that. He also stressed on making all disaster-management facilities available in police station buildings.

Kumar referred to Bihar Police Academy being constructed near Rajgir in conformity with green building norms at an estimated cost of Rs 206 crore. The project is registered with the Green Rating Integrated Habitat Assessment for a four-star rating. "The building is the face of the department," the CM said and added bulletproof material should be used to construct police buildings in Naxal-hit areas.

Commenting on the functioning of bureaucracy in Bihar, Kumar said officers tended to ignore the CM's ideas unless he asked about the proposal for the second time. He said BPBCC was a sick undertaking before he came to power. "My government pumped in funds - Rs 1,000 crore - and today BPBCC has turned around to earn profits in crores," he said and added even though many new police buildings were being constructed now in Bihar, "we still have a long way to go".

Kumar hoped the two-day conference, a first in Bihar, would help evolve better mechanisms to develop infrastructure across the country.

According to BPBCC CMD-cum-DG A K Gupta, the corporation has been handling projects worth Rs 1,000 crore during the last four-five years. It has handed over many completed buildings to the authorities concerned. The construction work on the Patna SSP's office building has also started while the six-storey Gandhi Maidan police station building will be handed over to the department soon. Besides the one inaugurated at Mauzipur, four more river police station buildings are being constructed by BPBCC in the state. Thirteen barracks for 300 constables each are also coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore each, he said.

BPRD director Anand Prakash said the purpose of the conference was to bring uniformity in police housing across the country. DGP Abhayanand said the department needed buildings not only for housing police personnel but also as a structure to fight Maoists. Chief secretary Naveen Kumar also stressed on the need to construct buildings with green technology.

State road construction department secretary Pratyay Amrit made a presentation on 'Infrastructure Development' in Bihar during the last six years. Principal secretary, home, Amir Subhani, was also present.

Its good that these buildings are coming up, but are they maintaining quality? They must not build for the sake of building and have poor quality structures.

After Bihar has built roads, it needs to build up the basic infra that the State needs. Then only will private investment come.

What basic infra?

1. First government buildings-new courts, police stations, district collectorates and so on along with housing for all the government officials.
2. New educational institutes in different areas.
3. Revamping transport.
4. Patna HC bench in south Bihar so that everyone doesn't have to go to Patna. Considering Bihar's population there should be two benches-Karnataka with 6 crore people has 3 benches.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120312/jsp/bihar/story_15237622.jsp

Stay at ease, pay tax easily
Seal on housing board flats

PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

Patna, March 11: The monopoly of private players in the city’s real estate sector is all set to be over with the state finance department giving its approval to around 10,000 residential flats and commercial projects of Bihar State Hous- ing Board (BSHB) in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The ambitious housing projects would start from BSHB’s colonies at Bahadurpur and Lohianagar. The commercial project sites would be at Hanuman Nagar and Lohianagar.

The approved plans include construction of 5,000 new flats and some commercial establishments at sectors 3, 6 and 7 of Bahadurpur Housing Board Colony. Construction of another 1,500 new flats by erecting 20 towers on 8.56 acres at Sector-5 of Bahadurpur Colony is also in the pipeline. Besides, the finance department has put its seal on the completion of 64 under-construction high-income group flats at Sector-6 of Bahadurpur.

As many as 3,000 flats would be constructed at Lohianagar.
“The finance department has given approval for development of around 25,000 flats, including around 10,000 in the state capital, under the PPP mode across the state. Residential projects apart, the department has given approval for several commercial projects, including malls, commercial offices and hotels, of the housing board,” said a senior officer of the finance department.

The board of the BSHB had approved these schemes in its meeting on November 28 last year. A corresponding proposal was sent to the finance department. The BSHB now expects the final nod from state cabinet soon.

“We are planning to finalise the tender for these projects by April-May and start the construction work soon after,” said a senior officer of the BSHB.

According to sources, the redevelopment projects at Bahadurpur and Lohianagar colonies would be undertaken in four stages. Buildings would be constructed on open land in the first stage. The existing occupants would be relocated in the newly constructed buildings in the second stage.

The old and depilated buildings would be demolished in the third stage and the construction of new buildings, along with landscaping, in place of the demolished buildings would be undertaken in the fourth stage.

If all goes according to the plan, bookings for the “dream homes” is expected to start in May.

“If everything goes in order, we expect to start the booking for the upcoming flats from May. The flats would be available at highly competitive rates. The allotment of the flats would most likely be done through lottery,” said the BSHB officer.

Away from capital

As many as 10,000 new flats and commercial establishments would be developed over 100 acres of BSHB acquired land at Katari and Mustafabad in Gaya.

The finance department has also approved plans for development of 3,000 flats and commercial establishments over 25 acres of land at Damodarpur in Muzaffarpur in PPP mode.

PPP in housing is fine. What about PPP in higher education where it is needed most? All these things boost construction. We need investment in housing, transport, roads, electricity, cultural facilities, new auditoriums, water, electricity. However, modern infrastructure is a must. Hope the BSHB becomes a role model for other housing departments in India. MHADA has done some good work in this area and can serve as a model.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120312/jsp/bihar/story_15238139.jsp

Net access to civic services

Patna, March 11: Residents of the state capital would no longer have to make rounds of the municipal office to avail of essential services and pay taxes.
Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has opened a new window, literally, to allow residents access its services from their home or at the nearest fully computerised citizen civic centre.
Fourteen of the services offered by the civic body will go online from April this year. The corporation has already received technical and financial assistance under an e-governance project sanctioned by the Centre-sponsored Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The project aims to introduce online facility for some of the essential services offered by the PMC, including collection of taxes, registration and issuance of birth and death certificates, grievances and suggestions among others.

In August last year, the state-level implementation committee of Bihar under JNNURM had approved the project for e-governance in PMC for a total outlay of Rs 31 crore.

“We have received 100 computers under the support programme for urban poor of the UK-based Department for International Development (DFID). It is in a six-year partnership with the state urban development department. The DFID would soon start imparting computer training to employees in the sections concerned. We intend to start the online services from April,” said Chandrama Singh, additional municipal commissioner, PMC.

Under this project, computerised citizen civic centres would be set up in every ward of the PMC. These civic centres would be connected to a central data centre through local area network, making a completely integrated system of data and information flow. “The work on one of our fully computerised citizen civic centres located on Boring Road is complete and we are also in the final stages of completing the Ashiana Road centre. We intend to start 20 civic centres in the first stage and take up the work in the remaining 52 wards later on,” said Singh.

While the civic body seems confident about its online service plan, its past record with web-based technology does not offer much hope.

PMC’s website, through which people could apply for birth and death certificates, closed down in July last year after non-payment to the web service providers. “The web-based service of birth and death registration has been suspended since the past few months because of non-payment of dues. The payment has to be made by the National Informatics Centre and the corporation has nothing to do with it,” said Singh

Nice article about new international museum in Patna. What are the credentials of the current architects? Are they as good as Fosters? Let's hope so.

Coming soon, a Rs. 400-cr. facelift for Patna Museum

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2985198.ece

Bihar government picks Tokyo-based firm to make it a world-class facility

At a time, when the Central and State governments are cold-shouldering public interest in history, ignoring their museums and allocating paltry funds for protecting the precious collections in them, Bihar has taken up an ambitious and well thought-out project to rejuvenate and rebuild its crown jewel — the Patna Museum.

Acting quietly, the State government conducted an international competition that brought in the best talent from around the world — including the architects involved in rebuilding the World Trade Center — to design a Rs. 400-crore new museum in Patna. Maki and Associates, a Tokyo-based architecture firm, and its Indian partner Opolis have been chosen.

The 2,000-year-old Didarganj Yakshi, one of the most popular and iconic sculptures in India, would remain the star exhibit in the new museum, but with a difference. The Yakshi will receive the well-designed display it deserves. Along with it, the Lohanipur Tirthankara — the earliest extant example of Jaina art — Buddhist bronzes from Nalanda, terracottas from Bodh Gaya, the Mauryan lion head and other precious artefacts would also move to the much-improved museum, which will be completed in 2015.

The most impressive feature so far is the approach adopted by the Bihar government. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar neither waited for assistance from the Union Ministry of Culture, which is still sleeping on the year-old B.N. Goswamy Committee's report on modernising Indian museums, nor did he look to cultural tsars from Delhi for directions.

Last year, after deciding to build a new museum, the State appointed Lord Cultural Resources, a Canadian museum planning consultant, to advise it. Subsequently, a two-stage international competition was announced, and a seven-member jury, including Martin Roth, Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, was constituted. Of the 26 entries received in the first stage, five renowned design firms were short-listed. These included Snøhetta and Studio Daniel Libeskind, the two design firms involved in rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York.

“We have worked in 50 countries and have been museum consultants for more than three decades. Working in Bihar has been a very positive experience. The State government has pioneered a process that is professional and refreshing,” said Batul Raaj Mehta, senior consultant and India head of Lord Cultural Resources. “In Bihar, as master planners, we have advised the government on the conceptualisation of the museum, evolved a business plan, and worked on financial and human resource deployment. This comprehensive planning will lead to a museum of international standards that will be relevant to Bihar,” she added.

Of the nearly 1,000 museums in the country, 90 per cent are state-run. The visitor experience in these old museums, including the prestigious National Museum in Delhi, has been poor, and the practices they adopted are way below global standards.

In this context, the Patna project, along with another proposed museum, the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art (KMOMA), has created great excitement and hope among heritage lovers. These two proposed museums are expected to set new benchmarks in museum experience in the country and turn around government apathy to cultural facilities.

The KMOMA will be built at a cost of Rs. 410 crore, and is designed by Herzog & de Meuron, an international architecture firm known for its designs for the Tate Modern, London, and the National Stadium, Beijing.

What makes Bihar stand out is that while the KMOMA is a tripartite venture among the government of West Bengal, the government of India and the private sector, the new Patna Museum is an entirely State initiative. It has also moved at a professional pace, while the KMOMA has been in the making for four years.

The only aberration has been that the Bihar government has overruled the design jury's recommendation to award the project to the U.K.-based design firm, Foster and Partners.

“While all the five designs were equally competitive, we [the State government] had to give due weight to financial considerations after the presentations and the jury selection,” explained Anjani Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary (Art & Culture), and Nodal Officer, Bihar International Museum.

Government sources told The Hindu that of the two finally short-listed firms, one had quoted 30 per cent of the building cost in consultation fee and the other charged only half of it. The government, it appears, chose the one that was competitively priced.

(With inputs from Shoumojit Banerjee in Patna)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120313/jsp/bihar/story_15242241.jsp


Growth pat with base rider

Patna, March 12: The people of the state have a reason to rejoice amid fear of an economic downturn in India. Bihar has emerged as the best performing state in the country in terms of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of gross state domestic product (GSDP) during the 11th Plan period (2007-08 to 2011-12).

“According to figures released by the Central Statistical Organisation, Bihar’s GSDP has recorded an average annual growth rate of 12.07 per cent. This is highest among all Indian states,” planning and development department principal secretary Vijoy Prakash told The Telegraph.

The growth rate has taken into consideration the actual figures of the first four years and the advance estimates for the final fiscal (2011-12) of the 11th Plan period.

The growth story of Bihar appears more impressive when one compares it with the national average of GDP growth rate in the corresponding period. The national CAGR-GDP growth rate is 7.94 per cent. Other states that have performed better than the national average during the period are Uttarakhand (11.51 per cent), Delhi (11.46 per cent), Gujarat (9.57 per cent), Maharashtra (9.41 per cent) and Haryana (9.07 per cent).

Economist and member secretary of Asian Development Research Institute Shaibal Gupta described Bihar’s ability to maintain a double-digit average growth rate as “a commendable achievement”. He added: “Though our economic base is low and institutional memory of governance was missing till recent past, the sagacity and dexterity in economic management of the state is responsible for creating a new script. This is like a silver lining in the dark cloud of economic despondency in the country.”

Gupta maintained that much more was to be done if the state had to maintain the momentum of development.

“While the construction sector has stolen the march over other sectors in the growth story, the authenticity of development will be founded when the same success would be replicated in fields such as agriculture and manufacturing,” he said.

“Maintaining a healthy growth rate during the 11th Plan period is a laudable achievement. But before jumping to any conclusion, one should keep in mind that the economy of the state has a very low base,” economist N.K. Choudhary said.

Industrialist and Confederation of Indian Industry vice-chairman (eastern region) Satyajit Kumar said: “A balanced growth of all sectors is a must. Growth driven by the construction sector has its limitations.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120313/jsp/bihar/story_15240281.jsp

Bodhgaya to go green with solar lights


Gaya, March 12: The holy city of Bodhgaya is all set to dazzle in a green way. As many as 470 solar lights will illuminate eight thoroughfares of the town using eco-friendly renewable energy.

Preeti Singh, the chairperson of the Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat, said: “The objective behind installing the solar streetlights is to save power and ensure uninterrupted lighting arrangement in the heritage city.”

The project, estimated to cost the exchequer around Rs 5.3 crore, would be executed under the Support for Urban Reform in Bihar. The UK-based Department for International Development will also support the project.

The eight stretches identified for the project are from the Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat office to Surajpura (50 lights) and Tika Bigha (30), Sujata Bypass to old block office (90), Bhagalpur Road (100), Root Institute to Mor (17), Daheriya Bigha to Tekuna Mor (100), Ningma monastery to Rampur (33) and Hotel Embassy to Miyan Bigha (50).

Electric poles with an underground cable network will be laid every 30m on the identified roads.

The proposal, approved at a board meeting of the Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat, was sent to the state urban development and the housing department last July, said chief executive officer of the civic body Sushil Kumar Mishra.

In December last year, chief minister Nitish Kumar approved the city development plan for Bodhgaya that included the proposal to install solar lights. The funds are yet to be released, though.

At least 83 mini high- mast lights would also be installed in the Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat area, including the periphery of Kalchakra Ground and primary health centres.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120313/jsp/bihar/story_15241037.jsp

Road education for techies, citizens
Government plans museum for residents, training centre for engineers

Patna, March 12: Most of us would be hard pressed to distinguish between a mastic asphalt road and a black top one, though we drive or walk over them almost everyday.

Residents of the state would, however, be able to learn more about the different kinds of thoroughfares and how they are built at a road museum (see chart) that the government proposes to construct near Mokama, 100km east of Patna.

The museum — to be set up over a 44-acre plot — would be the first of its kind in the state. It would not only provide technological information but also display equipment and material used for road construction.

A source in the road construction department told The Telegraph: “The museum is a part of a larger project of the state government to provide a state-of-the-art centre for imparting institutional training to engineers engaged in road construction.”

At present, around 5,000 techies, from the rank of junior engineers to chief engineers, work in the road construction department. The rural works department, which constructs village roads, has over 2,000 engineers.

Sources said none of these engineers get institutional training after being absorbed in government jobs. “We plan to enter into an agreement with top institutes of the country so that we can provide faculty members to impart training to our engineers,” said the source.

The proposed training centre would be fully residential. A director and two deputy director-level officers would be posted to run the institution. A training and research institute in Patna, used as a laboratory to test road construction material quality at present, would also be shifted to the proposed centre. It would be constructed in accordance with green building norms.

The department aims to execute the project in three years. Work for drawing up the detailed project report would start in the beginning of the next fiscal (2012-13). The institute and the road museum would be set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore to 150 crore. Various sources of funding like Nabard and Asian Development Bank are being considered.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120313/jsp/bihar/story_15241328.jsp

Revamp pill for clean sewerage


Patna, March 12: Leaking pipes and overflowing drains could be a thing of the past as Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) is planning to give the capital’s decades old sewerage a facelift.

The BUIDCo has set the ball rolling for an ambitious project that plans to revamp the sewerage across the capital. According to sources, Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has handed over the project to the government agency, as it lacked adequate manpower and technical expertise to implement the plan.

A private consultant has already prepared a detailed project report for the job. The project envisages renovation of four sewage-treatment plants, construction of two more, a new sewerage, more community toilets and public conveniences, construction of a main drain, primary and secondary drains, removing encroachment over drains in market areas and creation of sump houses.

“The cost of the project will be around Rs 500 crore. Half of the cost will be borne by National Ganga River Basin Authority while the rest will be taken care of by Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission — a central government scheme,” said a senior BUIDCo official.

The new system will be able to treat around 250 million litres per day (mld) of sewage. The official added that tender documents were being prepared to invite bidders for the project, which will be carried out in phases.

“We want to develop a system that can handle 250-300mld sewage. Every household and commercial establishment would be connected to the system,” the official said.

The estimated sewage generation in the capital was 224.6mld in 2011 and is expected to increase to 551mld by 2030.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/500-bed-hospitals-to-come-up-in-9-districts/articleshow/12234163.cms

500-bed hospitals to come up in 9 districts


PATNA: In a bid to strengthen health infrastructure in the state, construction of 11 sadar hospitals in as many districts with 100 beds and high-end equipments is underway. In nine other districts, the state government is going to construct 500-bed hospitals while the remaining 18 districts would have 300-bed hospitals.

Work on the construction of hospitals has been completed in ten districts - Buxar, Kaimur, Banka, Kishanganj, Jamui, Sheikhpura, Supaul, Araria, Lakhisarai and Khagaria. In Khagaria, a new 100-bed hospital has already been inaugurated.

Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey recently said that it had been decided in 2010-11 to upgrade 15 referral hospitals into subdivisional hospitals, of which 10 hospitals in Kaimur, Munger, Saran, Katihar, East Champaran, Nalanda, Gaya, Purnia and Madhepura districts had already been completed.

Similarly, out of 534 primary health centres (PHCs), upgradation of 399 PHCs into 30-bed hospitals is in the offing, though work on them is behind schedule.

When contacted, principal secretary, health, Amarjeet Sinha admitted delay in upgradation of PHCs in the state. He said, "Earlier, buildings were constructed by the building construction department, which caused delay in approval and sanction of fund leading to delay in projects. However, with the Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSIC) becoming operational, construction of hospitals would get a boost in the state."

Sinha said design of 211 PHCs had been finalized and added by April-end, work on them would start. He said Rs 20 lakh was earlier provided to each PHC to increase its bed strength. At present, on an average, each PHC in the state has 15 beds.

Choubey said Rs 103.17 crore had already been sanctioned for construction of 75-bed hospitals in 21 subdivisions of the state, of which hospitals had been constructed in 13 subdivisions.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Police-building-corporation-to-prepare-land-database-for-state-govt/articleshow/12227593.cms

Police building corporation to prepare land database for state govt


PATNA: The Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation (BPBCC) has been asked to undertake a survey and prepare a database of vacant and encroached land belonging to the home department.

Announcing this at a panel discussion on the second and concluding of the All India Police Housing Conference here on Sunday, principal secretary, home department, Amir Subhani said the government would fund the survey as part of its real estate management and planning. The state government has so far no record of such land belonging to police, jail, fire services or homeguards under the home department, he said, adding that once the database was ready, the government would ask the BPBCC to give proposals for developing those plots.

Participating in the panel discussion on state funding and police housing, equitable distribution of funds under the modernization of police forces (MPF) scheme of the central government, police housing colonies on government land and a need for a uniform housing policy for police, vigilance commissioner, central vigilance commission (CVC), New Delhi, R Sri Kumar said the state police housing corporations' CMDs should operate like the CEO of a corporate body. "We should not be dependent on government grants. Instead, the police housing corporations should devise ways, including equity participation, to sustain and grow as a profit-making body," he said, pleading for the formation of an apex body at the national level to coordinate with the state police housing bodies.

DG-cum-CMD of BPBCC A K Gupta said all the CMDs should create a network so that they could share plans and developments in their respective states.

ADG, law and order, Bihar, SK Bhardwaj said the state police housing corporations should have sufficient corpus fund to avoid delay in completing projects.

Delegates from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh wanted central funds to be granted directly to the state police housing bodies to avoid delay in the execution of projects.

Earlier, BPBCC's senior design consultant B N Jha and chairman of Indian Institute of Architect (Bihar and Jharkhand) Dhananjay Kumar made presentations on safe buildings in seismic zones and bunkers in Maoist-hit areas. Uttar Pradesh will host the next police housing conference.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120313/jsp/bihar/story_15241037.jsp

Road education for techies, citizens
Government plans museum for residents, training centre for engineers

Patna, March 12: Most of us would be hard pressed to distinguish between a mastic asphalt road and a black top one, though we drive or walk over them almost everyday.

Residents of the state would, however, be able to learn more about the different kinds of thoroughfares and how they are built at a road museum (see chart) that the government proposes to construct near Mokama, 100km east of Patna.

The museum — to be set up over a 44-acre plot — would be the first of its kind in the state. It would not only provide technological information but also display equipment and material used for road construction.

A source in the road construction department told The Telegraph: “The museum is a part of a larger project of the state government to provide a state-of-the-art centre for imparting institutional training to engineers engaged in road construction.”

At present, around 5,000 techies, from the rank of junior engineers to chief engineers, work in the road construction department. The rural works department, which constructs village roads, has over 2,000 engineers.

Sources said none of these engineers get institutional training after being absorbed in government jobs. “We plan to enter into an agreement with top institutes of the country so that we can provide faculty members to impart training to our engineers,” said the source.

The proposed training centre would be fully residential. A director and two deputy director-level officers would be posted to run the institution. A training and research institute in Patna, used as a laboratory to test road construction material quality at present, would also be shifted to the proposed centre. It would be constructed in accordance with green building norms.

The department aims to execute the project in three years. Work for drawing up the detailed project report would start in the beginning of the next fiscal (2012-13). The institute and the road museum would be set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore to 150 crore. Various sources of funding like Nabard and Asian Development Bank are being considered.

They must develop into a full-fledged centre of excellence in road construction, something like an IIT for civil engineering. There is a PDPU in Gujarat for petroleum engineering, there must be a Bihar Institute of Civil Engineering which is a specialised institute for civil engineering. Along with that, a laboratory to test quality of roads, training courses for engineers from other states/countries and tie ups with universities abroad are a must.

I feel in Bihar there are too many announcements. But on the ground progress is slow, too slow. Too little is actually happening. We hear many announcements but what is actually happening on the ground. They must develop the centre at Patna into a world-class centre for excellence in road building. Also, they need to adopt modern standards of road building by using new technologies of road building which drastically reduce the amount of time neccessary to build roads.

Road education for techies, citizens

When I read this at first it sounded like Bihar is starting off on a first : teaching people how to follow traffic norms !! :lol:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/24-dists-to-be-linked-to-4-lane-NHs/articleshow/12255932.cms

24 dists to be linked to 4-lane NHs


PATNA: The state assembly on Tuesday passed the road construction department (RCD)'s budgetary demand of Rs 4,475 crore. RCD minister Nand Kishore Yadav said the state government had to invest Rs 969 crore from its own resources on completion of National Highway (NH) projects.

The minister said the Centre always gave less money for the NH projects. He said the quality of construction of state highways was better than that of national highways. Rebutting charges of opposition member Lalit Kumar Yadav of RJD who moved cut motion alleging poor quality of roads, the minister said the quality was being maintained despite the bitumen costing four times higher compared to the RJD regime. He said the state's plea for rehabilitation of Gandhi Setu found no favour with the Centre which is still collecting toll there. He said a new road bridge is to come up from Kachchi Dargah to Bidupur across the Ganga.The minister said 24 districts would be linked to four-lane National Highways and 31 districts will have bypass roads in the next four years. With the construction of new national highways and state highways around Patna, there will be a ring of highways around it, he said.

He said an elevated road, named Loknayak Setu, would be constructed from Jagdeo Path to Sheikhpurahere. This would be linked to the GPO roundabout flyover reaching Chiraiyantand from where there is another flyover reaching Exhibition Road. He said another elevated road from Gaighat which would link the flyover reaching Moinul Haque stadium.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Andhra-firm-roped-in-for-sanitation-in-city-suburbs/articleshow/12255868.cms

Andhra firm roped in for sanitation in city suburbs

PATNA: Sanitation in parts of Phulwarisharif, Khagaul and Danapur is likely to improve soon with the state urban development department having roped in a Hyderabad-based private sanitation service provider, Ramky Enviro-Engineers Limited, for the purpose.

The firm is ready with the required infrastructure and manpower. "Its services are likely to be inaugurated this week itself by urban development minister Prem Kumar," said Neeraj K Singh, the agency's coordinator for Bihar and Jharkhand.

Under this JNNURM project of Rs 7.63 crore for seven years, the agency will do daily garbage collection from households and commercial complexes, sweeping of main and internal roads, daily cleaning of small drains and dumping of waste at Bairiya on Patna-Gaya Road.

There are around 20,000 households each in Phulwarisharif, Khagaul and Danapur. "We have provided primary training to 200 sanitation workers and 30 supervisors," said Neeraj and added the programme would be inaugurated with awareness programmes at community level and roadshows of equipment.

"We have arranged 178 handcarts and tricycles, 400 commercial bins, 44 wheel barrows, 3 mechanical sweepers, 214 large bins, 3 compactors and 3 back loaders," said a senior official of the agency.

The agency will work in four wards of Phulwarisharif, eight wards of Khagaul and seven wards of Danapur. In the remaining wards, the respective urban local bodies (ULBs) will be responsible for maintaining sanitation services.

As per its contract, the firm has to carry out regular awareness campaigns. "We will organize weekly awareness programmes in the area under the three ULBs," said Neeraj. Incidentally, the agency has been working in Gaya and Bhagalpur for the last two years.

Meanwhile, civic service in the main city is also likely to improve soon. PMC is planning to float tender within a week for handing over sanitation services in the city to a private agency, said a senior PMC official. Patna has been witnessing poor sanitary conditions ever since a private agency, A2Z Infrastructure, withdrew its services due to non-payment of its dues by PMC around six months ago.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/State-govt-releases-Rs-65cr-for-construction-of-police-buildings/articleshow/12255767.cms

State govt releases Rs 65cr for construction of police buildings

PATNA: State cabinet on Tuesday released Rs 65 crore for construction of police station buildings and residential quarters for policemen. A sum of Rs 30 crore was sanctioned for land acquisition for Police Lines in Madhepura.

The cabinet also gave its nod to the construction of four-storey building of police HQ on Bailey Road. It will house an auditorium as well as police offices.

Now compensation for damages to crops or houses and loss of human life due to wild animals will be given on the basis of the report of the circle officer alone. Earlier, such compensation was paid on the basis of reports from the circle officer and the divisional forest officer.

The cabinet also released Rs 13 crore each for construction of six residential schools for Tharus. It also released Rs 1.5 crore as the state's share in the central government-sponsored Valmiki Tiger Projet. It okayed the proposal to purchase of 215 new vehicles for circle officers.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Minister-vows-network-of-rural-roads-in-Bihar/articleshow/12249104.cms

Minister vows network of rural roads in Bihar


PATNA: The state government, with its own resources, has built 9,671km of roads by spending Rs 4,233 crore during the last six years. During the same period, 14,547km roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) were constructed at a cost of Rs 8,948 crore. Making this statement in the state assembly, rural works department (RWD) minister Bhim Singh said altogether 24,219km of roads were constructed in the state in the last six years.

Singh was replying to the debate on the budgetary demand of his department for Rs 2,096 crore, which was passed by voice vote rejecting the cut motion of CPI's Awadhesh Kumar Rai. Highlighting the working of his department, the minister said the RWD is constructing, on an average, 31.77km road per day and by January, 2012, it has constructed 4321km rural roads. "Under various schemes altogether 27,500km roads are being constructed," Singh said.

He said under the 'Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar' programme, about 680km roads and panchayat buildings are being constructed in 65 panchayats of eight Naxal-infested districts at a cost of Rs 297 crore. Singh said like other human development indexes, Bihar is backward in road connectivity. The national average per one lakh population is 323km road, while in Bihar it is only 126km.

The minister announced that by 2015 all habitats with a population of 500 would be connected with road and by 2017, all habitats with 250 people will get road connectivity.

Singh, who also holds the portfolio of panchayati raj department, whose budgetary demand for Rs 3,156 crore was also passed, said the gram panchayats and gram kutcheries were being strengthened and empowered. In each of the 8,542 gram panchayats, panchayat buildings will be constructed at a cost of Rs 61 lakh each. "Through the visionary principles of our government, dukhiya (oppressed class) has been made mukhiya," Singh said.

What is the quality of these roads? I feel government should not ignore this aspect.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Aurangabad-to-have-driving-school-under-PPP-mode/articleshow/12255823.cms

Aurangabad to have driving school under PPP mode

PATNA: State government is set to open a driving school in Aurangabad to train people to drive heavy vehicles.

Making this announcement in the state assembly here on Tuesday, transport minister Brishen Patel said the proposed driving school would be opened on PPP mode for which government has already earmarked 15 acres land in the district.

Replying to short notice question of Awanish Kumar Singh, the minister said a MoU would shortly be signed between state government and Maruti Suzuki. "There is a little hitch with the company on certain points. That will be sorted out and soon an agreement will be signed," Patel said. He said a sum of Rs 16 crore would be spent by the state government while another Rs 14 crore would be given by Centre on the project. He said a driving school in private sector is already in operation in the state however, there was none in the public sector. "The driving school in Aurangabad will be the first such school to be opened by the state government," hesaid. tnn

Along with a school for heavy vehicles, there should be a school to train people as bus drivers and also an institute of transport.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bonanza-for-fun-lovers/articleshow/12255937.cms

Bonanza for fun lovers

PATNA: Come May and evenings at Golghar, Mahendru Ghat and Gandhi Maidan in the city would become different. Similar will be the case with the archaeological site at Nalanda, Abhishek Pushkarni at Vaishali, Pandu Pokhar at Rajgir and Maya Sarovar at Bodh Gaya, [B][B]what with the Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) embarking on a project to start musical fountain shows at all these places and light and sound (LED and laser) shows projecting on water screen at five of these places.

Gandhi Maidan in Patna and archaeological site in Nalanda would not have LED and laser shows projected on water screen. "Developing a water screen is not possible at these places," said Navin Kumar, deputy general manager, BSTDC.

With this, tourists and other people will have beautiful evening hangouts. "Funds have been allotted for the project," Shailendra Kumar, general manager, BSTDC told TOI.

The shows would include a colourful musical fountain dancing on the rhythm of music and LED, laser and video projection on water screen based on the theme of telling the historical importance and background of that particular site.

The corporation plans to beautify these places and make seating arrangements there. Once this project is completed, the corporation has planned to introduce ticket system at these places. "Tickets would be nominal; this is just to regulate the entry," said Shailendra Kumar, adding, "This show would begin after sunset and would continue for around two hours everyday."

Tenders for setting up, operating and maintaining these shows for the next five years have already been awarded to three companies - BNA Technology (Bangalore), Premier World (Kolkata) and Wiz Craft (Mumbai). These companies have started work and they are developing various stories which would be finalized by the corporation after getting green signal from historians of the state. "We do not want any factual error," said Navin Kumar.

http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=102142


Compucom Software secures order worth Rs.46.71 Crores of ICT Education from Govt. of Bihar

Compucom Software Ltd. has been awarded an ICT project by Bihar State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd..-(BSEIDC) A Govt. of Bihar undertaking, to provide computer education on BOOT basis in 336 Govt. schools of Bihar. The contract value is worth Rs. 46.71 Crores approx. Today the Company has received Letter of Intent (LOT) in this regard from the Managing Director (BSEIDC).

Compucom Software Limited, a leading IT Education, E-Governance and IT Services provider, with this order, now has 6418 Govt. Schools under its umbrella across North India.

The Compucom Software Ltd stock was trading at Rs.12.55, up by Rs.0.10 or 0.80%. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.13.10 and low of Rs.12.

The total traded quantity was 1.36 lakhs compared to 2 week average of 0.55 lakhs.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/rs-1-lakh-compensation-to-kin-of-migrant-labourer/973901.html


Rs 1 lakh compensation to kin of migrant labourer
PTI | 10:03 PM,Mar 12,2012
Patna, Mar 12 (PTI) The Bihar government will pay a compensation of Rs one lakh to the next of kin of any migrant labourer of the unorganised sector if he dies in an accident and Rs 75000 to those suffering complete disability, state Labour Minister Janardan Singh 'Sigriwal' said. A migrant labourer suffering partial disability will be given a compensation of Rs. 37,500, he said in a 'guillotine' speech on the labour department's budget in the legislative assembly. The kin of 88 labourers were awarded Rs one lakh compensation each in 2011-12 following death of these laboureres in accidents, he said, adding the labour department has set a target of 150 families for benefit under the scheme in 2012-13. The Labour minister said that the state government has constituted a Labour Welfare Board to register the name of those labourers from Bihar migrating outside for work so as to make them and their families eligible for various welfare schemes. He said that a training programme was being run to hone the skills of the labourers by the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and its units have been set up in all districts to make them eligible to earn minimum-fixed remuneration. It has been proposed to set up 400 private ITIs and 105 ITIs on the PPP mode in Bihar to develop skills of the labourers to make them worthy for skilled jobs, Sigriwal said. He said that the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre in 2010 for setting up 205 ITIs and 2245 skill development centres in Bihar, but no action has been taken by the Centre.

Why only ITIs? More than ITIs, they need to set up engineering/medical/dental/law/vet etc colleges on PPP basis.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120314/jsp/bihar/story_15245579.jsp

Warehouse bid for better drug deals

Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd has invited bids to start a centralised drug procurement and distribution system. The corporation has also zeroed in on a temporary warehouse to stock medicines before being despatched to districts and medical colleges.

Officials in the Bihar State Health Society said the bids to purchase medicines for supply to the state government hospitals were invited around two weeks ago. The warehouse selected belongs to a state co-operative society in Masaurhi, around 40km from Patna.

Till a permanent warehouse is constructed, the medicines procured through the centralised system will be stored in Masaurhi before despatch. “The warehouse is spread across 50,000sqft. It has been finalised till we come up with a permanent construction,” said a senior State Health Society, Bihar officer.

The corporation, a non-profit organisation under the Companies Act, 1956, will be responsible for the procurement of quality drugs, equipment, service and works for the department of health and family welfare. It has adopted the centralised drug procurement system and would follow the Tamil Nadu model, where medicines are stored at a state-level warehouse.

The essential drugs, after being procured by the corporation from enlisted agencies, will be distributed to hospitals according to their requirement. The corporation is also planning to introduce a hi-tech drug infantry management system, which will enable the department to deal with shortage of medicine stock, and encourage better co-ordination between different districts.

The state provides free medicines for most common ailments to outdoor and indoor patients at all government health facilities. While at present, the availability of medicines in the hospitals is supply-oriented, the new system promises to make it demanded-oriented, making it more effective.

“Efforts to streamline the drug procurement and distribution had been made though rate contracting and cash and carry system. Through this, civil surgeons in all 38 districts and superintendents in medical colleges were authorised to buy about 223 medicines from 44 drug agencies at pre-approved rates. But now, the corporation will take over the job,” the Bihar State Health Society officer said.

State Health Society, Bihar fixed a limit to buy medicines at a particular rate. Once they are delivered, the payment is made. The officer added: “The corporation’s primary aim would be to procure and ensure provision of quality drugs, equipment, services and works in right quantities in a timely manner and at the most optimal rates. This would ensure the provision of value-for-money services in a transparent and equitable manner to the people of Bihar and improve the performance of the healthcare system through systematic improvements in the quality, effectiveness and coverage of health services through proper infrastructure.”

Drug purchase deals and distribution system in the state has drawn severe flak recently, as large-scale irregularities were reported from various districts. In many cases, civil surgeons at the district-level allegedly bought drugs at high rates and from sub-standard medicine agencies, not enlisted with the department. Short-expiry medicines have also been bought, causing heavy loss to the state exchequer.

http://telegraphindia.com/1120315/jsp/bihar/story_15252939.jsp

Swimming pool site near sports complex

Sports enthusiasts have a reason to cheer about. The city would soon have a state-of-the-art pool near Patliputra Sports Complex for organising swimming competitions. A swanky gymnasium is also on the cards.

Standoff over land between Bihar State Housing Board (BSHB) and the department of art, culture and youth affairs over, both the facilities would come up on a four-acre plot on the western side of the recently inaugurated sports complex.

After a high-level meeting on Tuesday, the BSHB agreed to transfer the land to the department of art, culture and youth affairs for developing the swimming pool and the gymnasium. Both the facilities would be attached to the existing spo- rts complex.

Anjani Kumar Singh, the principal secretary of the state education department, who also holds the additio- nal charge of the department of art, culture and youth affairs, told The Telegraph: “The BSHB would hand over the four acres of land beside Patliputra Sports Complex to the department of art, culture and youth affairs. Subsequently, the BSHB would send a proposal to the state cabinet seeking corresponding compensation for transferring the land to the youth affairs department. Thereafter, the youth affairs department would develop a swimming pool and gymnasium over the land.”

The department of art, culture and youth affairs officials are upbeat over the decision of land transfer. “The pool will be a boost to budding swimmers.

It will also help promote swimming in the state capital. Similar to the development of sports complex, the proposed swimming pool and gymnasium would also be developed according to the international standards,” said a senior official of the department of art, culture and youth affairs.

According to the department of art, culture and youth affairs sources, the detailed project report of the 50-yard swimming pool has already been prepared by the state building construction department.

The design and the regular operation of the proposed swimming pool would be done according to the guidelines of Swimming Federation of India.

The Telegraph in its July 5, 2011 edition had reported about the “standoff” between the department of art, culture and youth affairs and the BSHB on the issue of transfer of the land.

I heard about this pool 3 years back. Now only they have started work on it? :ohno::bash:

http://telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html[/B

[B]Roadmap to put state on fast track

Patna, March 13: Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav today announced in the Assembly that 24 of the Bihar’s 38 districts, including Patna, would be connected by four-lane roads in the next four to five years.

“Besides, the state will have four-lane roads emanating from Patna in all the four directions. The driveway along the Ganga will also be completed during the period,” the minister said amid a walkout by RJD members, led by the Leader of the Opposition, Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

The RJD leader led the walkout accusing the government of “spending more and working less”.

Replying to a debate on the budgetary demand for his department, Nand Kishore said his department has played a key role in changing the face of Bihar by building a plethora of roads and bridges all across the state.

The minister added that the bridge construction corporation, which was “lying dead prior to the Nitish Kumar led National Democratic Alliance government taking over in 2005”, has built as many as 936 bridges on the rivers across the state in six years.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has awarded the bridge construction corporation of the state for its exemplary work,” Nand Kishore said, adding, “The accolades from the Prime Minister, who belongs to a different political formation, is the testimony to the fact that we are working diligently.”

Countering the Opposition’s charge that no investment was trickling in the state, the minister said the road sector alone had fetched an investment of Rs 5,000 crore under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. “The government has already given its nod to the construction of another Rs 1502-crore maha-setu (mega bridge) on the Ganga from Bakhtiyarpur to Tajpur. Similarly, the Rs 970-crore Ara-Mohania highway is coming up under the PPP mode.”

Nandkishore said his department had ensured total transparency, brooking no nonsense in the work ethics. “We have barred 90 contractors and have blacklisted 36 ones after finding they were not doing the things in desired manner. Gone are the days for corrupt and inefficient contractors and officials,” he added.

The minister blamed the Centre for the ill health of the national highways in Bihar. “We are not satisfied with the upkeep of the national highways passing through the state. We have asked the Centre to de-notify National Highway 101 and National Highway 103 so that the state government could take them over and maintain them,” he added.

Nandkishore said Bihar had only 2,109km of national highways when the NDA took over the reigns of the state.

“Today, we have as much as 4,857km of the state highways. The length of the state highways is more than double only in six years of the NDA rule in the state,” he said, adding that three to four new bridges each were in the making on the Ganga, Sone, Gandak, Kosi and other rivers in the state. He said these bridges would be completed within the four to five years.

What about the other 14? Having said that, its good to see the big thinking of Bihar government if it is indeed true. Leapfrogging backwardness means that Bihar has to do very big initiatives. Also, since Bihar is starting from scratch in virtually everything they can adopt latest technologies from the start itself. Particularly in road and building construction, the Gulf and SE Asia are doing massive construction very quickly. The government needs to look into adopting those methods so that construction can happen fast.

Adopting new methods and doing things on a massive scale are both essential for the development backlog to be eradicated quickly. Currently, construction goes on too slowly.

Also while there is a lot of hype about various things, the actual ground reality seems less encouraging.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Patna-museum-gears-up-for-a-facelift/articleshow/12270521.cms

Patna museum gears up for a facelift

PATNA: In view of centenary celebrations of the state, Patna Museum has also geared up for a facelift. Its authorities have engaged a team of artists to prepare replicas of some of the most significant monuments of the state, including Golghar, Nalanda excavation site, Ashokan pillar, Buddha head, Mauryan pillar and Barabar caves, inside the museum premises.

"The replicas will be ready for display by March 22," said Sanyasi Red, a famous artist of the state, who is busy in making the replicas with his team of five junior artists since February 3.

Museum authorities have also planned to develop an eco-garden on the museum campus by the end of this month. "After this we will not allow vehicles to enter the museum premises, so as to keep the environment eco-friendly. Besides, we will also change the present high-voltage lights in the museum premises with LED lights that are cooler and require less energy. Besides, more solar lights will be installed to reduce energy consumption," Jai Prakash Narayan Singh, additional director of the Patna museum, told TOI.

Meanwhile, centenary exhibition on the museum campus that began on February 17, would conclude on March 31. Through the medium of photographs, stamps, graphics, maps and collected information, this exhibition is showcasing the contribution of Bihar to the culture, art, politics, traditions and literature of the country in the last hundred years.

"We have also decided to take this exhibition to other districts' museums of the state and also add some local flavour by giving information about the local history of that particular district," said Singh.

After Patna, this exhibition will shift to Begusarai.

The museum will be illuminated with blue lights during centenary celebration of the state. Museum authorities are also organizing a lecture on 'Bihar's contribution in last hundred years in changing the archaeology and history of the country' and 'Gandhi and Bihar' on March 25. From March 22 to 24, museum authorities will distribute sweets among visitors.

Thanks for the updates and articles that you have posted , puts the Bihar growth story into perspective.

Zenith suv, when we talk of Bihar growth story lets not get fooled by media hype. Roads are being built but the quality of roads often is not that great. Law and order is slowly worsening again. No mega of power has been added at all in 6 years, no decent public transport system at all, only few colleges mostly because of centre have come up. Hardly any new industries have entered the state and healthcare remains very bad. Except for roads and law and order, there isn't huge change anywhere else really. However, the problem is not with the CM alone.

While the CM himself is a person who seems to want development of Bihar, the other Ministers are not doing their job well. Many of them honestly don't seem too competent at all. Also, while some of the IAS/BPSC officers are good, the rest have the same intractible attitude as before. So while the image of Bihar has changed, I feel the ground reality hasn't not kept pace with it. AIIMS/CU/IIT are all central government inititatives. On the other hand, only CNLU/CIMP have been started by the Bihar Government. In over 6 years, two colleges is very poor to say these least. Power generation has remained where it was though they are trying to set up new plants.

Finally, investment won't come into Bihar unless there is basic infrastructure. Bihar is a landlocked state so manufacturing for exports is difficult because you need to be able move goods across long distances to ports. Right now the state is too poor to be a big market for goods on its own. By building up good roads, at least goods and people can travel easily across the state boosting commerce. If you manufacture, you need to able to get your product to the warehouse quickly. For that aviation facilities also need to be developed in terms of developing airstrips in Bhagalpur/Bodh Gaya/Nalanda and developing Patna airport itself. Bihar is producing a huge amount of potatoes, 3rd highest currently in India, but food processing industry isn't there to exploit it. First you need good roads to transport produce, then industrial estates need reliable electricity and water and then trained manpower is the last challenge. Bihar doesn't have minerals, ports, vibrant higher education sector, pool of skilled manpower is all outside mostly, electricity supply is irregular, there is no city that can be attractive to people from other states/cities. Jaipur and Lucknow are better than Bihar. So if we talk about investment what sort of investments can come?

1. Food processing because of fertile soil.
2. Tourism given Bodh Gaya/Rajgir/Nalanda/Vaishali
3. Higher education-as thousands of Bihari students study outside
4. Healthcare-as people from Bihar go outside for medical treatment
5. Basic infra-power, water, roads, courts, police stations etc-particularly government related infrastructure

The Government of Bihar has very little to build on. How they are going to build Bihar is a daunting challenge and I am hopeful but sceptical too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Adventure-sports-centre-to-come-up-at-Rajgir/articleshow/12295604.cms

Adventure sports centre to come up at Rajgir


PATNA: Bihar government will set up an adventure sports academy near Ghoda Katora Lake in the lap of Panch Pahari at Rajgir in Nalanda district.

Inaugurating the first Youth Adventure Sports Festival at Bihar Veterinary College ground here on Friday, chief minister Nitish Kumar invited Santosh Yadav, the world's first female mountaineer to scale Mount Everest twice within a year in 1992-93, to set up the academy which would also promote tourism in Bihar. He said Bihar has many places in Rohtas, Gaya and Munger as also Mandar Hills in Banka where tourism could be boosted through adventure sports. The state government would provide all resources, facilities and scholarship to students of government schools for participating in adventure sports, the CM said.

Santosh, who is married to a businessman from Chowk Bazar in Munger, accepted Kumar's offer to set up the academy at Rajgir. She also asked the CM to send schoolchildren to her Everest Foundation at Manali to learn the ropes of adventure sports. Santosh told TOI that she would also develop centres of adventure sports at Mandar Hills and Munger after setting up an academy at Rajgir.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 students have registered for participating in parasailing, rock climbing and adventure photography exhibition in the next two days besides relay cycle run on Sunday. It will be a kind of learning experience for the participants.

Meanwhile, Captain Naveen Rao demonstrated the art of paramotoring by flying up to 500 feet high on a vehicle comprising a glider, trike, engine and a propeller. Captain Mahatva Anand said the glider was made in Israel, trike in France and the 230cc engine in Italy. Only the propeller was made in India, he said.

Explaining the art of parasailing, two pilots from Gurgaon said a canopy is attached to a jeep. As it moves forward, the parasailor is hoisted in the sky. He attains a height of 300 to 400 feet depending on the wind and weight of the passenger, they explained.

Other prominent dignitaries present on the occasion were art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey, food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak, tourism minister Sunil Kumar Pintu, rural development minister Nitish Mishra and DGP Abhyanand.

I wonder why the Government does not look into the construction of a Bihar Academic City?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Revenue-land-reforms-budget-passed-sans-cuts/articleshow/12295650.cms

Revenue & land reforms budget passed sans cuts

PATNA: Bihar legislative assembly on Friday passed the Rs 491-crore budget of the department of revenue and land reforms with voice vote rejecting the cut motion of RJD member Ram Lashan Ram Raman who stressed on strict implementation of the existing laws for bringing about land reforms.

Placing the budget demand, minister for law, planning and development, Narendra Narain Yadav said that under the provisions of Bihar Land Disputes Resolution Act, 2010, 16,022 land disputes were solved by the deputy collectors land reforms (DCLRs).

He said that a Land Tribunal headed by a retired high court judge with a member (law) and member (administration) has been set up for expediting the hearing of land dispute cases and easing pressure on the Patna high court. He said that in a bid to intensify the efforts for completing survey of land holdings in the entire state in three years and for consolidation of land holdings in the next five years, process is on to enact a law.

He said the law was clear to give ownership certificate with mutation paper to every applicant in 21 days. He said out of 4.35 lakh cases of land ownership, 4.11 lakh cases had been disposed of. He said that homestead land parchas were being given to the woman member of landless families under the policy of women empowerment.

Leader of the opposition, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, said tea plantations in Kishanganj district, allegedly on a good chunk of Bhoodan land, must be checked.

Moving his cut motion, Ram Lashan Ram Raman said that big land owners continued to occupy 70% of Bhoodan land. In Araria, a major part of ryoti land was occupied by landed people.

Yadav gave figures to underscore that mahadalits, the landless among scheduled castes and backwards under annexure I and II were being given three dismals of land each. Yadav said that for giving effect to land survey work in the state, one 'Halka' employee would be posted in every panchayat. He said 4,418 posts of 'Halka' employee had already been created and out of this, 2,345 posts had been advertised. Besides, 170 assistant consolidation officers had been selected by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and advertisement for appointment of 312 amins has been issued, he said. The minister said that 75% of circle inspectors would be appointed through promotion and 25% directly.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/bihar-to-become-power-surplus-by-2016-17-says-minister/articleshow/12308011.cms

Bihar to become power surplus by 2016-17, says minister

PATNA: Bihar would become a power surplus state by 2016-17 upon completion of the projects with a capacity to generate 8200 MW, Power Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav told the assembly.

By 2015-16 the power projects at Dagmara, Farakka, Katwa and Talcher-Stage 2 would start production which will be in addition to the present central quota of power to Bihar, Yadav said while replying to a debate on the budget of the power department.

Besides, the state government has signed an agreement with private power companies for purchase of 1000 MW from 2014 to meet domestic demands, Yadav said, adding that the Bihar State Electricity Board ( BSEB) has been given Rs 3400 crores to purchase power from private sources.

The state has been reeling under power crisis for the past several years and the NDA government has undertaken expansion of power generation plants and purchased power from open market to to tide over the problem, he said.

Yadav flayed the preceding state governments since 1977 for not setting up a single power plant and charged the Centre with supplying only 800 to 900 MW of power out of the state's quota of 1772 MW from the central pool.

For rural electrification, he said, power sub-station would be set up at block level while an agreement has been signed with the power grid to strengthen transmission infrastructure to provide power to the farmers for irrigation.

The power minister said a Detailed Project Report has been sent to the Centre for laying 63KV and 100 KV transformers in the villages of 20 districts under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana of which consent has been granted in 11 districts.

If these projects come up, well and good. What about revamping the distribution and transmission system, curbing power theft, setting up institutes to train linesman, engineers proper offices for BSEB employees, staff quarters and so on?

Not driven by Government but nonetheless much needed.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Souzas-sketches-on-sale-to-fund-Musahar-kids-education/articleshow/12300034.cms

Souza's sketches on sale to fund Musahar kids' education


PATNA: As many as 50 sketches by an Indian artist, the late Francis Newton Souza, are up for sale in New Delhi to raise funds for Bihar's impoverished Musahar (rat eater) community.

The earnings from the sketches, costing Rs 3-4 lakh each, will be donated to a school run by Patna-based NGO, Shoshit Samaj Sangh (SSS), by the owner of these paintings, a noted art critic, K B Goel. SSS founder and an ex-IPS officer J K Sinha is running this school for Musahar children in the city.

Sinha said that the school which started with just four Musahar children in 2007 now teaches 287 children from the community in different parts of the state. Former president A P J Kalam had lauded the efforts of Sinha in establishing such a school for Musahars during his visit to the school in November last.

These sketches are up for sale to raise funds for the community following a preview of these 50 sketches by a artists' group at a posh hotel in New Delhi on Wednesday evening.

"We aim to raise money to build a residential school with all modern facilities. We have planned to create infrastructure for 500 children in the first phase though our objective is to accommodate at least 1,000 Musahar children in the school," Sinha told TOI over phone on Friday.

"The impoverished Musahar community in Bihar can now hope for a better future. For long, the community has lived below the poverty line with no skill to earn a livelihood," he said.

Their children are now becoming literate. They have started speaking in English and are developing a strong value system.

The NGO has been functioning from a rented place for the past five years, and is now making efforts to have a campus of its own. Though it has already bought two-acre land in the city for Rs 2.5 crore, the residential building will cost Rs 7 crore more, Sinha said.

This former IPS officer took up the challenge to educate Musahar children so that they can act as catalysts of change in the coming years.

"Musahars usually work as landless agricultural labourers. The literacy rate is less than three percent. There are four million Musahars in Bihar. They live in ghettoes outside villages as they are not allowed to reside in the areas where other communities live," Sinha said.

"We faced resistance initially, but things changed as the word spread. Now, hundreds of parents turn up for admission of their children," he said.

Such complexes are also needed for similar backward sections of society.

http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?programId=1073754900&contentId=11235695

Hard lessons
By Rabi Banerjee/Nalanda
Story Dated: Saturday, March 17, 2012 12:7 hrs IST
Nitish acquired land from farmers for Nalanda university without trouble; he hasn’t returned the favour

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Sanjay Paswan is trying to get a government job. A graduate in Hindi literature, he regularly appears for tests. But he might not get a government job because he has a criminal case against him.

The case against Sanjay, 32, is serious. He allegedly threw stones at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar three years ago when he was getting off a chopper with economist Amartya Sen and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at a helipad in Nalanda. They were there to oversee preparations for the revival of the ancient Nalanda university. Sen and Kalam were the mentors of the proposed university, a dream project of the chief minister.
Sanjay was working as a construction labourer at the helipad. He and 17 other workers from the locality allegedly joined a group of people who threw stones at the chief minister when he landed on the property demarcated for the university. “The government snatched the land from us. They did not even pay the compensation we deserved,” said Sanjay.

Around 550 acres of fertile land was acquired from farmers, allege the villagers, against their wish. Each cottah of land (about 60 cottahs make an acre) was acquired at 110,000 on an average. The land transactions, however, have been stopped, as prices skyrocketed in the area. Now it is estimated to be around 150,000 a cottah, leaving the poor villagers who gave the land earlier in huge loss.
These people, ironically, appreciate what Nitish is doing in Bihar. Sanjay said he threw stones at Nitish on the spur of the moment. “I could not control myself when I saw the chief minister celebrating after kicking us in our belly,” he said. Ten cottahs of his land was acquired for the project. “Let us live without land. At least our state will change,” he said.
Soon after the incident the police raided many houses and arrested people who took part in the agitation. Sanjay was in jail for six months. He has pleaded to the chief minister to withdraw the case.
The project has left thousands of farmers in the five villages of Nalanda in a mess. Many have lost their land, their only source of income; some have lost their houses; schools had to be shifted; and burial grounds have disappeared. “We have heard that our region used to be a rich learning centre. We have to get our pride back. For that we are ready to do the sacrifice,” said Surendra Shaw, who lost his 20 cottahs of farmland to the acquisition. “I used to get three harvests a year,” he said. He will soon move out of his house and grocery shop.
Surendra got 12 lakh for the 20 cottahs, and 13 lakh as compensation for the house. At the current market price, he will not be able to buy anything worthwhile with the money. “My three sons have left the village to work as carpenters. I don't know how I would run my big family and buy a house with this amount,” he said.
Nalanda District Magistrate Sanjay Agarwal admitted that land prices were soaring in the region. But, he said, the government had paid the compensation according to the rules. “The fact is, after this phase of acquisition the compensation rate has been increased by the government manifold because of the sudden spurt of land prices in Nalanda. So in the next phase of acquisition the villagers would get better compensation,” he told THE WEEK.

Interestingly, the land acquisition in Nalanda was done around the same time the agitations against land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal shook the nation. The villagers said they could have raised their voice like the Bengal farmers but they chose not to. “It was easy for us to join the bandwagon. But we chose not to go the Bengal way as we thought Bihar would lose a great opportunity,” said Shivshankar Paswan, 40, a farmer. “It is true that none of us has given land wholeheartedly. But we did not have any violent protest.”

Though the villagers seem excited about regaining Nalanda's lost glory and the promised economic boom, most of them do not have any idea about the ancient Nalanda university. “To be honest, I have no idea what was taught there or who built it. But I have heard that if this project shapes up, hundreds of people would come and stay here. Many other institutions would also come up. We will have jobs,” said Shivshankar.
The project, in fact, could be a game changer. It is getting millions of dollars of funding from around the world. China has already invested $1 million. The proposed university, which is located about 8km from the ancient university site (where the Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed the ruins of the university and a monastery), will have centres for Buddhist studies, philosophy, comparative religion, history, international relations and peace studies. The university will also offer modern courses such as business management, public policy and development studies, environment and information technology.

A mentor group headed by Sen has created a roadmap for the institution. Though the disagreement among the mentors was apparent when Kalam opted out of the committee citing the absence of space science and nuclear science in the curriculum, the work is already underway. Expressions of interests have been sought from many agencies for the proposed design of the university and the progress is being directly monitored by the ministry of external affairs. “We are all set to begin our academic session in two years,” said Gopa Sabharwal, vice-chancellor of the university.

Nitish has been showing keen interest in the project from the beginning. “The chief minister arranged funds for it and invited foreign investment. But as foreign countries have decided to pour in big amounts, he decided to hand over the entire project to the Central government, as it has agencies to deal with the foreign funds. However, it remains his dream project,” said Agarwal. Though he denied that the state government wanted a say in building the university and deciding the curriculum, the authorities addressed Nitish's concerns at every step, especially after he successfully acquired the land.
To make his intentions clear, Nitish asked the administration to create awareness among the people of Nalanda in advance. The district magistrate camped in the area and the villagers were taught about the project. “Despite having no knowledge of the ancient Nalanda, the villagers could understand the importance of the project and how it could change their lives,” said a government official.
It helped. The Communist Party of India and the Rashtriya Janata Dal tried to incite the farmers against the project. But the villagers shied away from them. “We thwarted all such plans to damage the project. It is true that the government cheated us by paying very little compensation. But we never allowed political parties to agitate,” said Shyam Sunder Paswan of Pilkhi village.
Nitish visited Nalanda several times and met the villagers. He called the disgruntled villagers to the secretariat in batches and convinced them about the land acquisition. “Initially, some of us tried to create a committee against the land acquisition. But that committee was wound up as most of the farmers took compensation cheques,” said Shyam Sunder, who sold 13 cottahs for 18,000 each.
Agarwal admitted that without villagers' support the land acquisition could have been difficult. “It was remarkable that despite land protests across the country, we could do it in Bihar,” he said.
But it seems the goodwill has not been returned. Around 5,000 people have lost jobs because of the land acquisition. The youth have to go to other places for work. And, there is the looming threat of more acquisitions. But the government said it was just a matter of time that these people got jobs in Nalanda.
A medical college, five-stars hotels, engineering colleges, management institutes and English medium schools are coming up in Nalanda and the nearby tourist spot Rajgir. Roads are being widened and an airstrip is being built. All these, said Agarwal, would require huge manpower. So people would have to come back to join the development process.
But such promises are of no consolation for people like Surendra. “Could not the government show us some mercy by giving alternative land for housing at a low price?” he asked. He invited us for tea, saying with tears in his eyes: “You would be my last guests in this house.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Agro roadmap on final lap

The state’s agriculture cabinet on Friday gave its final approval to the ambitious “agriculture roadmap” worth Rs 1.52 lakh crore for bringing out a rainbow revolution in the state in next five years.

“The agriculture cabinet gave a final shape to the agriculture roadmap after incorporating the views of farmers and the members of the state legislatures. The roadmap would be implemented from April this year. Total Rs 1,52,511 crore would be spent on different sectors over a period of five years,” a top government functionary said.

The funds sanctioned would be spent over a period of for five years from 2012-13 to 2016-17 on various heads, including agriculture production, energy, rural works, cooperatives, water resources, minor irrigation, food processing and enhancement of foodgrain storage capacity.

Setting a target of almost doubling the foodgrain production in the next five years, the agriculture cabinet decided to put a special thrust on the agriculture education right from the high school-level.

In the 2012-13 fiscal, the state government has decided to allot more than Rs 1,200 crore for agriculture in the budget and invest more than Rs 10,000 crore in the sector and its allied fields

Bihar is the first and the only state to have an agriculture cabinet comprising 18 departments. It would continue to have its regular meeting at the interval of three months even after the roadmap is implemented because its job would be to monitor the progress of the implementation of the roadmap, sources said, adding that the final roadmap would be sent to the state cabinet for its final approval.

The first roadmap for agriculture sector was chalked out in 2008 and its period would be coming to an end in March 2012. Some of the major achievements made after formulation of the first roadmap are implementation of accelerated seed extension programme, increase in plan expenditure for agriculture sector, promotion of horticulture and organic farming.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Bihar’s five-year aim for power stability

Patna, March 17: Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yad-av today unveiled his government’s plan to generate 8,200MW on its own and make power-starved Bihar a power-sufficient state by 2016-17.

“We are making serious efforts to put the state on the fast track of development in the energy sector,” he said.

Replying to a debate in the Assembly on the energy department’s budgetary demand of more than Rs 4,200 crore, Yadav said: “The state government is taking every possible step to augment the generation, transmission and distribution capacities. Bihar’s power generation would be around 8,200MW by 2016-17. This would bring the state into the league of power-surplus states.”

The state government is heavily dependent on the central sector allocation of 1,772MW to meet its requirement of 2,500MW, he said.

The Assembly passed the energy department’s budgetary demand for Rs 4,200 crore for 2012-13 by a voice vote amid boycott by the opposition RJD, led by its leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who said the government has failed to give reply as how it plans to check electricity theft and replace burnt transformers.

The state, which is getting barely 800-900MW from the Centre, against the scheduled allocation of 1,772MW, started purchasing 500MW from the open market under short- and medium-term plans.

The government has signed power purchase agreements with power companies that would supply 1,000MW, the minister said, adding that the supply of 1,000MW under long-term agreement plan would start from July 2014 for the next 25 years.

“The government is also making serious efforts to strengthen its own power generation and for which it has taken up umpteen power projects both on its own and under joint venture with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC),” he said.

“Work is going on for the 2,000MW Nabinagar power project that is being developed in a joint venture with NTPC and would be commissioned by the end of 2015-16. Work on each of two power projects in Muzaffarpur (195X2) and Barauni (250X2) would be completed by 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively. Besides, a number of agreements have been signed with other companies for supply of power to the state,” he added.

Renovation and modernisation work for two each of 110MW plants in Muzaffarpur and Barauni was on, Yadav said, adding that Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd, the only company that manufactures power equipment, has pledged to ready all the four units of 110MW between 2012 and 2013.

The minister announced setting up of a joint venture company with Power Grid Corporation of India to stren-gthen the transmission system over a period of 25 years.

Nice updates Cosmic :cheers: you keep this thread alive.

Some more news on the power surplus by 2016:


‘State to have surplus power by 2015-16’

PATNA: Bihar energy minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav on Saturday informed the state legislative assembly the state would supply 4,000MW power to other states by 2015-16 as it would have 8,200MW by then. He was replying to a debate on a cut motion on the energy department's budgetary demand of over Rs 4,261 crore for 2012-13.

The cut motion, initiated by Jitendra Rai (RJD), was later defeated amid walkout by RJD members. The minister said the power scenario remained grim in the state for years because successive governments since 1977 did not make any move to bring in investments in power sector. The Centre allocates just 1,772MW to the state against the requirement of 2,500MW.

But the state actually gets only 800-900MW. He said the Barauni thermal power station was set up with the capacity to generate 110MW in 1960s. Such a low-capacity unit was not set up anywhere in the country and, as such, the state faced difficulty in getting spares for its renovation work. Now BHEL has agreed to do the renovation work during the next fiscal year.

He said work on the Nabinagar thermal power station project is on. It will generate 2,000MW by 2015-16. Further, two units of 600MW each will be set up in Motihari and Darbhanga. The Barh thermal power station will become operational by 2013, Yadavsaid.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/State-to-have-surplus-power-by-2015-16/articleshow/12311479.cms

Speaking of this power surplus thing, My aunt went to stay in Patna for a few months (3 or 4 cant remember), and she 'claims' that there were only three major (more than 1hr) power cut during her stay. A great achievement if you ask me, then again it is the winter, and the capital city...

JAMALPUR: Being associated with history is much easier than carrying the legacy forward. The Railway Ecological Golf Club (REGC), which is part of only a handful of British-built golf courses in the country, here in Bihar recently celebrated its 100 years with much aplomb despite having faced numerous problems in the past.

The REGC hosted a three-day tournament from February 24 to 26 as part of its centenary celebrations. With limited revenue for maintenance, the Indian Railways had given a cold shoulder to the facility but their interest in golf was rekindled last year as they set the course on a renovation mode.

Dating back to 1912, the course was built for recreational purposes as a nine-hole affair by the British -- with the town being one of its oldest Railway colonies --until 1998 when its expansion began. Only the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (1829), Bangalore Golf Club (1876) and Madras Gymkhana Club (1886) are older than this one and prominently associated with the Britishers, barring the ones built under the aegis of the Indian Army.

Surrounded by a lake on one side and the Rajmahal hills on the other, the course paints a beautiful picture to passers-by and golf enthusiasts alike. The revamp was a difficult task especially with parts of the course being used by kids of Railwaymen as a playground for different sports.

So, the REGC management started by fencing off the entire area and slowly adding more holes in their pusuit to turn it into a 18-hole championship course. The course, initially known as Central Institute Golf Club, was re-christened REGC in 2005 to garner more publicity for the Railways.

"When we have such a good facility with us why should we not take proper care of it? There used to be only nine holes so many people were not much attracted to it. So we expanded it to 18 holes, though it took good amount of time.

"We have already planted more than 5,000 trees in the past year and will add more in the coming months to lend it a more green look. We are also in the process of planting better quality grass," REGC president Animesh Kumar Sinha told TOI.

The course does look very attractive but much work remains to be done like landscaping, deepening of the bunkers, installation more lamp posts, construction of a water reservoir (capacity 6 lakh litres) for irrigation and construction of 2-3 ponds that will help in waterharvesting and also act as 'hazards'.

The clubhouse has already been revamped and Sinha has plans to add a pool table, table tennis table and a kids zone to make it more attractive for the family members of the golfers. Sinha says the par-70 5258-yard course will be totally ready by next year and then the REGC would approach the Indian Golf Union (IGU) to let them host bigger amateur events.

"We used to host 8-10 events till 1998 but in the last decade or so we have added 5-6 tournaments despite having no big corporate backing - besides the ITC - which is huge for a small town like ours. Jamalpur Open (since 1972) and Oscar Open are our prominent championships. The renovation work is likely to be completed by the end of 2013 and then we will ask the IGU to give us bigger events to stage," maintains Sinha.

He also works as the chief works manager for the Jamalpur workshop. The longest running tournaments at the REGC were instituted by the British - the Monsoon Cup in 1912 and the Jamalpur Golf Trophy in 1913 presented by B. Sinclair Wedderburn. Interestingly, both the inaugural editions were won by one G.Wilson. Both the trophies are part of the REGC memorabilia with the latter made of silver, having an uncanny resemblance with the Claret Jug awarded to the winner of the British Open.

There are also some lawn bowling trophies in REGC's possession, that suggests a large following of the sport in the British era. The REGC also has plans to popularise the game among school kids by conducting training camps and awarding golf sets to promising youngsters. "We already have 100 members (80 from Railways, 20 private). But the kids don't identify themselves with the sport so we will hold week-long training camps twice or thrice annually to help them pick up the sport. RCGC trainer Inderjit Bhalotia and pros like Mohd Islam have already given their consent for that," says seven-handicapper Sinha.

Only time will tell whether such grand plans are executed or not but in any which way history would have already repeated itself by then.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Century-old-golf-course-gets-a-facelift/articleshow/12323709.cms

Nice updates Cosmic :cheers: you keep this thread alive.

Some more news on the power surplus by 2016:


‘State to have surplus power by 2015-16’


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/State-to-have-surplus-power-by-2015-16/articleshow/12311479.cms

Speaking of this power surplus thing, My aunt went to stay in Patna for a few months (3 or 4 cant remember), and she 'claims' that there were only three major (more than 1hr) power cut during her stay. A great achievement if you ask me, then again it is the winter, and the capital city...

Rest of Bihar power situation is very very bad. Industry is not coming at all.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120319/jsp/bihar/story_15265378.jsp

Luxury fleets come to summer rescue

PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

This summer, Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) has the coolest gift for its commuters travelling to districts and Jharkhand.

The BSRTC will start operating luxury buses on five new routes, including Patna-Madhubani and Patna-Valmiki Tiger Reserve, from the last week of March.
Apart from inter-district services, the buses would also ply to a few places in neighbouring Jharkhand.
The good news is that the buses on Patna-Motihari and the Patna-Purnea routes, which are in addition to the five new stretches, have started plying from the last week. The buses are in addition to the nine fleets already operating on Patna-Jamshedpur and Patna-Ranchi routes.

According to sources, Hyderabad-based Girish Infrastructure has delivered 22 luxury buses to BSRTC. Chief minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the first fleet of nine Mercedes and two Volvo buses on December 10 last year from Sultan Palace in Patna. Besides, nine more buses arrived at Sultan Palace in the last week of February this year.

Commuters are upbeat with the luxury coaches, more because of its “reasonable” fares. “I believe the fares of the BSRTC luxury buses are cheaper than the charges one has to pay for such vehicles in other parts of the country. Moreover, facilities like live TV, global positioning system and Wi-Fi are not available in the luxury buses run by the state transport of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra,” said Rohit Singh, a frequent commuter on the Patna-Jamshedpur route.

The operator, Girish Infrastructure, has stated that 30,000 passengers have travelled in these swanky buses in the past three months.

“Most people are travelling in AC luxury buses for the first time. Moreover, facilities like Wi-Fi, live TV and LCD screens add to the comfort level of our passengers. With the rise in temperature, we are expecting better response in the next few months,” said a senior official with Girish Infrastructure.

PPP is fine. But BSRTC needs to build up its own resources. It needs to own its buses, depots, fleets, eateries etc on the lines of KSRTC. Just as BRPNNL and BHPC have been turned around, so too BSRTC needs to be turned around.

There should be these goals:
1. AC buses from Patna to every district+key inter-state routes
2. Ordinary buses to every district from Patna
3. Buses to every taluk
4. Buses to every gram panchayat
5. Developed terminals down to taluk/village level.
6. Drivers training institute/accomadation for employees
7. Usage of GPS technology to track buses.

Others are welcome to add their suggestions.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111215/jsp/bihar/story_14881329.jsp

Inter-state luxury bus service scores over trains
- Swanky vehicles instant hit among people for comfort and speed at competitive prices

Patna, Dec. 14: The inter-state luxury coach bus service launched by Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) on Patna-Ranchi and Patna-Jamshedpur routes appears to be an instant hit because of shorter journey time than trains and competitive fare.

The duration of a train journey from here to Ranchi is around 10 hours. The luxury buses are covering the distance in seven hours.

The buses are fair on fare front as well (see graphics). The price of an AC three-tier train ticket and a luxury bus ticket between Patna and Ranchi is more or less same.

“I have booked a ticket for one of the luxury buses for going to Ranchi tonight. The bus fare is the same as an AC three-tier train ticket. Also, while trains take around 10 hours to complete the journey between Patna and Ranchi, these buses are taking only seven hours. Moreover, facilities like wi-fi and live TV among others are the added advantage with these buses. I decided to board one of the luxury buses tonight because of all these reasons,” said S.K. Mishra, a marketing executive based in Ranchi. He is a frequent traveller between the two state capitals.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the inter-state luxury bus service last Saturday. The buses are being run by BSRTC in partnership with Hyderabad-based Girish Infrastructure in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The successful run of the luxury buses can be gauged from the fact that they are running with over 80 per cent occupancy in every trip.

“We are operating two buses each on Patna-Ranchi and Ranchi-Patna route. One bus each is plying on Patna-Tata (Jamshedpur) and Tata- Patna route. We are glad that all the buses are running with over 80 per cent occupancy. Most of the tickets are being booked through our website (www.gauravluxury.com). Considering the response to our buses, we are expecting a sharp rise in advance booking in the next few days,” said Girish Kumar Sanghi, the chairman of Girish Infrastructure Private Limited.

Hyderabad-based Girish Infrastructure has delivered nine Mercedes and two Volvo buses to BSRTC till now. “We have plans to operate 500 buses in the future from Bihar to Jharkhand, Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh,” said Girish.

The 53- seater luxury coaches are powered by Euro III engine. They are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including wi-fi, live TV, Dolby Digital audio-video DVD player, two LCD screens and mobile/laptop chargers with every seat.

The buses are highly popular on the social networking site — Facebook. A community named Patna had posted a picture of a fleet of the buses on December 11. Total 2,536 Facebook members liked the picture, 1,099 shared it and 883 comments, mostly in appreciation, have been made in three days.

Above article is old, posting for some perspective.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120229/jsp/bihar/story_15190548.jsp

More Volvo buses roll into capital

PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

Patna, Feb. 28: Frequent travellers from the state capital to Calcutta and Bhubaneshwar could soon expect a cool and comfortable ride. Nine swanky Volvo luxury buses that will ply on the route are ready to roll out on the road.

The buses would start operating as soon as Bihar State Transport Development Corporation (BSRTC) — an undertaking of the state transport department — obtains the permits from the state transport authority.

“Nine Volvo buses were delivered to us on Sunday evening. These buses are parked at our headquarters, Sultan Palace, in Patna. We are in the process of getting the corresponding permits issued by the state transport authority,” said a senior BSRTC officer.

The buses would run at an average speed of 60-80kmph. The passengers would be able to cover the stretch of around 600 km between Patna and Calcutta in seven-and-a-half to 10 hours.

Sources said passengers would have to shell out Rs 700 to avail the service.

Luxury inter-state buses are not new to the travellers of the state capital, though. Nine buses are already being operated on Patna-Jamshedpur and Patna-Ranchi routes.

The sources said Hyderabad-based Girish Infrastructure has delivered 22 luxury buses to BSRTC till date. Chief minister Nitish Kumar launched the first fleet of nine Mercedes and two Volvo buses on December 10 last year at Sultan Palace. Apart from the new arrivals, permits of four buses delivered earlier have also not been issued yet. They are standing idle at Sultan Palace at present.

According to the transport scheme, 120 luxury coaches would be introduced on routes to Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Bengal.

The Bihar and the Bengal governments have agreed upon 23 routes, of which four would connect Patna with Howrah, Calcutta, Durgapur and Siliguri.

Twelve routes have been approved for the inter-state bus service between Bihar and Odisha. Four of these routes would connect Patna with district headquarters in Odisha — Bhubaneswar, Rairangpur, Balasore and Rourkela.

In the Bihar-Chhattisgarh inter-state bus service, 28 routes have been approved. Five of these routes would connect Patna with districts headquarters in Chhattisgarh, including Ambikapur, Jaspur and Kunkuri among others.

Both Mercedes and Volvo buses would be operated under this service. Euro III engines power the 53-seater luxury coaches.

They are equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities including Wi-Fi, TV, Dolby Digital audio-video, DVD players, LCD screens and mobile/laptop chargers.

“Apart from the recently delivered nine buses, we expect eight more luxury vehicles to be delivered by March 10. The routes of those buses have not been decided yet,” said the BSRTC officer.

Bihar's growth story has a poor side

NEW DELHI: That Bihar under Nitish Kumar grew at over 10% between 2004-05 and 2009-10 is now well-known. But data released on Monday shows that in the same period, the number of poor in the state actually grew. :bash:

During this five-year period, Bihar added 50 lakh people to the number of its poor, by far the largest number of any Indian state in this period. :bash::bash::bash:A look at Planning Commission numbers for 2009-10 and 2004-05 shows that poverty has declined at a negligible rate in Bihar, so much so that the absolute number of people living in poverty has actually increased. In 2009-10, 54.4% of Bihar was under the poverty line as compared to 53.5% in 2004-5.

This period coincides almost precisely with Nitish Kumar's first term as chief minister, raising a big question mark over the real impact of his administration and the high growth the state has seen on the lives of the common Bihari.

"Reduction of poverty is brought about by agricultural transformation, but Bihar's growth was construction-centric," says Shaibal Gupta, social scientist and founder-member secretary of the Patna-based think-tank, the Asian Development Research Institute. "Construction-based growth does not address the problems of poverty in a constructive manner," he added. However, Gupta, who has worked closely with the Nitish administration, is positive. "The government is in the process of chalking out a techno-managerial strategy to bring about a new green revolution," the social scientist said.

Bihar is one of three states - Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh being the other two - in which poverty has declined, but so slowly that the absolute number of people living in poverty has actually increased in the five years. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have between them 128 million poor people, over a third of all of India's poor, and roughly a tenth of the world's poor.

In five other states, the proportion of poor as well as the absolute number has risen. These are Delhi, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, with Nagaland's performance being by far the worst; the proportion of people living below the poverty line has more than doubled over five years in this tiny state, going from 8.8% in 2004-5 to 20.9% in 2009-10.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/bihars-growth-story-has-a-poor-side/articleshow/12337646.cms

^^ Thats not good news, but it hasnt really taken into account the HUGE population growth in Bihar, and it may also get increased migration from other states (including Nepal). But nonetheless, not good.

Azzi282, poverty reduction takes time and requires the following:

1. Mass education and a well-functioning school system (Himachal Pradesh is an example)
2. Remittances from abroad making up for lack of industries at home (Kerala/Goa are examples. The challenge here is that remittances must reach a huge number of people.
3. Widespread basic healthcare system covering everyone.
4. Vibrant agriculture situation.
5. Basic facilities being widespread and accessible to everyone. In a very poor state like Bihar, AC Volvo services will take care of the rich but what about transport for the poor.
6. Strong PDS system.

Currently Bihar frankly and sadly has none of these. Whatever growth the state has seen is driven by the government spending on construction. Remember that the government was starting from scratch so you cannot really blame them either. When you're starting from zero, you have to create the basic infra first. First you build the roads. Then you put buses on those roads. Then you revamp the bus terminals and than have resteraunts/hotels along those roads. Good road signs, well-equipped traffic police, GPS enabled buses, real time vehicle information system, online booking of tickets etc all came later. First you put in the basics.

If all these basics are in place, then-and only then-will industry come. Then jobs come and then people spend money and thats how poverty reduction takes place. Even then it takes time but it happens. Industries will come only when basics are in place and private sector won't create basics. My grouse is that the Bihar government is only doing PPP in transport. They need to build it up the way KA/TN/AP and even MH have done so. PPP alone won't be enough especially as in transport, there is a social obligation which goes beyond profits.

Old article but gives a perspective on the growth of transport in Bihar.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120112/jsp/bihar/story_14995383.jsp

City bus service to spread wings

Patna, Jan. 11: Residents of eight towns in the state would soon get to travel in swanky buses that carry their peers in the capital.

Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) has initiated steps for running 10 buses each under city bus service in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Begusarai, Samastipur, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Motihari. The decision to start the services in these towns comes following the popularity of the city service buses in the state capital, Gaya and Darbhanga. The services can start by the end of March.

BSRTC — the undertaking of the state transport department — has already issued tenders for running these buses in the eight towns in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.

“The corporation has invited applications from operators who would run these bus services in the eight tier-2 cities in the state under its subsidy scheme. Under the proposed services, 10 buses each will be provided in all the eight cities. While we have set January 16 as the deadline for submission of applications (by the bus operators), the services are expected to be launched by the end of March,” a senior BSRTC official told The Telegraph. The official said the route chart of the eight cities would be finalised only after the submission of applications by the operators.

“The routes would be decided in consultation with the operators and the fares would be slightly lower than that of local autorickshaws or private buses running in these towns,” the official added.

Sources said the 10 buses would have 32 seats each and be of the latest model. These buses would be equipped with latest facilities similar to those in ring route buses plying in Patna. These buses would operate from the corporation bus depots and parking space would be provided by BSRTC, the sources added.

Residents of Nalanda were happy at the proposal of new bus services in the district. “Tourists from across the globe come here, as Nalanda is an international historical tourist destination. In the absence of city bus service in the entire district, tourists are forced to hire vehicles. If the city bus service connects important sites such as Pawapuri, Silao, erstwhile Nalanda University ruins and Rajgir, it would be highly beneficial for tourists — both domestic and foreigners,” said K.N. Jha, the general manager of Indo Hokke Hotel, Rajgir, adding that since the roads in the districts are in good condition, running these buses would not be difficult at all.

But Motihari residents seemed sceptical about the smooth operations of these buses. “Streets, especially in market areas, are mostly encroached. Despite an encroachment drive last month, the squatters have returned to the streets. This, along with other traffic problems, will impede the smooth running of these buses,” said R.P. Sharma, the retired principal of LND College, Motihari.

We have to wait and see whether they start or not. Also given how small these towns, is it profitable to run services there?

Azzi282, poverty reduction takes time and requires the following:

1. Mass education and a well-functioning school system (Himachal Pradesh is an example)
2. Remittances from abroad making up for lack of industries at home (Kerala/Goa are examples. The challenge here is that remittances must reach a huge number of people.
3. Widespread basic healthcare system covering everyone.
4. Vibrant agriculture situation.
5. Basic facilities being widespread and accessible to everyone. In a very poor state like Bihar, AC Volvo services will take care of the rich but what about transport for the poor.
6. Strong PDS system.

Currently Bihar frankly and sadly has none of these. Whatever growth the state has seen is driven by the government spending on construction. Remember that the government was starting from scratch so you cannot really blame them either. When you're starting from zero, you have to create the basic infra first. First you build the roads. Then you put buses on those roads. Then you revamp the bus terminals and than have resteraunts/hotels along those roads. Good road signs, well-equipped traffic police, GPS enabled buses, real time vehicle information system, online booking of tickets etc all came later. First you put in the basics.

If all these basics are in place, then-and only then-will industry come. Then jobs come and then people spend money and thats how poverty reduction takes place. Even then it takes time but it happens. Industries will come only when basics are in place and private sector won't create basics. My grouse is that the Bihar government is only doing PPP in transport. They need to build it up the way KA/TN/AP and even MH have done so. PPP alone won't be enough especially as in transport, there is a social obligation which goes beyond profits.

One of the biggest toll of poverty eradication is MNREGA.

The center provides huge funds to states.

The rising poverty have shown the mirror of the so called development in Bihar where only greedy contractors are earning with greedy politicians.

And people are fed up with lalu and voting for any other option available. And nitesh have build a another caste collision of MBCs and -pasmanda Muslims

Anidel, I agree too much hype about Nitish Kumar but:

1. What about roads?
2. What about AC Volvo service?
3. What about rise in milk production?
4. Better law and order (though going back to the old days now.)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120107/jsp/bihar/story_14974770.jsp

Bus boon to link rural pockets

Patna, Jan. 6: A fleet of 315 buses on 22 national routes for inter-district journey could prove to be a boon for travellers by March this year.

“Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) has invited operators to run 315 fifty-seater buses in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode based on existing vacancies in national routes across different districts in the state. The corporation has invited tenders for operating the bus service, which will start latest by March this year. We would provide permit and registration of the buses once we receive their delivery,” said a senior BSRTC official.

The BSRTC fleet will connect the state capital with eight district headquarters.

According to sources, operators may provide buses up to 10 years old under the scheme but BSRTC would give a subsidy of Rs 5 lakh for procuring latest model buses or those manufactured in 2011. The buses would operate from the bus depots to the corporation and park in slots provided by the BSRTC.

The buses would operate on 22 nationalised routes of which eight would connect the state capital with other district headquarters, including Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Jainagar, Bhagalpur, Motihari, Purnea, Darbhanga and Madhubani.

According to BSRTC sources, hardly a few private buses plying on the nationalised routes in the state possess authentic permits. “Most of the private buses running on nationalised routes do not have permits for more than 40km. Whenever the district transport officer or the transport magistrate checks the papers of the buses running on nationalised routes, several buses are caught running without authentic permits. Buses to be run by BSRTC would be issued all necessary papers and their operations would be strictly regulated according to the criteria prescribed in the agreement,” said the BSRTC officer.

At present, BSRTC runs buses on Patna-Siwan, Patna-Chhapra, Patna-Nawada, Nawada-Gaya, Bhagalpur-Purnea and Bhagalpur-Begusarai nationalised routes. Though BSRTC wants to strengthen its transport network on nationalised routes, the service has been unable to reach certain places in the state.

“Though BSRTC runs buses from Patna to Chhapra and Siwan, it does not provide direct connectivity to Gopalganj district. So whenever I need to go to my village in Bhorey block of Gopalganj, I have to take a private bus or take a BSRTC bus till Siwan before taking another from there. Private buses are mostly packed with passengers and make abrupt halts, which is time-consuming,” said Abhinav Kumar, a resident of Ashiana Nagar.

http://tenders.bih.nic.in/tenderdocs/TD-01-18-03-2012.pdf

BSRTC plans to develop 12 bus terminals in a proper way and is inviting international bidding for it. Am not hopeful because they invited it before and nothing happened.

1. First roads.
2. Then good quality buses
3. Then good quality terminals at district, taluk and finally gram level

I dunno if it has been taken into account but Bihar did see a huge lot of reverse migration under Nitish. I know a few Bihari laborers some years ago who went back so that they could work on the road that was being constructed in their village.

Also construction and roads have really happened under Nitish based on accounts from Bihari friends. Agri will probably take off once power requirements re met. If reports re to be believed then it would happen in the next few years.

Other than that, I for one have come to believe that a lot of growth stories in India need to be examined closely so see the real picture beyond the hype.

Bihar on a roll: Solar irrigation to quench farmlands soon

The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to start Bihar Solar Revolution Irrigation Plan as a pilot project in five districts. A sum of Rs 560 crore was sanctioned by the cabinet for the purpose.

In yet another important decision, the cabinet gave approval to a proposal to start "CM education loan for disabled" and "CM self-employment loan schemes for disabled" and sanctioned Rs 4.80 crore for it. A sum of Rs 21.8 crore was also sanctioned by the state cabinet for construction of Babu Jagjivan Ram Hostel buildings in eight districts.

Rs. 88.31 crore was sanctioned for "CM Mahadalit Radio Yojana". A proposal for the transfer of 42 acres of land for expansion of the administrative building of Bipard at Gaya was approved. Cabinet also gave nod to a proposal to build 3,790 kitchen-cum-store room under the Integrated Child Development Programme.

Source : Link (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-on-a-roll-Solar-irrigation-to-quench-farmlands-soon/articleshow/12349221.cms)

Bihar to get 660 MW of power from Barh plant
The Centre has agreed to allocate 660 MW of power generated from its Barh super-thermal power station (Phase Two) to Bihar. CM Nitish Kumar made this announcement after a two-hour meeting with Union power minister Sushil K Shinde here at his (CM) official residence on Tuesday.

Nitish said that the minister has agreed to allocate 660 MW of power which is 50 percent of the total generation of power from its Barh plant. The CM also said that Bihar would get additional 100 MW of power from other sources. Shinde also assured the CM about the early allocation of coal linkages and blocks for running coal-based thermal power stations in the state. Nitish also requested Shinde to provide coal linkages on priority basis for the extension unit of Barauni thermal power plant in Begusarai district.

The CM also asked the Union power ministry to extend all cooperation in making Bihar a self-sufficient state in the power sector.

Several cabinet colleagues and officials, including water resources development minister Vijay K Chaudhary, energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Union energy secretary P Umashankar, chief secretary Navin Kumar, development commissioner A K Sinha, Union joint secretary (energy) I C P Keshari, NTPC CMD Arup Roy Chaudhary, PowerGrid CMD R N Nayak, state energy secretary Ajay K Nayak and BSEB chairman P K Rai, attended the meeting.

Source : Link (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-to-get-660-MW-of-power-from-Barh-plant/articleshow/12349104.cms)

Jammers to be installed in Bihar jails

Bihar government would install jammers in the state jails to prevent use of mobile phones by inmates, the assembly was informed today. As soon as the companies successfully carry out trials, jammers would be installed, Water Resources Department (WRD) Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary informed the legislative assembly. Replying to a starred question by BJP MLA Amrendra Pratap Singh, he said firms manufacturing jammers have carried out trials in jail, but they have not succeeded so far. The WRD Minister said 336 mobile sets and 129 sim cards have been recovered from 34 jails between 2007 and 2010.

At the same time, equipment like CCTV, metal detectors and baggage detectors were installed in the jails to beef up security measures, Chaudhary said. However, other electronic gadgets like CCTV cameras, metal detectors and baggage scanners had been installed, he said.

Replying to another question of the same member about making the Phulwarisharif police station online, Choudhary said in 2006, computer sets were provided by the police headquarters, but technical snags were detected in the Common Integrated Police Application Software at the trial stage. As a result, another software - Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) - has been developed.

He said as per the plan, all police stations in Patna district will be networked under the CCTNS project. He denied lack of manpower at Phulwarisharif PS and said all non-functional computers had been repaired. The BJP MLA had alleged that the exercise to make Phulwarisharif PS online could not proceed even though all crime records had been computerized there.


Source : Link1 (http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/jammers-to-be-installed-in-bihar-jails/977316.html)
Source : Link2 (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-20/patna/31214087_1_jammers-jail-superintendents-bihar-govt)

Four laning of Patna-Ara-Buxar highway within 2 and a half years

Four-laning of Patna-Ara-Buxar highway would be completed within two years-and-a-half, Bihar Road Construction Minister N K Yadav told the state assembly.

Replying to a short-notice question of RJD MLA Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Yadav said the four-laning of the national highway had been approved by the National Highway Authority of India under NHDP phase 3 project.

Yadav said the work for four laning would start from August this year and it would be completed within next two years and six months.

Source : Link (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/infrastructure/four-laning-of-highway-within-2-and-a-half-years-in-bihar/articleshow/12354681.cms)

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-20/news/31214787_1_bstdc-bihar-tourism-circuits

Bihar Tourism to spend Rs 300 crore to ramp up infrastructure
PTI Mar 20, 2012, 04.39PM IST


Tags:
BSTDC|Bihar tourism
MUMBAI: In a bid to capitalise on the tourism boom in the country, Bihar Tourism today said it is planning to invest Rs 300 crore to strengthen its infrastructure. "Work on setting up Ramayan and Sufi tourism circuits have commenced and a total of Rs 300 crore is being allocated by the State Tourism Department to develop the required infrastructure," Information Officer at the Bihar Department of Tourism Information Officer said in a release issued here.

Meanwhile, for the year 2011-12 Rs 3,043.89 lakh was announced by the Central administration for development of tourism in Bihar. As per the Corporations plans, the Ramayan circuit will include places mentioned in the epic, like Tar in Bhojpur, Ahirauli in Buxar, Pretshila Hills in Gaya, Ramchura, Panth Pakar and Valmiki Nagar. The Sufi circuit will include Biharsharif, Manersharif, Munger and Phulwarisharif. Work on both circuits has begun and the Corporation will announce packages for the circuits soon.

Besides, to attract international tourists, BSTDC plans to promote its traditional circuits - Buddhist, Jain and Sikh - in Southeast Asian countries. Going ahead, BSTDC also plans to develop tourism activities centred around the river Ganga. At present, the corporation already has launched a floating restaurant and it also provides cruise services on the river between Kolkata ? Varanasi and Faraka ? Patna.

The Corporation is also planning open the Ganga River Island, which will offer camel rides and food courts. It will also promote aqua tourism for the domestic and international markets.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120321/jsp/bihar/story_15272903.jsp

Bus ride to mythological sites

Tourists interested in visiting places of mythological significance in the state would not have to wait for long for dedicated luxury bus service on circuits related to Lord Buddha and sites mentioned in the Ramayan.

Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) has cleared the proposal for procurement of 10 special tourist buses that would run on Buddhist and Ramayan circuits.

A proposal would be sent to the state tourism department to seek an approval, as the buses would be procured under a subsidy scheme.

“The corporation has recently moved a proposal to procure 10 air-conditioned luxury buses under the subsidy scheme of the department. The total amount of subsidy proposed by BSTDC is Rs 4 crore. The operator would be given 25 per cent of the price of the bus or Rs 20 lakh, whichever is less, against procurement of each bus. At present 10 buses are proposed to run under this scheme, which means subsidy amount of Rs 2-2.5 crore would be released and the rest (Rs 2 crore) would be released for the procurement of more buses under this scheme in the future. The buses would run as tourist special buses on Buddhist and Ramayan circuits, among others under public-private partnership mode,” said a senior BSTDC official. Sources said the proposed buses would be operated from Patna via Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Vaishali, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Buxar and Bhojpur among others.

“The corporation would float tenders to procure these buses as soon as the department gives a green light to the proposal. Depending on the response from operators, the services would be started,” said the BSTDC official.

After commencement of operation of the buses, tourists would be able to book tickets from counters at BSTDC’s headquarters at Hotel Kautilya Vihar on Buddha Marg in the state capital.

At present, four Volvo buses of BSTDC operate on two routes — Patna-Purnea and Patna-Ranchi. They also rolled out from BSTDC’s headquarters. The BSTDC recently issued a work order to Mahindra Logistics Limited for running two 40-seater AC buses on the Patna-Bodhgaya route. The buses would operate under public-private partnership mode from April.

On the other hand, there has been a slow progress in the scheme of running double-decker and caravan-type buses for local sightseeing in Patna, Bodhgaya and Rajgir.

“Several interested bus manufacturing firms have requested us to extend the deadline to submit the request of proposal for running the double-decker and caravan-type buses. As these buses are mostly manufactured on demand, the corporation has extended the deadline. Now, it would take a couple of months to start operation of these special buses,” said the BSTDC official.

The original deadline for the submission of request of proposal was December 10, 2011. Sources said the caravan-type AC bus would have two bedrooms, a sitting area having a capacity of six persons, one folding canopy tent at the front and a toilet. It would also have folding chairs and tables.

A generator set would also be attached to the bus.

Given how many Bengali tourists there are, they must start Kolkata-Bodh Gaya/Kolkata-Nalanda/Rajgir/Gaya Volvo buses. There should also be a complete Bihar package for 5 or 6 days with BSTDC certified and owned hotels at all key places as well as along the highways too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Century-old-golf-course-gets-a-facelift/articleshow/12323709.cms


Cabinet push for better irrigation

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Patna, March 20: The Bihar government today decided to connect altogether 560 government tubewells under Kosi and Purnea divisions with solar energy system to provide better irrigation facilities to farmers.

The cabinet took this decision at its meeting held under the chairmanship of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The cabinet also approved the proposal to construct a total of 3,790 kitchen-cum-storerooms in the government-run primary and middle schools under the integrated child development programme.

Another important decision taken at the cabinet meeting was related to construction of about 4km road on Samastipur-Sarairanjan road via Samastipur town. Rs 22.4 crore would be spent on the project.

The proposal for construction of eight Babu Jagjivan Ram hostels for the Scheduled Caste students was adopted in the meeting. The government has sanctioned Rs 21.18 crore for the purpose.

The government approved the proposal of Rs 88.31 crore under Chief Minister’s Mahadalit Radio Programme. But a sum of Rs 4.2 crore was sanctioned for 2011-12 fiscal.

The cabinet approved the proposal for construction of approach road to connect a bridge in Sitamarhi district named after former MLA Banshi Chacha.

The MLA had immolated himself in full public view to draw the attention of the government in support of his demand for linking Bairgania to the Sitamarhi district headquarters.

Decks have also been cleared for the recruitment of wardens in jails.

Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said in the Assembly yesterday the state government was recruiting people to strengthen security.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120321/jsp/bihar/story_15272899.jsp#.T2o6A8VDuCc

Government help sought to boost honey production

- Mehsi in East Champaran produces 350 tonnes of nectar in a fortnight, bee-keepers call for extension of season
R.N. SINHA IN MEHSI (EAST CHAMPARAN)

A bee-keeper places a honey box at a litchi orchard in Mehsi. Picture by Ajit Kumar Verma
Around 7,000 honey boxes in the litchi orchards of Mehsi generate at least 350 tonnes of nectar in just a fortnight of the flowering season. Farmers in the region, however, stress that with the government help, the season can be extended throughout the year in and around East Champaran.

Mehsi, one of the few important places known for litchi farming, is also known for the rare litchi honey prepared by bees from the flowers in the crop season. The season continues for a fortnight, as the bees stop coming for the pollen once the tiny litchi seeds appear. This year, the litchi honey produced from the honey boxes (where the bees store the pollen) is expected to generate at least Rs 3.5 crore for bee-keepers from East Champaran as well as the bordering districts like Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Samastipur.

According to government data, of 15,000 tonnes of litchis grown in East Champaran, 11,000 hectares are in Mehsi alone. Amar, a progressive litchi farmer in Mehsi block, said each bee preserved inside a box flies at least 10 times a day to collect pollen from the litchi flowers. “At 50kg of honey produced from each box in a fortnight, the expected yield of litchi honey, a direct source of naturally derived sucrose, is around 350 tonnes in the present harvesting season,” added Amar.

He told The Telegraph: “Collection of pollen by the bees through pollination improves the quality and quantity of the produce besides allowing farmers to get abundant honey, which is nothing more than a by-product. If the trade of bee rearing is promoted, huge stock of honey could be collected throughout the year from the flowers of mustard, Indian beech (karanj), neem, blackberries and fennel seeds (saunf), as bees also collect pollen from there.”

Even if unprocessed honey is sold at Rs 100 per kg, it would yield at least Rs 3.5 crore, Amar said, adding that once the raw product is procured by agents of popular ayurvedic pharmaceutical companies and processed, it is sold under a brand name at three times the amount the bee-keepers sell it.

Neeraj Kumar, a honey scientist at Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa, Samastipur, said the honey produced from litchi flowers is more in demand in foreign countries than in India.

“If any entrepreneur starts agro-based trade for the production of honey by placing at least 100 boxes for bee keeping, it would create employment opportunity for at least eight persons,” Neeraj told The Telegraph.

Amar said for the spread of honey trade, litchi farming needs to be promoted through government and non-government organisations. However, banks have failed to assist the development of rural economy in East Champaran, he added.

He said considering the extensive litchi farming in the district, mainly in Mehsi, bee-keeping should be given the status of agro-industry. “Once honey-processing units are started on a large scale, the state government should also give a brand name to the litchi honey produced in Bihar,” said Amar.

If development of Bihar has to take place they have to look at these aspects. Milk, honey, fruits, vegetables all have to be commercialiased. Sudha should look into coming up with its own brands of butter/cheese/paneer/butter milk/sweets/ice-cream and make them competitive. Bihar makes potatoes but you need to process them into using them for chips and fries.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Century-old-golf-course-gets-a-facelift/articleshow/12323709.cms

Century-old golf course gets a facelift
Rohit Bhardwaj, TNN | Mar 19, 2012, 06.16AM IS


JAMALPUR: Being associated with history is much easier than carrying the legacy forward. The Railway Ecological Golf Club (REGC), which is part of only a handful of British-built golf courses in the country, here in Bihar recently celebrated its 100 years with much aplomb despite having faced numerous problems in the past.

The REGC hosted a three-day tournament from February 24 to 26 as part of its centenary celebrations. With limited revenue for maintenance, the Indian Railways had given a cold shoulder to the facility but their interest in golf was rekindled last year as they set the course on a renovation mode.

Dating back to 1912, the course was built for recreational purposes as a nine-hole affair by the British -- with the town being one of its oldest Railway colonies --until 1998 when its expansion began. Only the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (1829), Bangalore Golf Club (1876) and Madras Gymkhana Club (1886) are older than this one and prominently associated with the Britishers, barring the ones built under the aegis of the Indian Army.

Surrounded by a lake on one side and the Rajmahal hills on the other, the course paints a beautiful picture to passers-by and golf enthusiasts alike. The revamp was a difficult task especially with parts of the course being used by kids of Railwaymen as a playground for different sports.

So, the REGC management started by fencing off the entire area and slowly adding more holes in their pusuit to turn it into a 18-hole championship course. The course, initially known as Central Institute Golf Club, was re-christened REGC in 2005 to garner more publicity for the Railways.

"When we have such a good facility with us why should we not take proper care of it? There used to be only nine holes so many people were not much attracted to it. So we expanded it to 18 holes, though it took good amount of time.

"We have already planted more than 5,000 trees in the past year and will add more in the coming months to lend it a more green look. We are also in the process of planting better quality grass," REGC president Animesh Kumar Sinha told TOI.

The course does look very attractive but much work remains to be done like landscaping, deepening of the bunkers, installation more lamp posts, construction of a water reservoir (capacity 6 lakh litres) for irrigation and construction of 2-3 ponds that will help in waterharvesting and also act as 'hazards'.

The clubhouse has already been revamped and Sinha has plans to add a pool table, table tennis table and a kids zone to make it more attractive for the family members of the golfers. Sinha says the par-70 5258-yard course will be totally ready by next year and then the REGC would approach the Indian Golf Union (IGU) to let them host bigger amateur events.

"We used to host 8-10 events till 1998 but in the last decade or so we have added 5-6 tournaments despite having no big corporate backing - besides the ITC - which is huge for a small town like ours. Jamalpur Open (since 1972) and Oscar Open are our prominent championships. The renovation work is likely to be completed by the end of 2013 and then we will ask the IGU to give us bigger events to stage," maintains Sinha.

He also works as the chief works manager for the Jamalpur workshop. The longest running tournaments at the REGC were instituted by the British - the Monsoon Cup in 1912 and the Jamalpur Golf Trophy in 1913 presented by B. Sinclair Wedderburn. Interestingly, both the inaugural editions were won by one G.Wilson. Both the trophies are part of the REGC memorabilia with the latter made of silver, having an uncanny resemblance with the Claret Jug awarded to the winner of the British Open.

There are also some lawn bowling trophies in REGC's possession, that suggests a large following of the sport in the British era. The REGC also has plans to popularise the game among school kids by conducting training camps and awarding golf sets to promising youngsters. "We already have 100 members (80 from Railways, 20 private). But the kids don't identify themselves with the sport so we will hold week-long training camps twice or thrice annually to help them pick up the sport. RCGC trainer Inderjit Bhalotia and pros like Mohd Islam have already given their consent for that," says seven-handicapper Sinha.

Only time will tell whether such grand plans are executed or not but in any which way history would have already repeated itself by then.

Bihar should promote golf courses near Patna, Bodh Gaya and even Nalanda, to encourage foreign tourists, Japanese, to play golf. That will also promote the game too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Jagjivan-Ram-Institute-all-set-to-get-a-facelift/articleshow/12323599.cms

Jagjivan Ram Institute all set to get a facelift

PATNA: The Jagjivan Ram Institute of Parliamentary Studies and Political Research, which was set up more than three decades back by former chief minister Karpoori Thakur to promote parliamentary studies and political research, is likely to get a facelift soon, thanks to the recent initiative taken by the state education department.

Addressing a seminar organized by the institute here, education minister P K Shahi on Saturday announced that the institute named after Jagjivan Babu would be developed into a research institution of national repute. The government has sanctioned Rs 17 crore for the construction of its new building of which Rs 5 crore would be released during the current financial year for starting the work at the earliest.

State higher education director Sitaram Singh said that the HRD department has planned to renovate, computerize and upgrade its library. Books on parliamentary democracy from India and abroad would be provided for research work. The library would be computerized with electronic reference of all the books. The institute would have its own website. It would conduct national and international seminars, conferences and workshops.

According to the education department plans, two seminar halls would be constructed for conducting workshops and symposiums.

The park at the institute would be beautified and a life-size statue of Babu Jagjivan Ram would be installed, Singh said.

He further pointed out that the Institute is going to start several new courses, including M Phil, Ph.D, and Master and Bachelor-level programmes in journalism and mass communications, business administration, library science, Panchayati Raj and computer applications, from the next academic session.

Bihar desparetely needs investment in higher education. After roads, now its time to focus on higher education and libraries. They need to make Bihar a knowledge hub.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120321/jsp/bihar/story_15274389.jsp#.T2o7D8VDuCc

HC lifts ban on riverbed realty projects

OUR CORRESPONDENT
Patna High Court on Tuesday lifted the stay on the construction of apartments and complexes on the Ganga riverbed between Dujra and Digha, observing that the builders could go ahead with their projects at their own risk.

Hearing a bunch of petitions filed by builders challenging the ban imposed by Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), a bench of Justice Sheema Alik Khan lifted the stay. The civic body had ordered to stop all construction works on the riverbed citing safety reasons in the last week of January.

The builders hailed the high court decision. But Justice Khan’s order implies that the fate of the projects on the riverbed would hinge on the outcome of the inquiry being conducted by the PMC commissioner, Pankaj Kumar Pal.

Expressing happiness over the order, Sachin Chandra, the chairman of the Patna chapter of Builders’ Association of India, told The Telegraph: “The order has come as a great relief to public and the builders. The court must have found some substance in our contention before vacating the stay on the construction imposed by the PMC. The court also asked if the maps were approved by the PMC. The civic body replied in affirmative.”

Chandra said the fate of about 500 flats of nine apartments in question were at stake but the decision has given a relief to those who booked flats in those apartments.

An estimated Rs 200 crore was pumped into these projects before the PMC decided to act tough, the builders had said during a news meet in which they sought the intervention of chief minister Nitish Kumar in the issue.

The PMC has begun vigilance case proceedings on nine under-construction/constructed complexes. Notices were served on the builders asking if they had followed the structural safety norms and had proper sewerage, drainage and fire safety arrangements in place. The corporation had also put a blanket ban on approval of any forthcoming projects of multi-housing complexes on the contentious area.

Sources in the corporation said the PMC was not satisfied with the replies filed by the builders and the case was being pursued in the vigilance court of the corporation.

The 15-member committee, constituted by Pal to check how the architects had approved the maps, is yet to submit its report on the issue. Sources said the architects who approved the maps were yet to reply to the notices served on them.

So far in Bihar only construction is booming. Now they need to put transport, tourism, higher education and food processing on fast track.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Firm search for Veer Kunwar park

PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI
Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) has taken the first concrete step towards developing Shaheed Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park by inviting quotations from firms to carry out soil test at the project site.

Sources in BUIDCo said this was done to execute the project on Hardinge Road within the deadline, 2014. According to the sources, the selected firm would have to make bores as deep as 20m, collect soil samples at an interval of 1.5m and conduct laboratory tests on the collected samples.

“We have invited quotations from firms interested in conducting soil test and related work at the project site. This is the first step towards execution of the project. This would also enable BUIDCo to assess the structural development of the proposed facilities at the park in later stages. The firm, to be selected by the last week of this month, would get 15 days to complete the work,” a BUIDCo official said.

The development is significant because private parties were reluctant to the previous public-private partnership mode to execute the project. The corporation had in the last week of February not received a single bid from private parties to execute the plan. As a result, the public-private partnership mode was quashed.

BUIDCo is, in the meantime, in the process of getting necessary funds from the state government. “The project would now be executed according to the item-based rate method. This means that funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore, required to develop various proposed facilities in the park, would be released in phases by the state government,” the BUIDCo official added.

Work on the project is expected to start by the middle of 2012 and would continue for two years.

The project site is spread over 20.71 acres and the plan is to develop it in two segments — Part A and Part B with approximate land area of 4.04 acres and 16.31 acres, respectively.

The Telegraph had on October 21, 2011 carried a report on the various attractions that have been planned in the park. While Part A on the southern end of the park would have an open-air restaurant, a food court and an urban haat among other facilities. Part B on the northern end would have a skating ring, a 4D/5D theatre, a museum and a science centre, a musical fountain on a water body and a children’s park among other attractions.

Something like Essel world/Appu Ghar is a must for Bihar.

Also the Government owns land across Bihar much of which is encroached upon, particularly wakf land. They need to modernise the bihar wakf board.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Govt-to-construct-low-cost-houses/articleshow/12362965.cms

Govt to construct low-cost houses


PATNA: Urban development department is all set to construct one lakh low cost houses in the state during the next five years. However, in the first phase 25,000 houses would be constructed in Patna, Bhagalpur, Gaya and Muzaffarpur districts in the next fiscal.

This was announced by urban development minister Prem Kumar while replying to debate on the cut motion moved by RJD member Jitendra Rai on the budgetary demand of over Rs 1,553 crore of the department for the fiscal 2012-13 in the State Legislative Assembly. The cut motion was defeated in the House amidst walk out by the RJD members.

The minister further said that a sum of Rs 9 crore has been earmarked for holding a survey on techno-economic feasibility on metro and mono rail operations in the state capital. The minister mentioned that the state government would get a loan of 200 million dollar from the Asian Development Bank for beautification of cities in the state. The minister further said that units would be set up in the state to produce organic fertilizer.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Work-on-four-lane-Koelwar-bridge-to-start-in-Aug-Minister/articleshow/12363018.cms

Work on four-lane Koelwar bridge to start in Aug: Minister

PATNA: Construction work on a new four-lane road bridge at Koelwar would start in August, said road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav in the state assembly here on Wednesday.

Yadav was replying to a short notice question by Raghvendra Pratap Singh of the RJD, who reminded the minister about his announcement made in this regard in March last year. The new road bridge would be parallel to the present rail-road bridge, the minister said.

Singh said traffic snarl-up on the old bridge was a routine affair. "The minister had promised to start work on the new bridge within a month but nothing happened even after one year of his announcement," he said.

Yadav said the Patna-Ara-Buxar road has been selected under NHDP phase-3 for construction of a four-lane road. "It has been decided to construct a four-lane bridge parallel to the present one at Koelwar. The National Highway Authority of India ( NHAI) had invited tender and entered into an agreement with a private company on February 2 last. The work will start in August and it will be completed in two-and-a-half years time," Yadav said.

Replying to a question raise by Bhai Veerendra about the demand of salary, allowances and pension for the elected representatives of the panchayati raj institutions, minister for rural works Bhim Singh said no such proposal was under government consideration. "Since they are not government employees, there is no provision and logic to pay them salaries and allowances," Singh said, and added that the office-bearers of panchayati raj institutions and gram kutchehries were being regularly paid daily allowance, travel allowance and special remuneration.

The minister said the government provided Rs 22.12 crore for the payment of these allowances in 2010-11. The amount included Rs 10.93 crore to gram panchayats, Rs 9.3 crore to gram kutchehries, Rs 1.90 crore to panchayat samitis and Rs 26.34 lakh to district boards.

Meanwhile, during zero hour, opposition members, a few of them carrying placards also, raised the issue of strike by unaided schools teachers, who have never been paid salary. Leader of opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui said the government was 'goongi aur bahri' (deaf and dumb) as it was not taking notice of the teachers' demands.

Siddiqui pointed out that both the ruling parties, the JD(U) and the BJP, had promised in their election manifestoes to take care of the unaided schools teachers' demand, but did nothing and the teachers were up in arms again.

Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary blamed the previous governments for the woes of these teachers and said the NDA government, under a policy, was providing fund to such schools. "We are sensitive to this issue and have sympathy with the teachers. As far as their salary and other demands are concerned, the government will have talks with them to find out a solution to this old problem," he said

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Curtains-go-up-on-star-studded-centenary-celebrations-today/articleshow/12362993.cms

Curtains go up on star-studded centenary celebrations today
Parul Pandey, TNN | Mar 22, 2012, 07.16AM IST

PATNA: Stage is set for the curtains to go up on the three-day grand Bihar centenary celebrations at Gandhi Maidan here on Thursday. Though the celebrations would informally begin in the morning, CM Nitish Kumar would formally inaugurate it at 5pm at Gandhi Maidan.

The function would begin with a dance performance by 100 students on the Bihar anthem and prayer song that has been choreographed by Harshal and Vitthal, the choreographer duo from Mumbai. Besides the CM, his cabinet members, ambassadors of Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago and delegates from Qatar and Surinam would grace the occasion.

During the event, a Bangalore-based firm, Pracheen Bharat Tourism Technology, would be presenting a 25-minute laser show on the heritage of Bihar - covering the time of Buddha, Mahavir, Mahabharat, Chandragupt, Ashok, Shershah Suri, Sufism, Guru Gobind Singh - and finally ending with a positive note of Resurgent Bihar.

Later, the CM would release books and documentaries based on Bihar and also honour the lyricists of Bihar anthem, Satya Narayan, and Bihar prayer song, MR Chishti, along with 21 artists of the state from the fields of art and culture. He would also symbolically release around 300 metal birds perched on a globe, to mark freedom and progress of the state. Bollywood singers Udit Narayan and Richa Sharma would then perform at the function.

"As a symbol of centenary year celebration, the CM will also initiate the construction of as many as 100 primary schools and launch 50 ambulances on Thursday," said Anjani Kumar Singh, principal secretary, education.

I wonder where these primary schools are going to get built. Having said that, Bihar needs not just 100 new schools but maybe 1,000 or 10,000 new schools.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120322/jsp/bihar/story_15279083.jsp#.T2rdGMVDuCc


Ambulance service

OUR CORRESPONDENT
The state government’s ambitious plan to start ambulance service in all the primary health centres (PHCs) will see light of the day tomorrow on the occasion of Bihar Divas. Chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate the first fleet of 50 ambulances tomorrow at Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

People can avail the free ambulance service by calling the toll free number 102. The plan was first envisaged in 2010.

Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey today said expecting women, sick infants below one year, people above 60 years of age and accident victims could avail the service free of cost. The rest will have to pay Rs 9 per km for hiring the ambulance for transportation to the nearest government hospital.

“The ambulances have been bought by the government and will be operated on public-private partnership by a Delhi-based agency. The vehicles will be equipped with 30 general medicines and 15 equipment, including oxygen cylinder,” said Choubey.

I wonder how well will these ambulances will actually work. The government announces so many things and yet after some time, things tend to go down.

These days in times of mass media and twitter and facebook, its easy for a government to create an image that they are good in governing while doing very little. And media does analyse properly and thoroughly so government creates hype very easily. So you have to be sceptical.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aditi-phadnisbimaru-to-booming/459510/

Aditi Phadnis: From Bimaru to booming?


All may not be hunky-dory in Bihar, but its CM and people deserve full marks for trying

A recent visit to Patna reinforced this impression: it is the most happening city in India. True, it is still dirty and unplanned. Traffic pretty much does as it likes. There is no sense of civic responsibility or ownership.
All this is exasperating because Patna is where you can reach out and touch change. A Miss Bihar contest is to be held in early 2012, revived since 2008. Before that, the last one was held in the 1970s. There were one or two in between but they lost credibility when the Miss Bihar title-holder turned out to be from Allahabad, and (oh no!) married! In 2008, the contest sank without a trace after some contestants alleged that the competition was rigged, stormed the stage, seized the microphone and started shouting slogans, alleging that the organisers had taken bribes to manipulate results.
Now the city is organising a marathon on 19 February, 2012. The organisers are a set of non-resident Biharis, one of whom has taken a three-month sabbatical from investment banking and is camping in Patna to make the arrangement. “The marathon would unleash a human energy that will send potent vibrations to the entire world about the arrival of Bihar and Biharis on unlimited growth path (sic). It will invite all to become stakeholders in the making of history in Bihar,” he says. The idea came to them, he says, because all great cities in the world have a marathon. So why not Patna?

Why not indeed?
It is not just Patna that appears to be prospering. Earlier this month, a young farmer in Nalanda, Sumant (no last name), set a new world record in paddy production. Sumant managed to grow 224 quintals of paddy per hectare beating the world record held by Chinese farm scientist Yuan Longping. He and four of his farmer friends used the System of Rice Intensification, a new technique that uses less water and seed than traditional methods but provides greater yields. All of them got fantastic yields.

But there are others who say all this doesn’t mean much. Bihar continues to have the lowest per capita power consumption in the country. It has an installed capacity of 600 Mw but the functional capacity is just 200 Mw. The Barh superthermal power station is coming up on Bihar land, but the state will get only 10 per cent of the power generated. Shortage of not just power but land is turning initially enthusiastic industry away from investment. Two major cycle plants were to come up in Bihar. They’ve shelved their plans. A cement company had announced it was setting up shop. It has gone back. An asbestos company looking to set up a plant found it could get no land. A major distillery and brewery acquisition brought foreign direct investment to Bihar earlier this year. But not much has been heard of it since.

There appears to be a revival of other disturbing trends. Kidnapping for ransom, everyone thought, had gone away. It has returned. Children are being kidnapped and one of them was killed when, putting their faith in the police, the parents refused to pay a ransom. Two traders have been looted in the last two weeks in the heart of Patna: the sum involved was Rs 18 lakh and Rs 45 lakh each. All this indicates organised crime and a contempt of law enforcement. Bihar’s road construction contracts were one way of getting criminal gangs, who enjoyed the patronage and protection of political personalities, off the roads. But now they’re back. Corruption at lower levels – the so-called C and D class employees – is rampant. A colleague recently lost a mobile phone. A policeman demanded Rs 200 to register a complaint. His argument: “you’ve lost a phone that cost Rs 10,000 — and you can’t pay Rs 200 to file a complaint?”

The biggest crisis Bihar is going to see is in agriculture. The last monsoon was good and it has been a bumper harvest of paddy. However, the state government’s procurement system is leaky and inefficient. The state has no milling capacity worth the name.

Planning Commission Advisor N C Saxena has charged that the Nitish Kumar government had failed to utilise a major chunk of funds provided for the centrally-sponsored schemes, depriving the state of subsidy to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore. “The reason is that there is no proper administrative system in Bihar that can maintain control over expenditure and transparency in implementation of these schemes,” he alleged. For example, Saxena said, under the National Rural Health Mission Bihar’s share stood at Rs 1,300 crore but the state received Rs 780 crore, while states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal fully utilised the subsidy for Mid-Day Meals.

Ok, Bihar isn’t going to become a Tamil Nadu overnight. But the state has to be given full marks for trying. And as much as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his team, it is the Biharis who deserve support. All of India will be yelling “Go, Bihar, Go” in February.

chttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Microsoft-adopts-5-girls-schools-for-training/articleshow/12369673.cms

Microsoft adopts 5 girls' schools for training

PATNA: IT giant Microsoft has adopted five girls' schools in Bihar under Digital Literacy Programme for computer training.

The three month training would begin from April one, Microsoft Director (Education Affairs) Irina Ghosh said today.

"It will be started on a pilot basis," Ghosh said.

The five schools would be connected through video conferencing and students and teachers would be given computer training, Ghosh said addressing a function on the occasion of Bihar Centenary Celerations.

Upto 2008 around seven lakh teachers were trained in IT under the Microsoft's Project Education.

Not 5 but 50,000 villages need to be adopted for computer training and English skills.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article3155613.ece

Bihar's power project plans run into coal hurdle

KOLKATA, MARCH 22:
Grim coal availability is coming in the way of Bihar improving its power situation.

The State's recent bid to build three supercritical power stations of 1,320 MW (2 by 660 MW) each, through the tariff-based competitive bidding route, ended unsuccessfully in the face of lukewarm response from prospective bidders.

While there were no bidders for two projects, one project received a single successful bid from Lanco Power, but it could not be awarded due to lack of competition.

DISMAL SCENE

Years of neglect of its power infrastructure has left Bihar largely dependent on some 1,000 MW of Central supplies and the recently implemented 200 MW power purchase agreements with Adani Power to cater to its eight-crore population.

While the reopening of a number of closed State-owned units are under way, as a leap forward, Bihar floated tenders to build supercritical power stations at Chausa (Buxar), Kajra (Lakhisarai) and Pirpainti (Bhagalpur). Successful bidders were slated to supply 85 per cent of the generation to the State utility at the agreed tariff.

The State Government offered the requisite land, water and other such infrastructure for all the projects. While bidders for the proposed capacities at Kajra and Pirpainti were expected to ensure coal availability, for the Chausa project the Power Ministry recommended elusive “coal linkage”.

INITIAL RESPONSE

Initially, the initiative received adequate response from the private sector. According to a senior State official, at least 23 power majors, including Tata Power, Videocon, Reliance Power and Essar, participated in a pre-bid conference in Patna in September 2011.

The enthusiasm, however, ended as soon as the projects were open for bidding. There was no response for the Kajra and Pirpainti projects as no one was ready to ensure coal supplies.

Though Lanco did bid for Chausa, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission ruled against awarding it the project owing to the lack of tariff competition.

PM'S INTERVENTION

“The private sector was clearly wary of entering into binding agreements without secure access to coal,” the State official said.

To resolve the crisis, the State Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, has reportedly sought the intervention of the Prime Minister. “We are knocking every door under the sun, right from the Union Power Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office. Hopefully, we will soon be offered a lifeline,” he said.

Till that happens, Bihar may have to fall back on costly “mid-term supply agreements,” like the one it has reportedly entered into with Adani at a tariff of around Rs 4.31 a unit. A company official, however, refused to comment on the issue.

They have to look at the option of solar power.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/engineering-college-spells-hope-in-bihar-village/927208/0

Engineering college spells hope in Bihar village

Till recently, every second house in Ariaon village had someone working as unskilled labourer in Dubai. Now among those new houses, a new structure stands out, as does its unique emblem: a USB sprouting out of a field.
The Vidyadaan Institute of Technology and Management (VITM) in this village, under Dumraon sub-division, can proudly lay claim to that emblem. It’s the only engineering college between Patna in Bihar and Varanasi in UP. It is also the first college to get affiliated to Aryabhatta Knowledge University, a dream project of the Nitish Kumar government to give affiliation to all 15 engineering college and six medical colleges of the state.

Of the 127 students from two batches at the VITM, 90 per cent are from surrounding villages. Among them is Satendra Kumar, a student of computer science. His father Tulsi Yadav had been the first person from Shahabad region to visit Dubai in 1975 and work there as a mason for 21 years. He now works at VITM as a guard. Satendra, who once thought of taking the Dubai route, says: “I have a definite goal now to become an engineer.”

There are other students whose fathers are employed in Dubai as electricians, masons, carpenters or unskilled labourers. Dharmvir Singh says the college had “let village students like me follow their dreams”. Mukesh Kumar Yadav is pursuing engineering with the pension of his grandmother and rebate from the college management.

Ariaon village of 400-odd houses has over 200 people working in Dubai. In 50 surrounding villages, the story is the same — of a shrinking agricultural base and heavy dependence on the Dubai economy. With hopes vested in VITM, some students have started taking special classes to be able to get in.

The man behind the institute is a local, S K Singh (50), who was often derided for not doing anything for own village after graduating from Bihar Institute of Technology, Sindri, and joining the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) as a scientist. In 1997, he joined General Electric in the UK and worked in the US before settling down in Bangalore and opening his own company in 2006.

“I casually took part in the 2007 Bihar global summit and saw a presentation from the then HRD secretary M M Jha on how and why one should come back to Bihar. I immediately called my brothers Manoj and Bharat at Buxar village and asked if we could do something for our area,” Singh says.

He was amazed at the speed with which the whole thing came together. Thirty people decided to give their land after a 15-minute meeting at the village. Some withdrew their Kisan Vikas Patras prematurely, others sold their cows to donate money. Singh took a Rs 5 crore loan for the Rs 15 crore plan.

“The unused tract of land where our forefathers once ran horses has an engineering college now. OBC people with poor income gave their land without any condition. How often does it happen that people sign papers saying they got payment when actually I will be paying them in easy installments?” says Singh.

Incidentally, Singh’s own brother is a “returnee” from Dubai. When they started work on the project, the younger brother covered over 70,000 km on his bike, convincing locals about the college, lugging cement bags on it for the building.

When it started in 2010, VITM had 57 students, mostly from villages in a 10 km radius. It enrolled 70 students in 2011. With fresh admissions set to begin for the 2012-16 batch this July, Singh has been getting calls from even eastern UP. The number of girls is up from one in the first batch to six in the second.

“As the main objective is to draw local students, mostly from poor economic backgrounds, the college charges Rs 35,000 per semester, with scholarships on offer. There is 10 per cent scholarship for girls,” Singh says.

Inspiring article. If only achievers from Bihar can give Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 10 crore, engineering/medical/law colleges can change completely. The Government needs to encourage NRBs to invest.

The above example is only one. Let the government contribute Rs 2 crore to build a world-class auditorium, hostel and conference room. And the others can contribute too.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bihar-admits-education-in-universities-unsatisfactory/241016-3.html

Patna: Bihar Education minister PK Sahi admitted on Tuesday that the basic infrastructure, number of teachers and the academic atmosphere in the universities were "far from satisfactory".
Replying to a starred question of ruling BJP MLA Achutanand in the state Assembly, Sahi said there are resource crunches as basic infrastructure, number of teaching and non-teaching employees in the universities are not satisfactory.
Sahi said the universities had during 2011-12 demanded allocation of Rs 4400.63 crore and the state government had made provisions for Rs 3080 crore out of the provision of Rs 3080 crore. The state government had already made available a sum of Rs 1959 crore

He said the state government had made provisions for Rs 859 crore for setting up Aryabhat Knowledge University for conducting technical exams.
The minister said the state government had requested the University Grants Commission to sanction Rs 201 crore for the purpose of strengthening the infrastructure facilities.
(

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-20/news/31215121_1_ongc-official-natural-gas-corporation-exploration

ONGC to invest Rs 200 crore for exploration projects in Bihar
PTI Mar 20, 2012, 10.59PM IST


Tags:
ONGC|Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.|Bihar
KISHANGANJ: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will invest Rs 200 crore in two projects of oil and gas exploration in Bihar's Kishanganj district over the next three years.

This was announced by ONGC's Chief Engineer and Land Acquisition Officer D P Vishwas here today.

The company was finalizing an agreement to take six acres of land on lease in Gargaoin panchayat under Kochadhaman block and Korat Bangama panchayat under Bahadurganj block for the projects, he said.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-to-recruit-610-foresters-and-forest-guards-soon/974083.html

Bihar to recruit 610 foresters and forest guards soon


PTI | 02:03 PM,Mar 13,2012
Patna, Mar 13 (PTI) Bihar government will soon fill vacancies of 136 posts of foresters and 474 posts of forest guards, state Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said today. The state government is framing rules for the services of foresters and forest guards and the same will be finalised over the next four months before commencement of the recruitment process for foresters and forest guards after obtaining cabinet approval, he said in the legislative assembly in reply to a question by JD(U) MLA Izhar Ahmed. Modi, who also holds the forest and environment department, said that in all 624 posts of rangers, foresters and forest guards were vacant in Bihar at present. There is difficulty in inspection of forest and wildlife in the state due to shortage of manpower at the hands of the forest and environment department, he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/careers/education/Microsoft-Bihar-govt-team-up-to-promote-digital-literacy/articleshow/12377999.cms

Microsoft, Bihar govt team up to promote digital literacy

PATNA: Bihar government announced that it would partner with Microsoft India to implement a pilot program that would allow it to showcase a model of a school of the future.

The initiative, to begin next month, would implement programs augmenting the scope of digital literacy and optimize the use of computers by students and teachers.

Rajesh Bhushan, State Project Director, Bihar Education Project Council, said five government secondary schools will participate in the project named 'Window to the World'.

"The aim of the initiative is to reach out to students and educational stakeholders to build capacity within the state on a limited budget," Bhushan said.

Irina Ghose, Director, Education, Microsoft India, said, "With 'Window to the World' we aim to partner with the Bihar Government to showcase how tech-enabled classrooms can increase student engagement and learning."

The pilot would also aim to provide computer aided learning opportunities for students of classes VIII- XII in government schools as well as introduce innovative platforms which will connect students and teachers from all around the world.

The state government aimed at projecting Bihar as the model state for education in the country India by providing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled education at the secondary level, Bhushan said.

The project was announced on the occasion of Bihar Diwas Celebrations.

There have been enough summits and celebrations and what not in the name of Bihar pride which is a great extent of making a good image about the JDU government. Time has come to stop it and wake up and work.

Just constructing roads is not development. They have to much, much, more.

http://telegraphindia.com/1120323/jsp/bihar/story_15285094.jsp

Poverty test for growth
Marginal dip, CM cries neglect

Patna, March 22: The contentious poverty data from the Planning Commission has a message for chief minister Nitish Kumar: Bihar may have recorded a striking rate of growth but much more needs to be done to improve the plight of the have-nots.

Latest data should have a sobering effect on the state government that has spared no expense to celebrate 100 years of being a separate administrative entity. The figures show that the number of poor has dipped marginally by less than one percentage point — from 54.4 per cent to 53.5 per cent — between 2004-05 and 2009-10, which covers the first term of the NDA government in Bihar.

Nitish today used the Bihar Divas celebrations, which got off to a spectacular start at Gandhi Maidan, to attack the Centre for “neglecting” the state and reiterated his demand for special category status, revision of the central coal policy and funding of the 10-year agriculture roadmap that promises to curb poverty in the state and usher in a rainbow revolution.

Poverty in urban areas of Bihar came down by a shade over four percentage points — from 43.7 per cent to 39.4 per cent — but that in rural areas remains much the same — 55.3 per cent in 2009-10 against 55.7 per cent in 2004-05.

The data is drawn up on the basis of a controversial new measure suggested by the Tendulkar committee. But since the same yardstick has been used to measure all states, the numbers can be used to compare the performance of different states.

In this, the Bihar picture looks grim, especially when weighed against other eastern states such as Odisha, Tripura, Sikkim, Bengal and fast-growing ones like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

All the other states have reduced poverty by 9.7 to 22.6 percentage points in five years, compared with Bihar’s 0.9 points. Uttar Pradesh, the state most often compared with Bihar, has seen a dip of about 3 percentage points, while Assam and Meghalaya have reported a rise in poverty.

Economists offer a slew of reasons for the poverty worry.

“The growth in urban Bihar has been construction-driven. This is not to say that there has been no construction in the rural areas. A substantive improvement in rural areas can be brought only through a turnaround in agriculture,” said economist Saibal Gupta, the founder-director of Asian Development Research Institute.

Gupta pointed out that one reason for the marginal dip in poverty is that when the data for this report was being collected, Bihar was reeling from the double whammy of drought and floods for three consecutive years. He said the economy of the state has since stabilised with high growth rate and the numbers should change for the better in the coming years.

Patna University economics professor N.K. Choudhary blamed the numbers on the government. “It is a clear indication that agriculture, on which three-fourths of the population of the state depends on, has been neglected. The development is lopsided,” Choudhary said, pointing out that even the allotment made this time to agriculture — about Rs 1,200 crore — is inadequate.

The dismal performance in the rural sector brings to focus the large-scale irregularities in poverty eradication schemes.

In the ongoing Bihar Assembly session, legislators cutting across party lines have spoken in one voice on issues like rampant corruption in several welfare schemes — be it Indira Awas, MNREGA, mid-day meals or subsidised food grain for the poor. “Had the implementation of these schemes been better, the decline in the poverty level would have been sharper,” said an economist who did not wish to be named.

It’s not that the government is unaware of this. Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh recently quoted chief minister Nitish Kumar as saying that panchayat functionaries were more interested in buying SUVs than using MNREGA funds.

Bihar rural development minister Nitish Mishra has declared that he would prefer not to spend money than giving it away for public loot.

The recent arrest of block level officials engaged in irregularities in Indira Awas, MNREGA and other poverty eradication schemes is an indicator of funds being siphoned off. “The panchayat system is just another layer of corruption,” remarked an MLA.

“The claim that migration has dipped during Nitish rule is questionable. In poverty-stricken districts such as Kishanganj, Khagaria, Madhubani and Darbhanga, there still is a huge population that keeps migrating to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai for livelihood. If there had been development, why would they still have to go outside the state?” said leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

The growth is construction, communication and hotel sectors in the last financial year has been high at 19.61 per cent, 27.23 per cent and 20.22 per cent respectively.

Economists said corruption in poverty eradication programmes has a lot to do with the unprecedented rise in real estate prices in Patna. The cost of flats in Patna is more than Delhi. According to estimates, around Rs 36,000 crore has been pumped into the construction business during the last six years. “Talking about a Rs 24,000 crore or Rs 28,000 plan size is fine. The question is does it reach the target population,” said economist Choudhary.

The government is now speaking about the agriculture roadmap, which seeks an investment of Rs 1.59 lakh crore in the next five years. Most economists point out that they still do not understand where the money would come from. “The bottom line is that you cannot have a glittering Patna with an impoverished rural population,” said an economist.

Are poverty goalposts moving?

Mihir Shah, a member of the Planning Commission, said no. The commission, he said, is using the same methodology it did when it last published poverty estimates in 2009, based on data from a nationwide survey in 2004-05. The poverty lines have been raised by nearly 50 per cent, since then: In urban areas, the poverty line increased from Rs 578.80 per capita per month to Rs 859.60; and in rural areas it went from Rs 446.70 to Rs 672.80.

The misunderstandings arise because in September 2011, the Planning Commission filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court that pegged the provisional poverty line for urban and rural areas at Rs 965 and Rs 781 per capita per month, respectively.

However, these figures were “back of the envelope calculations” and projected a poverty line for June 2011 based on the 2004-05 National Sample Survey data, according to Saumitra Chaudhuri, a member of the Planning Commission. In other words, the Rs 32 a day poverty line was a forecast based on old consumption patterns.

The figures released on Monday are based on 2009-10 NSS data, which include actual consumption by households measured by the costs of food, rent and clothing, rather than estimates.

So, only two official poverty lines exist for the period between 2004 and 2010 based on NSS surveys. The revised poverty line of Rs 29 a day for 2009-10 should be weighed against the line of Rs 19 a day in 2004-05 in urban areas.
New York Times News Service

Bihar will be the Next Gurgaon: Says Nitish

Category: More News Created on Thursday, 08 December 2011 22:22

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a seminar on e-governance in Patna on Thursday.
Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, speaking at a workshop on "Citizen-centric e-Governance" organized jointly by the state IT department, Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and NASSCOM on Thursday, said that his government was committed to develop IT sector in Bihar and was working on to turn the state into the next Gurgaon or Hyderabad.

"Bihar will be ahead of Gurgaon and Hyderabad in terms of Information Technology and we are committed to achieve this goal. We have already identified land for setting up high-tech business houses and I ask such companies to make Bihar their investment destination," the Chief Minister said.

Kumar also urged NASSCOM Vice President Rama Vedashree to use this event to promote Bihar as the next high-tech capital of the nation.

Agreeing with the Chief Minister, Vedashree said that Bihar had a huge pool of talent both in India and abroad and if they could be convinced to return to the home state, Bihar could gain a lot in developing IT sector in the state.

On the topic of e-governance, Kumar said that Bihar had made tremendous stride in last 3-4 years in using technology in the government.
"When I took charge of the state in 2005, we had one worn-out Remington typewriter in the Chief Minister's office. Today, most government departments in Bihar have been computerized. The Right to Public Services Act has been a huge success and attempts are being made to open more technical institutes in the state. These, coupled with other schemes that the state has introduced in the last few years, Bihar is leading in promoting e-governance than any other state in the country," he said

:cheers::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::cheers::cheers::applause::okay:



http://www.***************/index.php/news/7090-luxury-bus-service-for-north-bihar-begins.html[/B

[B]Luxury Bus Service for North Bihar Begins

Transport Minister Brishan Patel and Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav
flagging off luxury buses to North Bihar.

[B] State Transport Minister Brishan Patel, on Wednesday, flagged off a dozen luxurious Volvo buses that would connect Patna with Purnia, Motihari, Madhubani, and Muzaffarpur while also connecting Muzaffarpur with Raxaul and Valmiki Nagar.

"We are committed to link Patna and other cities with other destinations in Bihar by providing luxury buses made by Volvo and Mercedes. This will have positive effect on Bihar tourism," Patel said adding with better road conditions in Bihar under the Nitish administration, the dream of improved connectivity between Bihar towns is fast turning into a reality.

The new Volvo buses to ply between Patna and North Bihar.The latest addition to the luxury bus fleet includes lush reclining seats, air-conditioning, satellite television, WiFi availability, and cell phone chargers, among other things. Tickets are also available online by accessing www.gauravluxury.com.

According to the Transport Minister, under a new plan, all 38 districts are expected to be connected with the state capital.

"So far we have reached an agreement on 72 such buses out of which 23 are being run in districts other than Patna and permits for 14 more buses are being sought," Patel said.
Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav was also present on the occasion.
Disqus

Great news that theres a luxury bus service from Patna to these districts. They need luxury service to all districts and to all states within 1000 km-1200 km. They also need sleeper bus services. BSRTC needs luxury services to the following states in total:

1. Assam
2. Bengal
3. UP
4. Jharkhand
5. Orissa
6. Chattisgarh
7. Meghalaya
8. Sikkim
9. Delhi
10. MP
11. Rajasthan
12. Haryana
13. Punjab
14. Nepal

Actually within 1000 km of Bihar all the above states can easily have direct buses. In addition they need buses to all districts. They also need to introduce sleeper buses and buses with toilets on board as well as ordinary non-AC buses to all gram panchayats and villages, taluks and small towns. Ultimately, good roads have to be backed up with an efficient bus service and hi-quality bus terminals and resteraunts, hotels, gas stations, truck terminals and care centres along the roads themselves.

Actually even Bhutan can have a bus service because many Indian tourists go across there and Bhutan tourists come here too. This will promote tourism. You also need buses to Vaishali/Bodh Gaya/Nalanda/Rajgir from Kolkata as many Bengali tourists are the main tourists across the country. You need bus services to all districts, then taluks, then GPs, then villages and along with that buses to all States as well. All Delhi-Patna trains are hugely crowded, if you run luxury buses with toilets and a pantry onboard and charge competitively, there could be huge demand for Delhi-Patna, Noida-Patna, Gurgaon, Amritsar, Ghaziabad etc buses. Along with that, you need buses from other districts of Bihar too to other districts/states.

http://tenders.bih.nic.in/tenderdocs/TD-06-17-01-2012.pdf

Expression of Interest for design, installation, commissioning, maintainenace of
Ropeway / Escalator or any other system of mass rapid transport.
Department of Tourism, Government of Bihar intends to avail services for
undertaking Field Survey, Feasibility Study, Preparation of Estimate, Detailed Project report
(DPR) including erecting New Ropeway or escalator or any other system of mass rapid
transport with installation, commissioning, testing in trunk-key basis with five years
maintenance clause for transportation of Passenger from Down Hill of Rohtasgarh Fort to
Rohtasgarh Fort Rohtas District and from Down Hill of Massdar Parwat to up Hill of
Massdar Parwat of Banka District of Bihar State. The study shall broadly cover the
followings.

They need ropeways at important places, if possible imported from Switzerland or USA. Also, Bodh Gaya needs pilgrimage houses for Sri Lankan, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian and Japanese/Chinese/Korean pilgrims. The government should construct an international pilgrimage house for foreign touirsts along with AC Volvo connectivity from Patna.

AC Volvo is already courtesy Mahindra Logistics. Now connect Vaishali/Nalanda/Rajgir too.

:cheers::banana::)

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/bihar-expects-30-jump-in-domestic-tourist-arrivals/articleshow/12403747.cms

Bihar expects 30% jump in domestic tourist arrivals

GUWAHATI: The Bihar government today said it is expecting a 30 per cent jump in domestic tourist arrival in the state this year.

"In 2011, over 1.27 crore tourists visited Bihar. We expect around 30 per cent increase in the number of domestic visitors this year," Bihar Tourism Information Officer Tapan Sinha said here.

The Tourism Department of Bihar is organising a two-day road show in Guwahati from today.

"We have already conducted similar roadshows in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Siliguri. Our aim is to make the people aware of the culture and heritage of Bihar, including religious places associated with all major religions, like Bodh Gaya and Nalanda," Sinha said.

5.27 lakh foreign tourists also visited the state in 2011, he said.

"We expect the numbers to go up in the years to come. We are developing Bihar as a major destination for eco-tourism and this includes undertaking major projects in Rajgir, Jethiyan and Ghorakatora," he said.

Sinha said rapid economic growth and improvement in law and order in the past few years had brought a visible change in the state's tourism sector.

Unfortunately, one has to be critical. I am not inclined to praise much as the media is already doing that. Rather, the fact is there are too few 5-star/4-star and even budget hotels in Bihar to really be a tourist hub. You need to learn from Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka on being a tourist hub.

(Comments above are mine.)

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sushil-modi-reiterates-special-status-demand-for-bihar/468944/

Sushil Modi reiterates special status demand for Bihar

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said on Saturday there should be special treatment of poor states developing fast within the general category. For long, Bihar has been demanding it be put in the special category which gets special treatment by the Centre, like the Northeastern states and the hill states of the North. On Saturday’s demand added a new spin to the tussle for funds between Bihar, ruled by the Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre.

Modi was speaking at Samriddhi, the annual conclave of government, business and academia organised by Business Standard Hindi, in Patna. “Bihar has been put in the general category, along with Gujarat and Maharashtra, which is not right,” he said, adding: “There should be a sub-category for fast-developing poor states like Bihar."

He said Bihar fulfilled all the conditions for the special treatment and the ball was now in New Delhi’s court. However, he said there was total “policy paralysis” at the Centre. “There is no internal coordination (between the various partners of the UPA). The situation is worsening,” he said. But he ruled out the possibility of early general elections, “though you can never tell which small incident may lead to mid-term elections”.

On the power situation in Bihar, he said the state would get 600 Mw in the next two years from the second phase of the upcoming project at Barh. Power purchase agreements have also been signed with Essar Power (for its 1,320-Mw project in Jharkhand) and the 4,000-Mw ultra-mega power project to be put up by Reliance Power at Tilaiya (also in Jharkhand). Modi said the state electricity board had paid Rs 3,129 crore to NTPC in the last three years ever since the state-owned power producer started using imported coal. “Of this, Rs 1,353 crore has been paid in this financial year till January,” he said. “This has worsened the situation. No state electricity board in the country, except in Gujarat, is in surplus.”

Private investment of over Rs 1,500 crore has already been made in two highways, while bidding has been completed for a third one and there is huge private sector interest in a fourth.

Detailing the slide in Bihar’s economy since Independence, Modi said the state’s per capita income was 68 per cent of the national per capita income in 1951 and 69 per cent in 1961, but fell to 44.6 per cent in 1971 and 36 per cent in 2001. In 2011, it improved slightly to 37 per cent. “The gap is huge but we are trying hard to grow fast,” he said.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bihar-govt-to-procure-12-lakh-metric-tonnes-wheat/977275.html

Bihar govt to procure 12 lakh metric tonnes wheat

Patna, Mar 19 (PTI) Bihar government has set a target of wheat procurement of 12 lakh metric tonnes this year, Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak said today. He directed the Principal Secretary (Food and Consumer Protection) Shishir Sinha to make arrangement for procurement of 12 lakh tonnes wheat this year. At a review meeting about paddy and wheat procurement, Razak directed the district magistrates to intimate within 15 days about the district-wise target of wheat procurement and storage of the grain at godowns and other related matters. About steps taken to strethghen the mechanism for doorstep delivery of foodgrains, the minister said that he had been informed by the State Food Corporation (SFC) Managing Director Pradeep Kumar that the procured foodgrains would be transporated to its godowns in the blocks before being sent to the PDS shops by smaller vehicles. Rajak directed the SFC official to prepare a route chart for delivery of the foodgrains to the PDS retailers and also about expected transported cost of the same. About paddy procurement, he said that 16.79 lakh metric tonnes paddy had been procured till date by various agencies in Bihar.

http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/bihar-use-photography-caste-census/39015

Bihar to use photography for caste census

PATNA:Bihar plans to use photography and videography when it conducts a caste census from April 15. Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra said Bihar will be the first state to employ such technology.

Mishra told IANS that the census will be a paperless exercise as it will be done on hand-held electronic devices developed by the Bharat Electronic Development Corp. It will drastically reduce data entry errors and enumerator discretion.

The caste census is being conducted after eight decades. In the general census undertaken every 10 years, only religious groups as well as Dalits and tribals are counted.(IANS)

I have repeatedly said that tourism, transport infra higher education and food processing should be the three focus areas for the government, after building roads. So far they are giving focus to the first two, but not to the second two. Time is running out for the government and they need to work much much faster.

http://www.moneylife.in/article/gammon-infra-arm-signs-concession-agreement-for-the-patna-buxar-road-project/24511.html

Gammon Infra arm signs concession agreement for the Patna-Buxar road project

March 26, 2012 02:01 PM |
Moneylife Digital Team
Gammon Infrastructure Projects had promoted a special purpose vehicle named Patna Buxar Highways Ltd for implementing the project

Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd has announced with reference to the receipt of the letter of award from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the Patna-Buxar road project involving four laning of the Patna–Buxar stretch of NH 30 from km 0.00 to km 124.85 in the state of Bihar on BOT (Toll) basis. The company had promoted a special purpose vehicle named Patna Buxar Highways Limited for implementing the project. Patna Buxar Highways Limited has on 21 March 2012, signed the concession agreement with NHAI for the implementation of the project.

In the early afternoon, Gammon Infrastructure Projects was trading at around Rs14.70 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 8.49% up from the previous close.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Kashyap-Green-City-project-launched/articleshow/12408007.cms

Kashyap Green City project launched

PATNA: Kashyap Green Homes Private Limited, a leading company in building construction in the state, started its mega project, Kashyap Green City, on Khagaul Road. This was stated by company managing director Rohit Raj here on Sunday.

Briefing mediapersons about the project, he said that this project has the sanction of Axis Bank, which would provide financial assistance. He said that under the project, modernized super deluxe flats with 2/3/4 bedrooms would be constructed by the company.
at this project has the sanction of Axis Bank, which would provide financial assistance. He said that under the project, modernized super deluxe flats with 2/3/4 bedrooms would be constructed by the company.

Regarding this new project, Raj said that there would be 24 hours service of water, electricity, lift, intercom, CCTV, security guards, health club, children's park, playground, besides swimming pool. He said that the construction company was established in 1989 and since then it has completed several projects in Patna, Patna City, Ranchi, Delhi (NCR) and Ghaziabad on time and handed over to the customers.

Raj said that besides the new project, the company is engaged in construction of Brahma and Vatika Complex at Jalalpur and Vishwamohini Complex at Kankerbagh with all modern facilities.

He said that five percent rebate would be given to the customers who book their orders till March 31.

Government should tap Non-resident Biharis to invest in the State.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Fate-of-Digha-bridge-hangs-in-balance/articleshow/12408106.cms

Fate of Digha bridge hangs in balance

PATNA: Fate of the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge hangs in the balance. Inadequate allocation of funds in the current rail budget will further slow down progress of the bridge. The railways may not complete the bridge by the end of 2014 as announced earlier if fund allocation continues to be meagre for this project in future.

According to ECR chief administrative officer G S Tiwari, the railways has sanctioned a sum of Rs 120 crore in the current fiscal for the bridge which is inadequate to carry out work on the bridge in full swing. The ECR needs Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore to expedite bridge work on a priority basis, he said, adding the railways would, however, make all possible efforts to seek resources from the Planning Commission.

According to sources, the railways has been carrying out fabrication and erection work on this ambitious bridge over the Ganga at Digha site in Patna. Out of 36 spans, fabrication work has been completed up to six spans. Fabrication work is, however, under progress with regard to span seven, sources said.

Erection work is also being carried out at the same time on the bridge. Till now erection has been completed up to four spans. The distance between two spans is about 131 metres. Both fabrication and erection work has been part of the superstructure work of the mega bridge, sources said, adding this work will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,192 crore.

According to an ECR official, the railways has set the deadline for completion of the work by the end of December 2014. The whole project is likely to be completed at an estimated cost of about Rs 1,450 crore. But railway officials supervising the work at the site did not rule out possibility of cost escalation which could go up to Rs 2,400 crore, he said.

According to sources, the major problem the railways is likely to face is procurement of raw materials for want of proper funds. At present, the railways has in store raw materials to complete fabrication-cum-erection work up to 10 spans. Thus, the railways would need more funds to hire new equipment as well as procure raw materials, especially steel and iron, to continue pace of bridge work uninterrupted, sources said.

This is going to be the longest rail-cum-road bridge of the Indian Railways having length of about 4.5 km. This bridge will connect south and north ends to the state capital. Besides, the railways is urgently in need of about 6.52 acres of land at Bind Toli in Digha to complete the guide bund of the bridge, sources said.

http://tenders.bih.nic.in/tenderdocs/TD-01-24-03-2012.pdf

Above tender says that BSTDC wants to develop hotels in PPP mode. They need to focus on hotels at all key places and along important highways.

http://www.***************/index.php/news/7106-shatrughan-sinha-inaugurates-hospital.html

Shatrughan Sinha Inaugurates Hospital



Patna: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Patna Saheb Shatrughan Sinha, on Sunday, inaugurated the Sri Sai Hospital, a multi-specialty health care facility in Kankarbagh offering top-notch health care services under one roof.
Praising the efforts of the hospital management for bringing quality care in the state capital, the actor-turned-politician, also a former Union Health Minister, said that he hoped the hospital would provide world-class treatment to people with varying economic means.
"It is good to see such facilities opening in Patna so people do not have to go to large metros to receive the care they deserve. It is my hope that the hospital keeps the cost low so people from all income brackets are able to afford it," Sinha said.
Akhilesh Kumar Singh, Sri Sai Hospital Managing Director, said the facility was equipped with modern medical tools and apparatus and would provide top care to all at a very affordable price.

I wonder how good the facilities in the hospital itself is. We must never be taken in by hype a government creates about itself.

Initially the Government of Bihar was doing a lot, but now in their second term, the so-called growth story of Bihar is going down the drain. All the lowhanging fruit of roads is gradually being plucked. Now comes the real hard work of building up a modern State. That is difficult and you need private investment for that, 1000s of cores for that. Unfortunately, Nitish Kumar seems to be more interested in creating a media hype about himself and organising summits of various kinds. Then people come to these summits, make statements NK makes nice speeches. What happens actually? Publicity for the government. We need 100 new colleges in Bihar, teaching everything from Law to archaelogy to anthropology to vet sciences. You need restaraunts and hotels along the roads, you need industries, you need libraries. All these things are a must and government has to focus on it, not summits.

An update

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/State-partners-with-Microsoft-on-school-of-future/articleshow/12422613.cms

State partners with Microsoft on ‘school of future’


PATNA: As the state celebrated its centenary, the state education department on Thursday announced its partnership with Microsoft Corporation India (Pvt) Ltd to implement a pilot programme for showcasing the model school of the future.

The initiative, which will commence in April this year through Microsoft's education partner Educomp, will implement programmes to augment the scope of digital literacy and optimize the use of computers by students and teachers. Christened 'Window to the World', the project aims to reach out to students, teachers and education stakeholders for building capacity on limited budgets. Its key aspects include creating tech-enabled classrooms in state schools which will scale up participation of students.

The programme also aims to provide computer-aided learning opportunities for students of classes VIII to XII in government schools and introduce innovative platforms which will connect students and teachers from across the world.

The initiative will cover Ghanshyam Girls High School, Patna; Taramuni Bhagwan Shah School, Bhojpur; Ramanand Sharma Memorial Project School, Jehanabad; Government High School, Nalanda and Government-supported Girls' High School, Vaishali.

State information and public relations department principal secretary and Bihar Education Project Council's state project director Rajesh Bhushan said the aim of the initiative was to reach out to students and other stakeholders to build capacity within the state on a limited budget. Microsoft India's director (education) Irina Ghose said education is what would help the youth realize India's potential.