An aerial survey of the Ganga river in Bihar on Saturday brought Union water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar closer to the alarming severity of the siltation and pollution in the river and need for more urgent remedies.

“I saw it (growing siltation) a very serious issue and we must take urgent measures soon to save the Ganga and reduce the constant threat of floods,” said Mr Bansal, whose survey of the river was in response to Mr Kumar’s request on April 17 for a personal familiarisation with the crisis

In a bid to introduce greater transparency in the road sector, the transport ministry on Tuesday said it has fixed the monthly monitorable targets for road building and will bid out all projects beginning August through the e-tendering process.

Innovation To Bring Electricity Solutions To 50,000 Villages In Bihar, UP, Bengal & Orissa

Alto gether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar health minis- ter Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed on Wednesday.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthal- mologists, he said.

PATNA: Altogether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthalmologists, he said.

The middle and upper Ganga plains covering the upstream part from Rajmahal Hills, were earlier considered to be free from arsenic groundwater contamination. Initially, the contamination (>0.05 mg/l) was reported in 2002 from two villages, Bariswan and Simaria Ojhapatti of Bhojpur district of Bihar.