Jharkhand Friday inaugurated its first irrigation network, bringing water to more than a dozen villages that have been waiting for more than three decades for the Rs 297 crore canal project to roll. The project will channel water from Ajay river through a barrage to a 110 km long canal that would irrigate 16 villages in Jamtara district and Sikatia village in Deoghar district.

New Delhi The coal-rich Jharkhand state is set to get a second ultra mega power project (UMPP) soon, with the power ministry clearing a project in Deogarh district, sources said.

This will be the seventh UMPP to be launched in the country. Major industry players like Tata Power, Lanco, Adani, JSW Energy, Indiabulls, Jaiprakash Group as well as public sector generator, NTPC, are expected to participate in bidding for the project which would offer a R20,000 crore investment opportunity.

Ministry of Railways and the Government of Jharkhand on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the pending Railway projects in the State. According to the agreement, the State will provide 50 per cent funds for balance cost of the project. There are 31 railway projects which are being executed on cost sharing basis in various States like Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

SAMBALPUR: The trouble seems far from over. Drought, untimely rain, flood and now hailstorm, the vegetable growers of western Odisha cannot but blame their fate. For the last three days, the region has been experiencing rain with reports of hailstorm being received from Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh besides Sambalpur.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday formally implemented one of the major recommendations of Justice Wadhwa Committee, the abolition of Storage Agent chain in order to streamline the Public Distribution System and avoid irregularities and corruption.
The food supplies and consumer welfare department abolished the age-old Storage Agent system in four backward districts- Sonepur, Deogarah, Nuapada and Boudh.

BHUBANESWAR: Over a million people in at least 19 districts of Orissa have been hit by flood in the Mahanadi river systems which, with increased volume of water reaching the deltaic head of the State by Saturday night, was set to grip more and more areas in the downstream coastal pockets over the next few days.

Ranchi, Aug. 29: A Comptroller & Auditor General’s report, tabled in the Assembly today, has pulled up the state for poor implementation of a central government scheme for rural roads, pointing to substandard work, fraudulent payments to unscrupulous contractors and serious financial irregularities.

Ranchi, Aug. 5: Nine districts of Jharkhand will have an annual earning of over Rs 1,151 crore with the local population reaping most of the benefits if a 26 per cent profit sharing clause under a draft Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Bill 2011, to be tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session, comes through.

- Centre-sponsored dairy entrepreneurship changes face of tribal hamlet
Joba Murmu (35) had to watch her husband Chako die of a chest ailment last year, as there was no money for treatment. But now, she sends her daughter Dulari (14) to a private Hindi medium school in Jamshedpur by bus.

Gosai Baskey (55) was almost on the verge of starving when monsoon played truant in 2009 and 2010.

Dumka, Feb.