Chief minister Arjun Munda has said that his government had approved Rs 70 crore for the Ghaghidih drinking water project and Rs 90 crore for Govindpur, promising an end to the crisis for residents of the two localities and Gadra on the outskirts of the city. Munda made the announcement at the closing ceremony of the district BJP’s workers’ meeting in Mango on Sunday, springing a surprise by adding that Rs 60 crore had also been approved for reconstruction of Hata-Mosabani Road in East Singhbhum.

Jamshedpur, March 18: The JMM, in an effort to kill two birds with one stone, has launched a campaign to help people store water during summer by creating temporary check dams on the rivers of East Singhbhum to shore up its vote bank in the district. An initiative of district president of the party Ramesh Hansda, the JMM has already built check dams on the Kharkai at Adityapur and Sankh River at the Naxalite-hit Dumaria area in Ghatshila.

A tripartite meeting convened by the East Singhbhum administration at the district collectorate to resolve land issues plaguing those displaced by the Dimna reservoir failed to make much headway on Wednesday. During the hour-long deliberations, chaired by sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Dhalbhum Subodh Prasad, Tata Steel officials refused to agree to the demand for compensation raised by villagers of Lailam and Bota panchayats in Bodam block in lieu of land submerged by the reservoir (when at its highest level).

Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday directed Tata Steel to prepare an action plan to remove slag from Kharkai and Subernarekha, the rap coming three days before the founder’s day celebrations and after almost a decade of shifting views on the contentious issue of industrial waste poisoning Jamshedpur’s border rivers.

The East Singhbhum district administration has stepped in to resolve the stand-off over disposal of biomedical waste by nursing homes and private hospitals after a city-based human rights outfit took up the matter. East Singhbhum DC Himani Pande has come up with a proposal of nursing homes and clinics, which do not have incinerators, using the facilities available at other hospitals. Pande has asked the regional office of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) to hold a meeting in this regard with the management of such hospitals having incinerators.

Chief minister Arjun Munda on Sunday laid the foundation stone of a Rs 6-crore rural drinking water project at Manpur village, Baharagora block in East Singhbhum, about 100 kilometres from Jamshedpur, signalling his government’s commitment to the hinterland. Accompanied by deputy chief minister Hemant Soren and Bahragora MLA Vidyut Barun Mahto, Munda expressed his concern over the acute problem of drinking water in rural Jharkhand.

Garbage from Adityapur has found a new address — the banks of Kharkai, which is one of the major tributaries of Singhbhum’s lifeline Subernarekha.
Two truckloads of domestic waste, equivalent to 400 cubic feet, are being emptied on the waterfront every day, turning the erstwhile oasis into an eyesore and olfactory challenge.

A large swathe of land at Baharagora in East Singhbhum would sport a green cover by mid-year. The state forest department has taken up a massive water conservation project in the rural block to curb the dependency of locals on forest produce. As part of the project, the forest department will dig four big ponds, two check dams and 32 loose-boulder check dams. Forty hectares of barren land would also be levelled for cultivation.

Jamshedpur, Dec. 25: Congress MP and corporate honcho Naveen Jindal has hailed the state’s rehabilitation and resettlement policy (R&R policy), welcoming the emphasis on employing the displaced even as he put the onus on companies to resolve crises over land acquisition. The chairman-cum-managing director of Jindal Steel Power Limited (JSPL), who arrived in the city yesterday on his chartered flight, said he approved of the state policy and its stress on providing job to one member of every displaced family and doling out money for 30 years.

The state is ready for its first-ever agricultural census, which kicks off tomorrow.

The census — to be carried out in three phases — will cover all revenue villages in the 24 districts of the state. Jharkhand, which failed to compile the data despite embarking on the process in 2006-07, has decided to take up the task in right earnest this time.