Patna Diary

100 new BPO centres coming up in Bihar

As many as 100 new business process outsourcing (BPO) centres would be opened shortly at the common service centres (CSCs) operational in Bihar. Each BPO will accommodate five to ten digitally trained women, including those from Scheduled Caste (ST) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, Union law and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said recently. The new BPOs will come up at district headquarters towns such as Samastipur, Jehanabad and Gaya. Bihar has 22,613 CSCs, including 14,213 in rural areas. These centres, run by digitally trained village-level entrepreneurs, have been rendering services to people and also earning money. 

Hard time for guards at Rabri Devi’s house

Seventeen jawans of Bihar Military Police (BMP) withdrawn from guard duty at RJD leader and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi’s house were reinstated two days later after high political drama. But Devi, who is jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife, was so angry that she refused to have the guards back. The BMP jawans were redeployed outside her 10, Circular Road residence in Patna following an order from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But the jawans had to spend two nights in the open with their arms and ammunition because Devi’s personal staff had locked the barrack meant for them. The state police then erected four tents for them. The tussle between Devi and Kumar is still on and the BMP jawans are yet to get back into the barracks.

CM’s residence to be made quake-proof

Although the Bihar capital falls in the high-risk seismic zone-IV, no government or private building in the city has so far undergone seismic retrofitting. The main secretariat building and state guesthouse were taken up for the job by the building construction department in February, and work on them will be completed by June. Next in line are the buildings housing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s official residence at 1, Aney Marg. Seismic retrofitting is likely to start on these buildings next month, and Kumar will be required to vacate the premises for about six months. Sources said he may shift to the bungalow at 7, Circular Road, which has been allotted to him in his capacity as former CM. Mild political tremors were felt when this bungalow was allotted to Kumar recently.

Top hospital gets AC library, oxygen pipeline

Indira Gandhi institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), a super-specialty hospital in Patna, has now got a new, fully air-conditioned library with seating arrangements for 500 students. All books and medical journals in the library have tracking chips in them for instant information if anyone tries to steal them. A multi-fold oxygen unit and pipeline inaugurated at IGIMS along with the library by Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey will ensure continuous supply of oxygen in all wards of the hospital. Other newly added facilities include an advanced skills lab and a computerised central sterile services department (CSSD). The equipment installed at CSSD has been imported from US-based Steris Corporation, said IGIMS director Dr NR Biswas.