A greener approach
For the first time in Patna, as many as 150 trees, that range from the age of 50 to 70 years old will be translocated by the state government to create space for the proposed four-lane road between Digha and R-Block. Translocation involves moving the trees from their original location to a different place.
This makes sure that no trees are cut down. Initially, Bihar State Road Development Corporation Ltd is set to translocate 10 trees. A farm, equipped with the latest mechanism in this field, has been hired to complete this work of translocation of 140 trees after successful translocation of 10 trees by the department first.
125 villages in Bihar to get banking facilities
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil K Modi, who holds the additional charge of the finance department, said banking facility will soon be provided to 125 large villages of Bihar, with a total population of over 5000. Modi said the postal department has also started Indian post payment banks in Bihar. He said bankers have been asked to open bank branches across all the 1,078 panchayats at government buildings.
Besides this, legal action has been ordered against 24 companies that have evaded tax of D840.92 crore in 2018-19 by submitting fake bills and obtaining registration through fake papers. Till March 31, the number of bank branches in the state was 7,469.
Patna to get a Dolphin Research Centre by October
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi informed the Assembly recently that 1,548 dolphins were spotted between Bhagalapur and other gangetic fields over the last few months. “To promote research on dolphins, state government has decided to set up a National Dolphin Research Centre on the premises of Patna University on October 5,” Modi said.
He added that CM Nitish Kumar would most likely lay down the foundation for it. The government of India has sanctioned D19 crore for this research centre. Recently, a population of endangered Gangetic river dolphins was found for the first time in the Mahananda river in Bihar’s Kishanganj district.
Sensitising the affected
The art, culture and youth department of the state government has decided to educate the people living in Naxal affected areas on the pernicious effects of Naxalism through cultural programmes.
Principal Secretary of the department, Ravi Parmar recently told the media that the cultural programmes under the ‘Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar’ would be taken up across all the affected areas to motivate people against the Naxal cause.
The ‘Khelo India’ youth programme will also be held in December to motivate the youth. The Naxal movement in India is among the longest homegrown insurgencies that the world has seen.
Rajesh K Thakur
Our correspondent in Bihar
rkthajipur@gmail.com