New glass cabin ropeway in Rajgir by February
Bihar will get a new state-of-the-art ropeway at the Ratnagiri hills of Rajgir by February. After an inspection of the site in his home district of Nalanda, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said that the new cabin ropeway will be ready for services by February. He said that the new ropeway was to be ready by October 25 in 2019 but got delayed due to some modification works. There would be around 18 glass-covered cabins -– each with a sitting capacity of 8 tourists. The new ropeway will cover a distance of 750 meters with six towers in 5 minutes between one hilltop and another.
Patna Zoo’s beloved lion dead
The Sanjay Gandhi Zoological Park in Patna suffered a major loss recently when a 7-year-old male lion named ‘Sheru’ died. “Prima facia, death appeared to be caused due to septicaemia shock,” said Zoo Director Amit Kumar. He informed that a medical board of 5-veterinarians conducted the autopsy. Sheru was born in 2013 and was a progeny of Patna zoo’s lion Vishal. In the last few years, the zoo has lost several big cats and cubs. In 2011, a white tigress Tejaswani and a 9-month old tiger Ram had died while Sheru’s mother Saraswati passed away in 2017 due to a cardiac arrest. Seven cubs have also died at the zoo. Lions in zoos may live into their late teens or early 20s. In the wild, a lioness may live up to 16 years, but males rarely live past the age of 12, said wildlife experts
Three-day bird festival to be held in Bihar
A 3-day Birds Festival will be organised in Bihar’s Bhagalpur for the first time by the Forest department in association with the Bombay Natural Historical Society and the Mandar Nature Club. The tentative date is for this fest is December 11. A variety of activities like seminar of experts and other functions will mark the festival. Flocks of migratory birds of various species arrive in Bhagalpur’s riverside areas during winter. A “bird ringing station” is also being set up in Bhagalpur which is north India’s first such station for observation, monitoring and research on migratory birds.
Bihar-born cricketers feted by energy department
Aimed at encouraging the talent in cricket, the Bihar Energy department recently felicitated two Bihar-born cricketers — Ishan Kishan and Anukul S Roy. The CMD of Bihar Energy department Sanjiv Hans and Principal Secretary (Health) Pratyay Amrit feted the cricketers for their extraordinary performances in IPL 2020. The event was held at Urja Stadium with the support of employees of the energy department, said Hans. Kishan is Patna-born left-handed batsman and wicket keeper while Roy was born in Samastipur. Hans and Pratyay, both IAS officers who are good players of cricket themselves, said that cricketers of Bihar will one day go far ahead in the international tournaments and make the state proud.
Rajesh K Thakur
Our correspondent in Bihar rkthajipur@gmail.com