Category: Patna

One killed in clash between Patna University hostel students, locals

Source: indianexpress.com

A 45-year-old man, a bystander during a clash between Patna University hostel students and local residents, was killed after a stone thrown by one of the parties hit him on the head.

The police have arrested 20 students in this regard.

The clash took place after eight students were earlier arrested for passing objectionable remarks against a local girl.
According to the police, around 12.30 am on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, over a hundred students living in Cervantes and Minto hostels of Patna University and local Lalbagh residents began pelting stones at each other. Mohammed Shoukat, who had been standing at a tea stall, was hit by a stone on his head, and died on the spot.

His death sparked fresh protests from locals, forcing police to raid the hostels. Twetny students were arrested around 2 am. To avoid further clashes, police have been deployed at Lalbagh and near the hostels.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Malik said: “We are taking stern action. The police deployment will continue and more arrests can be made”.

The chain of events started on Saturday, when inmates of the two PU hostels took out a protest march against the “poor quality” of food served in hostel canteens. During the protest, some students allegedly passed objectionable remarks against a local Labagh girl. After some locals protested this, one resident was beaten up. Police later arrested eight hostel students for passing the remarks and for assaulting the local resident.

The Monday night protest was triggered after students learnt that three Lalbagh residents had recorded their statements with the police against the arrested students.

Meanwhile, Patna University administration has taken stock of the situation and might take action against the students after an internal inquiry.

Indian Railways largest waiting hall opens at Patna Junction! From digital screens to local art, see features

Source: financialexpress.com

New Indian Railways waiting hall at Patna Junction: Indian Railways continues to give a swanky makeover to stations across India under its station redevelopment and beautification initiative! Recently, the Patna Junction railway station in Bihar got a new waiting hall for better comfort of passengers. The waiting hall, set up over an area of 7,500 sq ft, has been provided with a seating capacity of over 300 passengers. In addition to this, as many as 200 more seats can be added at the hall. Interestingly, the newly opened waiting hall at Patna Junction station is said to be the largest waiting hall on the Indian Railways network. Also, many other passenger-friendly amenities and facilities have been provided in the waiting hall.

According to information shared by the East Central Railway zone, the new waiting hall has been equipped with 7 HD screens of 65″. The digital screens will display entertainment-related content as well as train information 24×7. The waiting hall has been beautified to promote local art with all the walls being covered in Madhubani painting in bright and attractive colours. The entire waiting hall is centrally air-conditioned. Moreover, additional fans have been provided as well. Also, the entire waiting hall is lighted with 100 per cent LED fixtures concealed in the ceiling.

Piyush Goyal-chaired Railway Ministry is effortlessly working towards beautification and redevelopment of stations across the country. Not only are the railway stations being beautified, but they are also being well equipped with various modern facilities. Some of the stations, which were renovated recently include New Delhi railway station, Kamakhya Junction, Asansol Junction, Mathura Junction, Haridwar Junction, Jaipur Junction, Lonavala, Adoni, Bellampalli, Sainagar Shirdi, Manduadih, Kurnool City railway station, etc.

Besides, Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC)- a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is also working to transform certain railway stations into airport-like hubs. Currently, development work is being carried out at Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar railway stations.

Clashes erupt in Patna after woman fined for not wearing seat belt

Source: indiatoday.in

Locals and police clashed on the streets of Patna over the new motor vehicle act after the traffic police tried to fine a woman for not wearing a seatbelt.

The incident happened at around 1 pm at the Exhibition road roundabout in Patna. The woman, who was driving a four-wheeler was caught by the traffic police for not wearing a seatbelt.

A heated argument took place between the woman and the police following which she got support from the local people who then clashed with the police.

“I was going to PMCH when the traffic police stopped me and asked me to park my car. I showed them all my documents but despite that, they said I need to pay Rs 50,00 as fine for not wearing seat a belt,” said the woman.

People started pelting stones after which the police also resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the mob. Thereafter, a massive police deployment was put up at the exhibition road to contain the situation.

“Some people who are agitated with the new MV Act created a ruckus at Exhibition road because of which vehicle movement was stalled in this area. The woman alleged that she was asked to pay a fine for not wearing seat but that is not the case. The local people came out in her support and created ruckus”, said DSP Suresh Prasad.

Robbers loot a jewellery store in Hyderabad, gets caught in Patna

Source: indiatoday.in

Police have arrested five members of a gang that looted a jewellery store in Hyderabad’s AS Rao Nagar on September 4. The accused were arrested within 24 hours of the robbery from Patna.

Efforts are on to nab another absconding accused.

The six accused are natives of Bihar and worked as menial workers in Hyderabad.

The accused, identified as Md Shabaz Alam, Md Shahid, Md Mansoor Alam, Md Kasim, Aftab Alam and Mehandi Azeem robbed a jewellery store of AS Rao Nagar of the city and ran away with the looted items.

The looted items and valuables included 100 gm gold ornaments. The security guard of the shop alerted the police.

Police identified the accused through CCTV and found that all the accused have left to their native place from Secunderabad Railway station.

Immediately a special team was formed by Commissioner Rachakonda Mahesh Bhagwat and the team took a plane to arrive at Patna.

The police was waiting for them at Danapur Railway station.

The gang was also involved in a similar burglary in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.

Bihar: 2 members of Viveka Pahalwan’s gang filmed brandishing AK-47, arrested

Source: indiatoday.in

Two members of the dreaded Viveka Pahalwan gang in Bihar were arrested after they were caught on camera brandishing two AK-47 rifles a few days back.

Both members, Vicky and Chandan, were arrested from Mokama in rural Patna days after a video of them wielding the assault rifles went viral.

Police had earlier registered an FIR against both the henchmen of muscleman Viveka Pahalwan, who is considered as the biggest rival of Anant Singh, who is an independent MLA from Mokama.

Local police had been carrying out searches in Mokama and in neighbouring areas to trace the duo over the past few days.

However, the police team led by ASP Lipi Singh finally managed to trace Vicky and Chandan having tea at the local railway station, following which they were arrested.

Several reports suggested that Viveka Pahalwan claimed that the AK-47s wielded by his henchmen were not real but made of plastic.

Authorities have taken both the henchmen to an undisclosed location and are interrogating them regarding the whereabouts of the AK-47 seen in the viral video.

The fresh arrest of the henchmen could help in tightening the noose around local gangsters operating in the Barh-Mokama area in rural Patna.

Pro Kabaddi 2019 HIGHLIGHTS, Tamil Thalaivas vs Patna Pirates in Kolkata: Patna Crush Tamil 51-25

Soure: news18.com

Pro Kabaddi 2019 HIGHLIGHTS, Tamil Thalaivas vs Patna Pirates: Catch all the live updates from the Pro Kabaddi 2019 match between Tamil Thalaivas and Patna Pirates through News18 Sports’ live blog. Tamil Thalaivas lose 25-51 to Patna Pirates in the second game of matchday 43 at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Monday. In the first game of the night, UP Yoddha beat Gujarat Fortunegiants.

Patna Pirates, who had lost their last six straight matches, finally got a taste of victory and in some fashion. Tamil Thalaivas wanted to end their eight-match winless streak but instead, suffered a massive loss. Patna increased their head-to-head record against Tamil to 5-2.

After a 16-point loss against Dabang Delhi KC on Sunday, Tamil Thalaivas will want to improve on their performance and move to Pune with a positive result under their belt. They will draw some positives from Sunday’s match as ‘Showman’ Rahul Chaudhari managed a Super 10 in that contest and V Ajith Kumar also scored nine raid points. Ajith, in particular, has been in stupendous form and Tamil Thalaivas will want him to continue in the same vein as they head into the remainder of their games potentially needing to win them all.

The form of ‘Iceman’ Ajay Thakur will worry the team, though, as he failed to open his account against Dabang Delhi KC, which put the raiders under early pressure. The defence was also a big worry for Tamil Thalaivas in their previous match with just Mohit Chhillar and Sagar managing to score any tackle points for the team. Seniors Manjeet Chhillar and Ran Singh will have to tighten things up in defence, if they want to thwart ‘Record-Breaker’ Pardeep Narwal’s charge.

Patna Pirates go into the match with a six-match losing streak in spite of some stunning performances by their talisman ‘Record-Breaker’ Pardeep. The star raider is currently third among the top raiders in Season 7 and has managed 14 raid points in each of the team’s previous two matches. Against UP Yoddha, he accounted for little less than half the team’s total points scored, which highlights how much the team depends on him. However, Pardeep can’t do it all himself and needs the likes of Mohammad Maghsoudlou, Monu and Vikas Jaglan to step up.

The defence missed the services of their leading tackle points scorer this season – Jaideep – in the starting seven in their previous encounter and consequently managed only eight tackle, while conceding 20 raid points. Though many of their players have all-round abilities, the team will want a senior player like Jawahar or Hadi Oshtorak to lead the defence and back up Pardeep’s efforts in offence.

Bihar plans all-CNG commercial car fleet for Patna

Source: downtoearth.org.in

The Bihar government said it plans to convert all commercial vehicles running on fossil fuel to be powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), starting with Patna.

The number of vehicles registered in Bihar jumped 6.5 times in 11 years to 950,120 (February 2018), according to the state transport department. Pollution hasn’t been far behind.

The state capital was ranked the seventh-most polluted city in the world, with a PM (particulate matter) 2.5 count of 119.7 mg, according to the 2018 World Air Quality Report prepared by IQAir AirVisual and non-profit Greenpeace.

The Bihar State Pollution Control Board blamed this on vehicular emission, domestic fuel burning, burning of waste in the open, construction, industrial emissions and road dust.

Owners of all commercial vehicles in Patna have been advised to switch over to CNG to keep air pollution in check, transport department authorities said. “We are encouraging vehicle owners to opt for CNG; not only is it cheaper but also environment friendly,” state Transport Secretary Sanjay Agarwal told Down to Earth on September 5, 2019.

He said the current focus was on Patna and cars with petrol engines, even as the department was firming up a policy. Diesel-run vehicles will be taken up subsequently. Eight companies have been authorised to fit old vehicles with CNG kits, depending on models and variants, he added.

An official report pegged the number of commercial vehicles retrofitted with CNG kits at 150 so far.

The move hasn’t gone down smoothly with owners of commercial vehicles though. Describing the move as a punishment, Ranjeet Kumar, secretary of the Patna chapter of All India Road Transport and Workers Federation, said: “This will destroy our business and leave our families to starve.”

Auto drivers, who make an average Rs400-500 a day, will have to shell out about Rs 35,000 for a CNG kit. “How can they afford that without any government subsidy?” Kumar asked and warned of protests in case the government didn’t look into demands.

Of the state’s 922,500 commercial vehicles, 225,000 are auto-rickshaws, 190,000 trucks, 325,000 tactors, 75,000 buses, and 7000-7500 are tanker lorries.

Agarwal denied that the government was pressuring vehicle owners. State Transport Minister Santosh Kuamr Nirala, however, said on September 4 that though there was no compulsion and vehicle owners can attach kits voluntarily, “after certain period, conversion of all vehicles to CNG will be made mandatory.”

The lack of CNG filling stations — Patna has only two at the moment — is also a worry. The government has announced that three more will be added by mid-October.

Patna High Court withdraws judicial work from senior judge

Source: thehindu.com

The Patna High Court has withdrawn all judicial work from a sitting senior judge of the court Rakesh Kumar who had in the course of hearing a corruption case against a former IAS officer on Wednesday highlighted the state of corruption in the judicial system. A 11-judge bench also suspended Justice Kumar’s order and ruled that no action ordered by him would be taken.

“All the matters pending before Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rakesh Kumar, sitting singly including tied up/part heard or otherwise stand withdrawn with immediate effect,” read a notice issued by the chief justice of the Patna High Court on August 28. “The registrar will implement the order forthwith subject to further orders with regard to the formation of the bench,” the bench said in the notice, which came into the public domain on Thursday. The bench also observed that their fellow judge had no “jurisdiction to pass such an order on a case that had been closed”.

“The registrar (list) will inform as to how and in what manner Cr. Misc. No. 4117 of 2018 that had been disposed of finally earlier was listed on Thursday at Sl. No. 1 under the heading ‘To be mentioned – Tied up’ before Justice Rakesh Kumar,” the bench said in the notice.

The Bihar Advocate General Lalit Kishore told journalists in Patna that the bench had also made strong observations and expressed serious concern over the long order passed by Justice Kumar in which he had raised questions over the majesty of the court and integrity of judicial system.

Before his elevation as a judge, Justice Kumar had served as a CBI counsel in the Patna High Court during hearings on the multi-crore fodder scam case against the then chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad . On Wednesday, while hearing a corruption case against retired IAS officer K. P. Ramaiah, Justice Kumar in his 20-page order had questioned how the former officer was granted bail in a corruption case when the High Court as well as the Supreme Court had earlier rejected it. Mr. Ramaiah was accused of financial misappropriation of ₹5 crore in the Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission when he was its CEO. “A corrupt officer like K. P. Ramaiah secured bail as a vacation judge heard his case in place of the regular judge of the Vigilance Court,” Justice Kumar said in his order.

“In normal course, I would not have passed such order, but since last few years, this Court is taking notice of the fact that in Patna Judgeship, things are not going in its right perspective,” Justice Kumar observed, while adding that the manner in which Mr. Ramaiah was granted bail required a deeper probe as it had raised questions about the judiciary. Justice Kumar also ordered an inquiry to be conducted by the District Judge, Patna, to check the veracity of a news report. Further while calling for a report within four weeks, he also ordered an inquiry into whether on the date of granting bail to Mr Ramaiah, the regular vigilance court judge was on leave due to a genuine cause or had gone on leave in a calculated way. The District Judge was also asked to examine the record of cases disposed of by the in-charge judge in the last six months.

In his order, Justice Kumar also raised questions about the judiciary and said that the full bench of the Patna High Court had taken a lenient view every time the case of any judge from the lower judiciary came up. “Despite my opposition, a judge facing serious charges was let off with minor punishment instead of exemplary punishment,” Justice Kumar said in his order. He also made scathing remarks about taxpayers’ money being spent on renovation of judges’ homes. “There were instances of crores of the taxpayers’ money being spent on renovation and furnishing bungalows of judges as well as nepotism,” he said in the order. Further, Justice Kumar ensured that a copy of his order be sent to the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister’s office and the Union Law ministry.

Ganga overtops red mark in Patna, low-lying areas face submergence

Source: hindustantimes.com

Fresh threat of flooding has come to haunt Bihar again with river Ganga rising menacingly at various places across the state—from Buxar to Bhagalpur. It has overtopped the danger levels at Patna, inundating low-lying areas across along its way, which led to exodus of families with cattle heads from diaras.

In Patna, Bind Toli, one of the most populous helmets inhabited by fishermen located inside the Patna flood protection wall, has been completely submerged under the water, while floodwaters have begun engulfing houses built on upland in diara between Patna and Saran district.

Sitab Diara, the native village of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, situated on the bank of Ganga has been swamped by the flood water and the villager are being relocated to safer places. Many villages settled on the river’s bank in Naugachhiya and Bhagalpur are being devoured by the gushing current of the river. Various villages of Mahnar block of Vaishali have also been submerged due to rise in water level of Ganga.

This is the second spell of the flood the state is undergoing. Earlier, as many as 13 north Bihar districts were inundated by the swollen rivers originating from Nepal and are still grappling with the post-flood tribulations. The floodwaters had swamped more than 1,300 panchayats, affecting more than 88 lakh people due to the spate that started in the last week of June. More than 130 persons had lost their lives in the north Bihar districts due to the floods.

Prompted by the rising trend of Ganga and other rivers in the last 24 hours, the administrative machineries of the districts along the river have been put on high alert to meet the eventualities. Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in sensitive areas of the rivers to keep constant vigil and rush help to the people in need.

Officials of the water resources department (WRD) said that safety embankments of Ganga and other tributaries of rivers of Central Bihar region are being fortified and monitoring heightened in view of the moderate to heavy rains predicted in their catchment areas in the next one week.

They feared that the flood situation may deteriorate in the catchment areas of Ganga as other tributaries like Kosi, Gandak, Sone and Burhi Gandak threaten to cross the red mark at different localities along the way. “Currently, Ganga has crossed the danger level at Gandhi Ghat and Hathidan in Patna, while Burhi Gandak has overtopped the red mark at Khagaria. Sone has begun to swell after a brief reprieve in the morning. Situation is, however, not that alarming as of now,” said an executive engineer of the WRD.

A youth is reported to have drowned near LCT Ghat, opposite Mahavir Vatsalya hospital, after he accidentally fell into the turbulent water of Ganga. A team of SDRF personnel carried out an extended operation to fish out the body, which remained elusive till late evening on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the state government has sought financial assistance of Rs 3,000 crore from the Centre to compensate for the losses in Bihar and its people had to incur during the first phase of flood devastation.

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s scions stage late-night dharna in Patna

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Former deputy CM of Bihar and younger son of imprisoned RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav staged a dharna amid rain in Patna on Wednesday night. Tejashwi sat on the dharna demanding immediate arrival of any senior official of the state government to assure the people that no further demolition of the milk market would take place.

As a part of anti-encroachment drive carried out by the Patna administration, some portions of the milk market, that was built by then CM Lalu Prasad Yadav were demolished. Tejashwi Yadav was apprised of this situation soon after he returned to Patna after months of political hibernation.

The protest led to traffic snarls and a complete lockdown of the area. “A complete mess has been created in the state by CM Nitish Kumar led government. We wouldn’t now allow it to continue in the systems and leave the state in a mess.  We will set everything right,” he said, adding that demolition of milk vendors market, near Patna junction, was deliberately done by officials.

The entire traffic movement in the city went haywire with hundreds of vehicles being stranded on the road. “I will continue on the dharna till the arrival of any senior official to assure to the people that no further demolition of the market would be don,” he said.

Meanwhile, upon knowing that his younger brother is sitting on dharna, Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, also reached the dharna site and joined his brother.

“Now, my Arjun will demolish all those who are ruining the lives of poor people in government. I will be with him like Krishna,” Tej Pratap Yadav said. The ruckus continued till late night in and around the roundabouts near Patna junction by thousands of supporters of Lalu’s scions.