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Hailstones damage mango crop in Maharashtra

May 6, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, May 6 (ANI): Farmers are lamenting the damage to their mango crops in various regions of Maharashtra due to hailstones and early rainfall.

Every year Aurangabad district exports around 70 tons of Kesar Mangoes to USA.
But earlier this week, due to hailstorms and unexpected rainfall, the mangoes have been damaged, and developed holes and bruises.

“Almost all the mango crops in this area have been affected by rain and hailstones. Some officials from the agriculture and revenue department came to inspect the crops,” said Vinayak Pathrikar, mango farmer.

The farmers fear that they will not be able to meet the export targets.

“The quality of the mango crops has now deteriorated for the purpose of export. That is why this year we won”t be able to achieve the export targets. Especially in Gangapur…and Aurangabad, hailstorms have damaged the crops to a large extent, especially the Kesar mango crops,” said Trayambak Pathrikar, Secretary, Mango Growers Association, Aurangabad.

Farmers receive Rs 70,000-75, 000 for every ton of mangoes exported to the US, and make an annual profit of Rs 4.5 million.

Kesar Mango has a unique sweet taste and is characterized by its golden colour with green overtones. The fruit is slightly smaller compared to the Alphonso variety. (ANI)

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Bihar raises reward for 20 wanted Maoists

March 17, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Patna, March 17 (IANS) The Bihar government has doubled the reward money for 20 wanted activists of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist.

Now, the reward money has been upped to Rs.3 lakh in the case of Vijay Kumar Arya alias Jaipal and Rs.2 lakh for Jagdish Yadav alias Masterji. The two operate in Aurangabad and Gaya districts, police said.

The reward money for Sitaram Rajwar has been raised to Rs.1 lakh. Informants who help in getting Vijay Yadav and Birender Yadav arrested will get Rs.50,000.

The government last week admitted that 33 of the 40 districts were affected by Maoist violence. According to Bihar police chief Neelmani, 1,881 Maoists were arrested between 2006 and 2009.

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Swine flu death toll reaches 89

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Aug. 28 (ANI): With the death of a 39-year-old man in Mumbai, the nationwide swine flu toll has mounted to 89.

M Shaikh, who had tested positive for the virus, had undergone treatment at MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai for ten days and was shifted to D Y Patil Hospital. He died on Friday night, Navi Mumbai Chief Health Officer Deepak Paropkari said.

Meanwhile, 123 fresh cases of infection have been surfaced across the country, bringing the total number of those who had been infected to 3,396.

Maharashtra now accounts for 47 fatalities – 25 in Pune, ten in Mumbai, seven in Nashik, two in Aurangabad and one each in Dhule and Latur.

The deadly virus has taken 20 lives in Karnataka, seven in Gujarat, three each in Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, two in Uttarakhand and one each in Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan and Haryana.

According to the Health Ministry, the virus is affecting people in the 14 to 44 age bracket more, and late reporting for treatment was the reason for most of the deaths.

Director General of Health Services R K Srivastava, quoting a survey by the ministry, said on Thursday that instances of death occurred when people infected by the virus reported for proper treatment five days or more after the symptoms surfaced. (ANI)

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Industrial waste generated poisonous crops in Aurangabad

July 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, July 2 (ANI): Lack of incinerating industrial units in Aurangabad has led to dumping of industrial waste into water bodies, poisoning the crops.

The industrial units especially the textile, paper and the distillaries are major sources of these pollutants which directly affects the soil.

The inorganic toxic pollutants make the soil totally unfit for cultivation.

Farmers complained of the inaction of the pollution control board and the Government to curb the practice.

“The pollution control board and the Government bodies are not able to control the poisonous chemicals being discharged into the water bodies. This leads to the farmers using this polluted water to irrigate the fields which in turn leads to poisonous crops which affects the health of the common man,” said Hitendu a farmer.

Ranjan Garg, pollution expert said that the sewage which is discharged directly into the water stream, pollutes the soil so much that it becomes unfit for cultivation.

“The sewage which is discharged directly into the water stream pollutes the water stream and when the farmers use this water to irrigate the fields the soil gets polluted. It gets so much polluted that you get the greenish yellow water from the borewell once it is fixed. You don’t feel that the soil is being degraded for first one or two years and you get the good crop but slowly the farmer starts crying when the yeild drops,” said Garg.

There have been many court orders, which forbid the emptying of industrial waste into the rivers. By Abdul Hadi (ANI)

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Aurangabad emerges as a favourite destination for breweries

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, June 27 (ANI): Known for its tourist attractions of Ajanta and Ellora caves, Aurangabad in Maharashtra is fast emerging as a favoured destination for breweries with many companies establishing their units in the city.

Presently, there are six beer industries in the city that produce 130 million litres of beer, which is sufficient for the demand in Maharashtra state.

Reasons for Aurangabad emerging, as a major beer-producing centre include its central location and the silica free water source of Jayakwadi dam built across the Godavari River.

“There are two reasons for spurt in number of beer industries in Aurangabad. One is water quality available. Whatever, minerals required for beer, a good quality beer that is all available in Godavari backwater and second Aurangabad is a central place of Maharashtra. From here we can approach all of south, west, east of Maharashtra very easily,” said Rakesh Sharma, General Manager, Lila Sons, a brewery in Aurangabad.

As compared to previous year, revenue generation from breweries has also increased.

“This year 22.6 million of beer boxes have been dispatched by which the government has generated revenue of around rupees 3.8 billion. While last year revenue of around rupees 3.3 billion was generated. This means that we have exceeded the last year’s revenue by rupees 500 million,” said Vishwanath Indise, Deputy Commissioner of the state excise, Aurangabad.

Indian beer industry is witnessing a steady growth and according to a forecast it is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 17.2 per cent till 2011. (ANI)

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Rains and hailstorm upset horticulture in Aurangabad

May 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, May 25 (ANI): The recent untimely heavy rains and hailstorm in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, have left behind a badly affected yield of mangoes, papayas, and pomegranate.

The most affected are the farmers who took to horticulture.

Hundreds of orchards of papaya and mango fruits have been adversely affected due to three-days of heavy rains in the region.

“Because of unexpected rains and thunderstorm, the trees and produce of pomegranate, papaya and mangoes have been extensively damaged to the extent of 80 percent for papayas and between 25 to 40 percent for the other fruits. The roots have been damaged and we are assessing overall losses and other damages caused to the farmers,” noted Dattatreya Giri, Horticulture officer, Wankhede Sub-Division, Aurangabad.

Aurangabad is a major source of mangoes for export purposes. However, the torrential rains this season have caused a set back to the scope of exporting fruits.

“Every year from this farm we used to do an export of 60 to 70 percent of our produce but due to this loss we won’t be able to even export five percent of the yield. Rest of our production has been damaged. We don’t even expect these mangoes to be consumed in the local market,” said Vinayak Prathikar, a farmer.

Nearly all farmers in the country depend upon weather Gods for a good yield. But the untimely rains causes losses of huge amounts. (ANI)

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Aurangabad farmers fear deers

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, May 20 (ANI): Farmers in Aurangabad region of Maharashtra have sought compensation from the State Government as thousands of deer have damaged their crops after sneaking from nearby forest areas.

The deer have destroyed the cotton and orange crops but also the grass surrounding the agricultural lands which the farmers use for their livestock.

“The deer are destroying our crops. They eat up all the grass. They also destroying the cotton and the orange crop. We, the farmers are facing a lot of problem since the past three to four years. The officials of the forest department come and after a lot of surveying register the losses. After all this they give a meagre compensation amount of rupees 50 to rupees 100,” said Anna Shinde, a farmer.

Consequently, the farmers sat on a protest recently demanding compensation from the Forest Department for the losses incurred by them.

Officials of the Forest Department claimed that they have distributed almost 10 million to the farmers whereas each farmer gets a meagre sum of rupees 50 to 100 which they contend is peanuts when compared to the losses incurred by them.

Meanwhile, the Central Government has approved a project for the translocation of the deer.

However, the provisional project is only for a 100 out of the thousands of deer which are destroying the crops.

“There are two programmes for relief. First is compensation. We have given compensation to the farmers amounting to more than 10 million. Secondly, the long term program is to translocate the deer’s. They can be translocated to Karanja Sohal sanctuary. We recently got approval from the Central Government for this program,” said B.S. Hooda, Conservator of Forests, Aurangabad.

The farmers have been facing this problem for the past half a decade.

The farmers believe that the Forest Department needs to take more concrete steps before more and more crops fall prey to the herds of deer.

As per prevailing law, killing of deer for the venison meat is a penal offence in India. By Abdul Hadi (ANI)

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Naxals strike Jharkhand, Bihar ahead of second phase of polling

April 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ranchi/ Patna, Apr 22 (ANI): With just a day left for the second phase of general elections, the Naxals have attacked at several places in Bihar and Jharkhand to impose a shut-down in the two states.

The latest incident has happened in Jharkhand this morning, where the Naxals took 700-800 people hostage as they were travelling in a train from Barkana in Jharkhand to Mugalsarai in Uttar Pradesh.

Naxals later freed passengers on board hijacked train.

The train was hijacked at around 7 a.m.

The Naxals had taken the train to the Latehar Railway Station. Four helicopters and the Railway Protection Force were called in to monitor the situation.

In another attack in Jharkhand, the Maoists bombed the Utari Railway Station in Palamu District.

The incident happened minutes before the Ranchi-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was scheduled to pass from the station.

On Tuesday night, the Naxals created a ruckus at Bihar’s Gaya, Aurangabad and Motihari District.

In Gaya, the Naxal rebels set on fire three oil tankers and five trucks on main GT road in Gaya District. A truck driver was shot at and is reportedly in critical condition.

The Naxals blew up a community centre in the Deo block of Aurangabad District.

No causalities were reported.

Naxals have also captured a polling station in the Aadapur block of Motihari District. They have wired it with two bombs.

Previously, the Naxals had disrupted the first phase of the five-phased general elections.

On April 16, the Naxals had struck at 14 places, killing at least 16 people.

The first attack took place in Jharkhand’s Latehar District, in which nine people including seven BSF personnel were killed.

A day before the first phase of polling on April 15, over 100 Naxals had stormed the BSF camp in Bihar’s Sasaram District armed with automatic guns and rocket launchers, but the camp was finally secured after a counter attack that forced the rebels to flee.

The encounter left at least one BSF soldier injured.

On April 12 night, seven CISF personnel and four Maoists were killed in a gun-battle that took place when hundreds of ultras attacked an ammunition store and bauxite mine of NALCO in Orissa’s Koraput District. (ANI)

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Bihar issues shoot-at-sight orders ahead of polls

April 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Patna, Apr.15 (ANI): Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued across Bihar in the run-up to Thursday’s first phase election in 13 out of 40 Lok Sabha constituencies.

The state’s borders with Nepal and neighbouring states have also been sealed.

Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Rajiv Pratap Rudy of Bharatiya Janata Party (Saran), Union Ministers Meira Kumar of Congress (Sasaram) and Hina Shahab, wife of controversial RJD MP Md Shahabuddin (Siwan) are candidates whose fate will be decided in tomorrow’s polls.

An electorate of over 1.75 crore are eligible to cast their votes in the 13 constituencies, where 21 women candidates are among 223 in the fray.

Gopalganj, Maharajganj, Ara, Gaya, Buxar, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nawada, Saran, Sasaram, Siwan, Karakat and Jamui constituencies will go to the polls.

Bihar’s Home Secretary Afzal Amannulah said: “We have ordered shoot at sight orders in case security personnel fail to control the situation.” (ANI)

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Displaced farmers in Maharashtra to boycott polls

April 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Paithan (Maharashtra), Apr 10 (ANI): Farmers in Maharashtra, displaced by Jaikwadi Dam, have decided to boycott the polls, as they are yet to receive their dues.

Residents of about 118 villages displaced by Jaikwadi Dam, 50 kilometers from Aurangabad, have been long demanding their dues from the authorities but without any success.

The residents, mostly farmers, have decided to boycott polls this time to press the political parties in the state to give in to their demands.

“There are about 2.5 to 3 lakhs voters in these 5 taluka (blocks) who have been displaced because of this dam. Unless our demands are met, we are not going to participate in this poll,” said Sunil Sarje, one of the farmers.

Jaikwadi Dam, built on river Godavari, supplies water to Aurangabad and generates power. By Abdul Hadi (ANI)

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Skoda to ramp up Aurangabad plant capacity; to launch four new models in India!

April 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

The encouraging bookings and sales of its cars in India has given Czech auto giant Skoda the confidence to work out new plans for the country.

The company, part of German automaker Volkswagen, intends ramping up its Aurangabad plant capacity where the cars are assembled with five per cent locally-sourced components; as well as launching four new models by next year!

At the India launch of the Skoda Superb 2.0 TDI PD diesel variant the V6 petrol version being already launched in Delhi – Director-Sales and Marketing, Thomas Kuehl informed reporters about the companys plans of venturing into the small car, MPV and SUV segments in India.

Upbeat about the response the Skoda cars are getting in India, Kuehl said: We sold 515 cars of all models last year. In the last 30 days, we have sold 300 units and booked orders for 300 more cars. The Aurangabad facility is flexible enough to assemble up to 40,000 units, so coping with more numbers will be easy. We are firmly positioned in the D segment as No: 2 and had a 38 per cent growth last year.

Skoda, which is also aiming at increasing the local content in its cars by next year, might gradually phase out its mid-market segment entrant Octavia; and bring in an estate-variant of the Skoda Fabia, its MPV Roomster, and its SUV Yeti!

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Videocon to launch DTH Services throughout India on April 27

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

After many delays, Videocon Industries, an India-based electronics goods manufacturing company has finalized April 27 as launch date of DTH services with the name of ‘D2H+’.

It may be noted that the company is entering the DTH space in India in the presence of other competitors like Dish TV, Sun TV, Doordarshan, Tata Sky, Big TV and Airtel.

According to sources close to the development, the company will launch integrated digital televisions (iDTVs) and set top boxes (STBs) with 4-5 subscription options. The company is planning to sell 70-80 per cent IDTVs and 20 per cent STBs.

According to reports, it has been revealed that STBs will be imported from Korea or China and later assembled at the company’s Aurangabad plant.

During initial phase, the product will be launched only in towns and not rural areas across India, because the company believes that launching partly would help the company understand the operations better and provide better service.

Currently, the company is testing the STBs by installing at employees’ homes at no cost. In addition, the company is presently ensuring a strong sales network and has been recruiting sales and service staff through its media arm, Bharat Business Channel.

With the latest venture, the company is aiming a subscription base of 10 per cent in the first year of launch.

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Mid day meal showing positive results in Maharashtra

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, Apr 4 (ANI): Mid day meal schemes introduced by the Congress government for school going children is showing positive results in Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

In Aurangabad alone, the scheme is currently running in about 296 government aided schools.

Almost 24,411 students from the first to the fifth grade and 6025 students from the sixth to the eighth grade are the beneficiaries.

Special care is also being taken to provide wholesome food and ensure cleanliness while cooking.

The government also ensures that the provisions should reach the schools in time.

“As per the Mid day meal programme, we provide food to the students in the afternoon. There is a fixed menu. On Monday, it is dal and rice; on Tuesday, it is fried rice; on Wednesday, it is rice; on Friday, it is sweet rice and on Saturday, it is rice with egg or a banana. We take care of cleanliness while cooking the meals,” said Ilyas Ahmed, headmaster, Khada Urdu primary School, one of the schools running the scheme.

The students are also happy with the quality of the food served to them.

“We get fried rice, pulses and rice everyday,” said a student Khan Mohammed Osama of Khada Urdu Primary school.

“In my school, we get six different meals on six days,” said Wasima Rida, another student.

The Mid day meal scheme has significantly helped improve enrolment and check drop out rates.

The scheme is running in about 179 schools private schools in the city as well serving 85,589 students.

Continuing since July 1995, it was introduced to address twin problems of checking drop rates in primary schools and providing nutrition to children coming from poor families.he National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (commonly known as Mid day meal scheme), one of the world’s largest nutritional programmes, covers more than one million schools.he scheme provides a hot cooked meal of a minimum 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein.

During the year 2008-09, around 10 million children at primary stage and 42 million children at upper primary stage are expected to be covered under the programme. By Abdul Hadi (ANI)

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Rahul goes east, tears into Advani

April 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

CONGRESS YOUTH icon Rahul Gandhi took on the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani, head-on on Wednesday. Whizzed through Bihar and Jharkhand in a Pawan Hans helicopter to address four back-to-back rallies, the same number that Advani had addressed on Tuesday, he launched a no-holds barred attack.

“People want to know from him (Mr Advani) whether the then NDA government had capitulated before the terrorists in Kandhar and facilitated the release of some of their hardcore members lodged in Indian jails,” Rahul said in his electoral speeches in Lohardaga and Ramgarh in Jharkhand. “We have an opposition that talks about corruption and terrorism, but it does not see what is happening in Bihar.

The people, during whose regime Parliament was attacked and an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar and #8230; are now saying that we do not fight terrorism. The fact, however, is that Pakistan has been kept under a leash after the Mumbai attack only because of our stern stand,” the Congress general-secretary told the crowds in Bihar’s Buxar and Aurangabad.

In his address, Rahul also focused on his favourite idea: youth. The party has fielded many youth contestants this time in the elections he said.

“Next time it would be more. And this is all the more important when you talk about the country’s changing future.

” In both states, Rahul also focused on local issues – the Kosi floods and corruption in Bihar and the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) in Jharkhand. The Congress star campaigner said the people of Bihar contribute to the development of several states, but Bihar unfortunately continues to languish.

“In Bihar, no one gets employment. Your people are contributing to the progress of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi while the state government revels in keeping its own people backward.

” “At one point of time, Bihar and UP were the two top states. Today, they are running backwards while the country is moving forward.

” However, at both the Bihar rallies, he took care not to say anything against UPA railway minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janashakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.

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In Bihar, Rahul spares Lalu, Paswan, slams NDA

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

In his first visit to Bihar after the Congress decided to fight the elections in the state alone, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday did not attack estranged UPA partners RJD and LJP. Nor did he make any mention of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan as he kicked off the Congress’s poll campaign in the state, where party candidates are pitted against those fielded by the allies.

The closest he got was at Aurangabad, where he said that “regional parties must be discouraged” so that a national party like the Congress could give a stable government to the people.

Instead of dwelling on Lalu and Paswan, the Congress general secretary chose to attack the NDA and highlight the achievements of the UPA Government at the Centre in poll speeches in Buxar and Aurangabad.

He said that while terrorism only worsened during the NDA regime, the UPA Government dealt sternly with extremist forces and made Pakistan behave and “sit idle at home”.

Rahul said the BJP with Kandahar as background had no moral right to make huge claims on terrorism. “It was the UPA Government that succeeded in exerting pressure on Pakistan, very often responsible for cross-border terrorism,” he said. He exhorted the people to vote for the Congress to “reinstate aam aadmi ki sarkar (common man’s government) at the Centre”.

In Buxar, Congress candidate K K Tiwari is pitted against sitting BJP MP Lalmuni Choubey and RJD’s “man of integrity” Jagdanand Singh. In Aurangabad, sitting Congress MP Nikhil Kumar finds himself in a triangular contest with the BJP’s Sushil Kumar Singh and RJD’s Shakil Ahmed Khan.

Blaming the Nitish Kumar-led NDA Government in the state for not checking migration, Rahul said: “The Government has to look for reasons why people have not stopped migrating to various parts of the country for jobs.”

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Rahul Gandhi kicks off Congress campaign in Bihar

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday kicked off his party’s election campaign in Bihar where the party is going it alone after falling out with two key allies.

After arriving in Patna from New Delhi, he left for Buxar where he addressed a public gathering. The Congress has fielded former central minister K.K. Tiwari from Buxar.

Gandhi then left for a public meeting in Aurangabad where the party has renominated Nikhil Kumar, a former Delhi police chief and son of former Bihar chief minister S.N. Sinha.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will also visit the state to campaign for the party in the second week of April, party sources said.

The Congress is contesting the general elections in Bihar by itself after being given a cold shoulder by fellow members of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) – Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). Bihar has 40 parliamentary seats.

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Farmers in Maharashtra burn crops

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad, Apr 2 (ANI): Farmers in Maharashtra burnt their crops after they suffered heavy losses due to damage to hybrid orange in the region, on account of water shortage.

Villages in the outskirts of Aurangabad like Paithon, Pachod, Adul and Rihandawa are the worst affected.

More than three thousand farmers are affected by the crop damage as approximately around 3,053 hectares of hybrid orange farms have dried up in the area. There is massive water shortage in the villages, even for daily use.

“For the past eight years, there is water scarcity in the area as it has not rained much. We tried irrigating our fields through water tankers. But, it did not help us. Panchod, Adul and Rihandawa villages are affected. Now, farmers are cutting trees and burning their farms”, said Habib Khan Pathan, a farmer of Panchod village.

Earlier, these villages were known for good production of hybrid orange crops which brought profits to the farmers. But the situation is bad now.

“I had no job. So I started farming. The rainfall was very scanty and there is water shortage in the region. I paid four hundred rupees for water tankers. I got benefit just for one year. After that I faced huge losses. The representatives of our village are doing nothing to help us. Now, I have no option but to burn my dry farms,” said Buvan, a farmer of Adul village.

Though, these farmers have approached government for help, no aid has reached them yet.

In India, annual monsoon rains are crucial for good yield. The four-month monsoon is the main source of water for most farmers.

India is basically an agricultural economy and about 600 million of the billion-plus population depends on agriculture for a living. By Abdul Hadi (ANI)

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Rahul criticizes BJP for attacking UPA Govt. on terror issue

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Aurangabad (Bihar), Apr 1 (ANI): Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi today said that it was the Manmohan Singh Government which silenced Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks.

Rahul criticized the BJP for attacking the UPA government on national security issue while launching his party’s campaign in Bihar and Jharkhand.

“‘The constant pressure mounted by the Manmohan Singh Government has silenced Pakistan,” he said.

Rahul accused the BJP of having succumbed to terror during the Kandahar plane hijack episode.

“In every election, BJP targets Congress over terrorism and corruption. The BJP-led Government knelt before terrorists during the Kandahar plane hijack incident. They have no right to criticise the UPA Government (on terrorism),” he added.

“In Bihar, the NREGS launched for economic uplift of the poor living in far-flung areas of the country has virtually failed to take off mired as its execution is in corruption,” Rahul charged.

Congress has always stood by the poor in “thick and thin, but BJP never speaks for the poor and forgets them once election is over,” he said in Lohardaga in Jharkhand. (ANI)

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Villagers of Maharashtra overwhelmed by farm loan waivers

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ganoeri (Maharashtra), Mar 31 (ANI): Farmers in Ganoeri village of Aurangabad district of Maharashtra have expressed happiness after their farm loans were waived off recently.

Congress-led Government had on May 23, 2008 raised the total farm loan waiver limit to Rs.716.8 billion from the Rs.600 billion.

“The government has given a lot to us. They have made us loan free. Earlier, we were in shackles but now we are in less shackles. The government has done a lot of favor to us,” said GorakhBeraker, a farmer.

The farm loan waiver scheme aims at enabling the beneficiary farmers to apply for fresh loans.

“The problems we were facing are gone now because of the loan waiver. Now we are living in peace. For progress in farming, for our children this is a good help. Such government should come in future. Congress should come in power for next five years,” said Dhamodar Bhaskar, another farmer.

Agriculture in India continues to be highly labour intensive and supports nearly 60 percent of a billion-plus population but constitutes only 20 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy. By Abdul Hadi (ANI)

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Lalu Yadav slams Bihar Govt. for failure in ensuring railway security

March 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Patna, Mar 1 (ANI): Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has severely criticised the early morning Naxal attacks on two railway stations in Bihar which led to the disruption of train services on the Patna-Howrah main line for more than seven hours on Sunday.

He slammed the Nitish Kumar-led NDA Government for its failure to protect railway property from attacks by Maoists.

“The Railways are the lifeline of the country and we cannot protect every inch of the tracks. It is the duty of the state to ensure the safety of lakhs of people who travel by train every day and the Nitish Kumar Government has failed in it,” Lalu said.

Naxals had attacked the Bhalui railway station between Keul and Jamui on the Danapur-Howrah main line in Bihar early this morning.

Another railway station at Ratnapur on the on Keul-Bhagalpur line near the West Bengal border was also set afire by around 100 Naxals.

The blast uprooted the tracks and damaged the overhead traction wires, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway A K Chandra said.
There have been regular incidents of violence in the state, following the 24- hour Bihar-Jharkhand-Orissa-West Bengal strike called by CPI (Maoist) on Saturday.

While a BSNL mobile tower was damaged in Aurangabad district, another mobile tower of a private service provider was damaged in Rohtas district yesterday.

In another incident in Munger, a Maoist group beat up the station master of Ratanpur on Kiul-Bhagalpur section at Saturday midnight and set ablaze a portion of the station building.
The track-changing panel and documents in the cabin of station master Lalit Kumar were gutted in the fire, Railway sources said.(ANI)

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