Jharkhand to become plastic free, ban on polybags less than 50 micron thick

It is a welcome move taken by Jharkhand because it plans to ban polybags from the markets. It wants people of Ranchi to start carrying their own bags to the market and not depend on the shopkeepers and vegetable vendors to provide them with bags.
Ranchi Municipal Corporation has is gearing up to enforce the ban on polybags of thickness less than 50 micron which are used to pack groceries and in the poultry, fish shops as well as vegetable markets.
This is reported in telegraphindia.com dated 13 July 2017.

Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has issued a notification through a few vernacular dailies and indicated the seriousness to make the state plastic-free. According to the notice, the residents of the city must adhere to Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, which stipulate the minimum thickness of plastic carry bags as 50 microns for ease of collection and recycling.
The polybags lead to long-time soil pollution, short-time clogging of drains that in turn leads to waterlogged roads during the monsoons.


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Tax on the 326-year-old Jagannathpur Mela waived

This is a huge victory for devotees of Lord Jagannath when the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) waived a tax on the 326-year-old Jagannathpur Mela. The tax had been announced during the British era, but was imposed only last year. The tax was of Rs 1,000 each from shops at the 10-day annual fair that is hosted near the temple to mark the beginning of the Rath Yatra festival.
This is reported in telegraphindia.com dated 15 June 2017.

The duration of the mela is spread over 700 acres and is of 10 days and thee are nearly 4,000 shops and lakhs of visitors from Ranchi and elsewhere. The area is left littered at the end of the fair and the RMC had imposed the tax to meet cleaning costs. The mela is located on the eastern fringes of Ranchi and Jagannathpur will host the Rath Yatra on June 25 this year.


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Ranchi to crackdown on hookah bars

The Ranchi administration plans to crackdown on hookah bars. There are over a dozen hookah bars that operate on premises of hotels, restaurants and pubs and are, in effect, promoting smoking in a public place. A database is being prepared of establishments in the city that have hookah bars.
Jharkhand does not have any provision for a hookah bar licence, but it violates the law of smoking in public places.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 17 March 2017.

A hotel or restaurant gets licence for a specific commercial purpose and it does not cover hookah bars. Owners of restaurants, pubs and hotels simply convert a part of the premises to start a hookah bar.
Shops that sell tobacco products within the 100-metre radius of a school or a college will also face a crackdown and these shops must prominently display boards saying sale of tobacco to minors is prohibited.


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Ranchi Zoo to get two female leopards from Lucknow Zoo in exchange of two male sloth bears

As part of an animal exchange program, Ranchi Zoo is expected to get two female leopards from Lucknow Zoo in exchange of two male sloth bears. The leopards are aged around two years each. Ranchi already has four leopards - one female and three male. The two males were rescued from Mandar in 2013 while the third came from Guwahati in 2012.
The main reason for the induction of the two young females was to accelerate the breeding program in the zoo because the lone female is aged around 17 years and too old while the two-year-old ones are young, hale and hearty.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 2 March 2017.

The Lucknow team will take sloth bears from the Bhubaneswar zoo also apart from Ranchi zoo.
The arrival of the leopards comes at a time 3when the number of people visiting the zoo has gone up, because there is lion cub on public display. It was born on December 17 and was the first ever successful lion breeding in the zoo. It has been put for public viewing about two weeks ago.


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Ranchi gearing up to attract tourists with new Pahari Mandir ropeway

The Pahari Mandir in Ranchi would soon become the second ropeway destination of Jharkhand after Trikut hills in Deoghar - it will give a boost to tourism in the region. The state tourism department has signed an MOU in the recently concluded Global Investors' Summit (GIS) to launch the aerial ride on public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
Apart from Pahari Mandir, there are plans to commission ropeways at four other places - Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary near Jamshedpur, Jonha Falls in Ranchi, Ramrekha Dham in Simdega and Lodh Falls in Latehar.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 25 February 2017.

The time fame would be a maximum of 12 months to commission the ropeway from the day of acquiring the necessary land ... groundwork of soil testing and site identification had been undertaken at Pahari Mandir around six months ago and the detailed project report has pegged the estimated budget at Rs 4.5 crore.
The land required would be 300 sqm for the lower station, and 150 sqm for the upper station. Some more lad would be required for corridors on both sides of the central line. The ropeway would run for 190 metres at a maximum height of 65 metres.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Flower show in Raj Bhavan Ranchi a big draw

The flower show is on in the Ranchi Raj Bhavan as the gates of the governor's house were thrown open to the public to enable the visitors to soak in the beauty of an array of flowers in the garden. The show will go on till February 12 and visitors can drop in anytime from 3pm to 5pm.
For school and college students, the gates will be open from 8am to 11am.
On the first day, over 500 school and college students came to get a glimpse of the seasonal flowers ans snap selfies.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 2 February 2017.

There are around 65 varieties of flowers like petunia, dahlia, pansy, dog flower, aster and over 1,000 types of plants apart from trees like sapodilla, custard apple, pomegranate, coconut, banana and sal were a treat to the eyes.
Other attractions in the Raj Bhavan gardens this year are a fish pond and a new Guru Govind Singh vatika. This is decorated with a fountain and a lotus pond. Then there is the newly renovated Buddha garden that is spread over 1.5 acres.
The Governor House also boasts of gardens like Akbar garden, Motilal Nehru garden, Jawaharlal Nehru garden, Birsa Munda mandap and Lily garden.



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Families in Jharkhand village sleep on treetops for fear of rampaging elephants

Some families of Jharkhand have been forced to live on trees in view of the because of the terror unleashed by rampaging elephants near Ranchi, the capital city in Jharkhand. It seems a herd of elephants has created fear among the people living in the villages near Ranchi apart from those who are traveling along the Ranchi- Jamshedpur National Highway.
Incidentally, the highway remains deserted for hours due to the fear of the wandering elephants.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 30 November 2016.

These families are living in Loharatola village in Bundu which is located nearly 45-Km from Ranchi, and they have had to go in for makeshift perches on trees. They sleep on the treetops to protect themselves from elephants because a herd of elephants had damaged their houses last year. There are more than 15 families in the village and all of them depend on farming for their livelihood.
The families were forced to leave their village and live in the fields as they have agricultural land. They tend to farming activities during the day and climb the trees at night.


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Footfalls reduce in Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ranchi after demonetisaton

Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ormanjhi, Ranchi, is one of the top hangouts in the state for animal lovers and it is experiencing a footfall slump after the demonetisation of high-value notes like Rs 500 and Rs 1000 last week.
People are rushing to banks and ATMs and there are hardly any visitors in the zoo.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 17 November 2016.

In October the zoo had seen nearly 13,000 visitors or, roughly, which means roughly 400-450 a day. This has drastically gone down by 25-30 per cent since November 9 (a day after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were abolished). In the opinion of a zoo official - when all roads are leading to banks or ATMs, who will come to watch animals.
The zoo is spread over 104 hectares and boasts of 1,200-odd animals and birds across 65 species. The entry fee is Rs 30 for adults and Rs 20 for children between three and 12.
Between 2010-11 till last year, it has been regularly increasing its earnings. In 2010-11, it had generated Rs 45 lakh in revenue following a footfall close to 3 lakh. In the next financial year, it bettered the record by raking in Rs 67.25 lakh with an additional 50,000 visitors compared to 2010-11. In 2012-13, the collection was Rs 98 lakh, with the visitor turnout being 4 lakh.
In 2013-14, the zoo entered the crore club for the first time, earning Rs 1.06 crore and registering a footfall of 4.45 lakh. Last year also the revenue touched Rs 1.20 crore following a footfall of more than 4.50 lakh.


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It was a disappointment for Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who lost his first match in his home-town of Ranchi as the Indians lost by 19 runs. Thereby, the Kiwis leveled the five-match One-Day International (ODI) cricket series at the JSCA International Stadium.
Winning the toss, the visitors chose to bat first and managed to post a sore of 260 for 7 that looked easy because of star Indian batmen in the team but turned out to be not so easy. Martin Guptill brought up his fifty in 56 balls and went on to score 72.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 27 October 2016.

Chasing 261, the down-slide began when Rohit Sharma (11) fell early to Tim Southee. Then, Virat Kohli (45) and Axar Patel (38) tried to hold fort but wickets kept falling and, when captain Dhoni (11) also fell cheaply to Neesham, it was an uphill task. Opener Ajinkya Rahane (57) was the only Indian batsman to post a fifty. Tailenders Dhawal Kulkarni (25 not out) and Umesh Yadav (7) put up a record 10th wicket stand of 34 against the visitors but, in the end, India were all out for 241 in 48.4 overs.
The bowlers who wreaked havoc were Tim Southee (3/40) and all-rounder James Neesham (2/38).


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Enclosure is ready but Ranchi zoo would have to wait for giraffes and zebras

Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ranchi had been wanting to procure two pairs of zebras and a pair of giraffes in its animal collection plan. It was a long-term vision statement with a 10-year perspective cleared in 2009-10 after the nod of the state government and approval of the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA).
But - the wait would have to continue because the state government has, now, put on hold the grand plan of Ranchi zoo even though nearly Rs 1 crore have been already spent on constructing enclosures and other paraphernalia.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 19 September 2016.

As revealed by an official of State forest department, the project had been put on hold pending technical and feasible studies. It seems certain objections were raised by certain experts and it has been put it on hold till a conclusive feasibility study is done.
Incidentally, Tata Steel Zoological Park in Jamshedpur has brought four zebras in December last year and was doing fine with them. In January, the Ranchi zoo in Ormanjhi block had signed an MoU with a firm in Israel for two pairs of zebras. The firm has already handed over a consent letter along with details of the animals, their lineage among other things. It will cost between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 35 lakh. As to a pair of giraffes, Birsa zoo was in talks with an agency in South Africa. However, the state government is not keen on the idea anymore.


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Ranchi traffic police launch drive to remove hawkers from the streets

Ranchi traffic police have launched an anti-encroachment campaign on Mahatma Gandhi Road, popularly Main Road, in the capital in the run-up to festive season of Durga Puja. The mushrooming stalls squeeze the carriageway by almost half and leads to traffic snarls.
The sudden and unannounced drive began from 11.30am and lasted for a couple of hours and, in this period, nearly half a dozen unauthorized businesses were removed from the area.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 17 September 2016.

The intention of the authorities is very clear - they will carry out the campaign daily to keep Main Road and its branches free of encroachment in the festive season and will keep removing the encroachers. It may be noted that Jharkhand High Court has asked the police to keep the stretch free of encroachments at any cost.
Incidentally, the anti-encroachment drive had its root in the Durga Puja pandal poser because road-hog pandals are creating resentment among commuters already. Therefore, the district administration does not want to remain a mute spectator to the hawker menace. In the course of a meeting with Puja organisers, the police had pointed out that the pandals that are being erected on the roads should leave enough room for pedestrians and bikers.


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Devotees of Lord Shiva climb 410 steps to Pahari Mandir in Ranchi for Shravani Mela

The month-long Shravani Mela has begun and thousands of devotees of Lord Shiva thronged to the Pahari Mandir in Ranchi to climb the 410 steps to pay their obeisance to the Lord. This hill temple is located 2,140 feet above sea level atop Ranchi Hill and devotees came to offer gangajal, bel leaves and flowers to Pahari Baba.
The Shiv bhakts, dressed in their best, trekked the stairs leading to the temple amidst chants of "Jai Bhole Baba".
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 21 July 2016.

Local vendors did brisk business with nearly forty kiosks on the path leading to the temple. These were selling puja items such as bel leaves, gangajal and milk. They usually earn between Rs 400 and Rs 500 on a normal day but, during this Shravani Mela, they make over Rs 2,000 per day.
Jharkhand Postal department has put up a kiosk selling gangajal. The price is Rs 10 nfor a 110ml bottle, Rs 18 for a 240ml bottle, Rs 25 for a 450ml bottle and Rs 22 for a 700ml bottle.


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