Police bust 10 mini-gun factories in Bihar

The police have busted 10 illegal mini-gun factories and seized eight sacks of equipment used for making fire arms from Hazratganj bara locality of the town in Bihar's Munger district during night-long raids.

Superintendent of Police M. Sunil Nayak said that on a specific information the police conducted raids at the houses of 10 persons late Thursday which continued till this morning and seized huge cache of fire arms, including equipment used for making the fire arms worth several crores of rupees.

The SP said that the process of counting the seized firearms was still on and added that such a huge quantity of firearms and equipment were seized in the district for the first time.

On specific information, the police raided the houses of Kailash Mandal, Arvind Mandal, Tuntun, Kuddus, Nathia, Sanovar, Feroz, Umar Khayyam, Mushtaq and Dilli Wala, all residents of Hazratganj bara locality under the Kasim bazar police station area of the district, Mr. Nayak said.

While the police had to use two tractors to carry the illegal weapons and equipment to the police station, none of the owners of the illegal gun-factories was arrested, hesaid.link

Villagers beat exorcist to death in Bihar

An exorcist was beaten to death by villagers of Damdamapur in Katihar district. Jai Singh (40), who was an exorcist, was beaten to death at Gorakhnath temple premises in the village, police inspector Ashok Singh said.

"Today, after a villager made allegation that the exorcist had killed 101 persons, Jai Singh was taken to Gorakhnath temple and was asked to swear by touching the idol that he had not committed the crime. However, the exorcist refused to do so," Singh said.

The villagers then got infuriated and beat the exorcist to death. His wife was also injured in the attack, the police officer said.

Three women have been arrested in this connection.link

Hundreds of prisoners in Bihar jail pledge to donate eyes

Hundreds of prisoners in a Bihar jail, including Maoists, gangsters and even a jailed politician, have pledged to donate their eyes after death, an official said on Monday.

"More than 400 of nearly 3,000 prisoners in the Beur Central Jail in Patna have voluntarily pledged to donate their eyes," said Kanti Mohan, the medical officer of the jail.

Official sources said Maoists like Ajay Kanu, the brain behind the infamous Jehanabad jail break in November 2005, along with dozen other cadres, gangsters Bindu Singh, Shiv Gope, Sultan Miyan and former legislator Rajan Tiwari have given their written consent to donate eyes.

"Prisoners are also human-beings, with heart and emotions. They were motivated to make a difference to others by donating their eyes," Mohan told.

It took Mohan many days to convince and encourage prisoners to make the pledge.

"It was not an easy task. I worked hard for it and now the prisoners have responded," he said.
Jail Superintendent Omprakash Gupta said the prisoners would set a positive example and it would change their bad image in the society.

"It will inspire inmates of other jails in the state to donate their eyes or other organs," Gupta said.link

Bihar organises bicycle rally to fight corruption

A bicycle rally was organised here on Saturday in a bid to end corruption in the state.

Carrying placards and shouting slogans, around 200 enthusiastic cyclists participated in the rally.

District Magistrate of Patna, Jitendra Kumar Sinha, who led the rally, called upon the people to fight corruption.

“We have started this cycle rally to end the corruption that takes place in government offices in the state. To create awareness against corruption, we have organised this rally. The State Government has started a movement against corruption and has even announced to reward those people who will help the government to fight corruption,” said Sinha.

Young participants said they were determined to fight corruption.

“Through this cycle rally, we want to convey the message that we have to end the corruption in the state and the world over. We want to create a new Bihar,” said Munna Kumar, a participant.

Anti-corruption rallies were flagged off in all the districts in the state.link

Over three lakh Bihar government employees to lose pay over strike

More than 3,00,000 Bihar government employees who had struck work for 33 days will not receive their salaries for this period as the state government has taken a "no work no pay" stance.

"The government is firm on not paying them salaries to ensure its policy of 'no work no pay'," an official of the state finance department said, adding that a letter to this effect had already been issued.

"Soon after the employees went on strike (last month), the government warned them to return to work or face 'no work no pay'," another official said.

The state government has, for the first time, taken a decision to deduct the salaries of its employees for the striking period as it badly affected the functioning of the offices and delayed development schemes for over a month.

The employees went on an indefinite strike Jan 7 demanding revised salaries as recommended by the Sixth Pay Commisiosn "in letter and spirit". The government refused this, citing a funds crunch. The strike ended Feb 9 following a Patna High Court order.link

Stone laid for Bihar centre for disabled

Union minister for social justice and empowerment Meira Kumar and CM Nitish Kumar jointly laid the foundation stone of a Composite Rehabilitation Centre (CRC) for the physically challenged.

"It will be a boon for persons with disabilities," Nitish said while speaking at the function. He, however, urged the Centre to allocate funds so that construction work could start at the earliest.

The Union minister did not disappoint the CM. While thanking the state government for allocating land for the CRC, she said a sum of Rs 6 crore has already been allocated and the construction work would start soon.

"We have also sanctioned 19 posts for the CRC-Patna and in order to ensure that people of this state are not deprived of the services of the composite centre till the building is completed, we have decided to run the CRC from a makeshift building," she said.

Earlier speaking at the function Ashish Kumar, deputy director general (DDG) in Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, spoke at length about the purpose of opening the centre.

Bihar is the sixth state after Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Assam to have such a centre where people with disabilities would get composite service under one roof. The Patna centre would also have facilities to train people who would be used for imparting skill-development training to people with disabilities.

Chief commissioner for persons with disabilities, Dr Manoj Kumar, and Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) director Dr Arun Kumar also spoke at the function.

The proposed centre would come up on a 3.3-acre plot which is located on the IGIMS premises.

The stone-laying function was followed by inauguration of the CRC in the makeshift building, the Red Cross building, near the Gandhi Maidan.link

Five polio cases detected in Bihar

Five new cases of polio have been detected in Bihar in the first two months of this year despite immunisation drive, an official in the state health department said on Saturday.

This is three less than in Uttar Pradesh, which has had the highest incidence of the infection during 2008, a Unicef official said.

"It is sad to admit that five new polio cases surfaced in the state till the end of February," the Bihar health official, who declined to be named, said.

The figures have raised an alarm across Bihar as many parents fear that their children might also catch the disease.

The Unicef official said of the five polio cases, two are P1 and three are P3 strain cases. "The detection of two new cases of P1 is a matter of serious concern," he added.

He said eight new cases of polio have been detected in Uttar Pradesh and one in Delhi till Feb 27. Of the eight cases in Uttar Pradesh, four are of P1 and P3 each.

The battle against polio is far from over in Bihar, which recorded the second highest incidence of the disease in India last year after neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

Bihar recorded 233 new polio cases in 2008, one of the highest since the polio immunisation drive was launched in the state nearly a decade ago, an official had said.

Bihar recorded 61 polio cases in 2006 and 193 cases in 2007.link