TIMES CITYTHE TIMES OF INDIA, RANCHI | JAMSHEDPUR | DHANBAD | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2019

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Main Road turns battlefield on Day 1 of new rulesE-RICKSHAW OWNERS STAGE PROTEST • GOVT DISCUSSES NEW MOTOR VEHICLES ACT WITH SCHOOLBUS DRIVERS

Ranchi: The first day of citybuses operating on Main Ro-ad was marked by protestsand vandalism, causing in-convenience to commuters.On Sunday, Ranchi Munici-pal Corporation (RMC) star-ted rolling out the buses at10am from Albert EkkaChowk for Rajendra Chowk,but had to stop the services ina few hours after massiveprotests. The service, howe-ver, resumed after two hours.

In a recent notification,the civic body had banned e-rickshaws from Main Road toprimarily offer cheapertransportation facilities tocommuters and decongestthe stretch.

On Sunday, protesting e-rickshaw drivers forced thebuses to come to a halt in ma-ny places along Main Roadand also vandalised one ofthe buses near Overbridge,causing minor injuries totwo passengers onboard. Po-lice, however, swung into ac-tion and controlled the situa-tion by deploying more per-sonnel.

“Two passengers recei-ved minor injuries as the re-ar glass of a bus was comple-tely damaged by protesters.We have registered an FIR atChutia police station againstunidentified persons,” saidSaurabh Kumar, city mana-ger, transport cell, RMC.

Meanwhile, in the milieuof protests, commuters had ahard time travelling on thestretch. “I waited for a citybus for more than an hour butto no avail,” remarked Nar-gis Khatoon, a resident ofAzad Basti who was waitingfor a mode of transport at Ra-jendra Chowk. She was echo-ed by other commuters in Fi-rayalal Chowk and Albert

Ekka Chowk. “I had come forfestive shopping at Upper Ba-zar area and was supposed toget back home by now, but it’sbeen 45 minutes and there isno bus in sight,” rued Poo-nam Singh at FirayalalChowk.

Meanwhile, the civic bo-dy conceded that there were afew hiccups on day one, butadded that the situation im-proved after services resu-med after 2pm. Out of 10 bu-ses on this route, RMC couldrun only eight on Sunday.

Upper Bazar one wayOn the other hand, the

one-way traffic systemwhich was introduced inUpper Bazar area near MainRoad on Sunday to reducetraffic snarls at the busy com-mercial hub saw mixed re-sponses. Commuters, whowere unaware of the newrestrictions, were spottedviolating the same as trafficpersonnel were busy control-ling the situation.

Traffic sub-inspector atKotwali police station JohnMurmu said, “Many are una-ware about the traffic rest-rictions in Upper Bazar area.So we are telling them aboutthe changes and it will takeanother couple of days forproper implementation.”

E-rickshaw driversvandalise city bus,protest against ban

Gaurav Pandey TNN With e-rickshawdrivers protestingthe RanchiMunicipalCorporationnotification to bantheir movement onMain Road,commuters faced aharrowing time asthe city bus servicehad to be stoppedfor nearly two hours

Mukesh Kumar Bhatt

Ranchi: The entire trafficmanagement system on Ma-in Road will be automated inthe coming months as the po-lice department plans to in-stall Adaptive Traffic Cont-rol System (ATCS) and runsmart buses on the stretch,besides launching a mobileapplication to find a parkingspace.

Talking to media personson the initiatives on Sunday,SP (traffic) Ajit Peter Dung-dung said, “Banning e-ricks-haws on this road was thefirst step in this regard. Thenext step is to create 14 par-king spots on this stretch toban unauthorised parking.”

He added, “The parkingspace can be booked onlinethrough an app, which can bedownloaded in a mobile pho-ne. The app will also provideinformation about availablespace at various parking lots.As one would reach the par-king spot, he or she will haveto interface the mobile appli-cation with the boom barrierfor getting permission to getin,” he said. The SP also in-formed that depending on itssuccess, the system will beimplemented on KaramtoliChowk in the second phase.

“In the third phase, ATCSwill be installed on Main Ro-ad. The system will be set upat several places to adjust thetimings of the signals accor-ding to the traffic load. It wo-uld also transmit traffic-rela-ted information to the subse-quent ATCS,” he said.

On running of buses inplace of e-rickshaws, the SPsaid the department has de-ployed 10 buses on a tempora-ry basis, adding that theyplan to run smart buses onthe road in the future. “So farthe feedback on banning e-

rickshaw on Main Road is po-sitive, barring a minor inci-dent where miscreants pel-ted stones at one of the busesnear Overbridge. We are re-gistering a case with the con-cerned police station,” he sa-id.

He also informed that po-lice are working on manage-ment information system forimplementing the new trafficrules in Ranchi soon. “Wewant to make the executionsystem foolproof,” he said.

Soon, chooseyour parking lotthrough an app

Sanjay Sahay TNN

Ranchi: In order to curb acci-dents involving school busesand create awareness on theMotor Vehicles (Amendment)Act, 2019, the transport depart-ment on Sunday organised anawareness campaingn andsensitisation programme forbus drivers and attendants ofcity-based CBSE schools. Aro-und 500 drivers and attendantsfrom various schools partici-pated in the day-long event.

Addressing the gathering,

district transport officer San-jeev Kumar focussed on theareas of the newly-ratified actwhich will affect the bus dri-vers and said, “By now you allmust have got to know that thepenalties have been increasedfive times on several trafficviolations. So, I request you allto follow the traffic rulesstrictly and refrain from anykind of unsafe practices. Inmany of the surprise checks, Ihave seen several school busstaff indulging in over-spee-ding and in inebriated condi-

tions.”Highlighting safety proto-

cols, Kumar said drivers andattendants must ensure thattheir buses have fire extingu-ishers in working conditions,side mirrors on both sides andwell-equipped first aid boxes.Apart from that, Kumar alsoappealed to the drivers to car-ry required documents duringduty hours as it will attracthefty penalty if they fail to doso.

“One has to carry drivinglicense and their identity

cards once they board schoolvehicles or else their licenseswill be cancelled,” added Ku-mar.

Several drivers also raisedtheir grievance of lack of timefor completing official forma-lities as they find it difficult tovisit transport offices duringduty hours and they end upviolating the law. The trans-port officials assured the dri-vers that they will not be ha-rassed for such reasons and ge-nuine cases will be addressedon priority basis.

School bus drivers sensitised on new rulesTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Protesting e-rickshaw driversresorted to pelting stones at a buswhich led to the rear glass of acity bus to shatter (top). Theprotesters upped their anteagainst a recent RMC notificationto ban their movement.Meanwhile, police lodged an FIRagainst unidentified miscreantsand said an investigation isunderway. The city on Sundayalso saw other restrictions and anew set of rules being brought toforce. While the Upper Bazar areawas made one way (right) toreduce traffic snarls, the MotorVehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019was brought to force on Sunday.However, sources said, policeresorted mainly to sesitisation onthe first day and will startimposing fines under the newrules after a few days

Marandi’s gain

Ahead of the assemblypolls, leaders of vari-ous political parties

have started shifting sidesaspiring to get tickets.While BJP is currently see-ing a surge of leaders in itsparty, many disgruntledones have started lookingout for options. Of late, sev-eral BJP leaders joinedJVM-P led by former chiefminister Babulal Marandi,whose party seems to be fa-vourite among regional par-ties. The new inductees toJVM-P — Ramesh YadavHarshdhar and HarshdevYadav of Palamu — saidthat they chose the party tostrengthen Marandi aheadof the polls as only a leaderof his stature could ensuregood governance.

Coach cops

Senior traffic personnelof late have turnedcoaches to new recruits

in the department, tutoringthem on how to arrest trafficviolators and issue chal-lans. However, seldom arethey taught about profes-sional etiquette as manyyoung turks are often spot-ted misbehaving with peo-ple caught on charges oftraffic violation. A few newrecruits said that they havebeen given targets for chal-lans by their seniors too.Charged up with these di-rections, the trainees attimes cross the lines to bookpeople, who don’t evenbreak rules.

Fitness funda

Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, wholaunched the Fit India

movement on the occasionof the National Sports Day,also addressed the nation onthe occasion. Several educa-tional institutions alongwith Sports Authority of In-dia (SAI) had arranged a livetelecast of PM’s addressfrom Indira Gandhi sports

complex Delhi for their stu-dents and athletes. In Ran-chi too, around 400 sports-person of different agegroups had congregated atthe Astroturf stadium, Mor-habadi, to listen to the PM’sspeech. However, the ath-letes who had assembled atMorhabadi had to experi-ence tough times as theywere made to sit on the turfunder the blazing sun formore than an hour.

Not happening

With the college man-agement makingtraditional dresses

mandatory for attendingthe convocation ceremonyat St Xavier’s college, female

students were not comfort-able and thrilled by the deci-sion. It was for the first timethat the college had askedthe graduating students toattend the ceremony in tra-ditional dresses — sareesfor girls and kurta pyjamasfor boys — which was alsofollowed by the students.However, soon after the dig-nitaries left the campus,many changed to casualdresses which they werecarrying along with them.Several girl students com-plained of inconvenience asthey are not used to wearingsarees and said that the col-lege should have allowedthem to wear what they feltcomfortable in.

Striking discord

Contractual sanitationemployees of Ranchirailway station sus-

pended work on Sundaymorning alleging that theirdues were not cleared forover three months. On Sun-day, around 150 sanitationemployees who are respon-sible for keeping the Ranchirailway station premisesand its areas around spickand span, descended on theroads demanding their out-standing wages and wereseen shouting slogans.

(Contributed by Mukeshkumar Bhatt and Gaurav

Pandey from Ranchi)

(Clockwise from top left) Ramesh Yadav Harshdhar of the BJP joins JVM-P on Sunday; contractualsanitation employees of Ranchi railway staion protest against the non-payment of dues for threemonths; students of St Xavier’s celebrate during the 10th convocation ceremony held in the collegepremise on Sunday; students watch the live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s addressduring the launch of the Fit India Campaign, at Astroturf stadium in Morhabadi

Mahadeo Sen and Mukesh Kumar Bhatt

Of the total, Odisha alonereceived 9,00,296 light-ning strikes, followed by

Maharashtra (6,26,469) andKarnataka (6,21,867).

Speaking to TOI over thephone, Col Sanjay Srivastava,convener of the Lightning Re-silient India Campaign, saidthe study is part of the effortsto prepare a lightning-riskmap of India for timely inter-vention to reduce fatalitiesand damage.

He said, “Lightning has be-come a new normal not just inJharkhand but in many partsof the country, killing lakhs ofpeople every year. Unfortu-nately, vis-à-vis the threats, weare ill-prepared to tackle it.However, with scientific plan-ning, it can be tackled effec-tively.”

About East Singhbhum,Srivastava said, “Out of the4.5-lakh lightning strikes inthe state between April and Ju-ly, East Singbhum districtalone received 2,00,123 strikes.The number of this particulardistrict are highest across allthe districts in the country. Interms of casualties, duringthis period Jharkhand wit-nessed 118 deaths, out of whichat least 50 is estimated in EastSinghbhum. This should ring

the warning bells for the gov-ernment.”

He further said, “The dis-trict is not just home to thecountry’s natural resources interms of mining and forests,but also has several tribal com-munities like Ho, Birhor andMundas, who are the biggestvictims. Sustained apathy to-wards this natural threatcould silently lead to extinc-tion of such communities.”

Srivastava, who is also aprincipal researcher for thenational lightning researchprogramme, said the impact oflightning has far-reaching ef-fects both in terms of econom-ic and existential damage thatit causes.

On reasons why EastSinghbhum receives the high-

est number of lightning bolts,he said the reason could be be-cause of the presence of hugepresence of minerals and met-al ores in the area besides for-mation of low-height clouds.“Lighting usually occurs intwo ways — clouds to cloudsand clouds to earth. The latteris lethal as it impacts people.With minerals and metal oresbelow the earth, the areaserves as a great conductor oflightning,” he said, addingthat all such threats could beavoided by better planning interms of information dissemi-nation and mitigation plans.

The state disaster manage-ment department, too, had al-ready warned about the light-ning threat in Jharkhand. Spe-cial secretary Manish Tiwarihad told TOI that roughly over100 people die due to this natu-ral disaster in the state annual-ly for the past one decade andefforts have begun to addressthe problem. Inspired by a sim-ilar measure adopted in Kar-nataka, the department is cur-rently working out on a spe-cialised mobile application toissue timely alerts on light-ning-prone areas to reduce ca-sualty.

“The app is currently un-der trial mode and will belaunched soon,” Tiwari hadsaid a few days ago.

‘Scientific planning can help curbmishaps during lightning strikes’

On reasons whyEast Singhbhumreceives the highestnumber of lightningbolts, he said thereason could bebecause of thepresence of hugepresence ofminerals and metalores in the areabesides formationof low-height clouds

�From P 1

He further said, “Underthe Ghar Ghar Raghu-bar campaign, every

party worker will reach out toeach household across thestate and apprise the peopleabout central and state gov-ernments’ good works andachievements. Be it schemeslike Ujjwala yojana, Ayush-man scheme, MukhyamantriTeerth Darshan Yojana orother measures, people cut-ting across caste and reli-gious lines have benefited.”He also said the ‘Jan Ashir-wad Yatra’ will be to seekblessings from the public forelectoral support to the BJP-led NDA.

Gilua said the party is alsogeared up to welcome PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,who will visit the state on Sep-tember 12 to inaugurate thenew assembly building con-structed in Ranchi at a cost ofaround Rs 430 crore, a multi-model port in Sahibganj be-sides other welfare measures.

Modi will also launch thePM Pension Scheme nation-wide from Jharkhand.

Gilua said, “It’s a matter ofgreat pride for Jharkhandthat Modi will be launchingyet another national schemefrom this state.”

PM to visitstate on

September 12�From P 1

Jamshedpur:A wild elephant trampled a villager in Maulberavillage under Syamsunderpur police station area in Ghatshilasub-division on Sunday morning. The villager, identified asRenta Hansdah, was on his way to the town through the forestarea when the elephant attacked him. Dalbhum DHO AbhishekKumar said, “It was a short-heighted elephant that trampled thevillager.” Meanwhile, the forest department gave the familymembers Rs 25,000 to perform Hansdah’s last rites and JMM’sBaharagaon MLA Kunal Sarangi reached the house of the vic-tim and press the former for speedy release of the compensationamount. He also spoke to the forest officials and demanded for avehicle with some equipment to drive away the tuskers as soonas they enter human habitats. According to reports, incidents oftusker attacks have increased in Chakulia forest range in thelast fortnight where houses and crops were trampled by wildelephants. On request from villagers, Chakulia range forest offi-cer Ashok Singh, had distributed battery-operated torches tothe villagers on August 15. TNN

Tusker tramples villager

After a notification early thisweek to all the 24 districts in

the state, East Singhbhum is setto enforce stringent rules forgovernment employees andothers who visit governmentoffices in the district in two andfour-wheelers from Monday.The new rule makes itmandatory for bikers to wearhelmets and car drivers to puton seat belts. The authorities onSunday said punitive action willbe taken on people who flout therules. In addition to this, theamended rules under the MotorVehicles Act will also come toforce from Monday. “The orderswill be implemented in allgovernment offices be it stategovernment establishments orcentral government ones fromMonday,” said District TransportOfficer (DTO) Dinesh Ranjan. Headded, entry will be barred andamended fines according to thenew rules will also be enforcedagainst violators. “Banningentry of government employeesto their offices withouthelmets or seat belts is also tosend a strong message thatnone is above the law,” Ranjanopined. TNN

Action from todayin E Singhbhum forhelmet-less bikers

CCI NG 3.7 Product: TOIKolkataBS PubDate: 02-09-2019 Zone: JharkhandMain Edition: 1 Page: TOIJHK02 User: utsav.basu Time: 09-01-2019 22:43 Color: CMYK