Bihar:Gopalganj is now a smoke free district
Gopalganj has been declared a smoke free district, district magistrate ( DM ) Rahul Kumar said on Monday.
He said a blanket order was issued prohibiting and banning smoking at public places and educational institutions last Saturday.
Restaurants and dhabas on national highways 28 and 85, falling within the jurisdiction of Gopalganj and having more than 30 seats in their dining space, have also been asked to create a secluded ‘ smoking zone’.
While hundreds of signages are being put up in all government offices, cinema halls, markets and at all entry points to the district highlighting the district’s declaration under section 4 of the COTPA-2003, the administration has also taken the campaign to schools and colleges through wall paintings.
The district magistrate said, the smoke-free declaration came after the health department of the state in its survey found the district fit for it.
Describing it as a milestone in health care initiative, he said all government offices in 14 blocks of Gopalganj and Hathua subdivisions have put up signages with the name, designation and mobile number of the officers with whom people may share information regarding violation of the declaration. Government officials have been directed to keep an eye on minors being forced or used to sell cigarettes and bidis, both in urban and rural areas.
Sleuths of the Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) on Tuesday caught red handed a MNREGA programme officer (PO) in Nawada while he was accepting Rs 20,000 as bribe for sanctioning earth filling work.
The arrested PO, Nitish Kumar Sinha, was posted at Pakribarawan block of Nawada.
Ramashish Yadav, a resident of Belkhunda village under Dhamaul police station of Nawada and also mukhiya of Belkhunda panchayat, had lodged a complaint with VIB that the PO was demanding bribe of Rs 50,000 for sanctioning earth filling work under MNREGA scheme.
On verification, the allegations were found to be true. A team was constituted under DSP Paras Nath Singh, which raided and caught the PO from block office premises.
The accused will be produced before a special vigilance court in Patna after interrogation.
R K Deepak had never been a marathoner. Yet, last week, inspired by the anti-dowry movement ‘ Dahej Mukta Mithila’, he ran 60 km non-stop to popularise the slogan last week.
Deepak started on his run from J K College in Biraul subdivision , ending it, sweat dripped and tired at the gates of the LN Mithila University (LNMU) in Darbhanga.
Raising the slogans in Maithili “Dahej bhagau, beti bachau” (eradicate dowry and save daughter), the marathon was symbolically flagged off by Biraul SDO Mohd Shafique and BDO Rajat Kumar Singh, with young and old participants giving him company over the initial distance. Dowry campaigners, meanwhile, staged awareness programmes along the way at several hamlets to convey the strong message to people keep off from social evils such as dowry.
A fitness freak and alumni of J K College, Biraul, Deepak, had earlier, participated and successfully finished ‘life marathon’ organised by Fire and Security Association of India (FSAI) Pune in March this year.
Organisers of the event, Pravin Narayan Choudhary and Kunal Thakur informed that during the event, the participants were greeted by people enroute for supporting a good cause. Deepak was profusely encouraged by curious onlookers, including women for his strong will to run in sultry weather even as people welcomed runners at various strategic points to boost their morale.
A social and political activist Murari Mohan Jha, Mathili writer and AIR program anchor Manikant Jha, besides a host of enthusiasts greeted Deepak and other runners when they ended up at LNMU gate at around 11.30am. The speakers said that youth should take a pledge to not accept dowry in marriage and boycott such wedding where dowry was given.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, has given such a call against dowry, calling it a social evil, which one should keep away from.
