Bihar

PATNA (India), June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 107 people died from lightning strikes in northern and eastern India Thursday, officials said, during the early stages of the annual monsoon season.

Some 83 people were killed in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar after being struck by lightning, and another 24 died in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Dozens more were injured, officials said.

Lightning strikes during the June-September annual monsoon are fairly common in India.

Patna, Jun 21 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making a case for imposing censorship on content available on streaming platforms, insisting that criminal activities are on the rise due to obscene and violent depictions in shows.

Kumar said incidents of crime are increasing against women and children because of the "negative impact" on the minds of people due to their exposure to such programmes.

Patna, June 2 (PTI) Migrant workers returning to Bihar will not have to undergo the mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine any more, as the movement of people has opened across the country, a state government official said on Tuesday, a move that can lead to further spurt in COVID-19 cases.

The registration of migrants for the purpose of quarantine closed on Monday, the official of the Disaster Management department said.

Gaya (Bihar), May 23 (PTI) A cache of arms and ammunition belonging to banned outfit CPI (Maoist) has been seized from a village in Bihar's Gaya district, a senior SSB officer said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Bihar Police personnel conducted a raid at Tanti village on Friday night and seized a cache of arms and ammunition and Maoist literature from a brick kiln, SSB's 29th battalion commandant Rajesh Kumar Singh said.

New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) The Indian Railways' most powerful 12000 HP Made in India locomotive made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya and Shivpur stations in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, the national transporter said.

Built by French company Alstom under the government's Make in India programme at the Railways' Madhepura factory in Bihar, these engines are the highest-powered locomotives that will run on Indian rails.

Bhagalpur, May 19 (PTI) Nine migrant labourers were killed on Tuesday when the truck carrying them overturned in an attempt to avert a head-on collision with a bus in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, police said.

The incident took place around 6 am on National Highway-31 near Ambho Chowk, Naugachhia Superintendent of Police Nidhi Rani said.

The workers, all males, had started their journey on bicycles six days ago from Kolkata and they might have boarded the truck somewhere en route, the officer said.

Patna, May 14 (PTI) The Patna High Court has sought a reply from the Bihar government on a petition alleging poor condition of quarantine centres in the state where migrant workers have been mandated to stay for three weeks upon their return from other parts of the country.

A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Karol on Wednesday asked the state's secretary for Disaster Management Department to file an affidavit in response to the petition filed by Rajiv Ranjan Pandey, a resident of Saran district.

Patna, May 2 (PTI) A massive influx of migrant workers is expected in Bihar in the near future and arrangements must be in place for their mandatory 21-day quarantine, medical tests, treatment and economic rehabilitation, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said.

At a marathon meeting here on Friday which lasted for close to six hours, Kumar asked officials to pull up their socks as the migrants, students and pilgrims, said to be in millions, seem poised to return home in droves on board special trains run by the Centre.

Nawada, Apr 24 (PTI) Already grappling with COVID-19 pandemic, Bihar has also reported bird flu cases from Nawada district, officials said on Friday.

Nawada District Magistrate Yashpal Meena said that samples collected from a poultry farm in Rajahat village under Akbarpur block of the district have been found positive for bird flu.

A total of 6,800 chicken have been culled so far, the DM said.

Patna, Apr 18 (PTI) All Bihar government departments will start functioning from April 20, a General Administration Department (GAD) order said.

All government officers of Group A and B will be present in the office on all working days while 33 per cent of Group C employees and those on contract will be present in the office of their total strength, the GAD order said.

All officers and government employees will have to follow the national guideline issued to contain COVID-19.