Report Wire

Tag: Sakchi

  • Spend 8 hours in a steel city jail, pay Rs 500 as fine

    Driving a car or bike without a mask in the steel city during the remaining days of the year will mean that the offender will have to spend eight hours in a camp jail.

    That is not all. Jamshedpur police will also subject the offender to a Covid test and slap a penalty of Rs 500 on him/her.

    “We have launched the drive and set up checkpoints at strategic locations in all 17 police stations areas. But our focus will be on the checkpoints located in Bistupur, Sakchi, Jugsalai, Mango and Golmuri,” said City SP Subhash Chandra Jat on Friday.

    He pointed out that police would intercept only those riders who were without masks and helmets. Even if a rider is wearing a helmet but is without a mask, or a pillion rider is without a mask, then the person without a mask would be penalised and put in a camp jail for eight hours.

    “We have set up two camp jails in the city. One is at Motilal Nehru Public School at Bistupur and another at the closed Incab Industries Ltd in Golmuri. Those put in camp jails will also have to undergo a Covid test,” he added.

    If caught without a mask, those in cars or on bikes would also have to produce all vehicle papers, including a driving licence.

    The police drive is on at Bistupur, Jugsalai, Sakchi, Kadma, Sonari, Golmuri, Mango and Telco. It will continue till the New Year and beyond, said senior police officers, including SSP M. Tamil Vanan.

    City SP Jat said police opted for the harsh measure during the festive month because a large number of people, especially youngsters, usually hit the streets with their two-wheelers without paying heed to traffic rules. “Also, we wanted to ensure everyone takes precautionary measures in view of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Jat said.

    The City SP said that those travelling in cars would also be watched. All occupants of a car would have to wear masks. Sources said police have spread out across the city and checking would be widespread.

    “This will be a kind of random checking. Moreover, during such drives police personnel from the traffic wing as well as from police stations will be deployed,” said a police officer.

  • Over a dozen shops gutted in Sakchi market fire

    Over a dozen shops were completely gutted due to a fire that broke out at the Sakchi commercial hub on the wee hours of Sunday. The fire was allegedly caused by a bonfire, past midnight at around 12:15 am.

    It took seven fire tenders from both Tata Steel and the state fire department over six hours to bring the fire under control.

    The seamlessly packed shops in the congested Shiv Mandir Line were saved from severe damages due to the prompt action taken by the fire department.

    District fire service officials reached the spot within 25 minutes of being informed. “Sakchi police informed us about the fire around 12.20 am. We immediately sent off four fire tenders from our department and two from Tata Steel and one from Tata Motors to the spot. The fire was finally brought under control around 7 am,” said Ravinder Thakur, duty officer at the fire station in Golmuri.

    According to eyewitnesses, the fire started at a cloth store and spread to other shops, including a general store, a grocery store, a musical instrument shop, and a couple of tailoring shops. According to shopkeepers, the loss caused by the fire could add up to several lakhs.

    Shopkeeper Niranjan Singh, one of the affected businessmen of the commercial hub said, “A bonfire was lit near a shop at the Shiv Mandir Line to beat the intense cold. Unfortunately, it was not doused properly and could have caused the fire.”

    He ruled out the possibility of a suspected short-circuit.

    The affected shopkeepers who rushed to the spot on getting the news post-midnight also alleged that the lone hydrant failed to function.
    “We tried to operate the hydrant but couldn’t. Had it been alright the action of dousing the flames would have been fast,” said a shopkeeper.

  • CCTV cameras in Steel City parking lots to curb vehicle theft

    Thanks to Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), vehicle parking will be a lot safer in Steel City now. The civic body, JNAC, is all set to have surveillance cameras and barricades installed in parking lots across the city. 

    The move to put parking zones under surveillance aims to curb the menace of vehicle theft, which has been on the rise of late.  

    Significantly, the civic authority has put up a drop gate at one of the parking areas in Bistupur to assure owners that their vehicles are protected.

    City Manager, JNAC, Sandeep Kumar Singh, while explaining the need for such initiatives, said that the move to put up barricades and have CCTV cameras installed to provide enhanced security to the vehicles parked.

    “We have over a dozen parking lots in Bistupur, Sakchi, and Kadma area. We are going to put up barricades wherever necessary and also have CCTV cameras installed. The parking lots will have barricades. And owners will be allowed to park their vehicles through the drop gates only. This arrangement is going to provide more protection to the parked vehicles,” said the City Manager while talking to The Telegraph Online.

  • Steel city plans to step up Covid testing to 10,000 a day

    Though the Coronavirus positive cases are well under control in the East Singhbhum district now, the district health facilities are preparing to launch a massive drive of sample test for the killer virus from next week onwards.

    The district health department is gearing up to conduct as many as 10,000 tests per day from next week which is an increase from the current test rate of 2,000 per day. The drive will start from next week as it is apprehended that majority of those who had been to their native places in Bihar, Odisha and Bengal have returned to the steel city after the festival season by then.

    Revealing about the step, district civil surgeon RN Jha said that the regular test of samples had dropped considerably during the festivity season starting from Durga puja till Chhath.

    “From Monday, we have started carrying out about 2,000 sample tests across the nine blocks in the East Singhbhum and also in Jamshedpur. But as people are still returning home in the steel city and in other places of the district after festival celebrations, we apprehend a rise of the Covid-19 positive cases with the influx of the people. We have, therefore, decided to increase the number of tests from 2,000 to 10,000 from the next week. We are mobilising the resources accordingly,” said Jha while talking to The Telegraph Online.

    During the last 24 hours, 27 Coronavirus positive cases were detected, thus making the total number of Covid-19 cases in the East Singhbhum district to 16,591 so far.

    Meanwhile, the district administration has also increased the mask-checking drive in the city along with the helmet checking. On Monday, the 39 persons were caught without masks during checking at Bistupur, Sakchi, Golmuri, Jugsalai and Mango. The traffic wing of the district police has penalised all those found without masks and earned revenue amounting to Rs 19,500 from the violators of the Covid-19 norms. 

    “We have intensified the mask-checking drive along the helmet checking from Monday. We are charging a penalty of Rs 500 from each of the violators. This is all being done as majority of the commuters have stopped wearing a mask, thinking that the Coronavirus is almost gone from the steel city,” said deputy superintendent of police (Traffic) Babban Singh while talking to The Telegraph Online.

    Singh revealed that they have carried out the drive at the points which are known as checking point, but shortly such drive will also be conducted at the roads and places unfamiliar for helmet or masking checking drive.

    Significantly, anticipating a second wave in the winter, a section of Congress activists and social activists in cooperation with the civic body, Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) officials on Tuesday carried out an intensive drive to make those without masks to wear them at Sakchi market and making people follow social distancing in public places. 

  • Covid norms go for a toss at Sakchi weekly market

    The East Singhbhum district administration, which has launched a massive crackdown on those who refuse to wear masks in the steel city, was unable to check violation of social distancing norms at the busy commercial hub of Sakchi on Tuesday.

    At the weekly fair of footpath vendors, referred to as Mangala Haat, there were huge crowds. People flocked the market in large numbers since 10 am making purchases of various household items including garments.

    Both vendors and customers flouted social distancing norms. Maintaining a distance of one metre is the usual norm inside the market. But no one paid heed to this norm.

    Several vendors and shoppers weren’t wearing masks either. The haat was open till evening.

    “Tuesday’s situation was horrible. When Covid-19 cases are making a comeback in other parts of the country, the local district administration should be vigilant and prevent such violations inside a market,” pointed out Satya Narayan Agarwal, who owns a garment store at Sakchi.

    Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has taken note of it.

    “Some permanent shopkeepers had approached us with complaints of violation of social distancing norms by footpath vendors and buyers. We have requested the district administration to provide an alternate place to footpath vendors for the weekly haat,” said Bharat Vasani, vice-president of the trade outfit.

    Ravi Bharti, city manager of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), said efforts were being made to provide an alternative place to vendors to prevent crowding of the market.

  • Plans to monitor noise, air pollution during Diwali

    Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) will monitor noise pollution in as many as 11 places and ambient air quality in three places over two days beginning November 13, a day before Diwali.

    Officials at JSPCB’ regional office in Adityapur said they had received a formal circular in this regard from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), New Delhi. “The noise pollution survey would be carried out in 11 residential, commercial and silence zones while air quality will be monitored at Bistupur, Adityapur and Golmuri,” said Suresh Paswan, regional officer of JSPCB.

    According to the regional officer, teams would be constituted for carrying out surveys on both the days. In order to monitor ambient air quality the pollution watchdog will use respirable dust sampler which helps in monitoring total suspended particles in the air apart from other pollutant gases like sulphur-dioxide and nitrogen-dioxide.

    While the decibel check will be carried out at usual survey points in Sakchi, Bistupur, Golmuri, Sonari, Kadma, Adityapur, including Tata Main Hospital (in Bistupur) and new civil court premises in Bhuiyandih. Portable noise meters would be used for monitoring noise pollution.

    Paswan said the findings of the survey would be sent to its Ranchi headquarters, which would then forward it to CPCB. The regional office of the board would also publish a decibel directive in local vernacular dailies in the next couple of days. It will ask people not to burst crackers beyond 125 decibels and refrain from bursting crackers after 10 pm.

    Last year’s survey revealed that Sakchi roundabout, a crowded commercial centre,  topped the decibel limit with 130 decibels (dB) on Diwali night while respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) was a shocker at another commercial hub _  Golmuri which recorded 205 microgram per cubic metre (µg/m3). 

    Under CPCB norms, the permissible noise level in a commercial zone is 55dB between 10pm and 6am and the prescribed RSPM in ambient air is 100µg/m3.