Nitish back with NDA durbars After asking JD(U) spokespersons not to speak against the BJP,Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has offered the olive branch to his partys coalition partner by resuming the janata durbar for NDA workers. The CM,who used to slot one Monday every month for hearing grievances of JD(U) and BJP workers,had stopped that following the controversies that arose out of his secular PM remark. The decision to resume these janata durbars has delighted BJP workers in particular as they have complaints to make about the verbal attacks they have faced from their JD(U) counterparts. Nitish has asked the media to look for another story rather than play up differences between the allies. Assam youths murder The killing of Silchar youth Pritam Bhattacharjee at Naugachhia has led to protests in Assam and discomfort for the Bihar government. The Naugachhia police have not been able to arrest the killers of Pritam and are being accused of protecting criminals. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has spoken to Nitish Kumar,asking him to ensure the safety of train passengers from the Northeast travelling through Bihar. Pritam,who had boarded the Awadh-Assam Express on July 8,went missing the next day from Naugachhia after a quarrel with some local youths. His body was found days later. With people having taken to the streets in Assam,Nitish said arrests would soon be made. Dry spell in half of state There has been some rainfall over the past week but 19 of 38 districts still face a drought-like situation,the rainfall they have received being 44 per cent below average. The government has instructed the Bihar State Electricity Board to allow continuous supply in specified hours to allow running of tubewells. The districts where rainfall has been short include Nalanda,Bhojpur,Buxar,Gaya,Jehanabad,Saran,Nawada,Siwan,Madhubani,Munger,Saharsa,Madhepura and Siwan. The CM has said that the state very often faces either of the two extremes of nature flood or drought. Fire safety Alarmed by fires in a Kolkata hospital and the Mantralaya building in Mumbai,the Bihar government has set out to make fire safety measures mandatory in all government and private buildings. The Chief Minister held a high-level meeting recently and decided to bring a new fire safety law replacing the Bihar Fire Service Act,1948. The government is also mulling a mandatory fire audit for all buildings,while individuals too will be advised to keep fire safety equipment in their houses. At present,the state has only 46 fire safety stations.
