This Week Jharkhand: Test ground at Dhoni home

Test ground at Dhoni home

Ranchi,birthplace of Team India captain M S Dhoni,is set to join the club of cities that have a cricket stadium fit to host Tests and ODIs. A state-of-the-art stadium is coming up near Birsa Munda Airport. Built on 31.70 acres in Dhurva,3 km from the airport,this 45,000-capacity stadium has seen the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) investing more than Rs 50 crore. The JSCA is giving the final touches to the ground. Dhoni recently visited the stadium,practised for a while and hinted he wants to take on lease a corporate box with a set of seats. Though the terms and costs are yet to be finalised,Dhonis idea has sent many corporate giants,such as CCL,Jindal Steel and Bhushan Steel,vying for other such boxes.

Now,Munda on yatra

Chief Minister Arjun Munda has taken a leaf out of his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumars yatra book. Much like Nitish,who has travelled by road and made babus address peoples grievances,Munda too has avoided a helicopter on his yatra. He first went to Dumka,and from Wednesday toured the Maoist-hit Palamau where he inspected potholed highways and promised that officials who dont execute development projects in time would be taken to task,and that a task force would be set up to monitor the projects implementation. On Friday,the concluding day of his yatra,the police arrested Lal Guddu Nath Shahdeo for an alleged conspiracy with Maoists to attack the CM. Dy SP Anil Kumar Jha said police had intercepted a conversation between Maoist leader Ravindera Ganjhu and Guddu.

After Games,the cash

A year after it organised the National Games,Jharkhand held a glittering function where the state government gave away cash awards worth more than Rs 7 crore to the states medal winners. They got their cheques in the presence of Deputy CM and sports minister Sudesh Mahato,M S Dhoni and Arjun Munda. The amount awarded depended on whether a sportsperson had won gold,silver or bronze. Jharkhand had improved from the previous Games 14 medals to win 96 in the edition at home. Diver Hemhit Meiti,who had won a gold each in the 3 m and 1 m springboard events,received a cash award of Rs 12.66 lakh. Deepika Kumari,ace archer who had won a gold and a silver,got Rs 8.50 lakh.

Clean-up drive

Flooded with complaints about garbage littered around the city,the Ranchi Municipal Corporation has hired private sweepers. The sweepers,supervised by managers of A2Z and armed with brand new broomsticks and brushes,are being driven from area to area,where they are cleaning the drains and the lanes. The company has been authorised to collect a user charge of Rs 30 from every household. Mayor Rama Khalko had taken the lead and paid her due; the company hopes to collect around Rs 30 lakh from over 2 lakh households every month.We are sure the people will pay for the good work being done by this company, said Khalko.