Jharkhand education minister Jagarnath Mahto on Saturday said there was no plan to open schools in the state in September. He added that the Hemant Soren government would follow the Centre’s guidelines for the opening of schools.

“The education department is waiting for the central government’s guidelines to open schools,” said Mahto while talking to journalists at his residence at Bhandaridah in Bokaro on Saturday evening.

The state government is monitoring the Covid-19 situation. Attention is being given to students for better education through online classes. Teachers are providing e-content to children.

Mahto said opinion had been sought from the parents of children studying in both government and private schools by the education department regarding the opening of the institutions. As per his assessment, parents are not in favour of opening schools. Therefore, no final decision could be taken at this point.

63 discharged from Covid hospitals in Dhanbad

Sixty-three people were discharged on Saturday from various Covid-19 treatment centres in Dhanbad after being cured of the infection.

Those discharged include 42 from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at Dhanbad, 14 from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at Bhuli, five from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at Nirsa polytechnic, Gopalpur, and one each from the sadar hospital, Dhanbad, and dedicated Covid-19 health centre at SSLNT Hospital. Those released will have to remain under home quarantine for 14 days.

The arrested duo in Hazaribagh on Saturday. Vishvendu Jaipuriar

PLFI activists arrested

Police on Saturday arrested two Peoples’ Liberation Front of India (PLFI) extremists who were involved in collecting levy from coal companies in Barkagaon block of Hazaribagh.

Subdivisional police officer Om Prakash said the duo were inducted into PLFI by the outfit’s chief Dinesh Gope and tasked with collecting levy in the area.

Prakash said Ritesh Bhokta, 27, and Ashok Ganjhu, 24, are residents of Chirudih village in Barkagaon. He said they had admitted to threatening officials of Thriveni Sainik Pvt Ltd, an outsourcing firm associated with the National Thermal Power Corporation, for levy.

“We have lodged an FIR against the duo under Sections 385, 387 and 34 of IPC,” he added.

SDO inspects Patliputra Medical College and Hospital

A high-level team of district officials led by Dhanbad subdivisional officer Raj Maheshwaram on Saturday visited Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and inspected the paediatric, gynaecology and ENT department building with the aim of developing dedicated Covid-19 health centres.

With the recent rise in coronavirus cases, Dhanbad deputy commissioner Uma Shankar Singh on Friday had instructed the PMCH authorities to develop new dedicated Covid-19 health centres. A two-day special drive conducted by the district administration on August 21-22 has led to detection of 556 new cases.

BJP MLA sports black badge

BJP activists led by Dhanbad BJP MLA Raj Sinha on Saturday sported black badges to protest the delay in arresting the killers of the party’s Kendua Mandal vice-president Satish Singh who was killed by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants on August 19 on the Dhanbad-Bokaro road in Matkuria. Singh, a resident of Kustore, was close to the MLA. Sinha had also visited PMCH when Singh was taken there.

Sindri meeting on lack of facilities

A meeting of residents of Dhanbad’s Sindri led by the president of All India FCI VSS Employees Association, Sewa Singh, was held on Saturday. During the meeting, the participants expressed concern over the pitiable condition of basic amenities such as water supply and power supply and decided to raise the issue with Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd, which is engaged in building a Rs 6500-crore fertiliser plant at Sindri.