South Bihar celebrates passage of Bill

South Bihar celebrates passage of Bill
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

RANCHI, AUGUST 3: This South Bihar town in Jharkhand heartland burst into boisterous celebrations as the news about the passage of the long-awaited Jharkhand bill by the Lok Sabha reached here late Wednesday night.

People belonging to different political and social organisations congregated at the local Albert Ekka Chawk, set off firecrackers and daubed each other's faces with colours soon after news about the passage of the bill came in.

"The passage of the Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 2000 by the Lok Sabha is indisputably the victory of the Jharkhandi people who had long been fighting tenaciously for the creation of a separate Jharkhand state," Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president Sibu Soren said on phone from New Delhi.

Hoping that the Bill will be smoothly passed by the Rajya Sabha the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president thanked the Centre, the State Government and all the political parties which helped facilitate the passage of the much-awaited Bill in the Lok Sabha.

BJP's Vananchal committee spokesman Umashnkar Kedia and its secretary Deepak Prakash said by ensuring the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre had honoured its commitment to the people of the area.

Jharkhand Regional Congress Committee working president P N Singh and senior party leader from this region Roshan Lal Bhatia hailed the passage of the Bill as a historic event which was made possible by the Congress' active support to the Jharkhand issue.

Senior BJP leader and former spokesman of the BJP's Vananchal committee Prem Kataruka said now that the BJP had fulfilled its promise to the Jharkhandi masses the people of this region should come forward to build a new expoitation free and prosperous Jharkhand.

"The contribution of the BJP to the Jharkhand movement is priceless in the sense that it was this party which for the first time floated the concept of a 18-district Vananchal state out of Bihar instead of a 26-district greater Jharkhand state comprising predominantly tribal districts of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa," Kataruka said.

The idea of a 26-district greater Jharkhand state was not feasible as it involved four different states, he said and congratulated the Jharkhandi people for the passage of the Bill by the Lok Sabha.

Convenor of the regional unit of the Ajeya Bharat party Baidyanath Ram Gonjhu described the passage of the Bill as the fruition of the sacrifices made by the Jharkhandi people during the peak days of the Jharkhand movment.

Jharkhand Vikas Party, a breakaway group of the JMM termed it as the reward for the efforts made over the years by the people of Jharkhand for the creation of a separate Jharkhand state.

Felicitating the Jharkhandi masses for the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha in a statement here on Thursday, Jharkhand Vikas Party spokesman Aftab Jamil said the clearance of the Bill in the LS has paved the way for the fulfilment of the long-cherished dream of the inhabitants of this region.

A report from Jamshedpur said cutting across the entire population in the steel city, political parties, big industries and small traders rejoiced over the passage of the Bill in the LS.