Bricks stolen from Patna road, probe sought

Patna, March 17 (IANS) In a shocking incident, some unidentified men have stolen bricks from a road in Patna's Phulwarisharif area, an official said.Local MLA Gopal Ravidas has moved an application with the Parsa Bazar police station and the block development officer of Phulwarisharif for a thorough investigation into the matter.The road made of bricks was prepared under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's ambitious project 'Tola (small village) Sampark Yojana', for which funds were allocated by the gram panchayat to connect the Simri Mushari village with Phulwarisharif."As soon as I learnt about the incident, I went there for inspection and found that the bricks of the road were removed. Subsequently, I have lodged a complaint with the local police and the BDO about the incident. But none of the officials have got back to us over the incident," Ravidas said."I have informed the district magistrate of Patna and I will raise this issue in the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly on Wednesday. Stealing a road's bricks is a serious matter. It is also attributed to the callous approach of government officials and law enforcement agencies for being unable to protect the state government projects," Ravidas said.Local villagers alleged that a strong man (Bahubali) of Simri Mushari village named Nagendra Singh and his two sons were reportedly involved in the matter. The villagers also informed the MLA that the alleged persons used a JCB machine to flatten the surface and remove every single brick from the road.When contacted, Jaffarudin Khan, BDO of Phulwarisharif, said that the matter is under investigation.
--IANS ajk/arm