Ranchi, Dec 31 (PTI) Hapless tourists stranded mid-air after a ropeway accident, scores of MLAs being holed up in resorts in a neighbouring state amid political uncertainty and a bitter fall from grace of an IAS officer – Jharkhand remained witness to a year filled with myriad developments in 2022.
Incidents like torture of a tribal domestic help by a now-suspended BJP ‘Mahila Morcha’ worker, and the state capital coming under the grip of violence following controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad, also grabbed headlines during the year.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, however, asserted that his government is committed to continue its “welfare-centred model” in 2023 with renewed vigour.
Soren, who launched the ‘Aapki Sarkar, Aapke Dwar’ initiative to take development schemes to the doorsteps of villagers, claimed that 25 lakh people have been benefited by the programmes.
“Our core focus is to strengthen grassroot governance and capital infrastructure. There has been unwarranted political turmoil this year, which was nothing but retribution and vendetta against an adivasi CM.
“I will continue to seek support from the Centre on all matters that need attention and intervention,” Soren told PTI on the outlook for 2023.
The start of 2022 was inauspicious for Jharkhand, with a 32-year-old man stoned to death and burnt in Simdega district.
It was followed by a Maoist attack on a former BJP MLA in West Singbhum, who narrowly escaped, but the red rebels slit the throats of two bodyguards and snatched three AK-47 rifles before fleeing.
Political uncertainty accentuated the year 2022 for the state, after the BJP sought Soren’s disqualification from the assembly in an office-of-profit case.
The Election Commission had communicated its decision in this regard to Governor Ramesh Bais on August 25.
Though the decision has not yet been made official, there has been buzz that the poll panel recommended the chief minister’s disqualification as an MLA.
Soren later won a confidence vote in September by a comfortable margin in a special session of Jharkhand Assembly, helping the politically savvy tribal leader consolidate his position, despite fears that his MLAs would be poached to bring down the JMM-led regime.
The CM, who still faces the threat of disqualification on the basis of the purported EC advisory to the governor, had ring-fenced his MLAs by flying them down to neighbouring Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh.
The legislators were hurriedly taken to Raipur in a chartered flight and after their arrival in Ranchi a few days later, they were accommodated in a circuit house before being brought to the assembly in a bus for the trust vote on September 5.
On November 17, Soren was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for over nine hours in connection with its investigation into an alleged illegal mining case, with the chief minister claiming that he was a victim of conspiracy by the opposition.
Earlier in May, the state’s Mines Secretary Pooja Singhal was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in Khunti, and other suspicious financial transactions.
The 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, who was later suspended, is still under arrest.
Adding to the eventful year, the entire nation watched with bated breath as around 60 tourists, trapped in cable cars on a ropeway for over 46 hours in Deoghar district, were rescued by joint teams of the armed forces and disaster management agencies.
The accident was caused by a ropeway malfunction that resulted in trolleys colliding at Trikut hills in April.
The probe into the incident is yet to be completed, with the high court expressing displeasure over the enquiry report submitted by the Jharkhand government, and directing it to file a fresh one.
The year also saw RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav being sentenced to five years in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh by a special CBI court in Ranchi in connection with the fifth fodder scam case, involving embezzlement of over Rs 139 crore by the Doranda treasury. He was later given bail.
The silver lining in 2022 was the reclamation of ‘Budha Pahad’, a 55 sq km area on the Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh border that was freed from Maoist control after over three decades, following operations carried out by security forces.
Jharkhand also heaved a sigh of relief with the rescue of workers facing hurdles abroad like in Malaysia, and freeing of women and children from the clutches of traffickers in various states throughout the year. PTI NAM JRC RBT RBT
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.