Blankets distribution has picked up in cold and fog ridden Daltonganj where mercury has dipped down to 5 degree Celsius and over the last two days Sun’s arrival is past 11.30 in the day.
Sources said last night 200 blankets were distributed among the poor and the destitute at Daltonganj railway station, rickshaw stand, Palamu medical college hospital etc.
SDPO Sadar Sandip Kumar Gupta, along with officer in charge of Town police station Anand K Mishra got these blankets distributed.
Speaking to the Pioneer today Gupta said the blankets have been given to the most needy people who had no adequate clothes to warm themselves.
Gupta said a Garhwa based philanthropist Shoukat Khan who runs ‘sattoo, chawal, gamchha, book etc banks’ where in the rich and prosperous people come and donate these items, had brought 100 blankets with him here in Daltonganj last night which was also distributed.
Sources said 100 blankets out of the 200 so distributed were of the Palamu administration’s social security department. Palamu administration has so far got distributed 80% of its total allotment of 66,650 blankets said sources.
A senior BJP leader Durga Johri and his team distributed 40 blankets among the poor in Daltonganj and the major beneficiaries of it were the ‘dattun sellers’.
As Daltonganj shivers ‘alao’ (community fire) has been arranged at public places where heavy logs of wood are burnt for hours. A ‘passenger fire’ was also arranged in the premise of the Daltonganj railway station. Fog has put brake on the speed of trains as well here.
Daltonganj railway station superintendent A K Tiwary said fog problem is being noticed in Daltonganj, Rajhara, Kechki railway stations etc where speed of passenger trains, long distance express trains, goods trains etc have been scaled down to 60 KMPH.
Tiwary said fog signals are in use 270 meters away from each of Home Signal where crackers are kept on tracks and when it comes under the wheels of the train it goes off without a huge loud sound alerting the train driver of approaching railway station.