Rajnath to visit Birsa Munda's birthplace Ulihatu today

In a bid to bring in development at the birthplace of legendry freedom fighter Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday will lay foundation stones for developmental projects at Ulihatu in Khunti, around 40 km from the State capital. Singh will also pay tribute to Birsa Munda at Ulihatu and then will fly to Kitahatu to address a gathering.

"The Union Home Minister will reach Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi by a special flight at 12:20 pmfrom where he will directly fly to Ulihatu by a Helicopter. After reaching Ulihatu at 12:45 pm, Singh will take part in 'Azadi-70 - zara yaad karo kurbani' programme and lay foundation stones for the developmental projects in the area after paying tribute to Bhagwan Birsa Munda. He will then fly to Kitahatu of Murhu block, 12 km from here to address a gathering at 2:10 pm," said DPRO Khunti. The Minister will fly back to Delhi at 3:30 pm from Ranchi Airport, he said.

"Foundation stone for development of Dombariburu, the workplace of Birsa Munda will also be laid by the Union Home Minister during the programme, the DPRO added.

Besides renovating of paternal house of Bhagwan Birsa Munda and raising the house where he was born as a memorial, welcome gates at Ulihatu and Dombariburu will also be constructed. There is also a provision of food court and an open theatre at Ulihatu under the developmental projects involving Rs 5.38 crore.    

During programme, the Union Home Minister will also to meet and felicitate the decedents of legendry freedom fighter of Birsa Munda at his birthplace Ulithatu.

New helipads are being constructed at Kantadapidhi and Pidihatu so that Singh does not have to travel long distance by road to reach the programme site. A new road is also being constructed so that Singh along with the other VIPs could reach at the programme site easily. Stage from where Rajnath is to address the gathering has been raised in front of Birsa High School.

Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary NN Pandey and DGP D K Pandey visited Ulihatu on Thursdayto take stock of the preparations and give last-minute instructions to the district administration to make the event successful. The emphasis was on keeping a tab on Maoists' movement.

To avoid any untoward incident, anti-Maoist operations are being carried out to dominate the areas. CRPF, CoBRA, Jharkhand Jaguar, Jharkhand Armed Police and India Reserve Battalion are engaged in the operations besides district armed police.