RANCHI, NOV 6: The birth of Jharkhand - the 28th state of the Indian Republic - is set to take place at the Governor's house here on November 15.This double-storeyed British building has over 20 rooms, two big halls, a portico and a garden, all spread over 57 acres. It was built in 1912 to serve as the office-cum-residence of the Governor of the erstwhile Bengal province when Bihar was carved out of that state by the British.The white-washing and polishing of furniture is over. The garden and road have been cleaned and lights are being fixed. On D-day, the lounge and hall will be decorated with marigold and roses.There is a similar flurry of activity at other old structures that will serve as the Chief Minister's residence, the secretariat and the High Court. Even Lenin Hall, which is to house the Assembly and was damaged by the JMM activists on November 3, is being repaired. ``In case the hall is not ready, we have decided to temporarily house the Assembly at the conference room of the Bihar government-run Administrative Training Institute,'' government spokesperson B.K. Chand said.Regional Development Commissioner Laxmi Singh and Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Sukhdeo Singh have been entrusted with the task of finishing the job before the evening of November 15 when the first Governor of Jharkhand, Prabhat Kumar, will administer the oath of office to its first Chief Minister and other ministers.It has been reliably learnt that the Bihar government has decided to hand over one of its five choppers to Jharkhand. The chopper is expected to land here from Patna on November 12. A sum of about Rs 10 crore, allocated by the Centre, is earmarked for expenditure under infrastructural heads such as repair and renovation of these buildings, installation of 110 telephone connections, and the purchase of 69 fax machines, 14 sets of Pentium III computers, 90 Ambassador cars, three Maruti Balenos and three bullet-proof Ambassador cars.However, there is much that remains to be done. The Jharkhand government is to have 19 departments, but the cadre of their officials and employees have not yet been notified. Neither one of these departments - which are to transport their more than two lakh files from the Bihar secretariat in Patna to the Jharkhand secretariat in Ranchi - have started work.And the fact that the swearing-in ceremony is just a week away does not unduly perturb the concerned officers. ``Time is short. But all works will be accomplished before the birth of Jharkhand,'' is all Chand had to say in the matter.
