Muted R-Day for broke Bihar

Only 13 departments are putting up the tableaux this year, according to sources. Last year, over 18 departments had participated in the parade.

‘‘Many departments don’t have the money to put up the tableaux this year. All departments are feeling the resource crunch,’’ said a government official on the condition of anonymity. Forest, housing board, public health and urban development departments are just some of the casualties this year.

Officials of the PRD Department, which has participated every year and won prizes for best tableau, said that they were unable to participate in the Patna parade because they were participating in Delhi.

‘‘We are focussing on the parade in Delhi this year, that is why we are not participating,’’ said R.N. Pandey, Assistant Director in the PRD Department. He added that all the 25 artists who participate in the parade have also been sent to Delhi.

District Public Relations Officer Devender admitted that this year, there was less participation. ‘‘But it’s not because of the financial crunch,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, on Republic Day, many organisations and individuals have given suicide threats. On August 15 last year, there were three suicide threats and in the end, Chandan Bhattacharya, the son of Bihar state Agro Industries Corporation employee Parijot Bhattacharya, ran into the Patna High Court and set himself on fire.

This year, A. Yadav and M. Prasad of the Forest Department have threatened to commit suicide along with their family members. Savinder P. Varma has threatened to immolate himself in front of the Bihar State Housing Board office over irregularities in house allotment.

A retired government school principal has also threatened self-immolation because his pension benefits haven’t been paid. In Saharsa district, 13 of the 25 panchayat samiti members of a certain block have threatened to collectively commit suicide because of the high-handedness of the local BDO.