Jharkhand village being overhauled for Minister's marriage

Ranchi, June 15 (UNI) A nondescript small village in Jharkhand, Dimbudih, is getting completely overhauled to bear a bridal look to host the marriage of State Home Minister Sudesh Mahto on June 18.

The 'who's who' of the state along with some of the political bigwigs of the country including Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and senior BJP leader L K Advani are expected to grace the occasion.

Mr Mahto, who was also incharge of road construction, sports and youth affairs and culture departments is to marry Neha, a homely girl who has completed her graduation.

State road construction officials are working overtime to construct new roads, energy department employees are busy erecting electric poles ,intelligence sleuths and senior police personnel are busy discussing the nitty-gritty of security plans in hilly Dimbudih under Tamar police station area of Ranchi district.

Otherwise little-known Dimbudih, with a population of a little over a thousand, had of late no good contact roads, no electric supply. But with the announcement of the much hyped marriage almost a month ago, lakhs of rupees from the state fund has been spent to give it a facelift.

Sources close to the Minister told UNI here today that the marriage procession would start from Mr. Mahto's paternal village, Lagam which was under Silli police station area of Ranchi and would cover a distance of about 45 kms to reach Dimbudih. Elaborate security arrangements would be made as the whole area was naxal affected. ''Services of sniffer dogs and expert commandos will be availed,'' they added.

They said a reception party would be organised on June 20 at Lagam village. In both the marriage and reception more than 50 thousand persons were expected to participate. ''We have invited the Chief Minister, all ministers and other VVIPs of the state.

Mr. Mahto himself has handed over invitation cards to Mr Shivraj Patil, Lalu Prasad, Ramvilas Paswan, L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Subodh Kant and Digvijay Singh, '' they said.

''We have distributed a limited number of cards but are well aware that a large number of party activists and common people will come. We have kept this fact in mind while planning for food arrangements. In the marriage the bride side will arrange dinner in the manner that suits them but in reception we will follow a traditional 'desi' style of serving food. We have hired six hundred local cooks and confectioners to prepare food and sweets. We will serve mainly rice and red meat, which is a tradition in this part of the country. One thing is for sure that we won't follow buffet system,'' the sources added.

Meanwhile, the would-be father-in-law of the Minister, a college principal by profession, Mr Umesh Chandra Mahto, is busy with the preparations in his village. A big water proof pandal was being erected in the courtyard of his old house for the main marriage ceremony and ten giant pandals of 120 meter into 40 meter were being prepared in a nearby ground for the marriage party. For this work, more than a hundred labourers were engaged for over a fortnight.

Sources said that for security reasons only a limited number of persons would be allowed to get into the main pandal. The whole village would be divided into several security circles for effective vigilance. To avoid any traffic hassle, a good number of traffic constables would also be deployed.

UNI RAJ RP DS1530