Kolkata is world's 8th most inexpensive city

By SINS

Saturday, 21 August 2010, 12:17 IST

Bangalore: We always hear of surveys done to find out which is the best city or country in the world. There are studies done to find out in which city is the standard of living very expensive and so on and so forth. Rarely do we come across a study or survey done to locate the most inexpensive city in the world to live in.

Now here comes a survey to find out the least expensive city in the world, carried out by the 2010 Mercer Cost of Living Survey. The survey threw out some very interesting results.

Kolkata (ranked 8th) emerged as the only Indian city to make it to the list of the world's 10 least expensive cities. The capital of West Bengal has a populace of more than 15 million. The city is fondly referred to as the cultural capital of India.

 

The city that held the top spot is Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan. Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, followed at a close third.

 

It is no surprise that the cities featuring in this unique list are located majorly in third world countries or developing nations.

 

Here is the complete list of the cities in ascending order (one to ten): Karachi (Pakistan), Managua (Nicaragua), Islamabad (Pakistan), La Paz (Bolivia), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Kolkata (India), Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and Windhoek (Republic of Namibia).

Buddhadeb Calls for Defeating the Unholy Alliance

BENGAL CIVIC POLLS

By B Prasant

THE civic polls being held for 81 self-governing institutions in the cities and townships spread across Bengal are a political battle, as are all elections. The enemy of the people are standing by to wreak havoc and let slip the dogs of war. The masses must come forward to rip apart the gathering darkness of the storm cloud on the political scene in Bengal, re-elect the CPI(M) and the Left Front by big, emphatic margins, and ensure that the process of development and democratisation continue apace.

Thus said Bengal chief minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, while he was addressing a very crowded media conference at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan at noon on 16 May.

There is a twin process of industrialisation and urbanisation in Bengal under Left Front governance. The process needs to be made faster. There is a continuing attempt to maintain a balance between urban and rural, between the townships and the cities, between the cities and the metropolis.

The Left Front has been engaged in this task from back in 1978 when much earlier to the concerned Constitutional proviso coming into force, the civic bodies and the Panchayats had been made into viable self-governing institutions. The Left Front is the founder of the implementational concept of local institutions and this has been a unique achievement in the country.

The Left Front has included such elements in the civic bodies like timely elections, citizens rights ensured, voting age brought down to 18 years, reservations set in place, putting in place the mayor-in-council, borough committees, and making them operative, along with the latest addition of a citizens’ charter in each municipality.

Critical of the Congress, Buddhadeb pointed out that the successive Congress-run central governments deprived the state of funds due. The Trinamul board at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) sat on its hands and spent funds on non-essential items of expense. The Left-run board of the KMC have been seen to go all out with pro-people development programme implemented in a balanced manner. He also pointed out that the union government gives back but 32 per cent of the tax it collects from the states. The demand of elevating this amount to at least 50 per cent has been ignored by the Congress-run central governments in succession. The state finance commission has been engaged in allowing 50 per cent of the plan budget to be spent at the local level.

Noting that it was always difficult to comment on the intransigent ways of the Trinamul Congress and its partners in the right and to the extreme Left, Buddhadeb pointed to the rainbow alliance with political fuel from forces of reaction abroad and said they must be defeated and defeated comprehensively. It was dangerous of the Trinamul Congress to speak of an impending communal violence to precede the civic polls.

The outfit is dangerous to the point that they would see a violent scenario overtaking the municipal elections – ‘violence, threats, and lies,’ comprise the slogan-mongering of the Trinamul Congress. Buddhadeb pooh-poohed the claim of the Trinamul Congress that there were no ‘Maoists’ in Bengal.

On the other hand he asserted that the outfit was engaged in preparing the ground for the left sectarians in Bengal In passing he also pointed to the internecine killings that had started to take place at Nandigram and surrounding areas amongst the assassins of the Trinamul Congress itself, and called upon everybody to maintain amity, through discussions when necessary.

Buddhadeb commented in this context that two recent developments were of an alarming nature. The RSS spokesperson has called upon to ensure that the Trinamuli leader becomes the Bengal chief minister. Secondly, clutches of people from the BJP have joined the Trinamul Congress but they have not given up their RSS memberships. The left sectarians had long back exposed their preference to see the Trinamuli chieftain as the next chief minister of Bengal.

It was imperative, concluded Buddhadeb, for the masses of the people especially the young to come forward, take part in the democratic process and ensure a big victory of the Left Front in the upcoming civic polls. The people have already realised the Left stood for progress, for development for amity and for democracy. In responding to queries Buddhadeb said, among other things that only the state government could bring forward the date of elections for the Vidhan Sabha polls.

Developmental Works of Kolkata Municipal Corporation

By B Prasant

IN a free-ranging interview, Bikash Bhattacharyya, noted legal authority and the serving mayor of the vast metro of Kolkata spoke to People's Democracy on the developmental works that had been undertaken during the tenure of the Left Front board between 2005 and 2010. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) goes to gather the people’s verdict on 30 May. Excerpts follow.

 

WATER  SUPPLY

Improving water supply, noted Bikash, ‘has been a major focus of the LF-run board over the past half-a-decade.’ The efforts have yielded results. The piped water supply of potable water has been vastly augmented via commissioning of water treatment plants, booster pumping stations, reservoirs, and what he called ‘headworks’ that included covered, underground reservoirs, sinking a big number of tubewells, and revamping the distribution system itself.

Giving examples, the mayor pointed to the commissioning of a 260 MGD water treatment plant at Palta, water-treatment plant and pumping station at Watgunge and Gardenreach, replacement of vital electrical installations at the big pumping station at Auckland Square near the La Martinier’s school at the very heart of the metro, and laying of no less than 200 km of big dia pipes across and around Kolkata – a massive project.

SEWERAGE  AND DRAINAGE

Water-logging has been made much of in the corporate media while ranting and raving against the Left-run KMC board. Kolkata as we know has a saucer-like shape and the main drainage to the east of the city has sadly given away to urbanisation with the horizon-touching stretches of shallow water bodies disappearing.

The principal sewer networks were laid in the colonial period and it consists of a century-old brick sewer of 180 km or more. What causes water logging, other than heavy rainfall?

Bikash informed us of the following causes:

Reduction of hydraulic capacity of the sewerage system due to silting

Poor and collapsing sewer lines

Destruction of wetlands that we noted above

Old and creaking pumping machines

Silting up of the ‘outfall’ canals around the metro

The Left-run KMC has undertaken over the past five years a series of measures through upgradation of the sewerage and drainage systems with gradual replacement of the brick stricture with fibre-based gigantic sized tubes – a costly and time-consuming operation. We cannot stop water from being logged, but we could ensure that the accumulated aqua disappeared rapidly enough was how the mayor would put it. The measures taken include clearing the lines, boosting the pumping stations, and re-excavation of the drainage canals.

SOLID WASTE  MANAGEMENT

This is a bane for any metropolis. The Left-led board has tackled this issue in a uniquely pro-people way. The capacity to collect waste has been increased by nearly 70 per cent and 65 per cent of all households stand covered with more in the pipeline, so to speak. The resources and machines used for waste management have been increased manifold. New disposal sites have been set up with facilities for conversion of waste into useful material. Waste is used for landfill with an environmental-friendly outlook.

PRO-POOR  ACTIVITIES

The mayor pointed out how 30 per cent of the metro populace still lived in bustees (there are officially 5500 such ‘colonies’) and, thanks to the pro-rich bias of the successive union governments bent on depriving the states of their due share of finance, 22 per cent of the metro population yet languish beneath the poverty line if we are to go by the 2001 census figures.

The mayor emphasised on the fact of realisation of the KMC that unless the poor underwent uplift and rehabilitation, the city itself could never flourish as a viable urban centre with a vast hinterland. While the direct pro-poor expenditure back in 2004-2005 stood at Rs 56.16 crore, the present figure is a thumping Rs 138.18 crore.

The expenditure on providing basic services to the bustees has virtually increased a hundredfold. The water infrastructure development mean that bustees now have more in the way of piped water supply, better sewerage/drainage systems to access, better and improved lighting system, and better and longer metalled roads for the people to travel on.

The additional water supply lines measure 47,270 metres, the sewerage, 417,901 km, and roads, a whopping 857,083 km. There are now 113,854 modern latrines, and the ‘old’ hexagonal latrines are being converted to modern toilet facilities. A total of 24,829 lamp posts lit up the bustees.

 

Community halls have been set ‘up and running,’ the internal pathways of nearly all the bustees have been made into paved ones, whilst on the social side, thousands of mohalla-level communities have been set up to provide gainful employment through self-help and small-scale, plus job-linked training programmes. A BPL list has been published and is again been updated, along with a plan for minority development plan for the metro.

Other sectors where initiates have been set in place in the metro under the leadership of the Left-run KMC board are:

 

Health

Education

Roads

Disaster management, and

Acquisition of land with compensation/ rehabilitation

The past five years have seen the face of Kolkata change for the better. Much more remains to be done. Yet, to the eternal credit of the CPI(M) and the Left Front, the fact remains that the population overload of Kolkata is not increasing exponentially with more population flowing into the developing small and medium townships across Bengal. We shall look to a better Kolkata every time we look on her was how Bikash Bhattacharyya put it.

 

LF Candidates Announced in KMC election

LEFT Front chairman Biman Basu announced early in the afternoon of April 17 names of the candidates put up by the Left Front for the corporation polls of the metropolis to be held on May 30.

The CPI(M) has put up 96 candidates, CPI 14, FB 11, RSP 10, M-FB, SP, DSP, RJD (LF supported) one each, and BBC and RCPI-- one each.

There are 92 new candidates or 65 per cent of the total. Most of the candidates are young. There are 67 women candidates who have been put up in seats over and above those reserved for women. Biman Basu said that the Left Front was satisfied with the working of the corporation in the present term that had started on and from 2005.

The present mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is a lawyer of note, is not contesting the polls this time, and Biman Basu clarified to say that the post of a legal authority was being thought of about him.(INN)

'AILA' BATTERED KOLKATA

Paramount Airways to launch operations to Kolkata

CHENNAI: The city-based Paramount Airways is set to launch its operations in the Chennai-Kolkata sector by the end of this month. Paramount Airways Managing Director Thiagarajan recently met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and discussed its proposal to make Kolkata as its gateway to northeastern operations, a release here said. The airline would launch operations of daily flights in the Chennai-Kolkata route connecting Guwahati and Agartala by the last week of April, a Paramount Airways official told PTI. The flight from Chennai would take off at 7:05 am and arrive Kolkata at 9.10am and from there proceed to Guwahati and Agartala. The return flight would leave Kolkata at 1.25 pm and reach Chennai at 3:30 pm. Paramount Airways launched its operations in October 2005 and has since achieved a market leadership of 27 per cent in southern India, the release added.

THREE NEW JNNURM PROJECTS FOR KOLKATA APPROVED

Press Information Bureau,

Government of India
Thursday, February 26, 2009

Ministry of Urban Development has given approval to three new JNNURM projects in Kolkata, West Bengal. The Central sanctioning and monitoring committee for the sanctioning of projects under submission-1, Urban infrastructure and governance (UIG) has sanctioned Transmunicipal surface water supply scheme for Dum Dum, North Dum Dum and South Dum Dum municipality, Municipal solid waste management project of 13 municipal towns of Kolkata (Halisahar, Kanchrapara, Kayani, Gayeshpur, Nalhati, Bhatpara, Khardah, Barasat, Madhyamgram, Mahestala, Pujali, Baruipur and Uluberia) and construction of flyover from Parks Circus to Parama Island.

The first project will improve the deteriorating ground water supply, both in quality and quantity by augmenting the existing water treatment plant at Kamarhati from 140 MLD to 280 MLD by utilizing the water from existing source. After implementation of the project 24Hrs connectivity will be provided to 100% households. The project will reduce the wastage of water by replacing the leaky pipe and installing water meters to measure the actual consumption. The project will be implemented in 30 months by Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Regarding the solid waste management project for 13 municipal towns, it would cover 251.40sqkms of area and a population 24.90lakhs. The project will address the problem of source segregation of solid waste, street side storage in open masonry vats, open dumping in low lying areas, designing of sanitary landfill site with requiste infrastructure facilities treatment of MSW through Vermi/Mechanical composting. The Construction of flyover from Parama Island will ease traffic congestion at Park Road due to 7 roads meeting at the intersection. The project would be completed by March 2010.

The details of the projects are as under:
Sl. No.
Mission City/State
Project Cost (in Lakhs)
Approved Cost (in Lakhs)
Central Share
ACA Proposed to be released

1
Kolkata, West Bengal
Transmunicipal Surface Water Supply scheme for Dum Dum, North Dum Dum and South Dum Dum Municipalities
31272.08
10945.23(35%)
2616.04 (1st installment)

2
Kolkata, West Bengal
Municipal Solid Waste Management of 13 municipal towns for Kolkata (Halisahar, Kanchrapara, Kayani, Gayeshpur, Nalhati, Bhatpara, Khardah, Barasat, Madhyamgram, Mahestala, Pujali, Baruipur and Uluberia)
11196.52
3918.78(35%)
979.69 (1st installment)

3
Kolkata, West Bengal
Construction of Flyover from Park Circus to Parama Island
29166.14
10208.15(35%)
2552.04 (1st installment)

The CSMC also sanctioned 2nd and 3rd installments in respect of 5 ongoing projects as under:-

4
Kolkata, West Bengal
Construction of Flyover between E.M. Bypass and Kazi Nazrul Islam Sarani
3802.00
1330.70(35%)
332.67 (2nd installment)

5
Kolkata, West Bengal
Surface Water Supply scheme within added areas of Howrah Municipal Corporation
9068.91
3174.12(35%)
793.53 (2nd installment)

6
Kolkata, West Bengal
Development and management of water supply and sewerage systems of Sector-V under NDITA at Salt Lakh (Phase-I)
2606.62
912.32(35%)
228.08 (3rd installment)

7
Kolkata, West Bengal
10MGD water treatment plant at Uluberia Municipal Town under KMDA
4558.00
1595.30(35%)
398.83 (3rd installment)

8
Kolkata, West Bengal
Underground water reservoir-cum-booster pumping station at Gandhi Maidan Akra
1066.00
373.10(35%)
93.28 (2nd installment)

Rs 5 crore for Subhas Sarobar revamp

KOLKATA: The state has received money to implement a green project that was long overdue. The Union ministry of tourism has just sanctioned Rs 5 crore to revamp Subhas Sarobar, the lungs of east Kolkata. The lake, an eyesore for years, is all set to turn into a beautiful landscape in the next 20 months.

After lobbying for nearly two years with the Union ministry of urban development, the state government highlighted the rejuvenation of Subhas Sarobar as a key tourism project while seeking funds from the Union ministry of tourism (MoT). Result? MoT has now sanctioned Rs 4.91 crore to rejuvenate the lake, which has been included in the National Lake Conservation Programme, but has been crying for attention all these years.

The waterbody has been suffering, thanks to everyday bathing, washing and cleaning by slum-dwellers. Well a sea change is about to take place. And a visit to the sprawling sarovar (41.61 acres of waterbody and 49.99 acres of land) will transport you to lush green grounds dotted with a children's park, rockery, French shelters, joggers' track and other related landscaping accessories. The water will also be treated in a scientific manner. The area around the shimmering water will be lit up in the most fascinating manner to create a romantic ambience after dusk. A lot of recreational activity will take place, especially in the amphitheatre, the water sports complex and food courts. Security will be a key issue: the complex will be closely guarded and visitors monitored through electronic gates.

The sarobar is currently used haphazardly by swimming and other clubs the inner pathways originally meant for morning-walkers are now used for traffic movement between Narkeldanga Main Road and CIT Road-Beliaghata Main Road.

"We just cannot allow this prime waterbody in a crowded city area remain an eyesore forever. So, we decided to send a comprehensive project report, prepared from the original KIT plan, to the ministry. And, we developed it as per the Centre's guidelines to attract funds," said TVN Rao, director of the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation and the concept creator.

The rejuvenation plan also provides for a proper solid waste management and underground stormwater drainage systems. "Currently, there is a huge dump yard in the sarobar premises. We will remove it and implement a scientific solid waste management," said Biswanath Sen, chief engineer-in-charge of KIT, the implementing agency. But since the project has been prepared by West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation, a must-do is a tourism facilitation centre to highlight the other tourism destinations around the sarobar. These stop-overs include Science City, Milan Mela, Nalban, Nicco Park and Salt Lake stadium.

KOLKATA WITNESSES A BIG RALLY ON THE ISSUE OF DEVELOPMENT

KOLKATA, 18th January: The metropolis has been historic witness to many a large rallies. The one held on the morning of 18 January spanned the entire length of the city north to south and the marchers walked in an orderly double-column file. Twenty-one kilometers were covered with masses of the people from all sections of the society. The marchers assembled at the call of the CPI (M).

The basic slogans that under pinned the rally were a cry for development, and a shout against attempts at anarchy—and the slogans reverberated across the length and breadth of Kolkata for all of four hours.

In registering their protests – vibrant and vociferous – the marchers let it be known in no uncertain terms that developmental initiative would have the poorest of the poor at the top of its list of priorities, and the marchers warned the saboteurs of democracy, of the right and the sectarian left padded up by the foreign-funded NGOs not to go ahead with their anarchic planning against the popular and mass mandated Left Front government of Bengal.

Biman Basu, state secretary of the CPI (M) who led the marchers shouldering a large and waving Red Flag also briefly addressed the marchers at the Chiria More crossing near Baranagore in the northern suburbs of the city. Biman said that the country was reeling under the collapsing capitalist economy of the western countries. The prices of articles of common consumption have shot up. The CPI (M) has written to the Congress-run union government to put a leash on the galloping up of the price level – but to little effect. Perhaps this is hardly of surprise concerns as the strident demand does from an anti-people government that would rather be busy hushing the real magnitude of the deepening crisis involving the InfoTech magnates and their hot-money-run firms.

Biman was stringently critical of the foreign policy of the Singh government, a policy that heavily on and towards the US and its lackeys. In a gradual but menacing way, the sovereignty of the nation was put to jeopardy but would Singh and his friends in the ‘right’ places really care? The right reactionary elements have targeted the left in general and the CPI (M) in particular especially after the support to the UPA government was correctly withdrawn some months back on serious grounds of the disastrous-to-sovereignty nuclear accord.

Despite it having been a Sunday, the march was overflowing with people who had come from all over the city and beyond. There were 24 large banners delineating the popular demands as raised by the CPI (M) over the recent period. There were two big tableaux. There were an uncounted number of placards that drew attention of the people to the popular developmental demands of the CPI (M) for Bengal.

The marchers were felicitated in fourteen places in between the starting point and the finishing stage at Tollygunj deep into the south of the metropolis. The marchers had in the van several thousand Party volunteers attired in Red jackets and carrying Red flags.

FIDEL CASTRO in KOLKATA

by SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY
Kolkatans celebrate with a photo exhibition the legendary leader’s visit to their city in 1973.

PHOTOGRAPHS: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT From the "FIDEL in Kolkata" photo exhibition in December 2008. The historic moments were captured by the late Satya Sen, a leading photgrapher of the time. Here, Castro alighting from his aircraft.


FIDEL CASTRO was in Hanoi when the news of Chilean President Salvador Allende’s assassination reached him. It was September 1973 and Vietnam was locked in a deadly struggle for independence against American imperialism. Castro cut short his stay in Vietnam immediately and headed straight back for Cuba. En route, his flight halted for less than an hour at the Calcutta International Airport in Dum Dum on September 17. The simple stopover turned out to be a historic touchdown. Even after 35 years, it excites the imagination of the people of the city, as the huge turnout at the photo exhibition of the occasion recently in Kolkata proved.


None of the Union Ministers was present at the airport to receive Castro as it was an unofficial visit. The then West Bengal Chief Minister, Siddhartha Shankar Ray of the Congress, was in New Delhi, and it was senior Cabinet Minister Tarun Kanti Ghosh who welcomed Castro on the State government’s behalf. Left leaders of the State including Communist Party of India (Marxist) stalwarts Jyoti Basu and Promod Dasgupta, State president of the Forward Bloc Ashok Ghosh, State president of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) Makhan Pal, local Congress leaders, members of the then Soviet embassy, representatives of various women’s organisations, government officials, journalists and photographers, all flocked to meet the legendary “Comandante en Jefe”.

The waiting crowd.

Outside, thousands of Kolkatans gathered to catch a glimpse of Castro. With the help of an interpreter, he chatted with everyone, posed for photographs, nibbled at the snacks laid out for him in the VIP lounge of the airport, and finally boarded the airplane after extending a revolutionary salute to the crowd.

The historic moments were captured for posterity by the late Satya Sen – one of the leading photographers of his time. The five-day “Fidel in Kolkata” photograph exhibition (from December 26 to 30) was organised by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation in collaboration with the Embassy of Cuba and the Nandan West Bengal Film Centre. Thirty of the surviving black-and-white photographs capture him alighting from the aircraft, shaking hands with Jyoti Basu, embracing veteran Marxist leader Gopal Banerjee, conversing with other Left leaders, posing with admirers, partaking of the refreshments, waving to the crowd, and finally boarding the flight to Cuba. The exhibition served to celebrate not just the 35th year of Castro’s visit but, more importantly, the 50th year of the Cuban Revolution.

CPI(M) stalwarts Jyoti Basu and Promod Dasgupta greeting Castro.

Castro left no one disappointed. Clad in his military fatigues and holding his customary cigar elegantly poised between his fingers or lips, he seemed completely at ease and every inch the stuff that myths are made of. Addressing the crowd from the airport portico, Castro recalled in his speech India’s freedom struggle and Kolkata’s tradition of people’s movements against imperialism.

Amid cries of “India-Cuba Solidarity”, “Long live Fidel” and “Long live Allende” from the crowd, he said: “I am well aware of the long cultural history and tradition of India, dating back thousands of years, and the way the country was laid waste by the imperialist powers…. This is where India and Cuba share the same fate in their impediment to development. To combat this requires more sacrifice and long-drawn struggle.” He ended his 15-minute speech with a call for the “workers of the world to unite to fight the forces of imperialism”.

In the crowd that had gathered to see Castro was film director Gautam Ghosh. Recalling his experience of the day, Ghosh said: “I was in my early twenties. Somehow the news had leaked out that Fidel Castro would be in the airport, though he wouldn’t be staying back. It was a chance I felt I could not miss and so I rushed to the airport just to catch a glimpse of him. Going through the pictures in the exhibition, was, in fact, a very nostalgic moment for me. I even tried to find myself in the pictures of the crowds outside the airport, but I couldn’t. I did spot Ruma Guha Thakurta [renowned Bengali artiste] though, but she was already quite famous by then, and I was still unknown, having just started making short documentary films.”

Castro embracing veteran Marxist leader Gopal Banerjee.

Ghosh said Castro and Che Guevara were the icons of his generation. “It was a very romantic era. The whole world was going through changes and we could not but be affected by it. In fact, many of my friends became naxalites, not so much inspired by the ideology as by the romanticism involved in the movement.”

Ghosh narrated how he discovered that Che himself had come to Kolkata in 1959. “Just recently I went across to the Indian Statistical Institute and chanced upon a picture of Che visiting the Kolkata ISI campus. I was thrilled by this discovery, and I don’t think that many people are aware of this fact,” he said.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee inaugurated the photo exhibition. Present on the occasion were Cuban Ambassador to India Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos, CPI(M) State secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader Manjukumar Majumdar, Forward Bloc leader Naren De, RSP leader Manoj Bhattacharya, artist Wasim Kapoor and writer Sunil Gangopadhyay.

The Cuban Ambassador said, “He [Castro] came and won the hearts of the Bengali people, leaving behind pictures and memories of his visit…. The message behind it is more profound. It is a message of friendship, of solidarity and of mutually shared values in a better world where social justice can prevail. On this occasion, when we do not only celebrate the 35th anniversary of Fidel’s visit to Kolkata but also start celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, there is no better audience or public space to do that.”

Nibbling at the snacks laid out for him in the VIP lounge of the airport.
Film director Mrinal Sen, who visited the exhibition on the inaugural day, said he particularly liked the way the exhibition served to keep alive something that took place so long ago. “Though I have never met Fidel Castro, I have had a close relationship with his dear friend Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who was the president of the Film School in Cuba when I had been there for a stint. Those pictures serve to recall the glorious days of the past and remind us what we are missing now,” he said.

The sentiment expressed by him is representative of the general feeling of the masses, especially the younger generation, towards the Cuban Revolution and its heroes, though the world has changed a great deal since then. Gautam Ghosh summed it up aptly: “Such exhibitions are very important. We live in the present, but the present is just a hyphen between the past and the future.

“It is important for the youngsters of today to know about the past, to try and understand why so many people flocked to the airport in 1973 just to catch a glimpse of Castro.”

SOURCE:FRONTLINE

Buddhadeb blames activists for delaying development projects

Kolkata, 13th January: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee on Tuesday accused environmental activists of putting obstacles to implementation of various development projects through litigations.

"A lot of NGOs have mushroomed now and their job is to delay the projects by raising environmental concerns," Bhattacharjee said after laying the foundation stone of a water treatment plant near East Kolkata Wetlands, which is an ecologically fragile area included in the Ramsar list of wetlands. This particular project, spread over 20.15 acres, would start two years behind schedule after environmental activists moved Calcutta High Court for its being so near the east Kolkata wetlands, he said.

However, the HC allowed the project on December 24 and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation decided to complete the project of providing drinking water by treating water from the Hooghly river, the Chief Minister said. The water treatment plant with a capacity to treat 30 million gallons of water daily would be completed in three years and would provide drinking water to 10 lakh people living on the eastern fringes of the city.

Rs.16-bn upgrade of Kolkata airport launched

Kolkata, Dec 29 : Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Monday set the ball rolling for a Rs.16-billion modernisation of the international airport here, which will include a new terminal, modern taxiways and extension of a runway so that it can handle the giant Airbus A-380 aircraft.

The modernisation project, the foundation stone for which was laid by West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is targeted for completion by May 2011.The project launch was attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechuri.

The upgrade will raise the airport’s handling capacity to around 20 million passengers annually from 4.9 million now - 4.06 million of whom are domestic and the remaining 882,000 are international air travellers.

In his address at the inauguration function, Patel said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will not borrow a single rupee for modernisation of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. ‘Investment will come from internal resources,’ the aviation minister said.

Patel said 35 airports would come up at non-metro cities, which will be completed by 2009-end, and added that a ‘world class’ airport will be opened at Srinagar next month. The minister said 20 more airports, including those at Kolkata and Chennai, will be upgraded on an investment of Rs.120 billion.

Turning to the proposed airport at Andal in West Bengal’s Burdwan district, Patel said: ‘When the airport comes up there, it will be the government’s first airport under the Greenfield Airport Policy’. Emphasising the need for the revamp at Kolkata airport, Bhattacharjee said it was essential for enhancing business relations with South East Asian countries.

Following the modernisation plans of Mumbai and Delhi airports, Kolkata airport was supposed to have been upgraded in a public-private-partnership (PPP) basis. But Patel had to shelve the plan in the face of stiff opposition from the Left parties. The modernisation work is now being done on a cash and contract basis. Delhi and Mumbai airports modernisation works are done by private consortiums led respectively by companies such as GMR and GVK.

“Fidel in Kolkata” photo exhibition

KOLKATA, 26 December : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee inaugurated, here on Friday, an exhibition of photographs taken during the great revolutionary, Fidel Castro’s, brief visit to the city in September 1973.

Mr. Castro visited the city only once — on his way back from Hanoi — and that too for less than an hour. But the memories of that short visit, captured in the photographs taken by the late photographer Satya Sen, will give city residents the opportunity of reliving the past at the “Fidel in Kolkata” exhibition.

Organised by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation in collaboration with Nandan-West Bengal Film Centre and the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, 35 rare black and white photographs of Mr. Castro’s visit to the city will be displayed to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his visit as well as the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Mr. Bhattacharjee felt that this exposition would provide an opportunity for all people who were unaware of Mr. Castro’s visit, to savour those moments. He said the former President of Cuba had been an inspiration to people worldwide.

“Fresh in your memories should be legendary football player, Maradona’s visit to the city. His affection for Fidel and Cuba are well known…I can imagine that the same crowds were drawn by Fidel when he came to the city,” said Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba.

He added that the message behind the exhibition was of friendship, solidarity and mutually shared values in a better world where social justice could prevail. Left Front Chairman Biman Basu, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and eminent filmmakers Mrinal Sen and Goutam Ghosh were also present at the ceremony.

Referring to Mr. Castro’s famous speech — “… History will absolve me,” Mr. Basu said that history had already absolved the great leader who had become history himself.