CM blames Opposition for halting development

Kolkata, 28 December: Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee challenged the Opposition on Sunday by saying that the land acquired for the small car project in Singur will only be used for industrial purposes.

Addressing the 22nd West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) employees’ union state conference at Barasat, Bhattacharjee accused the Opposition of “creating all sorts of problems for the government when it tries to undertake any kind of development work for which land acquisition is required”.

“They are a harmful power. In North 24 Parganas, they are preventing us from starting work on the widening of National Highway 34. Like Singur, the Trinamool Congress is causing disruptions here too. It was because of them that the Tata Motors factory could not come up. Now they are trying to create more trouble by demanding that the government returns all the acquired land,” he added.

Bhattacharjee, however, claimed all was not lost. “Some good news is coming up. I just want to say that only factories can come up on the Singur land, which has been acquired for industry. We will make it happen,” he said.

The chief minister also slammed the Maoists at the conference. “They want the inclusion of three districts to Jharkhand. Are the common people fools? The residents of those districts are part of our development programme. Will they get the amenities that we provide in Bengal?” “The Maoists want to create terror in the state. They are moving away from democracy and heading towards terrorism,” said Bhattacharjee .

“They are murdering policemen and creating obstacles in administrative work by threatening government officials,” he added.

Senior CBI officer caught taking bribe in Kolkata

DSP Partha Sarathi Bose was arrested after a Delhi CBI team laid a trap at Ultadanga crossing

KOLKATA, 28 December: The Deputy Superintendent of Police of CBI, Special Crime Branch, Kolkata, Partha Sarathi Bose, was arrested on Sunday by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Wing (Delhi) while taking bribe. With Bose being the officer in-charge of various sensitive cases in West Bengal, including Tapasi Malik murder case, Chhota Angaria case and Rabindranath Tagore Nobel theft case, the arrest is expected to create a storm. He is the second high-ranking officer in the Special Crime Branch (SCB) of CBI to be arrested. On August 23, 2007, a month before his retirement, A K Sahay, an SP, was arrested on charges of extortion and amassing wealth disproportionate to his income. Sahay was in charge of the SCB and Bose’s immediate superior.

“The DSP has been asking for Rs 50,000 from a person and harassing him. After receiving the complaint, our special team from the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch went to Kolkata. A trap was laid and he was caught red-handed,” said a source from Delhi.

According to the CBI, Avatar Singh, a truck operator from Kolkata, lodged a complaint with the agency saying the DSP was asking for a bribe and threatening to implicate him in the murder of an officer with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in Guwahati in 2006.

On September 12, 2006, Tarun Kumar Dutta, the DRI officer who had reportedly intercepted drug consignments estimated to be worth over Rs 40 crore in the international market, was shot dead by Assam-based drug mafia kingpin Samsul Haque Talukdar alias Pakhi Mian in Guwahati. Pakhi Mian was arrested this year on April 22 by the West Bengal Police from Baguiati. The SCB is investigating the case.

“According to Avatar Singh’s complaint, Bose said his garage was frequented by one Munna Musalman, a co-accused of Pakhi Mian. Bose threatened him that he would implicate him in the murder case if he failed to shell out Rs 50,000. He made a number of phone calls to Singh and also met him personally,” said another source. A trap was laid and Avatar called up Bose to arrange for a meeting to hand over the money. Bose and Singh fixed Ultadanga crossing as the venue. Bose was caught when he arrived at the spot at 12.10 pm and took the cash. Teams raided his office in Salt Lake and his residence in Ultadanga. The raids were on till last reports came in.

Bose, who was leading the investigation in a number of high-profile cases, is one of the most important CBI officers in Bengal. He faced sharp criticism from the ruling CPI(M) when he arrested Suhrid Dutta, party’s Hooghly district committee member, and his accomplice Debu Malik in the Tapasi Malik murder case. The two were recently convicted for life by a lower court. Bose was also criticised by the ruling party for his investigation into the Chhota Angaria case.

According to sources, the CBI top brass in Delhi is now preparing to replace Bose in the SCB’s Kolkata office, which is already reeling under a shortage of senior officers. Superintendent of Police (CBI) S Sunder Rajan was recently transferred to Orissa and held joint charge for both Kolkata and Orissa offices. Bose was at present in charge of the SCB Kolkata, in the absence of any superior.

Govt to demand centralised system to identify fishermen

Kolkata, 28 December: The state government will demand a centralised system for all the coastal states to confirm the identity of those fishermen, whose boat is intercepted by the police on the basis of suspicion. The demand will be raised in a meeting of home secretaries and DGPs of all the coastal states convened by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta in Delhi on Monday.

The meeting will make an assessment of the progress made by the state governments in securing coastal areas of their respective states. “If a boat from Andhra Pradesh or Orissa is intercepted in Bengal, we may like to check the identity of the fishermen. But unless we have access to a centralised system, we cannot ascertain their identity. Similar situation may arise if a boat registered with us is intercepted in other states,” said Asok Mohan Chakrabarti, state Home Secretary, who will attend the meeting as well as the tripartite talks on Gorkhaland.

He added that if he could not make it on time for the coastal security meeting it will be DGP A B Vohra who will attend it. The West Bengal government is going to set up six coastal police stations and 17 outposts along its 269-km-long shore with Bangladesh. It is also going to get buy boats, sophisticated weapons and other equipment for coastal security.

According to Chakrabarti, besides these measures, the state government will furnish another plan to the Central government to ensure security along the state’s coast line.

“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.

Assembly bypoll tomorrow in Bengal

Purulia, Dec 26: The bypoll to Para assembly constituency in Purulia district of West Bengal would be held at 7 am tomorrow.However, the bypoll to the assembly seats of Nandigram in East Midnapore and Sujapur in Malda district, which were scheduled to be held together, have been deferred to January 5.

A total of 161,042 voters would cast vote for candidates of CPI(M), Congress, BJP, PDS and JMM(S). Security has been tightened with the deployment of three companies of central paramilitary forces in all the 174 booths and 23 auxilary booths of the Maoist-affected district.
Micro observers have also been posted in 154 booths.

The district & states border with Jharkhand have been sealed by erecting five checkposts between Para and Raghunathpur of the district and Bokaro and Dhanbad districts of Jharkhand.

GJM to attend tripartite talks on December 29

Siliguri, Dec 26: The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) today said it would take part in second tripartite talks with the Centre and West Bengal government in New Delhi on December 29."The single agenda of GJM is statehood," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri who would lead a 17-member delegation to New Delhi tomorrow for the second round of tripartite talks said here.

He criticised West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for reportedly stating that the Gorkhaland proposal would not be accepted.

West Bengal CM, rules out possibility of retrenchment of govt. employees owing to worldwide recession

KOLKATA,Dec 26,2008: The West Bengal Chief Minister Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has ruled out the possibility of retrenchment of government employees in the wake of ongoing worldwide recession. Addressing a public rally organised by the co-ordination committee of the government employees at Jalpaiguri district yesterday Mr. Bhattacharjee clarified that the government will not take any step to downsize its staff strength to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the empowered committee, State Finance Minister Dr Ashim Das Gupta said in Kolkata that the committee has urged the centre to allocate additional 20,000 crore rupees to the States to tackle the recessionary situation.

Manna Dey awarded DLit by Jadavpur university

KOLKATA, Thursday, December 25, 2008 : Singing legend Manna Dey, known as much in Bollywood as in the Bengali film industry for his versatile voice, was awarded an onorary doctorate of literature (DLit) by Jadavpur University.

West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi presented the DLit degree to Dey, 88, for his contribution to the Indian music industry at the 53rd annual convocation of the varsity here."All I do is a little bit of singing and don't think I deserve such an honour. It feels great and I am elated," Dey told reporters after receiving the award in the afternoon.

Dey is regarded as one of the veteran playback singers of Hindi and vernacular films. Some of the noted films he sang for are Padosan, Waqt, Shree 420, Teesri Kasam, Upkaar, Mere Huzoor and Zanjeer.

CPI(M) leader killed by Cong supported anti-socials

RAIGANJ, Dec. 24, 2008: Md Arsad Ali (43), the secretary of North Dinajpur unit of Citu-affiliated Federation of West Bengal Bidi Tobacco workers union and CPI(M) Dalkhola zonal committe member was killed by congress anti-socials last night.

He was a resident of Kamartore village under Karandighi police station of North Dinajpur. At around 10.30 p.m. he was returning home riding a bike when anti-socials attacked him near Vurri village. They hit him on the head with an iron rod and he died on the spot. The CPI(M) and CITU leaders of North Dinajpur district alleged that Congress supporters killed him.

In protest against the killing, both the CPI(M) and CITU called a 12-hour bandh in Katandighi police station areas on 26 December. The secretary of North Dinajpur CITU committee and one of the district secretariat members of North Dinajpur CPI(M), Mr Subir Biswas, said: "Two anti-socials who were Congress members of Karandighi, were arrested and we have a report that a group of Congress members killed him with sharp weapons. Demanding the immediate arrest of all the accused Congress members, we will organise a 12-hour bandh in Karandighi police station areas on 26 December. If they are not arrested, will start a vigorous agitation against both the police and the Congress.

The Police Super of North Dinajpur district, Mr Shankar Singha said: "One Mangal Mahanta and Budhia Singh of Karandighi who were allegedly Congress members have been arrested for this killing and investigation into the incident has started."

Buddhadeb rules out Gorkhaland

Jalpaiguri (WB), Dec 24, 2008: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said his government will not bow down to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's (GJM) pressure for separate Gorkhaland."The GJM leadership in Darjeeling hills wants to divide the state. But, we do not want it and it will not happen. We have asked its leadership for talks and they will sit in a tripartite talks on December 29," Bhattacharjee told a rally here.

He invited the GJM leadership to take part in elections and said "those who would come to power by election will rule the Hills." Citing the example of Kamtapuri rebels of north Bengal, Bhattacharjee said, "The local Rajbanshi youths took up arms and went to the jungle. We have initiated talks with them and most of them have returned to the mainstream. A few are based in Bangladesh only."

WB govt to implement HC order for use of LPG in autos

KOLKATA, 23 December, 2008 : The West Bengal Government said it was determined to implement the High Court order for use of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) in all the autos. All the autos will have to get converted to LPG mode by December 31.

The state Government shall implement the court order by the deadline, Transport Minister Subhash Chakraborty said.He said about 3,000 auto owners had already applied for using LPG in their vehicles.Calcutta High Court had recently passed the order to check the high level of air pollution caused by the three wheelers.

INDIASOFT 2009, to be held in Kolkata

Kolkata, December 23, 2008: The ninth edition of the largest IT global networking event in India, INDIASOFT 2009, to be held in Kolkata, is targeting the new emerging markets of South Africa, Spain, France and Germany for software exports and services.

Last fiscal, the country exported software worth $45 billion and the target this fiscal is around $58 billion. Out of this, $3.6 billion has been earmarked for electronics hardware and $55 billion for software and services.

“The software market in South Africa is estimated to be around $12 billion and we want to tap this potential market. At present, we export 0.7% of it only and want to increase it,” said DK Sareen, executive director of Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).
INDIASOFT 2009 will have around 120 buyers from these focus regions and also from Latin America, he said. The event will be held in Kolkata on February 26 and 27, 2009.

Around 80 domestic exhibitors will participate in the event. When asked about the last fiscal figures of the IT industry, Sareen said the industry did a business of $25 billion from April to September, involving $2 billion in the electronics hardware and $23.65 billion in software services segment.

“We have already achieved 45% of the total target of $58 billion in the first six months and let us see how we fare in the coming months,” Sareen said. The first six months recorded a growth rate of 30%.

West Bengal IT minister Debesh Das, who was present in the curtain raiser of the event, made it clear that INDIASOFT 2009 is a big opportunity for the city’s small and medium scale enterprises in the IT sector. “IT SMEs in the city are surpassing the SMEs of Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai in quality,” Das told reporters.

SMEs are the key to industrial development, feels state government

kolkata, 23 December, 2008: The Left Front government seems to have focussed on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for carrying out the industrialisation plan in the state. After Tata Motors pulled out of the state and several major industrial projects — Indonesia’s Salim group and Jindal’s steel plant — were put on hold, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is banking on SMEs.

This year, the theme of the Industrial India Trade Fair (IITF) has accordingly been kept: “Resurgent Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises”. “The trade fair is to promote the SME sector of the state since this sector is thriving here. It can promote industrialisation in the state as a whole and promote export-import business abroad as well,” said Bhattacharjee while speaking at the inauguration of the 22nd Industrial India Trade Fair (IITF) organised jointly by the Bharat National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BNCCI) and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).

Bhattacharjee also said the global downturn is a severe crisis which has not only affected the financial sector but also the industrial sector. “We are facing a serious economic crisis worldwide and nobody knows when it will get over. Even though the Prime Minister has taken several measures to prevent the economic crisis from affecting the country, at present, business houses and stakeholders should come forward and join hands to overcome these difficult times,” added Bhattacharjee.

He said that he has also been discussing measures to face the slowdown with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. “At a time when the world is affected by the global recession, West Bengal is not an exception,” Bhattacharjee said.

This time the trade fair has been organised under the shadow of the Mumbai terror attack and global recession. The fair has already seen a reduction in the number of stalls. While there were 800 exhibitors last year, this year the number stood at 700.

Hunt on for killers

KOLKATA, 23rd December: The West Bengal police and their counterparts in Jharkhand are on the hunt for the suspected Maoists responsible for the gunning down of two policemen in the Barabazar area of the State’s Purulia district on Monday.

Director-General of Police A.B. Vohra has gone to the spot and will submit a report on his return, a senior State government official said here on Tuesday.

The assailants are suspected to belong to a Maoist squad based in adjoining Jharkhand to where they fled with weapons seized from the victims. They had mingled with the crowd in the Barabazar area before carrying out the attacks.

Buddhadeb for joint effort to tackle economic slowdown

KOLKATA, 23rd December, 2008: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Tuesday that the Centre, the State governments and business entrepreneurs should come together to find a way out of the economic slowdown the country was facing in the wake of the global meltdown.

“The Government of India is trying to face the situation in its own way. I do not know if that is enough,” he said at the inauguration of the 22nd Industrial India Trade Fair here on Tuesday.

Pointing out that India’s growth rate had fallen to 7 per cent in 2008-09 from 8 per cent in 2007-08, he said that the 9 to 10 per cent growth rate by 2012 envisaged by the 11th Five-Year Plan appeared unlikely. Mr. Bhattacharjee said that the drop in the inflation figure was due to the falling crude oil price in the international market. It was not a sign of a strong Indian economy.

“The situation is serious in West Bengal too. But I am an optimist.” He said he had discussed the issue with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen during his recent visit to the city.

Insurance sector staff strike work in West Bengal

Kolkata, Dec 23 : Around 99 percent of Kolkata-based National Insurance Corp and 76 percent of General Insurance Corp non-management staff stayed away from work Tuesday in support of a nationwide insurance sector strike.

Employees unions claimed 98 percent of Life Insurance Corp’s non-management staff in the eastern region also participated in the strike. ‘Apart from gate meetings, two insurance unions, General Insurance Employees Association and All India Insurance Employees Association will be conducting a rally at Dalhousie,’ Gautam Moitra, general secretary, West Bengal General Insurance Employees Association said.

Till noon, chairman of National Insurance Corp did not attend office. The attendance at the Kolkata-headquartered insurance company was skeletal. The strike was called by the All India Insurance Employees Association to protest against the government’s move to raise the cap on foreign investment in the sector from 26 percent to 49 percent.

Residential schools for child labourers: absence of Central fund affects plans

Govt has planned to set up one such school in every district

KOLKATA, 23rd December, 2008: The state government’s plan to set up residential schools in each of the 19 districts in the state for the welfare of child labourers is facing stiff financial problems.

The project of the new residential schools was included in the central-funded National Child Labour project (NCLP) under which the state government had already sanctioned 924 special schools run by NGOs with an aim of absorbing 34,000 child labourers and bringing another 9,687 into the mainstream education.

Though the state government has agreed to provide an annual subsidy of Rs 6,000 per child staying in these residential schools, the absence of any hike in the Central budget allocation for the NCLP has made NGOs reluctant to take up the scheme.

“We have informed the district magistrates about the residential schools that the state government wants them to set up at the earliest. However, despite work being already started, there is a lack of resources for the proper implementation of the concept. We would want the Centre and organisations like the ILO to provide us with funds,” said state Labour Minister Anadhi Sahu on Monday.

Among the 19 residential schools started on an experimental basis, work at Hooghly is complete. Work at North Dinajpur is to be completed next with Nadia, Burdwan, Birbhum following soon. Each of these residential schools catering to 50 children, on an average, will require 3000 square feet extra space, extra staff and an increase in the amount of pay for the academic staff.

“The Centre provides Rs 2,44,400 for each of the NCLP schools present in India. But since the Centre will not increase the fund for state initiated project of the residential schools, NGOs in Kolkata or South 24-Parganas have not yet come up with their proposal. The Central budget needs to increase under the NCLP and other organisations need to chip in,” said B B Saddiqui, Joint department, state Labour department on the sidelines of a two-day state consultation on the elimination of child labour on Monday.

According to 2001 census, West Bengal has 8,57,000 child labourers. Government officials say the issue of child labour is complex and rooted in social, political and economic conditions of our country.

Sahu said that the concept of setting up residential schools was aimed to provide special care for those rescued child labourers whose parents are either too poor to support them or are unable to earn or those kids who do not have guardians.

Officials have to settle mutation in 90 days

KOLKATA, 23 December, 2008: For those suffering from those mutation and land conversion blues, here's something to make you cheer up. The state government has just streamlined the complex processes and fixed a deadline for both: 90 days. Any officer who fails to get the job done within three months of the application will face a showcause.

Although the state government (from district and city offices) has been getting regular feedback on the inordinate delay involved in the processes, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee decided to iron out the creases only after similar complaints started pouring in from potential investors who needed large tracts of agricultural land that had to undergo conversion before the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) could hand them over.

In October, Writers' Buildings decided to fix a time-frame for conversion and mutation of land so that the delay in implementing industrial projects could be avoided. The notification on the matter will be issued soon, now that the decision has been taken after a meeting convened by land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah at Writers' Buildings on Monday. At the meeting, the following decisions were taken. The minister said, "Till now, there was no time frame for land conversion and mutation. We have decided to change things now."

Now, till 10 decimal, the processes will have to be done by BL&LRO, up to 1 acre by SDL&LRO and more than 1 acre, by DD&LRO. The officials concerned must act immediately if they can't, they must send a note to their superior officers explaining reasons behind the delay. The notes will be considered and probed. If the probe finds any fault or deliberate delay on the part of the official concerned, a showcause will be slapped on the official. The land and land reforms department has also decided to pull up anyone who doesn't follow the rules of mutation and land conversion by submitting the necessary applications to the authorities concerned. An official said, "If anyone involved in buying and selling of the land is found to have flouted rules and not applied for mutation, a lump sum fine will be slapped on him."

Mutation means substitution of the names of a person by another which may be done by the revenue officer under Section 50 of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act. Mutation is done on the following ground. Transfers of sale of gift, exchange, inheritance. The transfer is to be made by a registered deed.

Similarly, change of land use is regulated by Section 4c of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act. A raiyat may seek permission for change of character and use of any land under Section 4c of the said Act before the SDL&LRO for land up to 0.10 acres and to the DL&LRO for land exceeding 0.10 acres. On receipt of the conversion application and after field enquiry and hearing the applicant, the SDL&LRO or the DL&LRO passes appropriate order allowing conversion if he deems fit.

Nandigram by-polls deferred for security reasons

KOLKATA, 22nd December, 2008: By-elections in West Bengal’s Nandigram and Sujapur assembly constituencies scheduled for December 27 have been deferred for security reasons and will be held on January 5, 2009.

“The decision has been taken by the Election Commission with the purpose of ensuring an adequate deployment of security forces there on the date of polling, ” the Chief Electoral Officer, Debashis Sen, told mediapersons on Monday.

Nandigram is considered a sensitive constituency given its recent turbulent past. The area has been in the spot-light ever since the start of eleven months of intermittent violence in 2007 between supporters of the Left parties and those of the Trinamool Congress-led Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh (Resistance against Eviction for Land) Committee even after the State Government had called off its plans to set up a chemical hub in the face of protests over land acquisition from a section of the local population.

Video coverage

Considering its recent history the Election Commission has decided that the entire polling process will be video-graphed. “The entire elections will be recorded as Nandigram is considered a very sensitive constituency and in view of the fears expressed from various quarters of irregularities during voting,” Mr. Sen said.

In an unprecedented move, video cameras are to be installed in each of the 226 booths where polling will take place. “We are putting in place extreme steps to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling and companies of the Central Police Force will be deployed there,” Mr. Sen said.

The Deputy Election Commissioner, R. Balakrishnan, reviewed the election preparations there on Sunday. “Specially trained micro-observers hand-picked by the central observer will be present in each of the booths.”

The concept of having such micro-observers during elections was put into practice for the first time recently during Assembly polls in some States “but this is the first time they will be on stationary duty in all booths,” he added.

Maoists raid police camp, two constables killed

Purulia (PTI): Maoists on Monday attacked a police camp, killing two constables in West Bengal's Purulia district. A 20-member gang of Maoists on motorbikes and on foot raided the police camp at Berada, Purulia Superintendent of Police Rajesh Yadav said.

They opened fire on the policemen killing two constables-- Totan Seth (25) and Chinmoiy Mondal (27)-- and seriously injuring another. The policemen who were caught unawares, took time to return the fire, he said. The attackers managed to escape with three rifles, Yadav, who led reinforcements to the spot, said. The injured policeman was rushed to hospital.

A combing operation has been launched. Yadav said that the Maoists had earlier put up posters in the area threatening of "action" if a panchayat-sponsored community centre was set up near the police camp. Maoist violence was last witnessed at Burrabazar, Bandwan and Balarampur areas in the district in May this year.