West Bengal tribal development unparalleled: Biman Basu

Kolkata, Dec 12 (IANS): The West Bengal government implemented the maximum number of developmental projects for the tribal communities in its backward districts, Left Front chairman Biman Basu said Friday while reacting to Trinamool Congress allegation that the state did not implement the centrally funded projects.”The way we’ve implemented central government funded projects for the betterment of tribals in West Bengal is unparalleled,” Bose told reporters here.

On Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s allegation that the state did not implement the centrally funded projects for the backward classes, he said: “If the centre had any problem with the functioning, they would have consulted the state government directly.” “You cannot even see that much of development for the backward communities in our neighbouring state Jharkhand, which is considered as a tribal-dominated region in our country,” Biman Basu said.

“About 60 percent of the total land reforms, which was distributed among the tribal communities in India, took place in our state,” added Basu. Terming Trinamool supremo’s comment as baseless, Basu said: “One needs to be very careful before passing such comment. If she (Banerjee) has to point a figure at the role of West Bengal government, she must gather proper information on the issue.”

Buddha writes to PM on PTTI deadlock

KOLKATA, Dec. 11,2008: Chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has written to the Prime Minister urging the Centre to allow provisional recruitment of primary teachers from among the pass-outs of Primary Teachers’ Training Institutes (PTTI) which were declared illegal by Calcutta High Court.

The chief minister has assured that the pass-outs would be confirmed only after they had completed a year-long bridge course since the National Council of Teachers’ Education recognises only two-year-long training courses for primary teachers. The Court's directive had also rendered the certificates of those who passed out of theses illegal PTTIs, invalid.

Mr Bhattacharjee has also appealed to the Prime Minister for an early resolution of the PTTI problem which has affected nearly 75, 000 people and snowballed into a major controversy. “Unless this is done, apart from the future of 75,000 students who have already completed the course, the entire structure of primary education in the state will face a serious crisis since 40,000 vacancies in schools already exists and many schools will be without teachers. I seek your personal intervention in the matter,” reads the letter.

The state government had approached the MHRD to make a legislative provision to validate the one year long training course for primary teachers till the academic year, 2005-06. The CM also met the representatives of West Bengal Primary Teachers’ Training Students’ Union today at Writers’ Buildings and discussed the problem.

"We are committed to West Bengal": Premji

KOLKATA, 11 December, 2008: Software major Wipro Technologies Chairman and CEO Azim Premji on Thursday denied that land was a problem for the company's existing facility at Salt Lake, and reiterated his commitment to West Bengal.

"We are committed to West Bengal, committed to growth and committed to your government," Premji told reporters after a 50-minute meeting with Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at Writers' Buildings here. Asked if the issue of land figured in his discussion with the Chief Minister, the Premji said "there is enough land in our existing facility at Salt Lake. There is no emergency on that front." The chief minster was not available for comment.

At present, Wipro runs an IT-SEZ facility in Salt Lake where it employs around 4,000 people. The company had earlier announced setting up its second campus in Kolkata near Vedic village off Rajarhat in North 24 Parganas.

WB to set up six coastal police stations

Kolkata, Dec 11 (PTI): The West Bengal government is setting up six coastal police stations and 17 coastal outposts, following a central directive for strengthening coastal security after the Mumbai terror attacks."Six coastal police stations will be set up. Of these, five would be set up by Sunderbans Infrastructure Development Corporation and another by PWD. Besides, 17 coastal outposts and check posts would also be set up," Home Secretary Asok Mohun Chakraborty told newsmen after a high-level meeting to review coastal security.

The police stations would come up at Frasergunj, Haldibari, Digha-Demohana, Moipeeth-Krisnamohanpur, Hemnagar and Khejuri-Talpatti.According to Chakraborty, the police stations would operate from available premises till 'appropriate' premises were found and private vessels would be hired for coastal patrolling till the Centre sent launches and hi-speed boats for the purpose.The meeting was attended by DGP A B Vohra, SPs of three coastal districts and other officers. PTI

Terrorism a new threat to human rights: Buddhadeb

Kolkata, Dec 10: Calling terrorism a new threat to human rights, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here Wednesday said that information has to gathered about how terrorists operate in order to find a full-proof mechanism to tackle the menace.”What has happened in Mumbai is shocking. How can a handful of terrorists carry out such a huge massacre at random? This is the worst example of human rights violation,” Bhattacharjee said at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by West Bengal Human Rights Commission here.

Bhattacharjee said: “We have to get all the details about them - who they are and how they are operating. Only then we will be able to think and find a full-proof mechanism to deal with them and protect the basic rights of our people.” Commenting on increasing violence in the country, the chief minister said terrorism has emerged as a new and recurring occurrence. “Terrorism has become a phenomenon today. Not only in Mumbai, terrorists are operating in West Bengal, too, in the name of Maoists.” Speaking about Maoists, Bhattacharjee said they are not West Bengal citizens, but infiltrators from the neighbouring Jharkhand.

“It’s high time we combat terrorism and terrorists with effect, or else our human rights will become a farce and the base of our democracy will be destroyed,” added Bhattacharjee.

SECOND COPY:

Stop sending NHRC teams to Bengal: Buddha
11 Dec 2008, 0441 hrs IST, TNN
KOLKATA: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would like the national human rights commission to stay away from West Bengal. Recommendations made by the national rights body on the Nandigram issue did not please the government and are yet to be implemented. "The national human rights commission keeps on sending recommendations. States have their own human rights commissions. Where is the need for the national human rights commission to send its team? The NHRC team can go to states where the state bodies are not present. Both the bodies overlap at times," Bhattacharjee said in his address to a meet on the 60th World Human Rights Day. Well aware that his statement was likely to kick a storm, Bhattacharjee asked the state human rights commission chairman Justice Shyamal Sen to take up the matter with the national body. While the chief minister was speaking, Justice Sen stood up to express his views on the matter. "When the state human rights commission takes cognizance of a case, the national human rights commission doesn't have the jurisdiction to intervene. This goes against the statute," Justice Sen said. Resuming his address, the chief minister said that the government had accepted most of the recommendations made by the NHRC. "They had given 62 recommendations, out of which 52 were accepted. Five are still under consideration and five were rejected," Bhattacharjee said. Bhattacharjee also spoke about the terror attacks in Mumbai and the threat from Maoists. "The Mumbai incident has shocked the entire country. How could a handful of terrorists do this? We will have to find out a mechanism to kill terrorists," Bhattacharjee said. He also described Maoists as terrorists. Elsewhere, West Bengal Federation of United Nations Association celebrated World Human Rights Day at a programme. Justice Chittatosh Mookerjee was the chief guest.

Private Bus and Minibus strike total

Kolkata, Dec 11: All private and mini-buses kept off the roads Wednesday in support of a 24-hour shutdown called by the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist’s (CPI-M) trade union arm across West Bengal. The strike was called by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-suppiorted West Bengal Road Transport Workers Federation (WBRTWF) to protest the government’s decision to charge bus-drivers under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in case of fatal accidents.

Since morning hundreds of people were seen lining up for hours at autorickshaw and taxi stands in various parts of the city. Exploiting the situation, autorickshaw and taxi drivers charged higher fares from passengers. Long queues were also seen at all railways and Metro railway ticket counters.

Though only private and mini-buses were covered by the strike call, very few state-run buses were seen plying on the city roads, and they too were overcrowded. Not only the state buses, but trams, local trains and Metros were also jam-packed.A few city schools declared a holiday to avoid harassment to students. Examinations in some colleges were postponed.

Subhas Mukherjee, spokesperson of the WBRTWF, told reporters: “We are aware that people are being harassed because of our strike and our heart-felt apologies go out to them. But they should understand that our demand is justified. It’s not that the driver is always responsible for an accident. It’s unfair to put all the blame on one person and put him behind bars.” About 10,000 private buses and 2,500 mini-buses ply across the city everyday.

Bus strike in Kolkata today

10 Dec 2008, 1142 hrs IST, TNN

KOLKATA: Buses will stay off the road, crippling the transport system in Kolkata and the rest of the state on Wednesday to protest the imposition of section 304 A on drivers involved in fatal accidents. More than 22,000 buses, including 12,000 in Kolkata, will join the Citu-sponsored bus strike. Citu has also demanded a further reduction in petroleum prices. "It is unfair to charge drivers under section 304 A which is non-bailable. Accidents occur due to several reasons, the driver is rarely the only culprit. Road conditions, traffic rules and pedestrians are also responsible but under this rule, only the driver is being charged," said Subhas Mukherjee, joint secretary of the Citu-backed West Bengal Road Transport Workers' Union.

Previously, drivers were booked under section 304 and could get bail if involved in a fatal accident. While 10,000 private buses and 2,500 mini buses ply in Kolkata, the respective figures for the state were 18,000 and 5,000. "The demands are perfectly justified. Drivers are being harassed and punished for no fault of theirs. But the decision to call the strike was taken by Citu. We were looking forward to a meeting with them but that did not happen," said Swarnakamal Saha, president of the Bengal Bus Syndicate.

The Joint Council of Bus Syndicates (JCBS) has also supported the strike. "The strike will derail the transport system but it can't be helped. Drivers are being given a raw deal and everybody is scared. The rule needs to be altered," said Tapan Banerjee, secretary of JCBS. Home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said the matter was in the jurisdiction of the state. "It is a union-sponsored strike and we have little to do. If they come to us with their demands, we can consider them," said Chakrabarti.

Tribals protest Maoist activities in West Bengal

Midnapore, 10 December : Thousands of people Tuesday gathered at tribal-dominated Belpahari area of West Bengal to protest the activities of Maoist rebels in the region. The disgruntled villagers also decided to put up a united front against the Maoist guerrillas and vowed not to cooperate with the separatist forces, which were active in the violence-hit West Midnapore district.

"Nearly 10,000 people, mostly tribals, gathered at Bhulabheda area of Belpahari to protest against the growing Maoist terror in the district. They held a public meeting where many tribal representatives said they would not give any food and shelter to the Maoist rebels," West Midnapore police superintendent R.K. Singh told newspersons.

"The villagers openly made it clear that they will chase the Maoists and also help the police arrest them. They said they would not hesitate to kill these extremist elements, if needed," he said. The public meeting at Belpahari was jointly called by tribal organisations Bharat-Jakat-Majhi-Marwa organisation and Jowan-Gaonwa organisation. Villagers from various parts of the district participated in the rally with improvised weapons and drums and demonstrated in front of the makeshift podium as part of their token protest against the Maoist atrocities.

"The tribals have admitted that they're misled by the Maoist leaders into standing up against the district administration and the police," said Singh. Belpahari, a forest area under the Dama Hills, is about 45 km from Jhargram town.

Trouble erupted in West Midnapore district after the district police allegedly arrested some school students and heckled tribal women after an attempted landmine ambush of the convoy of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at Bhadutala near Salboni last month. Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada were also in the convoy. Four policemen were injured in the blast.

Participating in a violent protest, the tribals dug up metalled roads and placed large tree trunks across them, virtually cutting off the region from the rest of the district. The region witnessed a series of protests, as the villagers had demanded a public apology from the district police for the alleged excesses committed against them during the course of investigation into the landmine blast.