West Bengal to seek time to phase out old autorickshaws

Kolkata : The West Bengal government said it would move the Calcutta High Court to seek more time to phase out old autorickshaws with two-stroke engines from the city roads.”We have decided to move the Calcutta High Court Monday and will ask for some more time. We need additional three months time to phase out old two-stroke autorickshaws and implement the directive in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) area,” state Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty told reporters here.

In an order issued in July, the high court had banned commercial vehicles registered before Jan 1, 1993 from Kolkata and its outskirts. The court also directed that all autorickshaws, irrespective of their date of registration, will have to convert to either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

It said the order should be implemented by Dec 31 in the KMA, which includes parts of North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly.“We will request the honourable high court to extend the deadline for implementing the order,” he said.

However, a couple of hours after Chakraborty’s remarks, state Transport Secretary Sumantra Chowdhury said the government would start confiscating two-stroke autorickshaws from Jan 1 in accordance with the court directive. Chowdhury said the government could not move the high court before Jan 1 as it was closed between Dec 25 and Jan 4.

According to estimates, if the government implements the court order, around 80,000 autorickshaws, 24,000 taxis and over 8,000 buses and mini-buses would be affected.

Riverbank to invest Rs.30 bn on Calcutta Riverside project

Kolkata, Dec 31 : Riverbank Developers Ltd will invest Rs.30 billion (Rs.3,000 crore) to develop the Calcutta Riverside project at Batanagar in West Bengal, a top official said here Wednesday. Located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river in South 24-Parganas district, the entire project on 262 acres will have a hotel, malls, residential apartments, hospital, township and an IT special economic zone (SEZ).

Riverbank is a joint venture entity between Calcutta Metropolitan Group (CMG) and footwear major Bata India.“The project will be funded through private equity, debt and cash flow from sales,” CMG managing director Sumit Dabriwala told reporters. “The first phase of the redevelopment should be completed by 2011,” Dabriwala said.

Riverbank has made a joint management contract with the Intercontinental Hotels Group for developing the proposed hotel and service apartments in Batanagar.The cost of construction for the hotel and the service apartments is slated to be around Rs.1.75 billion (Rs.175 crore) Dabriwala said. “The hotel would be ready in 36 months.”

Maoists confess using children

Kolkata, December 31, 2008 : For the first time, the Maoists have claimed that they are indeed using children in their army schools and using them as "ears and eyes" of the revolutionaries. In a booklet, Salwa Julum and its Aftermath, a Maoist publication, which has reached India Today, the segment on children reads: "They (the children) learn to read and write, sing revolutionary songs, and often become the ears and eyes of the party in the villages."

The booklet, which has been published by Radical Publications, Kolkata, is not freely available but distributed among cadres and sympathisers. It reads: "One of the major changes that are observable is the self-confidence of the children. They are organised into Bal Sangams and take up tasks that help them develop their initiative and leadership qualities from a very young age." The booklet is silent on whether the Maoists are also building a Kishore Vahini as reported in some newspapers.

Lately, the Maoists have recruited a spokesman, 52-year-old Gour Chakraborty, who has started briefing the press. However, he has not come out with any dramatic pronouncements yet.

The booklet says, "Often the children inform the party of any person misbehaving or acting wrongly...As they develop into youth, they become party persons and effective guerrilla fighters."

"Earlier they had no existence whatsoever, toiling day and night in household work, sick, ill-fed and neglected. The media propagates these children as Naxalite targets." Countering this, the booklet says the minimum age to enter the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army is 16..."but the media fails to say about their pitiful existence."

The 87-page booklet has list of women rape victims, a separate chapter on atrocities on women and what the women should do to counter such actions of the security forces. It also has a list of 131 people killed by policemen in the Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand areas.

State government sources said that they had nothing to comment upon since none of the victims were of West Bengal. However, some NGOs have already taken this up with the UN chapter of Children and Armed Conflict.

West Bengal good for investors, says Somnath Chatterjee

Kolkata, Dec 31 (IANS): Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who has been expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Wednesday supported the Left coaltion government in the state, saying the situation in West Bengal was suitable for investment. “A malicious campaigning is now being carried out across the nation that West Bengal is not suitable for industrialisation. I strongly disagree with this view. I believe the state has a very congenial environment for welcoming investment in future,” he said.

Chatterjee, who became the speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004, was expelled from the CPI-M on the ground of “seriously compromising” its position during the tussle between the Left parties and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the India-US civil nuclear agreement. The CPI-M politburo took action against the speaker under Article 19 (13) of the party constitution. But Chatterjee’s statement Wednesday was in support of the state’s Leftist government led by the CPI-M.

In an oblique reference to the Trinamool Congress-led opposition to the Nano small car project that saw its promoters, Tata Motors, pull out of West Bengal, Chatterjee also said there should not be any conflict in the matter of development in West Bengal.

“Development is not a matter of confrontation. We, irrespective of different political hues, should come forward and unanimously encourage development in West Bengal,” Chatterjee said at the closing ceremony of 22nd Industrial India Trade Fair.

“A healthy political environment is needed when our country is facing a lot of hurdles. I really feel that in 1971, when I first became a member of the Lok Sabha, politics was totally a different subject. People used to think about the inclusive development of the masses and they were mostly inspired by patriotic feelings,” he said, adding people worked towards the betterment of their nation that time.

“But, unfortunately, now it’s missing,” Chatterjee said, criticising the “fractured polity” of India.
“If any development takes place in certain area, a large number people in that region get benefited by that. The advantage of any developmental venture is not restricted in political colour,” the veteran politician said.

Amartya Sen: RBI has taken right measures

KOLKATA, 30 December: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here on Tuesday that the counteractive measures taken by Reserve Bank of India to boost the economy in the face of the global economic meltdown were correct, and hoped that the wave of recession would slow down by 2010. Mr. Sen was talking to journalists on the sidelines of a seminar “Have we given up on equity in health?,” organised by the Liver Foundation, West Bengal.

Replying to a question from the audience, Mr. Sen pointed out that the “numbers” of the current meltdown is “nowhere near the Great Depression of 1930.” Barack Obama’s election as President of the United States of America is “one of the biggest expectations for more open-minded policies by the U.S.”

On the country spending just 1.1 per cent of the gross domestic product on public health, he said: “I think there has been deficiency in the healthcare sector…primarily in its inability to mobilise resources, lack of commitment, lack of organisational achievement and that money spent is not spent very well.”He said that when the country’s growth rate was 7 per cent and with its public revenue growing by 8 to 9 per cent every year, there was no reason to cite resource shortage by the States.

Mr. Sen emphasised that more funds should be earmarked for primary healthcare and tackling social problems such as poverty, lack of basic education and gender discrimination, which should be addressed, as they were interlinked with public health.

He said that the signing of the India-U.S. nuclear deal that generated a political storm in the country was “far less important an issue than the poverty affecting the Indians which should be actually addressed to.”

Pointing out that too many things in India were blamed on U.S. imperialism, Mr. Sen said that imperialism was not preventing the country from spending no more than just 1.1 per cent of the GDP in public health sphere. “It cannot be a substitute.”

“Our primary failures are national, to top it there are State failures,” he said, but added that certain States like Kerala and West Bengal had fared than others in some respects. Left Front chairman Biman Bose and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen were present.

Jyoti Basu hail Sheikh Hasina's landslide victory

Kolkata, Dec 30 : The former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, has hailed the win of Sheikh Hasina and wished the people of Bangladesh well. The veteran politician, who was on very good terms with Ms. Hasina during her previous tenure in the mid-90s, said: “I congratulate Sheikh Hasina and her party the Awami League, and my good wishes for the people of Bangladesh.”

“I knew the late Mujibur Rahman (father of Sheikh Hasina and chief architect of Bangladesh) from the days when he was involved in student organisations and I had very cordial relations with him,” the nonagenarian leader said. “She called on me at my residence when she came visiting to India,” he said.

He reminisced that he has known the Awami League leader for long – “since the days when she was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.” He also talked on the India-Bangladesh Water Treaty signed during those times.

It may be mentioned that the treaty on sharing of Ganga Waters at Farakka in West Bengal was described by India as a landmark in the bilateral relations between the two countries. The role played by Mr. Basu too was lauded in a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha made by External Affairs Minister I.K. Gujral on December 12, 1996, on the visit of Sheikh Hasina and the signing of the treaty. Mr. Gujral had placed on record the Centre’s appreciation and the “very constructive role played by the Chief Minister of West Bengal and his Cabinet colleagues in bringing about an improved atmosphere in which the treaty between India and Bangladesh has become possible.”

Mr. Basu also spoke about the bus service introduced between India and Bangladesh three years later (in 1999), linking Kolkata and Dhaka. This was the first such link between the two countries and was seen as restoration of commercial road transport between the two major cities. “I had also gone with the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Dhaka at that time,” Mr. Basu said

West Bengal ruling Left Front chairman Biman Basu also hailed the victory of the Awami League. Basu said Hasina was able to rally behind her maximum number of people of Bangladesh for the restoration of democracy in that country.

Tiger caught by West Bengal villagers dead

KOLKATA, 30 Dec: An aging male Royal Bengal Tiger which was caught in a village near the Sunderbans died on Tuesday morning in the Tiger Reserve in Sudhanyakhali.The cause of death is still unknown. The tiger had attacked two persons before being captured in Annpur village.

A girl encountered the tiger while walking in thick fog and villagers rushed to the spot after hearing the cries of the girl.After the tiger hid in a banana plantation, forest officials had to tranquilise the wild animal.

The unconscious animal was taken to the reserve from where it was to be released into the wild.
"The tiger swam across a small river from Pirkhali forest and entered the village where it killed a dog," Divisional Reserve Forest, Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, Subrata Mukherjee said.

"Since the tiger killed a dog we realised it was too old to hunt and was in search of food," he said.
Another tiger caught on Sunday at Kultali was sedated and under observation at Ajmalmari since it had an injury.

Buddhadeb seeks report on straying of tigers in Sunderbans

Kolkata, Dec 30: Concerned over tigers frequently entering villages in the Sunderbans, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has sought a report on whether it was because of insufficient food or a behavioural change.Bhattacharjee, who chaired a meeting of the Sunderbans Development Board (SBR) yesterday sought to know whether there was scarcity of deer and boars in the Sunderbans which was leading tigers to enter villages or whether there was a behavioural change among the big cats, Sunderbans Development Minister Kanti Ganguly told mediapersons here.Bhattacharjee asked the SBR director to submit a report on why tigers frequently strayed into villages, Ganguly said.To a question, Ganguly said primarily it was stated that insufficient number of deer and boars might be one of the reasons but experts were asked to ascertain the actual reasons.He said never before in the past had tigers strayed so many times into villages as this year.An eco-friendly tourism plan for Sunderbans was also necessary so that the tourists do not disturb tigers, he said.Royal Bengal tigers in the Sunderbans have strayed into villages at least 10 times including one at Katamari in Kultali on December 28 and another at Gosaba today.

Royal Bengal tiger caught in the Sunderbans

Canning, West Bengal : An aging male Royal Bengal Tiger which entered Annpur village in search of food at Gosaba in the Sundarbans has been caged by the forest department personnel.
The tiger swam across a small river from Pirkhali forest and entered the village where it killed a dog," Divisional Reserve Forest, Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, Subrata Mukherjee said on Tuesday.
"Since the tiger killed a dog we realised it was too old to hunt and was in search of food," he said.
A trap was laid and the tiger was caught last night, he said.
The tiger was being taken taken to Sudhanyakhali jungle for observation. It would be released, but if it was found that it was too old to hunt, it would be transferred to the Alipore zoo in Kolkata, Mukherjee said.
Another tiger caught on Sunday at Kultali was sedated and under observation at Ajmalmari since it had an injury.

WB govt not to move HC for more time to ban 'polluting' autos

Kolkata, Dec 30 : With the Calcutta High Court having directed that polluting two-stroke autorickshaws cease to ply from January 1, the West Bengal government today ruled out seeking more time for the phase out."We are bound to implement the court order to cancel the licences of autorickshaws causing pollution. We will not appeal to the high court court for more time to phase out two-stroke autos,"Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty said.

The two-stroke autos will cease to run from January one, he said."Our hands are tied and we can't help."

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.

Jai Balaji gets land for West Bengal steel project

KOLKATA, 29 December: The West Bengal government on Monday allotted 748.97 acres to Jai Balaji Industries for setting up a five-million-tonne integrated steel plant at Raghunathpur in Purulia district. "We will get another 250 acres over and above this within the next 10-15 days," company chairman and managing director Aditya Jajodia said after receiving the land allotment order from state industries minister Nirupam Sen.

Altogether 3,700 acres are required for the project. The first phase of the Rs 16,000-crore project comprises a two-million-tonne steel plant, a 400 MW power plant and a one-million-tonne cement plant, Jajodia said. The total investment for the first phase will be Rs 4,000 crore, out of which Rs 1,500 crore will go towards setting up the power plant, Rs 200 crore for the cement facility, and the remaining Rs 2,300 crore on the steel plant.

"The total project cost has come down by 30 per cent and that of the first phase by 25 per cent because of developments in domestic and international markets," he said. The company expects additional turnover of Rs 5,000-6,000 crore from the first phase, which will be completed within 36 months of the start of the project. "We will start working on the project within 15-20 days," Jajodia said.

The total project will comprise a five-million tonne integrated steel plant, three-million tonne cement plant and a 1,215 MW captive power plant. Jajodia said the project involves a debt-equity ratio of 2:1, with a Rs 700-crore loan having already been secured from a consortium of 20 banks. Non-coking coal, which will be supplied by the West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corp, will constitute 60 per cent of the total coal requirement.

Jai Balaji Group also said it would raise Rs 700 crore from a consortium of 20 banks to part finance its Rs 4,000 crore first phase work in Purulia. “We have already tied up Rs 700 crore from a consortium of 20 banks. This will be used to part finance our Rs 4,000 crore first phase of work in that area,” a company official said.

The group plans to fund the proposed investment in the 2:1 debt-equity, he said. The official said that Jai Balaji Group plans to start the construction work on the project “as soon as possible” and complete the first phase in the next 36 months. It has received close to 750 acre from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and hopes to get an additional 250 acre from it in the next one month.

“Around 1,000 acres is required in the first phase, while our requirement is 2,700 acres for the entire project,” the official said. Jai Balaji Group plans to invest Rs 16,000 crore in the project to put up a five million tonne integrated steel plant, th ree million tonne steel plant and 1,215 MW power plant for captive consuption.

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."