Mamata Banerjee's office has no space for freedom fighters

DNA / Santanu Banerjee / Thursday, September 1, 2011 8:00 IST

Several changes have hit the Writers Building during the past 100 days since Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister. But amidst these, one important change that has gone unnoticed in the state secretariat building is that portraits of three Indian freedom fighters have gone missing.

A section of the government officials are searching for clues to the missing portraits of Binoy Krishna Basu, Dinesh Chandra Gupta and Badal Gupta — who entered the Writers Building as young men to challenge the British and become martyrs during the freedom struggle.

The trio entered the building on December 8, 1930 and shot dead a British official, Col NS Simpson, the then Inspector General Prison, Bengal. Subsequently, they engaged the top officials in a gun battle in the building — which is now called the Veranda Battle.

Though they were overpowered, two of them died — Badal on the spot and Binoy in hospital— after consuming potassium cyanide. Dinesh, who survived, was hanged.

During the Left front rule, a small stone slab was installed in their memory at the end of first floor corridor of the Writers’ Building. Later, portraits of the three were put up in the lobby of the chief minister’s office in 1980.

Interestingly, after Banerjee started her clean up operations at the Writers’ Building, which included changing the colours of the office, its lobby and giving it a new look, the portraits were taken off from the walls.

Now, the officials looking for clues to the missing portraits said: “When this government is ready to pay tributes to all famous men in history why are the portraits of the three missing?”

And what is more baffling, no one knows if the portraits will ever come back. However, some officials said: “The portraits were sent to artists for restoration work, so that they look better.” But even they did know how long that would take.

URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mamata-banerjee-s-office-has-no-space-for-freedom-fighters_1582250-all

100 Days of TMC-Congress Govt: A False Start

KOLKATA: WHAT are the high points of the first 100 days of the TMC-Congress government in West Bengal? 

Organised terror against the opposition, which has claimed lives of 33 Left Front activists, injured hundreds; 684 women were assaulted physically, 508 molested and 23 raped; nearly 40,000 had to leave their homes under threat. An unprecedented extortion campaign is going on in villages.

Campaign of political vendetta, using state police forces for that purpose. More than 1500 false cases have been registered against the CPI(M) leaders and activists. CPI(M) leaders, including MLA and former minister Sushanto Ghosh, have been put in prison. CPI(M) state committee members have been targeted too.

Land grabbing and comprehensive attack on panchayats.

A unique budget without budgeting, without finalisation of sources of revenue and expenditure.

Refusal to discuss budgets of important ministries, including home, in the assembly. The chief minister herself is in-charge of these ministries.

Reversal of decisions, hastily announced by the chief minister and other ministers. One of the more important one is retarding on the re-establishment of the legislative council in the state.

Lots of nominated committees with the TMC and pro-TMC people, presiding over the jeopardising of normal governmental functions.

DARJEELING

As per the government’s claim, peace has been restored in Darjeeling! But the reality is that the process of peace restoration, initiated by the government, has been done at the cost of recognising the term Gorkhaland.

The process to establish Gorkhaland Territorial Area has started. The survey will be conducted in order to include the new areas into the said territory.

SINGUR

The Singur problem remains and has become much complicated with the new government’s decision to return the lands to the unwilling farmers with the force of the special legislation. The whole controversy has aggravated since it has gone to the court.

JANGAL MAHAL

The chief minister had earlier declared that there will be 23 new ration shops in jangal mahal area to ensure food distribution. Unfortunately, not a single one has been established in West Midnapore district, where 11 of 23 blocks of jangal mahal are situated.

The government has a proposal for the creation of 10,000 Special Police Officers to tackle the 'Maoist' situation in jangal mahal like the Chhattisgarh government. In this context the government has completely dumped the Supreme Court’s order against the creation of SPOs to tackle the 'Maoist' problems.

Meanwhile, the 'Maoists' have started to regroup.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The performance of TMC-led government in the specific sectors like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is not only poor but also much lower than the performance made during the tenure of the Left Front government. The contrast with the tenure of the Left Front government can be easily seen. The government has claimed that a total number of 1 crore 59 lakh working days have been created whereas the same was 15 crore at the time of the Left Front government.

EMPLOYMENT

The document, celebrating 90 days, published by the new government has proclaimed that it has already provided jobs for 2,79,286 people in its first months. The break up shows that out of those jobs 2 lakh jobs have been given in the private sector and the 79,286 have been provided in the government offices. The government did not bother to disclose the names of the private sector where the jobs have been given and the government sector break up reveals that most of the posts have been proposed and created. So, as yet the government has not provided any jobs.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Most of the works cited in the book released by the TMC-led government are the repetition of the projects and works undertaken by the government of West Bengal during the tenure of the Left Front.

The modernisation of the Coochbihar Airport and the commencement of Kolkata-Coochbihar flight - in reality, the whole infrastructural work, was done during the time of the Left Front government and the project was waiting for its official inauguration.

The draft policy for the street vendors was also introduced during the time of the Left Front government, although it is falsely cited as a success of the new government.

A project of Rs 500 crore for job generation and a project of Rs 800 crore for building urban houses, has been falsely claimed by the TMC government as its success. They were also the projects taken up by the Left Front government.

Peoples’ Democracy, September 04, 2011

Sculptor forced to leave studio

Prithvijit MitraPrithvijit Mitra | TNN, Sep 1, 2011, 02.32AM IST

KOLKATA: He chips away listlessly at a block of marble, often stopping abruptly to stare at his chisel. Then he gets up and steps out into the balcony, pacing up and down before he returns to settle down once again. The chipping starts, but sculptor Gopal Prasad Mandal looks rattled and out of sorts. He has reason to be. Three weeks ago, Mandal, a retired teacher of the Government College of Art whose works have been exhibited around the globe, was allegedly assaulted and driven out of his studio in Behala. The reason: Mandal refused to give in to threats from a group of locals who had been demanding money.

On August 12, as he was entering his studio at Behala's Parui Kancha Road, Mandal was hit on the back with a hammer by one of the labourers appointed by him to construct the studio. The bleeding artist rushed to the local Behala police station to lodge an FIR, but was allegedly asked to get a witness. Mandal was forced to register a general complaint. Shaken by the sudden assault and persistent threats, he left the studio where he had been staying for the last three months and has since been confined to his Salt Lake residence. More than 80 of his sculptures, including a series of terracotta figurines that he was working on, are lying at the Behala studio. Mandal fears these could be stolen by labourers who still occupy a portion of the two-storey house.

"A group of local youths, who claimed they were Trinamool Congress members, started asking for money ever since I started renovating the house in Behala which I bought in 2009. My plan was to create a sculpting studio on the ground floor and another one on the first floor which I intended to use for painting. Immediately after I appointed labourers, the youths came and asked for Rs 5,000. When I refused, they told me that I must buy construction material from them. I agreed, for there seemed to be no other option. But the demand for money continued and they started threatening me," said Mandal.

In July, the youths came to the studio and threatened the labourers who had been staying on the ground floor. "Next morning, the labourers started heckling me for payments though it was not due. The group was led by Ismail Sheikh, whom I had allowed to stay at the studio till the construction was completed. I asked him to move out but he refused, saying he needed a week to make an alternative arrangement. He never left my studio," alleged Mandal, a disciple of legendary sculptor Chintamani Kar.

As he was returning from the local market on August 12, Tohid Sheikh - a labourer who had been residing at the studio - allegedly charged at him with a hammer. Mandal ducked and the hammer landed on his back, creating two deep gashes under the shoulder. He had to be taken to Vidyasagar Hospital. "I was taken aback, for I had no problem with the labourers, least of all with Tohid whom I hardly ever interacted with. I suspect he was paid by the local toughs to attack me. They obviously wanted to teach me a lesson for refusing to pay up," he said. Tohid was later arrested and released on bail.

Mandal kept receiving calls for money from the labourers. Last week, Ismail Sheikh asked for Rs 30,000 as part payment for the construction job. Mandal took his son along to the studio and made the payment. One of the local youths immediately took away Rs 5,000 and asked Mandal to pay an equal amount to Sheikh. "I told them I did not have the money and will not make any further payment. But I am scared to visit my studio now. They might try to kill me," said Mandal.

The sculptor claimed he has lodged a complaint with the SP of South 24-Parganas, though the latter said he was yet to receive it. "The matter would be looked into once I receive the complaint," said SP (South 24-Parganas) L N Meena.

Mandal, however, fears that it could be too late by the time police take action. "Almost half of my life's works are there at the studio. It would be a big loss for me if they are stolen. All I want is to be able to return to my studio and resume work. I can't work at my home for there's hardly any space," Mandal said.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said he couldn't act till he received a complaint. "I can't keep track of what's happening in the lanes and bylanes of Behala. I will look into the matter once I receive a complaint," Chatterjee said.

Nothing personal in this fight: CPI(M) candidate

Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey | TNN, Sep 3, 2011, 03.37AM IST

KOLKATA: While some consider her to be nothing more than a sacrificial lamb, there are others who have been congratulating her on Facebook for taking up cudgels against mighty Mamata Banerjee. But Nandini Mukhopadhyay could be best described as an epitome of cool and poise. For her, contesting the forthcoming bypolls from the Bhowanipore constituency with a CPI(M) ticket is just another assignment. And she has always completed her assignments with aplomb.

Forty-five-year-old Nandini is the most loved faculty member at Jadavpur University (JU) where she has been teaching computer science engineering since 1992. She had worked in two private firms - Software Org Systems and MN Dastoor - before that. A student of Kamala Girls' High School and Patha Bhavan, Nandini was always a bright scholar with computers her first love. After clearing the joint entrance examination, she studied computer science engineering at the then Bengal Engineering College (now Bengal Engineering and Science University).

Even after joining JU's tech faculty, her quest for creating next generation computers continued. She took a break from teaching to complete her PhD at University of Manchester. "In those days, computers worked on a single processor. My research was on parallel computing or on multiple processors that would increase the speed of the computer while making it a multi-tasker," she shyly explained in layman's language. Even today, when she is not teaching, you will find Nandini working to spread computer literacy among the underprivileged with like-minded friends. You will find her imparting computer lessons to poor kids in nondescript lanes and bylanes.

"I joined a movement to create free software that can be used for spreading computer literacy among people. This will help put computers to multiple use without spending much," she explained. With 10 research scholars working under her, Nandini is trying to do something innovative on grid computing and wireless sensor network.

But isn't contesting an election a tad different from her classroom and laboratory work? "Indeed. But I will give it my best shot. I was associated with the SFI during my college days and had been in the executive council of JUTA, my university's teachers' political wing, for a long time. So I'm not as far removed from politics as you might think!" she laughed.

But is the thought of fighting Mamata Banerjee scaring her, albeit, a wee bit? "Not at all," she quips. "I don't think this is a personal battle. We who have been baptized in Left politics know how to take a detached view of such things. I think my party has given me a great opportunity to fight for a cause and to uphold the values of the Left movement at a very difficult time. I will definitely try to win," she said with conviction.

How does she rate her opponent? "She is indeed mighty and I respect her for the fact that she has single-handedly catapulted her party to power with a landslide victory. I will walk the miles at the hustings backed by this respect but will also try to uphold our point," she said.

MLAs can now earn 5K more

TNN, 3 SEPT. 2011

KOLKATA: It was a windfall for Bengal legislators on Friday. The new government, despite financial constraints, increased their daily allowances by Rs 250 for the days they attend the assembly sessions or the committee meetings. Under the new system, MLAs can earn up to Rs 32,000 (including their Rs 12,000 salary per month) - which means a hike of Rs 5,000 from what they got earlier.

State finance minister Amit Mitra also had some good news for his ministerial colleagues. They will also get the daily allowance for attending the House, on a par with MLAs. Ministers, till now, were only entitled to a monthly remuneration of less than Rs 10,000. This, for them, is an added bonus.

"There are 24 Assembly standing committees with 10 members each. In addition, there are 15 other committees with 20 members each. So roughly, almost every member of the house is a member of these committees, if not more. When they attend a committee meeting, the MLAs will be entitled to this enhanced daily allowance too. It is difficult to pinpoint the actual but Roughly for the MLAs, if they attend the twice-a-week meetings, they get allowances for all the five days in a week. The meetings are usually on a Monday and Friday. So a bare calculation indicates they can earn Rs 5000 a week or Rs 20,000 a month. However, these will purely be on their attendance," the finance minister said. The MLAs, therefore, now will earn Rs 5000 more every month only by attending the meetings.

A look at the Assembly records in the 2006-11 term show that on an average 47.8 Assembly sittings were held every year. Inspite of the bitter acrimonious prompting Trinamool Congress MLAs to boycott the session for a long time, the Assembly had 219 sittings. Even in this index, the MLAs - and ministers - can earn close to Rs 12,000 a year more. This, however, is much less compared to the Mps. The Mps, other than a Rs 50,000 a month salary, gets Rs 2,000 for every Assembly sitting.

Earlier, Mitra made a spirited defence of his revenue-generation proposals, saying by hiking taxes in IMFL, lottery and tobacco products and by simplifying the rather complicated

tax structures, he was confident of meeting the revenue targets. "West Bengal is the only state after Karnataka to have dematerialized the VAT registration process, a bottleneck that led to less compliance," he said.

Adra project in limbo as Railways, NTPC differ on land value

Sat, Sep 03, 2011

Debjoy Sengupta, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: National Thermal Power Corporation's proposed project at Adra in West Bengal, which it plans to execute with the Railways, has hit a roadblock over valuation of land on which it is to be built. The power producer now plans to approach the Railway Ministry for a resolution.

The 1,3200-mw thermal power plant is to be executed as a 26:74 joint venture between the two state-run entities. Over 1,300 acres of land identified for the project belongs to the Railways. NTPC and the Railways need to agree on its pricing for the project to take off.

"We feel the price being asked is on the higher side. The land is valued nearly at par with that in Kolkata, and NTPC executives are not too happy with the price being asked," an NTPC source said, adding, "NTPC officials are planning to take up the issue with the Railway Ministry so that it can be solved amicably."

The power producer is also waiting for the go ahead from the state government for acquiring land for another proposed 1,600mw thermal power plant at Katwa in Bardhaman district. The state government has acquired about 575 acres of land for the plant. NTPC needs another 1,000 acres to start construction.

"We cannot start construction work on this 575 acres," NTPC chairman Arup Roy Choudhury had said, adding that 0.7 acres of land was needed for every megawatt of power generation capacity.

The memorandum of understanding for the plant had been signed in December.

Gorkha leader warns of agitation if bill does not fulfill promises

Kolkata, Sep 3 (ANI): Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Harka Bahadur Chettri has said people demanding the creation of a separate Gorkhaland state would agitate if the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Bill does not fulfill its promises.

Talking to reporters here on Friday, Chettri said: “If some impediment is created, if the promised autonomy is not given, if at the end of the day people feel that there is no provision, no scope, GTA is not creating any employment, GTA is unable to create infrastructure that it aims to create, in that case, definitely people will take to streets because nobody will have control over people if you fail to deliver GTA,” said Chettri.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition, Surya Kanta Misra slammed the state government for passing the bill in haste.

“You see 54 amendments on the part of the government itself show that they have not gone through the bill properly and even after giving 54 amendments, there is one provision that has been passed in the house one of the amendments which is patently unconstitutional,” he said

“The Constitution has no provision for the district level panchayat (council) in the Darjeeling neither the state act have it. They say the central government should agree to amend it in the parliament, but unless it is amended, so long it is not amended, even it is amended, only on the verbal assurance that it will get amended you cannot pass something unconstitutional in the assembly,” he added.

A renewed demand for a separate Gorkhaland region, which would include Darjeeling and some contiguous areas of Jalpaiguri District, has created fresh turmoil over the past few months.

The Gorkha population in West Bengal is estimated to be around a million. (ANI)

Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill passed by Bengal Assembly

Kolkata, September 3, 2011: The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Friday passed the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill with 54 amendments, overruling a demand by the Opposition to send it to a select committee for further discussions.

Amid charges by the Treasury Benches as well as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) legislators that this amounted to delaying tactics, Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra said that peace and development go hand-in-hand and there was need to further discuss matters in a peaceful environment. He said peace might have returned to Darjeeling, but there was tension in the Dooars and Terai regions. He later told reporters that the government was confused and doing things that might be ultra vires of the Constitution.

Out of 54 amendments, 53 were moved by the government, accepting the demands of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. The government also accepted an amendment moved by opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra, relating to provision for reservation of seats in the GTA Sabha for SCs and STs and women. The government, however, didn't accept the amendment for reservation of women.
The state buckled under pressures from the GJM that wanted it to transfer financial and administrative powers along with executive powers to the GTA. It was incorporated in the amended version of the Bill that GTA would strive to establish ethnic identity of the Gorkhas as well as expediting their socio-economic, educational, cultural and linguistic development. The unnecessary mentions of the word 'Sabha' (the elected body of GTA) was dropped from the draft.
The mention of a zilla parishad was incorporated in the Bill.
Speaking on the Bill, chief minister Mamata Banerjee explained that the Centre would carry out the necessary constitutional amendment to make provision for a zilla parishad in Darjeeling. GJM member Harka Bahadur Chhetri explained that earlier the zilla parishad in Darjeeling had been abolished because the outgoing DGHC was functioning as zilla parishad.
Accepting GJM's demand, the amended Bill dropped the provision of the governor nominating two members to the Executive Sabha. All the 14 members of the Executive Sabha would now be nominated by the chief executive of GTA. The presence of one-third of members of the GTA Sabha would form the quorum for holding its meetings.
The principal secretary of GTA would not be transferred for a period of two years after assumption of office without consent of GTA. While the government in the draft Bill had agreed to delegate to GTA the power to make appointments only in Group-D posts, in course of the debate the CM agreed to GJM's demand and the amended version delegated to GTA also power to make appointments in Groups-B and C posts.
In a significant step, the government accepted an amendment moved by the leader of the opposition providing for reservation of seats in GTA Sabha for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs. "The reservations will be as per constitutional norms and the provisions of the agreement with GJM," minister Partha Chatterjee told TOI later. It appeared that GJM agreed to the amendment with reluctance. "We are prepared to accept whatever is the constitutional provision," GJM leaders Roshan Giri and Harka Bahadur Chhetri told TOI.
The CM also said that the governor who could nominate five members to the GTA sabha could also give nomination to representatives from these categories. Observers said this would pave the way for reservation of seats in the GTA Sabha for smaller communities like Lepchas and Bhutias as well as for adivasis who live in Dooars and Terai, where GJM has demanded areas for inclusion in GTA.
The chief minister announced that a development board would be set up for the Lepchas of Darjeeling under the state government. Lepcha groups are agitating in the streets of Kolkata for the past one month with this demand.
She said the government was taking steps to ensure that there was no discord between Gorkhas and adivasis in the process of identification of additional areas in Dooars and Terai for inclusion in GTA. She said Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad which had held agitations against such inclusion had been misguided by vested political interests. She accused the previous Left Front government of not being serious in addressing the problem of Darjeeling.
GJM member Harka Bahadur Chhetri later explained that the process of GTA formation and the expert committee on identification of areas in Dooars and Terai submitting its report would proceed in a parallel process. "The holding of the election will not depend on the submission of report by the committee, which has six months' time," he said.

CPI(M) Alleges Model Code of Conduct Violation by CM

Kolkata | Sep 03, 2011

The opposition CPI(M) today complained to the Election Commission that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee contesting a bypoll from the Bhowanipore assembly seat had violated the Model Code of Conduct.

CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu in a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta alleged that Banerjee, a candidate of the Trinamool Congress, had violated the Model Code of Conduct by promising  jobs to students and youths at a rally in Kolkata on August 28.

Seeking immediate intervention by the Election Commission, Basu claimed that ministers and dignitaries came to attend the programme using government vehicles which was also a violation of the model code.

The CPI(M) leader alleged that the Election Commission had failed to take proper action during last the Assembly elections in the state on a large number of violations of the model code by the Trinamool Congress and the Congress despite complaints filed by the CPI(M).

The CPI(M) leader said he had enclosed two cuttings of newspaper clippings to the EC.

Banerjee is contesting the Bhowanipore seat to enter the assembly in the stipulated six months as she is not a member of the House. The election will be held on September 25.

Left Front fields JU professor against Mamata

Kolkata, Sept 1 (IBNS): The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded a professor of Jadavpur University against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the assembly by-election from Bhowanipur.

Mamata Banerjee, who defeated the Left Front in the April-May state election ending the 34 year long rule of the Marxists, is fighting the bypoll scheduled on Sept 25 from the Bhowanipore assembly seat to be elected to the state assembly to continue as the chief minister of the state.

The Left Front nominated CPI (M) candidate is Dr. Nandini Mukhopadhyay and she is a professor in the Computer Science & Engineering Department in Jadavpur University.

West Bengal PWD minister and Trinamool Congress legislator Subrata Bakshi has resigned from the Bhowanipur seat earlier to enable Mamata Banerjee to contest.

Mamata Banerjee is an MP from Kolkata (South) seat, but not a member of the state assembly.

A resident of Golf Garden in south Kolkata, Mamata's challenger Mukhopadhyay did her Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Manchester, UK. She did her M.E. in 1991 from the Jadavpur University and her B.E. in 1987 from Calcutta University. Her research area is Parallel Computing, Grid Computing and Wireless Sensor Networks.

The CPI (M) candidate taking on a political behemoth like Mamata Banerjee, whose win is seen as a forgone conclusion, was associated with the left student movement.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) has put up Subid Ali Gazi for the Basirhat (North) assembly constituency where a by-election was necessitated after the party MLA Mustafa Bin Kashem had an unnatural death at the city MLA Hostel soon after the election in May. 

Few claimants for seized Singur land

The district administration, which continues to scrutinize applications, expects only about 300 more valid claims to emerge from among near 2,000 lodged with it

Romita Datta

LIVEMINT, Posted: Sat, Aug 13, 2011. 12:33 AM IST

Kolkata: Only about 300 protesting farmers have so far managed to establish, with valid legal documents, their “rightful title” to the land seized from them in 2006 for Tata Motors Ltd’s small car factory in Singur. Their collective ownership is 40 acres at the most.

The state government gave farmers a month’s time till 22 July to file applications with the Hooghly district administration to reclaim land that they were forced to give up for the factory. The district administration, which continues to scrutinize applications, expects only about 300 more valid claims to emerge from among near 2,000 lodged with it.

Under the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, the first law passed by the newly elected Trinamool Congress government of the state, the administration seized the 997-acre plot allotted to Tata Motors and its component makers, with the aim of redistributing it among farmers. The Act named some 2,200-odd farmers as eligible to reclaim land, and their collective ownership was pegged at around 300 acres.

The Act said only those farmers who protested against the 2006 land acquisition for the now-abandoned Nano car factory by not receiving payment from the state government were entitled to reclaim as much land as was seized from them.

These people, named in the Act, were asked to file applications with the Hooghly district administration with proof of ownership, but it now appears that a “large majority” of these erstwhile landowners have no documents to establish their title to the land.

“So far, applications of only about 310 people have been found to be valid,” said Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a Trinamool Congress legislator from Singur and the state’s minister for agriculture. He was also one of the key leaders of the Trinamool Congress-spearheaded agitation against the factory.

“Going by the trend so far, we expect the number (of valid applications) to rise by another 300 at best,” he added.

District magistrate Sripriya Rangarajan refused to comment, saying she was busy dealing with the flood-like situation in Hooghly.

“A large majority of the applicants are unable to prove their ownership,” said Pulak Sarkar, Singur block development officer. “It appears from the hundreds of applications processed so far that a lot of people in that list (in the Act) have sold their land, and the people who currently claim to own these tracts of land have no document at all to establish their ownership.”

Moloy Ghatak, the state’s law minister and vice-chairman of an expert panel overseeing the land redistribution, said it would not be possible for the state government to return land unless people could establish their claim with valid legal documents.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that at least 400 acres of land was forcibly seized by the erstwhile Left Front government of the state. She demanded the return of 400 acres to the erstwhile owners, and didn’t budge from it, forcing Tata Motors to pull the plug on the Singur project.

According to the records of the state’s land and land reforms (L&LR) department, erstwhile owners of some 51 acres couldn’t claim compensation because of ownership being under legal dispute. Erstwhile owners of around 90 acres were found to be living abroad, and didn’t bother to collect compensation.

“To be realistic, only a little over 150 acres could be redistributed among local farmers in the best case scenario, but it now seems that only about 70-80 acres would be reclaimed,” said an officer of the L&LR department, who did not want to be named.

“We don’t know yet if people who live abroad have reclaimed land; if they have, the figure could go up, but only marginally.”

Incidentally, the erstwhile Left Front government had offered to carve out 70 acres from the plot allotted for the small car factory, to be developed and redistributed among all farmers forced to give up land for the project. It also offered to sweeten the cash compensation.

But Banerjee spurned the offer and continued to protest, which eventually led to the factory being moved to Sanand in Gujarat.

romita.d@livemint.com

Farmers divided over Singur land bill

Priyanka Gupta

CNN-IBN

Updated Jun 17, 2011 at 04:25pm IST

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Singur Bill seems to have opened a Pandora's box. More than 10000 willing farmers handed over their land to the Tatas for compensation and a job. They are now prepared to take the government to court over the bill.

Sixty-year-old Swapan Kumar Das, one of the farmer who exchanged his land with the Tatas for compensation and a job for his son Soumen, feels cheated. 15 days from retirement at Singur, he's not looking forward to rest after decades of work. Instead, he is bracing himself for uncertain times.

Swapan Kumar Das said, "We have lost everything either way. We thought we will get jobs because there will be an industry and I spent the money to build my house. My son trained for the Tatas for two years like others and now he has no job and he is too old to study."

More than 10,000 people willingly gave up their land for the Singur project of the Tatas. Uday Das a local doctor is one of them. He is now leading those farmers who believe they are victims of both the Left and the TMC-led governments.

"We will challenge the bill in court because it is not fair. One government makes a decision, another government comes makes another decision. What about us! Why should we suffer in between?" said Uday Das.

Another farmer Rabindranath Bolen who exchanged his land with the Tatas is upset over the fact that his land will be given to someone else.

"Why should my land be given to someone else. I gave my land for industry not to give to someone else. Where is the public purpose in this?" said Bolen.

On the other hand, those farmers who struggled for six long years to get their land back have openly welcomed the bill.

Mahabir, a farmer who had to unwillingly give up his land, said, "We have fought for so many years and lived in poverty, this bill promises that we will get our land back, but why should they who took the compensation and willingly gave up their land now crib? You can't have it both the ways.

With several promises being made and broken, the Singur chapter has become a turbulent one for Bengal, with all eyes now on Mamata Banerjee to see if she can keep the people of Singur from being divided.

Office renovation of Chief Minister

Bengal becomes biggest borrower

THE TELEGRAPH, Issue Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2011

SAUMITRA DASGUPTA AND DEVADEEP PUROHIT

July 26: Bengal has become the biggest borrower among all states in the country, both the current and previous governments going neck and neck in raising loans in the first four months of this financial year.

Data available with the RBI suggest that the new Trinamul Congress-led government has raised Rs 5,000 crore in the two months since Mamata Banerjee took over as chief minister of the cash-strapped state on May 20.

The coalition government’s borrowing blitz began on June 7 when it raised Rs 3,000 crore and followed that up with two tranches of Rs 1,000 crore each on July 5 and 19. These loans came on top of borrowings worth Rs 5,173 crore by the Left Front government during its final months in office.

The combined effect of the borrowings by the two governments is that Bengal has now earned the dubious distinction of becoming the biggest borrower among the states. Last year, Bengal was ranked sixth among states in terms of annual borrowings.

Bengal’s borrowings now stand at Rs 10,173 crore — almost 70 per cent higher than last year’s level of Rs 6,000 crore during the same period. What’s worse is that its borrowings in the first four months of the current financial year at Rs 10,173 crore is 7 per cent higher than the Rs 9,500 crore it had borrowed in the 12 months ended March 31 this year.

State finance minister Amit Mitra declined comment on the borrowing programme of the state government.

“The borrowing spree will compound the problems that the government is facing. The government will have to find ways to increase its own revenue,” said a senior state government official on condition of anonymity.

Although the Centre has increased the plan budget for the state from Rs 17,985 crore to Rs 22,214 crore and promised to give more funds to Bengal, it has also suggested that the state government find ways to shore up its revenue collections.

While the state waits for Delhi to loosen its purse-strings, the question that is being asked at Writers’ is why does the government need to borrow so much? Is it to pay salaries, pension and interest on outstanding loans?

The available figures, however, don’t support this hypothesis. The monthly outgo on salaries, pension and interest on outstanding loans is around Rs 4,000 crore while the revenue earnings per month are around Rs 5,500 crore.

“A new government has to deliver on its promises and a lot of new projects are being taken up. As most of them have been announced without obtaining consent from the finance department, borrowing is the only option,” said a state government official.

Some of the big announcements by the chief minister include laying embankments in Aila-affected areas, rural healthcare upgradation, creation of 36 primary health care centres in Jungle Mahal, drinking water projects in Purulia, West Midnapore and Bankura, jobs for 10,000 tribal young men and women as part of a special police force in Jungle Mahal and the creation of 46,000 teachers’ posts.

“The state government doesn’t have the funds to roll out all these projects at one go and that’s why there is a need to borrow,” said an official. Borrowing by a state government is not a sin and Bengal can borrow up to Rs 17,000 crore a year.

But excessive borrowing has its ramifications. The borrowings will put a greater strain on Bengal’s finances since the interest payout will increase with yields (the rate of interest that the bond holders earn) climbing by 44 basis points from around 8.17 per cent last year to around 8.61 per cent at present.

The rising yields appear to have deterred the other states from accessing the RBI loan auction window. That’s the reason why Bengal’s borrowings account for almost 28 per cent of the total state government borrowings of Rs 37,023 crore till date.

Uttar Pradesh — the second highest borrower this year — has raised Rs 5,000 crore till date, less than half of what Bengal has garnered in the four-month period.

Cry of the comrades

TNN,  Aug 14, 2011, 04.00AM IST

All hell didn't break loose after the change of guard in West Bengal as the Left had predicted. The sun did shine after May 13 when the comrades found themselves relegated to a poor double-digit figure (62), and the last 10.03 pm metro from Esplanade was packed with men and women like it was the day before.

Banners changed from red to green (the Trinamool's favoured colour), indicating shakeups in the para rickshaw and bus unions. Local party offices that served as nuts and bolts to the "CM to LCM (local committee member)" command structure, running parallel with the administration, found themselves out of sync. And the men and women who ate and drank power for 34 long years in cosy collusion with the local police became targets of Trinamool Congress in select city pockets - from Jadavpur to Beliaghata, Kasba to Sealdah and Maniktala.

Even Left-dominated bodies that used to mobilise consent in favour of the government of the day, carving out ideologically-suitable policies, were suddenly under threat. Elected student representatives in some of the city colleges - Asutosh, St Paul's and Thakurpukur - were forced to resign while some of the nominees in the Left-dominated college governing bodies were unable to enter the institutions.

"The ruling Trinamool Congress occupied one local committee office and 13 branch offices in these areas," says the CPM's Kolkata district secretariat member, Kallol Majumdar. "Seven trade union offices affiliated to Citu have been locked from outside. In some places, party members were threatened and beaten up when they refused to fall in line. Local Trinamool councillors led the attack in St Paul's College, Thakurpukur College, Asutosh College, and forced the SFI union representatives to resign."

Such was the concern that the chancellor of all state universities, governor MK Narayan, in a written directive on June 14 asked varsities to refrain from making fresh selections at all levels and stop nominating people to governing bodies till further orders.

Yet there is no public outrage. People at large do not seem concerned with the much-touted assault on "democracy", a cry coming out loud from a CPM left in the opposition. A substantial number views it as just an attack on the "party-dominated mechanism" that ran roughshod over the state all these years. Worse is the scene in the villages - the traditional political minefields of Bengal - spread over Hooghly, Burdwan, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. Then there are the three troubled districts of Jangalmahal - West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura - where CPM activists are on the run. Most of the CPM-managed panchayat offices are locked and deserted, even those in an area from where CPM strongman Anil Basu won the 2004 Lok Sabha polls with a record one lakh-plus margin.

According to CPM insiders, if things continue like this, the party will have a tough time fielding candidates in the 2013 panchayat polls. The party's North 24 Parganas leader Amitava Nandi says "supporters are staying outside their home. Their complaints to the police are not being entertained".

CPM leaders in Alimuddin Street, the party's nerve centre, are busy re-energising the party committees down to the unit level of which at least 30% has become defunct. To begin with, the party has planned a series of showdowns in front of the Legislative Assembly and Parliament in August. "We are now holding party committee meetings at various levels, organising protests at local levels. We will hit the streets after the monsoon. Prior to that the party will hold a three-day meet at Alimuddin Street beginning August 20 to identify the issues and chart out our future course," says CPM state secretariat member Gautam Deb.

But that's easier said than done. After such a long stint in power, the Bengal CPM still could not mobilise public opinion on issues like abnormal price rise - this, despite falling field prices of vegetables, even paddy. People do not take the official Left line seriously on these things anymore. "The CPM's legacy of mass movement became blunt long ago with its desperate overtures to continue in power. The party identified some of these factors in 2010 after the Left debacle in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. But we could not engage with the masses. We need to begin from scratch," a senior CPM state committee member said.

Perceptions vary over what course the strategy should now take. For instance, a minor section in Alimuddin Street still hopes to gain by targetting the Mamata Banerjee government, telling people the goodies that the Left Front government handed out. Others, however, want the party to build movements against the "anti-people policies" of the Congress-led UPA government and "expose Mamata Banerjee's double standards."

With the organised movements in factories and tea gardens becoming weak, and the Left students' movement losing its sheen, the CPM is confronted with the phenomenon of identity politics - in the Darjeeling Hills as well as the plains. "We do not expect to regain support in the Hills in the near future. At the same time, our party can't associate itself with Bengali chauvinist organisations such as Amra Bangali in Siliguri. We have to try and address the concerns of all ethnic populations and nationalities such as Nepali, Rajbanshi, Lepcha, Bhutia," says CPM state committee member and former minister Asok Bhattacharya.

Former land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Molla feels that the Left movement in Bengal can't revive without broadening its fold. "The Left Front made history. But this formula won't work if we can't expand the Left family and come out of our old practice," he says. In tatters and demoralized, it will take a while before the comrades can come out of the pit they have dug themselves into.

Petro Chem ministry reviews PCPIR scheme

Anindita Dey / Mumbai

Business Standard, June 17, 2011, 2:18 IST

The department of petrochemicals at the Centre has started a review of its flagship scheme, the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIR).

Officials said the ministry aimed at creating a window for government funding support and had proposed this to the Planning Commission. It is evaluating the scope of budgetary funding into these projects, apart from the specified mode of VGF (viability gap funding and through public private partnership (PPP).

A committee of the ministry has proposed government grants in the form of gross budgetary support or tax breaks for investors coming into the zone. PCPIR is the flagship scheme of the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, with approved investments worth Rs 1,54,512 crore in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

Under the extant project guidelines, there is no budgetary support and the entire funding is to be done by the participants, which includes a government petrochemical public sector undertaking (PSU) as anchor investor. The VGF scheme provides financial support in the form of grants, one-time or deferred, to infrastructure projects undertaken through PPPs.

The review follows sluggish growth in the projected investment inflow into the various projects of the PCPIR zones approved across India. The ministry met state government reprentatives and have asked for inputs to modify the scheme so as to attract investment in the PCPIR zones.

Officials said a major reason for the slow inflow was recession in various parts of the world. Various state governments extended infrastructure support but very few have offered tangible funding help, apart from Gujarat, till date. Gujarat has notified the PCPIR under the rules for special investment zones and thus extended several tax-related advantages to incoming investors into its Bharuch PCPIR.

The ministry has also taken the initiative of organising major trade fairs in Europe and Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Mexico to attract foreign investment.

Till date, the Bharuch PCPIR in Gujarat has received Rs 70,000 crore of investments and the state government has completed 60-70 per cent of land development. Petronet LNG is setting up a 1,200 Mw power plant. ONGC Petro Additionals Ltd, a joint venture of ONGC and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, is the main anchor investor, with committed project investment of Rs 16,400 crore.

The investments are for a Rs 13,000-crore multi-feed petrochemical cracker and Rs 3,400-crore carbon extraction unit.

The newly approved PCPIR for Tamil Nadu, at Cuddalore and Nagapattinam, has received government support of Rs 5,120 crore. This will be part of investments in external infrastructure of Rs 13,800 crore, over and above an estimated investment of Rs 99,750 crore.The Visakhapatnam and East Godavari PCPIR in Andhra Pradesh has attracted additional investment of Rs 9,600 crore, apart from investment commitment of Rs 73,000 crore through its main or anchor investors — a consortium of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and GMR. The state government has committed Rs 2,132 crore for developing physical infrastructure, followed by Rs 10,565 crore from private parties and another Rs 6,334 crore through PPP.

Similarly, for the newly approved Orissa PCPIR at Paradeep, the anchor investor, Indian Oil Corporation, is setting up a 15-million tonne per annum refinery, likely to be commissioned in March 2012, at a cost of Rs 29,777 crore. The PCPIR is expected to attract total investment of Rs 2,77,734 crore.