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2 CITY BRIEFLY � A Ganesh idol in Kolkata on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on Thursday — BP Woman hit by vehicle, hospitalised Kolkata: A female pedestrian, Anju Dutta, 65, was dashed by a south bound vehicle at Behala Shakerbazar on Thursday. She was taken to Vidyasagar hospital by a trauma care ambulance. Dutta, a resident of Santosh Roy Road, has injured her leg seriously. —BP Metro extends date of refunding smart cards Kolkata: Kolkata Metro Railway announced that the last date for refunding smart cards has been extended till September 30. In their release, they have decided to extend the date of refund of old smart cards, AFC multi ride tickets. Tickets are ought to be refunded within the stipulated period. —BP Woman knocked down by car Kolkata: Saraswati Devi, 65, was knocked down by a car near Sukanta Setu while she got down from a bus around 11 in the morning on Thursday. The offending car could not be chased. Sarawati Devi, a resident of Vivekananda Road was taken to KPC Medical College & Hospital in serious condition. —BP Rally to affect traffic on Friday Kolkata: A rally comprising of more than 500 people will be taken out on Friday from Diamond Harbour Road to Tollygunge Circular Road.Due to the procession, traffic will be affected along the Ramtanu Lahiri Sarani, Sahapore Road, New Alipore crossing and Nolini Sarkar Avenue. The procession will start from 11 am. —BP Free power connection to BPL families Kolkata: Aiming to bring electricity to every house in Bengal within three years, the state government on Thursday announced free power for BPL families and basic connections to any person against payment of `379. Power minister Manish Gupta told the Assembly in a written statement that beneficiaries would not have to pay forinstallation of posts or infrastructure. Monitoring of the national rural electrification scheme Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana would be done by MLAs, MPs and district magistrates, he said. —PTI City to see religious procession Kolkata: A religious procession comprising of 250 will be taken out from 27, Pollock Street and return here via Ezra Street, Canning Street, Brabourne Road and Tea Board on Friday. Another procession will be taken out from Rani Rashmoni Square and move along N C Street, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road. —BP QUOTE TALE We are ruling out heavy rainfall as a cause for the price hike. We are still investigating the matter, but one reason could be rumours of short supply —Rajesh Sinha additonal secretary, agricultural marketing department Top cop tells force to be on its toes As jurisdiction expands to include 17 new police stations Our Correspondent Kolkata: As the Kolkata Police added over 17 police stations in areas formerly under the South 24-Parganas police on Thursday, its chief RK Pachnanda had only one message for his men and women: maintain law and order, reduce the crime rate and manage the traffic system. Pachnanda visited the new police stations with other senior police officials, including special commissioner Shivaji Ghosh and joint commissioner of traffic Supratim Sarkar. According to senior police officials, one of the challenges of the new areas was the traffic congestion. There are many auto stands on most roads, creating problems for daily commuters and restricting their move- Our Correspondent New jurisdiction The police stations in added areas taken over by Kolkata Police are: Behala, Thakurpukur, Parnasree, Haridevpur, Regent Park, Bansdroni, Patuli, Survey Park, Purba Jadavpur, Jadavpur, Kasba, Tiljala, Pragati Maidan, Rajabagan, Nadial, Garfa and Metiabruz ment. Unlike on city roads, the new areas have a lot of cycle rickshaws, rickshaw vans and motor fitted vans. The city police said handpulled rickshaws and vans were requested to avoid the main roads. After taking charge of the Pleasant days ahead for city: Met office Our Correspondent Kolkata: The pleasant weather in the city, with alternating clouded and clear blue skies, cool breeze and occasional rain will continue for the next few days, according to the Alipore Meteorological office on Thursday. The Met office attributed the pleasant weather to the persistence of the monsoon trough over Gangetic West Bengal. “There has been a considerable amount of rainfall in the state, including the city, given the nature of the monsoon trough and other weather phenomenon associated with it,” said an Alipore Met department official. He said that for a trough to get stronger it had to persist in a region without any movement. With the trough persisting for a long period of time, it has its effect on the region in the form of rain, thus, bringing down the temperature. “At present, the trough is over Gangetic West Bengal and is persistent, causing sporadic rainfall across the state. This weather will continue to be pleasant as such weather formations are normal for this season of the year,” added the Met official. The Alipore met department said the monsoon trough was not the only factor responsible for the rains. When accompanied by cyclonic circulation and low pressure, the rain becomes more intense, it said. “This year, occasions of low pressure and cyclonic circulation have been more frequent along with a persistent monsoon trough over Gangetic West Bengal. This has resulted in widespread rain across the state,” the Met official said. In its forecast, the Met office said the skies over the city would generally be clouded along with few spells of thundershowers. “For the next 24 hours, this weather will continue and it will be mostly comfortable. There is no abnormality in the trough as the cyclonic circulation present over Orissa has moved away to Chhattisgarh, but it will have some effects on the weather,” said the met officer. Chief minister celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi Kolkata: The cries of ‘Ganapati Bappa Morya’ reverberated in the air. No, it was not a scene from Mumbai but a sight from the city itself. Like its western counterpart, the eastern metropolis also warmly invited Lord Ganesh to be its guest on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. And among those welcoming the divine guest was chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was a special guest at the Maharashtra Mandal in south Kolkata. The chief minister paid her respects to the deity. It was her first visit to the mandal after assuming office. The chief minister never forgets to visit the Mandal every year on Ganesh Chaturthi. According to Pushpa Dhote, the secretary of Maharashtra Mandal, Banerjee has held several party meetings at the Mandal in the past. “We had formally invited her and sent an invitation letter to the Writers’ Buildings. She visits us every year during Ganesh Chaturthi and pays her respects. Her visit was eagerly expected this time too,” she said. Mamata Banerjee Thursday marked the first day of the Ganesh Chaturthi, which will be celebrated over the next 10 days by devotees across the city. Besides Maharashtrians, people from all communities came to worship the elephant god. The idol of Ganesha was commissioned from idol-makers of Kalighat on Wednesday night and was formally installed after the puja ceremony on Thursday. Besides the Maharashtra Mandal, there were other organisations which celebrated the festival. There were many people at Manicktala, Hazra and Palmer Bazar road who also celebrated the festival. “Lord Ganesha signifies wealth and prosperity and we celebrate the Ganesh festival so that he brings prosperity and blesses us with good luck. We decided to celebrate it despite the price hike,” said Hemant Dhavale, who had installed an idol at Hazra Road. There was a 30 per cent hike in the cost of Ganesha idols this time and around 1,000 idols were sold by the artisans of Kumartuli. According to the artisans at Kumartuli, the price of Ganesh idols rose due to the inflation, but, people across the city bought idols and prayed for the blessings of Ganesh. � R K Pachananda inaugrates Purba Jadavpur police station on thursday — Shyamal Chakroborty new areas, the Kolkata Police shifted many auto stands. The auto stands along NSC Bose Road, Taratala crossing, M G Road and other areas were moved to other areas. “This step was taken to make traffic smoother. There are no broad roads. So it was Our Correspondent Kolkata: With laddoos being the favourite sweet of Lord Ganesh, sales of the delicious sweet were brisk on Thursday as people rushed to sweet shops and confectioners to buy the beloved sweet of Gajanan. Sweet shop owners said the sale of laddoos were at an all time high during the day. “The sale of laddoos witnessed a steep rise on the occasion of Ganesh Chathurti on Thursday. Numerous of customers have come and asked for the sweet in huge quantities on the occasion,” said Satish Sharma of Gangaur sweet shop. He said the shop sold only one type of the sweet priced at `340 per kilogramme. decided to curb autos, rickshaws and vans on the main roads,” said joint commissioner of police (headquarters) Jawed Shamim at Lalbazar. In another initiative, officers distributed leaflets among the residents of the Call for Peace “Every day, we sell around 10 kilos of the sweet and today on the occasion of Ganesh Chathurthi the sales doubled,” added Sharma. The story was much the same at Ganguram, another confec- added areas to inform them of their new police stations. The 17 new police stations were created out of nine former South 24-Parganas police stations. However, many of the new police stations are not fully prepared to take charge, except for the Rajabagan police station. A few have been constructed with temporary materials and have no lockups as yet. Therefore, those arrested under the jurisdiction of those police stations will be taken to the central lock-up. “We are trying to solve the problem of added area police stations,” said Shamim. Pachnanda also held a separate meeting with all officers in-charge and other senior officers of the 17 police stations for better policing of the new areas. � Anti-war rally organised by Sara Bharat Shanti O Sanghati Sanstha in kolkata on Thursday — Shyamal Chakroborty Sahid Minar to get fresh coat of paint & lights Our Special Correspondent Kolkata: The Sahid Minar, once the most prominent landmark in the city along with the Howrah bridge and a must-see for tourists, has now lost much of its sheen. Its gleaming white has paled and the lights around the dome have stopped burning. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who wants the city to be as beautiful as London, is keen to see that the pristine glory of the beautiful tower, a mixture of Syrian, Egyptian and Turkish schools of architecture, is restored. She wants the structure painted afresh and illumination revived. Public works department secretary A R Bardhan, who visited the Minar on Thursday, told journalists at the Writers’ Buildings that the state heritage commission would be consulted before the tower is given a fresh coat of paint. “It should be white including the dome so that it attracts light from the tall buildings overlooking it from the east,” he said. The dome had been painted red during the United Front regime in the Sixties when the then government rechristened it, too. It was previously known as the Ochterlony Monument and put up by the East India Company in 1828 to mark the victory of Sir David Ochterlony in the 1814-16 Nepal campaign. Bardhan said the illumination was previously being provided by CESC. “We’ve to find out if they will resume it. Otherwise, the department will take upon the responsibility itself.” He said proper landscaping of the Sahid Minar’s surroundings would also be taken up to make it more attractive and ensure a cleaner environment. It was not immediately known whether tourists would be allowed to go up to the top by negotiating 218 spiral steps. The authorities had clamped a ban on visitors’ going up to the top to take an aerial view of the city in the early Seventies following a suicide attempt. The secretary said a decision to reopen it to the public would be taken after consultations with the army and the Kolkata Police. Asked about the costs for the renovation initiative, the official said the question would come once the basic objectives had been identified and cleared for implementation. tioner. “People are flocking to the shop and asking for sweets in huge amounts. We have sold from 12 pieces to 70 pieces at a time on this occasion,” said Manish Chaurasia of Ganguram at Chowringee Road. Ganguram, which normally sells around 200-250 pieces of laddoos every day, sold around 1,000 pieces of the sweet on Thursday. “The laddoo is used for various purposes on Ganesh Chathurthi. While few offer it as prasad to God, some gift a packet of the sweet to their family members. Out of all the sweets, this makes for a favourite,” said Gopal Sharma from Haldirams at Burrabazar. Sharma further said that there were primarily two types of laddoos — one variety made using vegetable oil and another made using ghee. “Although the laddoos made of ghee are costlier, they are the favourites,” added Sharma. Kolkata Friday September 2, 2011 www.thebengalpost.com Private hospitals in a fix over apex court’s ruling Our Correspondent Kolkata: Private hospitals find themselves in a fix over a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, directing them to provide free treatment to people below the poverty line. The board of directors and the management of such hospitals in the city are yet to take a decision. Subhamoy Dutta Chaudhuri, the director of state health services, said that the court’s aim was to make scientific and proper health services accessible to all sections of the society. “The judgment by the Supreme Court was a bold step in this direction. We will formulate a detailed approach to the issue after studying the interpretation provided by our legal cell,” he said. While most of privatehospitals have special packages and offers for poor and BPL category patients, some are thinking of increasing such facilities. “We do have such packages, in which the people from the BPL category are given rebates. There are times when we have given them special discounts for their inability to pay,” said a spokesperson of Fortis hospitals. “We cannot comment on this recent ruling but will definitely take a stand after our management takes a decision,”the officer added. Private hospitals are � File photo of Shahid Minar Ladoo sales rise on Ganesh Chaturthi Supreme Court directed the private hospitals to provide free treatment to people below the poverty line FREE TREATMENT TO BPL PEOPLE taking their time to decide their stand as they are not sure about the details of the judgment. “We are not sure about the implication and what exactly the judgment says,” said Udayan Lahiri, CEO of Medica super specialty hospital. We will take a little bit of time to study and assess it. We are going through the details and we will decide our stand soon, he added. Hospitals such as Ruby and Peerless were also waiting to go through the judgment. “We’ve not decided what stand to take because it will take us time to go through the order’s details,” said Nivedita Ghosh, chief operating officer of Peerless Hospitals. Traders meet Bidhannagar chairperson Our Correspondent Kolkata: Traders of two market areas located in Bidhannagar —Sukantanagar and Baisakhi — on Thursday submitted their complaints and suggestions to improve the complexes to municipality chairperson Krishna Chakraborty on Thursday. The executive members of the Baisakhi Bazaar Babsayi Samiti told Chakraborty that there were faults in the allotments at the newly constructed complex. The committee members from Sukantanagar complained that the market area had now become a shelter for criminals. “For the past three decades, we have had temporary sheds at the Baishakhi market. The new building was meant to give us permanent stalls. But, there are lot of loopholes in the way the allotted shops have been distributed,” said Tapan Saha, the secretary of the Baishakhi Bazaar Babsayi Samity. He said that around 190 businessmen were promised proper relocation but the distribution of the shops did not match the profile of the business. “Many people selling vegetables or rations have been given shops on the upper tier, thus, hampering their business as customers miss the shops at their usual places. We have also not got the transfer of ownership for the shops hence, we are still under the label of temporary businessmen,” added Saha. Asim Guha, the secretary of ward 19 in Sukantanagar, raised the issue of criminals taking shelter in the market. The chairperson promised to look into their problems. “I will discuss the problems individually. There are many constraints faced by the municipality, the financial crunch being one of the biggest problems. We will fix all the problems,” she assured.
Kolkata Friday September 2, 2011 www.thebengalpost.com CITY 3 CBI likely to probe Wakf scam Our Correspondent Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked for a CBI investigation into the alleged scam of property under the Wakf Board in the Assembly on Thursday. Her announcement came after former Left Front minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah requested her to launch a probe into the scam. Mollah requested Banerjee to look into the allegations of anomalies in the handover of Wakf properties across the state along with the money laundering. Wishing him “Double Eid Mubarak”, the chief minister made the announcement after the budget of the minorities welfare department was placed. “Since there is no opposition from the House and the agenda is one of those issues in our list of priorities, we will initiate a CBI probe into it,” she told Mollah. Banerjee pointed out that she had always wanted a conclusive detail from the investigation into this scam. “Nothing concrete came out and I even moved to the Supreme Court to file a public interest litigation. However, when you want an investigation, we’ll ask CBI to do it this time,” she said in reply to Mollah’s request. The Wakf Board looks after several religious properties, belonging to the Muslims, across the state. In 2008, No anomalies between GTA draft and Bill: Govt Our Special Correspondent Kolkata: The state government on Thursday clarified that there were no anomalies between the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and the draft Bill, as alleged by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Wednesday. Asked whether there were any anomalies between the GTA and the draft Bill, industry minister Partha Chatterjee told journalists after the 11th state Cabinet meeting: “Yes, all the points are there and they are the same.” He also said that a proposal for the GTA would be passed in the Assembly on Friday. Earlier in the day, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri had submitted a letter to chief secretary Samar Ghosh, pointing out the differences between the GTA and the draft Bill. He also met the chief minister over the issue. Chatterjee said the Cabinet had also agreed to hand over the investigation into the Wakf scam to the CBI. And, cief minister Mamata Banerjee declared her intention to do so in the Assembly. The minister further informed that the Cabinet also discussed the decision of the August 19 allparty meeting where it was decided that the state � Roshan Giri would be renamed Mamata apprises Governor of GTA Bill Sudarshana Mukherjee Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and industry minister Partha Chatter jee met Governor M K Narayanan on Thursday. Acc or ding to sources, Banerjee apprised Narayanan of the Gorkhaland issue with the Bill expected to be placed in the Assembly on Friday. A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) delegation had pointed out certain anomalies in the Gorkhaland Territorial Agre - ement (GTA) and the draft Bill and sought changes. The Governor reportedly took interest in the proposed amendments to the GTA Bill. The CM sought to offer autonomy and financial assistance coupled with unrestricted support to a ruling party in the Darjeeling hills. The changes demanded by GJM stressed on greater economic independence and ethnicity for the new administrative set-up in the Hills. As constitutional guardian of the state, the Governor wanted to know how the government would resolve the differences. Sources further revealed that the Maoist crisis, which has been rearing its head through a spurt of recent incidents, also figured in the discussion. “It is our duty to apprise the Governor every 15 days, a routine the chief minister has formulated. We call it courtesy call. We had some relevant discussions, too. The GTA differences will be settled and there would not be any problems,” said Chatterjee. We plan to affiliate 10,000 madrasas but we’ll not give them any financial support. Our affiliation will help them get financial support from many other places, including the Centre —Mamata Banerjee, chief minister � Partha Chatterjee Paschimbanga. On whether the name would remain the same in English, he said the ways to implement the new name would be chalked out in the House. The Cabinet discussed reviving the Legislative Council in accordance with Article 169 of the Constitution. The issue had been on the chief minister’s agenda for some time now, Chatterjee said. The Cabinet also discussed the chief minister’s oft-repeated line that the government would have to work keeping farmers’ land and sentiments in mind. The chief minister said there would no longer be any forcible acquisition of land. Although the land Bill had not been passed yet, Banerjee has been fighting for it. “The Land Bill is taking its final shape. A discussion will be held at the 12th Cabinet meeting on September 14 to finalise the provisions of the Bill,” said Chatterjee. The minister added that the enactment of the Bill would take place after the final discussion following the next Cabinet meeting. Apart from the main issues, subjects related to government employment were discussed at the meeting. However, no details about these discussions were mentioned. allegations were raised against some senior Left Front minister and leaders of misappropriating funds and handing over properties under the Wakf Board. While the Left administration had initiated a police investigation, nothing conclusive emerged. “We have several plans that would benefit the Muslim community. We plan to affiliate 10,000 madrasas. But we will not give them any financial support. Our affiliation will help them get financial support from many places, including the Centre,” Our Correspondent Kolkata: The CPI(M) announced professor Nandini Mukherjee as its candidate for the Bhawanipore Assembly seat where she would be pitted against none other than chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the by-election on September 25. The result will be declared on September 28. A professor of computer science at Jadavpur University, Mukherjee has been associated with the party for a long time. She did her PhD from London after studying at the BE College in Shibpur. A member of the party’s Jadavpur unit, she is the wife of Biman Mukherjee, the registrar of her alma mater, known as Bengal Engineering and Science University at present. The other Assembly seat that will go to the polls also on September 25 is Basirhat Uttar. While the Bhawanipore constituency was vacated after PWD minister Subrata Bakshi resigned, the other constituency will have its byelection due to the death of sitting CPI(M) MLA Mostafa Bin Quasem. Although Bakshi will continue as PWD minister, he resigned from the Assembly and made way for Banerjee to contest from his seat. Quasem, 69, had committed suicide on May 29 after jumping off a fourth-floor window of the MLA Hostel on Kyd Street. Preliminary investigation said the CM. Refuting comments by former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, she said madrasas do “not train terrorists but good human beings”. “Every year, the state government will provide 20,000 jobs to Muslims. The community has not received as much importance ever. There’s not a single road at Churulia named after poet Kaji Nazrul Islam even though he was born there,” Banerjee said. She further said that while the state government had been trying to do some work, the Left Front was busy creating problems. “The previous government has not done anything over the last 34 years. But we are here just for three months. They should be silent for the next 10 years and let us work in our own flow,” said Banerjee. JU professor to take on Mamata in bypoll � Nandini Mukherjee revealed that a suicide note was found which established that Quasem had committed suicide. The CPI(M) announced Subid Ali Gazi, former president of Hasnabad panchayat, as its candidate for Basirhat Uttar. Gazi is also a member of the party’s North 24-Parganas district committee and enjoys a stronghold against heavyweight Gautam Deb. While the ruling Trinamool Congress seems confident of sailing through, it is a wait-andwatch situation for the CPI(M). LGBT to hold pride celebrations today Our Correspondent Kolkata: The LGBT pride celebrations will be held on Friday at Lincoln Room, American Center from 2 pm onwards. This year’s pride celebrations has an universal message—that all people are entitled to live with respect and dignity regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and regardless of where they live. Pride gatherings are an opportunity to reject that shame and inequality, and to assert legitimate entitlement of each person to enjoy universal human rights.
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