“Rabindranath Tagore had link with Shyamnagar Kali Temple”

PIX: An inscription on the wall of temple, temple founder Gopi mohan Thakur, priest Sambhunath Ghatak (left) and Srikanta Chatterjee, a portion of Natmandir and Shyamnagar kali temple.


By Shankar Banik

SHYAMNAGAR: Relatives of Rabindranath Tagore had set up Mulajor Kalibari at Shyamnagar in North 24 Parganas and it is unknown to many people. Visit the temple beside Hooghly River that is located in a very eye soothing natural scene.
One of the priests Sambhunath Ghatak said the temple was constructed on 31 Baishak in 1219 Bengali year around 200 years ago beside Hooghly River even before Dakhineswar Kali temple was set up by Rani Rasmoni Devi.
Six priests are engaged for offering puja to goddess Kali and 65-year-old Ghatak is one of the temple priests. “No dedicated book had been written on this temple and gradually history is fading away but we know relatives of Rabindranath Tagore constructed this temple, said the priest.
Srijit Thakur is the surviving member of the Thakur family whose ancestors set up the temple. He has one son and daughter, live in ‘Rajbari’at Pathuriaghata Street near Natunbazar in Kolkata.
Once upon a time Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestor Khitish Kusari came from Jessore in Bangladesh to West Bengal and his next generation was Bhattanaryan and later Dinanath Kusari. Dinanath’s son Panchanan got the title thakur since then his family member used to write the title Thakur instead of Kusari,” said Ghatak.
Jairam Thakur (Kusari) was latter generation had four sons- Anandiram, Nilmoni, Darpanarayan and Gobindaram.
Prince Dwarakanath Thakur was the next generation of Anandiram, whose son was Debendranath and Rabindranath was his eighth son. Rabindranath however became “bramho” and did not believe in idol worshipping. It had not been known whether he ever visited the temple.
Gopimohan Thakur, the son of Darpanarayan founded the temple.
Gopimohan had two sons Prsanna Kumar and Harakumar and daughter Brahmamoyee. Prasanna Kumar had one son Pradut Kumar and Harakumar had Jatindramohan. Surviving member Srijit Thakur is the son of Prabirendra mohan, who was the son of
Pradut Kumar.
According to local tale that the present place of the Kali temple was occupied of ‘Nandi’(caste) and ‘Pirali’ so experienced priest from ‘Bhatpara toll(Sanskrit educational institution) ’ used to refuse offering puja to the goddess Mulajore Shyamnagar Kali as a result priests were brought from Bankura, Burdwan and other places. Later a Sanskrit College was set up by the king Gopimohan Thakur as a matter of pride and to make erudite Sanskrit students. Students were accommodated in this college hostel they used to take Prasad in the temple as a lunch and dinner. Ramkumar Chattopadhya, elder brother of Ramakrishna Dev was the student of this college. But that building was dilapidated and Rabindra Bhawan was set up by municipality replacing the college.
“History is very interesting. But we are mostly depressed when the Sanskrit College, a piece of history was wiped out,” said Raja Goswami, a devotee.

Purchase land directly from owners for setting up industries: CM

PIX: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Industrialists

KOLKATA: Land for industrial units would have to be purchased directly from owners, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday during her first meeting with the industrialists in the city.
She has announced the setting up of a 25-member core committee to oversee the progress of forthcoming industrial projects in the state.
She said that the state cannot fix the price of land and no forcible acquisition of land will be done by the government. But she expressed the willingness of the government to accommodate the concerns of industry.
The meeting was attended by Adi Godrej of Godrej, Shivinder Singh of Fortis, Y.C. Deveshwar of ITC, Sanjiv Goenka of RPG Enterprise, Aditya Khaitan of McLeod Russel, Harsh Neotia of Ambuja Realty, Karan Paul of Apeejay Group, H.M. Bangur of Shree Cement and S.K. Roy of Peerless.

Rains cripple normal life in South Bengal

PIX: Rajib Deb, member, mayor-in-council (drainage and sewerage) with Kolkata Municipal Corporation(KMC) commissioner Arnab Roy visiting Ballyganj pumping station for supervising the Ballyganj sump project work(bottom). A lock gate of Ballyganj pumping station. A woman wading through accumulated water in the subway in Dum Dum station. Worsening condition of a dyke in Hingalganj.

KOLKATA: A 55-year-old man died after being electrocuted soon after heavy rain lashed the city yesterday. Heavy shower threw normal life out of gear in Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas and other parts of South Bengal.
Kesharmal Gupta (55) died after being electrocuted when he tried to save a woman and her child from touching a roadside feeder box of CESC that had gone under water around 11.45 a.m. The woman and her child were saved.
The average rainfall recorded in the city during the day was more than 100 mm. Around 160 mm rainfall was recorded in the Palmer Bridge pumping station area.
The mayor, Sovan Chatterjee, and Rajib Deb, member, mayor in council (drainage), visited the pumping stations and several waterlogged areas.
Areas surrounding Bagbazar, Shyambazar, Talla Park and Baranagar in north Kolkata and Topsia, Tiljala, Behala, Garden Reach and BBD Bag were flooded. There was waist deep water on several streets, lanes and by-lanes.
Several Dykes collapsed in Sunderbans areas. Cracks were found on the Dykes in Basanti, Gosaba, Sandeshkhali, Namkhana. Conditions of the several dykes in Sahebkhali, Ramapur, Schoolbari, Jagannath Ghat in Jogeshganj in Hingalganj area in North 24 Parganas are worsening villagers are apprehending collapse of those dykes any time.
Gopal Karmakar and Vijay Singh from Asian Front of Human Rights appealed to district magistrates of North and South 24 Parganas for taking initiative for repairing those dams.

"Arrest the mastermind behind scribe's murder"

KOLKATA: Journalists, social and human rights activists of Kolkata and districts expressed their deep concern over the killing of senior investigative journalist Jyotirmoy Kumar Dey(56).
Four motorbike-borne gunmen pumped at least five bullets into Dey, editor (special investigation) with tabloid Mid-Day, near a shopping complex in Powai around 3pm yesterday.
He had received threats for writing a series of reports on the state’s oil mafia, who allegedly burnt alive an additional collector near Nashik in January.
S Mitra, a senior reporter of a vernacular daily said Mumbai police is yet to make any breakthrough into this case and a special team should be formed immediately to nab the mastermind behind Dey’s murder.
Dipankar Nag, from North 24 Parganas journalist association said government should investigate whether any police and crime syndicate nexus is behind the conspiracy to kill the investigative journalist.
Sudip Patra a human rights activist said if the culprits will not be arrested then government intention regarding the crackdown on mafia will be under scanner.
Dey is survived by wife Shubha, a sub-editor with Economic Times, and his mother who lived with him in Mumbai. He hailed from Guwahati.

Samshan Kali temple ornaments stolen

Burglars broke into a 70 -year-old Kali temple in Baranagar and decamped with gold, silver ornaments and cash worth nearly Rs 2.5 lakh. The theft was noticed on Thursday morning. Police have started an investigation but are yet to make a breakthrough.
The famous temple, known as ‘Samshan Kali Mandir’, is located on Sashibhusan Street in Baranagar. It draws devotees from across the city.
According to the complaint lodged with police, the temple was locked by the priest around 9.30 pm on Wednesday. When the priest and some devotees reached the temple in the morning, they noticed its broken gate and the missing valuables. They informed the Baranagar police.
“The theft took place late night and a group of local miscreants could be behind the theft. The thieves first broke in through the collapsible gate and then broke open the main door of the temple. The raids are on to nab them,” said an investigating officer.

Women should follow Manikuntala Devi’s ideology for personality development: Jail minister

PIX: DRSA general secretary Bramhachari Mural Bhai (extreme left) and jail minister Shankar Chakraborty(extreme right) inaugurating Manikuntala Devi's birth day celebration programme by ligting the lamp. (pix: Subal Saha)


KOLKATA: Dakhineswar Ramkrishna Sangha Adyapeath (DRSA) observed 112 birth anniversary of Manikuntala Devi, holy consort of the DRSA founder Annadathakur.
DRSA observed two days festival in the ashram premise. The programme was inaugurated on 5 June.
Minister of state for sports and youth affairs (Independent Charge) Madan Mitra and state jail minister Shankar Chakraborty attended the programme.
Bramhachari Mural Bhai, DRSA general secretary cum trustee said Manikuntala Devi left her several dreams to be fulfilled for the welfare of the poverty stricken women. “DRSA took up several projects to involve women for their empowerment. We are running an orphanage for the girls where our teachers providing them vocation trainings, Mural Bhai said.
He said even the girls organized a fair and sold their self-made handicraft items and raised a fund. He urges government to take strong action for preventing violence on women.
Shankar Chakraborty, state jail minister said Manikuntala Devi devoted herself in meditation and found the best spiritual practices are forgiveness, non violence, tolerance, kindness. The practices of these virtues earn more dignities for women.
Madan Mitra, minister of state for sports and youth affairs (Independent Charge) said that the chief minister Mamata Banerjee is the emblem of women empowerment and she proves that men and women are equal in the world.
Noted devotional singer Mahesh Ranjan Shome presented a songs in the evening on 6 June and enthralled the audiences.

Crime witness shot dead

Kolkata: A 42-year-old hawker Shambhu Sau was shot dead by the goons near his residence at Bansbagan near Titagarh in North 24 Parganas early on Friday after he became a witness of a crime. Only a few days ago Sau, an ice-cream seller who used to take regular morning walk found some local criminals committing crime. The victim’s family members alleged that the goons started threatening him with dire consequences since he saw them stealing some valuables from a local shop in Bansbagan area which he protested.
Police are looking for the culprits, no one has been arrested in this connection yet. “The local criminals could be involved in the murder and the assailants may have fled the spot soon after the murder. The raids are on to nab them,” a senior police official said.
Police said, the incident took place around 5.30 am when three miscreants came to Sau’s residence and called him. They took him away at a short distance from his house and an altercation broke out between Sau and the goons. During altercation one of the miscreants took out a gun and fired two rounds at him from a point blank range and they fled the spot soon. Sau was struck by bullets on his head and chest. On hearing the gunshots locals rushed to the spot and found Sau lying in a pool of blood. He was taken to Barrackpore BN Bose Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Afterbeing informed a police team came to the spot to investigate the murder. The local residents launched an agitation in front of the police men to protest against the murder alleging inaction of the police to stop the criminal activities in the locality.
“In his regular morning walk my uncle saw several crimes in our locality. He told us that he had also found local goons carrying arms returning home after committing crime. Only a few days ago when he found the goons stealing valuables from a shop, he strongly protested that’s why he was killed by them,” said Rabi Sau, the nephew of the victim. The family members also blamed the inaction of the police following the murder of Sau.
“Police knew well that the crimes have been regular at the Bansbagan area but they did not take any action to arrest the criminals. As my husband identified the miscreants the goons murdered him,” said Maya Sau, the wife of the victim. He was the only sole bread earner of our family and we have two daughters, I don’t know how I will earn our livelihood, Maya also added while breaking down.
The police however have started an investigation in this connection. “The motive behind the murder could not be ascertained. After a preliminary investigation it is suspected that an old rivalry led to the murder and the local miscreants could be involved. The raids are on and the surrounding police stations have also been alerted in this connection,” said a senior police offier.

Meanwhile, in another incident a 45-year-old milk trader Dewsoran Roy was shot at by his brother Mukesh Roy at their residence at Ichhapur Chaigada near Noapara in North 24 Parganas on Thursday morning after an altercation broke out between two brothers for a family feud. Dewsoran was admitted to the RG Kar hospital with severe bullet injuries. Mukesh, the accused is still absconding. Police are looking for him.
Police said, they used to engage in brawl over a dispute in property. Around 10.30 am on Wednesday during an altercation Mukesh took out a gun and fired two rounds at his elder brother and fled the spot. Dewshoran was struck by bullets on his shoulder and right hand.

Skulls recovered near former minister’s ancestral home

PIX: Former minister of Paschimanchal Unnayan Parshad, Susanta Ghosh and human skulls recovered near from his ancestral home.

KOLKATA: Human skulls and bones were recovered on Saturday from Mallickdanga-Daserbandh near Garbeta in West Midnapore, which is located just 500 meters away from the ancestral residence of former minister of Paschimanchal Unnayan Parshad, Susanta Ghosh. Four skeletons, 25 bones and three parts of skeletons were recovered from under the ground. Police suspect victims were killed and later buried. Police found bangle and saree and suspect one of the victim was woman. Trinamul leader Srikanta Mahato alleged CPI-M’s hired miscreants killed innocent persons and later buried their bodies under the ground. He demanded a CID investigation into the matter. However Sanatan Majhi, zonal committee secretary of CPI-M of Chandrokona Road said they will comment after getting complete information.
Three decomposed bodies of CPI-M supporters, which were buried underground at two different places in Jhargram sub-division in West Midnapore, were found on Friday.
Bodies were identified as Sukumar Parihari (35) and his nephew Toton Parihari (25). Those were found in a forest patch at Bhandarvilla in the Beliabera police station area. The Maoists had kidnapped them on 17 October, 2010 from their residence and the duo was missing since then.
NEW CID POST: The government has created an independent post of director-general of police to oversee the functioning of the CID on Friday.

Tale of two slain dons

PIX: Slain don Hubba (Shyamal Das), appartment of former smuggler Ram Lakhan Yadav.


KOLKATA: Police have arrested Ramesh Mahato in connection with the murder of Syamal Das alias Hubba, whose body was fond on Thursday. Hubba was involved in several crimes including the stealing of goods from several factories of Srirampore in Hooghly. Police have also arrested Mahato’s associate Jitedra Singh for his involvement in the murder of Hubba. Police are looking for another person named Nepu Giri.
Hubba allegedly used to fund a political party, and leaders of the party influenced police not to arrest him. Hubba now a days started promoting business and trying to detach himself from the gangsters. He also wanted to file his nomination as an independent candidate for local civic poll but his dream to become councilor was dampened by a leader of local political party as he asked Hubba to refrain from filing nomination.
Police said Hubba used to steal the scrap irons and other goods from Sri Durga Cotton Mill, JK Steel, United Vegtables, Seraikella Bindal, Bagkhal Jute mill and other factories and nobody dared to protest as he used to run a gang of mercenaries, those terrorize local people and factory officials even police also.
Police are yet to find the clues to catch the culprits, who were involved in the murder of realtor and former smuggler Ram Lakhan Yadav and two of his aides in Asansol on Thursday. The trio were killed by a 15-member motorcycle gang in front of an under-construction building barely 50 metres from the Asansol court.
Police sources said most of the dons, are suspected to be involved in the murder of Yadav and others, had close links with local political parties.
The police suspect dons involved in gang rivalry following the scrap iron business as all dons of Asansol wanted to establish his own reign in this business.

CPI-M leader’s luxury apartment ransacked after arms recovered from his pump house

Pix: CPI-M leader Tapan Ghosh(Top) and his alleged arms assembling unit(bottom)

KOLKATA: A mob stormed into the residence of CPI-M leader Tapan Ghosh and ransacked soon after an assembling unit of the guns was discovered from a pumping station owned by him Kharkushma in Garbeta of West Midnapore on Friday.
Police said a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the house of CPI-M leader Prabhakar Sarkar who is close to Ghosh. A large number of equipment and machines, which are used in making guns, were recovered when villagers raided Ghosh’s pumping station.
The villagers raided the house of Sarkar from where the security forces recovered 16 muskets, two 9 mm pistols and 1,000 rounds of cartridges. Police said in another raid at Angua in Keshpur, one firearm packed inside a gunny bag was recovered from an agricultural field.
A Trinamul leader alleged Ghosh is a close to CPI-M leader and former Paschimanchal Unnayan minister Susanta Ghosh. Furniture of his luxury rooms were broken by the mob.
A large contingent of police and CRPF jawans arrived at the spot and brought the situation under control.

Amarta Sen chief mentor for Presidency University

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today announced that nobel laureate prof. Amartya Sen will head the panel of mentors for Presidency University and historian Sugata Bose will be its chairman to improve academic excellence of this university.
Bose is now the Gardiner professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard. He had obtained his PhD from Cambridge. Sen is the Thomas W. Lamont University professor at Harvard.
Mamata said that the panel of mentors would be given a freee hand and government will not interfere into the matter of university.
Sen heads the mentor group for Nalanda University following an offer made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Bose is part of the panel formed to try and resurrect the ancient seat of learning.

CU pass out becomes HHMI's vice president

File Pix: Brahmachari Mural Bhai(LEFT), general secretary cum trustee of Dakhineswar Ramakrishna Sangha Adyapeath (DRSA) with HHMI’s vice president Nitin Kotak.

Washington: The Trustees of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have elected Nitin Kotak as vice president and chief financial officer. Kotak(53), joins the Institute from Bethesda-based Technest Holdings, Inc., where he was chief financial officer and treasurer. He succeeds Edward J.Palmerino, who has held the post since 2006, and who will remain with the Institute through April 30. HHMI is a non-profit medical research organization that ranks as one of the largest philanthropies in the United States and in fact is the 4th largest in the whole world. Its medical investigators currently include 13 Nobel Prize winners who join HHMI in advancing biomedical research and science education in the United States. It has an endowment of about $16 billion (about Rs 80,000 crores) and spends about $1 billion each year (about Rs 5,000 crores) in research, grant support, science education and expenses. “Nitin comes to us with great enthusiasm for our mission and significant experience in financial analysis, reporting, and compliance,” said Cheryl Moore, HHMI’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “He is a strong addition to our management team and we’re pleased to welcome him to the Institute.”A native of India, Kotak holds a bachelor of commerce degree and graduated with first class honors in accounting and auditing from the University of Calcutta. He is a senior member of three major professional institutes in India– the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Institute of Company Secretaries and the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants. In addition, he has attended management programs at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Kotak started his career in 1981 working as the assistant company secretary for a Tata group enterprise, Tinplate Company of India. He then spent more than 17 years working at ITC Limited, the Indian associate of the Fortune 500 British American Tobacco and one of India’s top 15 companies, where he held a variety of finance-related positions. In 1999 he moved to India-based Mattel Toys, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc., as its chief financial officer.Kotak moved to the U.S. in 2003 to become director of finance and accounting for Able Laboratories, Inc., a publicly traded developer and manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals. A year later, he became Able’s vice president for finance and accounting. At HHMI, Kotak will oversee budget and financial analysis, the controller’soffice, treasury, internal audit, and procurement. “I am very excited at this opportunity to be a part of this outstanding organization and work in a spirit of giving back to the community. I feel honored to be selected for this great responsibility,” said Kotak. Kotak and his wife, Dipti, live in Silver Spring and have two sons: Akshay,24, is pursuing a doctorate in financial economics at the University of Oxfordin England; Anant, 21, is a senior at the University of Maryland and ispursuing a degree in accounting and finance.

"Nitin is our pride and I wish for his more successes," said Brahmachari Mural Bhai, secretary of Dakhineswar Ramkrishna Sangha Adyapeath (DRSA).

Mamata wins: Trinamul & Congress take West Bengal

The Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance swept the state Assembly poll with more than a two-thirds majority. Red citadel stood firmly for 34 years. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tendered his resignation to Governor M. K. Narayanan at the Raj Bhavan after the collapse of red bastion.
However Narayannan urged Bhattacharjee ton continue their duties till alternative arrangements are made.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee met Governor in the evening and staked her claim to form the next government.
Banerjee is all set to be the state's first woman Chief Minister. In her address she said the landslide victory for the alliance as a “winning for democracy, a victory for the people, a victory for maa, mati, manush. She promised good governance, good administration.
Bhattacharjee and 25 Ministers, including Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, Industries and Power Minister Nirupam Sen, Housing Minister Gautam Deb and Minister for Sundarban Affairs Kanti Ganguly were defeated.
The Trinamool secured a majority on its own, bagging 184 of the total 294 seats. A decision on whether or not the Congress(won 42 seats) will join the new government will be taken soon. Mamata has welcomed Congress and another ally, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (won one seat) to join government.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the verdict was clearly in favour of Mamata adding that Banerjee had achieved what the Congress could not in the past years.
The Left Front got only 62. The position of other parties in the Left Front are- the CPI (2), AIFB (11), RSP (7), SP (1) and the Democratic Socialist Party (1).
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha won three seats and Independents two.
CPI-M leader Biman Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee jointly said in a statement that this result was unexpected.

No Chemical Hub at Nayachar: Mamata

KOLKATA: There will be no Nuclear plant at Haripur neither any chemical hub will be set up at Nayachar if Trinamul Congress comes to power in West Bengal, Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee said in an interview to a Bengali news channel today.
She said post tsunami disaster in Japan is horrible lesson for us and Trinamul will emphasize on eco friendly industries at Nayachar instead of chemical hub. She said if Trinamul forms the government then it would impose restriction on squatting on the railway track on several issues to keep smooth functioning of the railways. Banerjee said chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharya will be defeated at Jadavpur Assembly constituency and CPI-M will get only 50 seats in this election as people of West Bengal want to abolish the tyranical rule in the state.

Former MP Anil Basu apologises for lewd remark

KOLKATA: CPI-M leader and former MP Anil Basu today apologised for using abusive language against Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee in an election rally yesterday. He was directed by the CPI-M senior leaders to seek apology. It has been learnt that Basu was asked not to attend any further poll rallies. Mamata Banerjee today said CPI-M party leaders have such culture to pass derogatory comment on opposition leaders.
Chief minister Buddhdeb Bhattacharya today said Basu’s remark was very unfortunate so he has been asked to apologise. Bhattacharya was attending a rally in South 24 Parganas.

Mamata completes fourth padayatra

Pix: aitmc.org

KOLKATA: Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee today took out padayatra for garnering support for upcoming Assembly poll. It was her fourth padayatra. Banerjee accompanied with a large number of Trinmul supporters started from Gariahat constituency and marched through Jadavpur, from where chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is contesting. They also visited several parts of Ballygunj, Kasba and Tollygunj. Manish Gupta, a former state chief secretary, is contesting against Bhattacharjee on a Trinamool Congress ticket from Jadavpur. A large number of people came out from their residence greeted Banerjee and wished for Trinamul’s victory, a senior Trinamul leader said. The six-phase Assembly polls in the state will begin on April 18.

Seminar to popularize ‘Sama Veda’

KOLKATA: Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Samskrita Siksha Samsad organised a two days long seminar on ‘Sama Veda’ at Turiyananda Hall at Golpark Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture on 25 March. Dr Suresh Kumar Bandyopadhyay, registrar of the Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Samskrita Siksha Samsad said erudite and professors, who are experts on the Veda arrived to participate in the ‘national seminar’ and delivered their speech. Dr Bandyopadhyay said a lot of people are interested to learn Veda but the study on Sama Veda is being neglected so the ‘Samsad’ organised the seminar to popularise this subject. Dr Gopal Mitra, president of the Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Samskrita Siksha Samsad, vice chancellor of Sri Venkateswara Vedic University, Tirupati professor S. Sudarsana Sharma, Secretary of Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda-Vidya Pratisthan, professor Roop kishor Shastri delivered their speech on Sama Veda and explained why ‘Sama Veda’ should be learned in this era. Dr Bandyopadhyay said Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Samskrita Siksha Samsad first organised such kind of seminar on ‘Sama Veda’ in India and world also.

Congress to finalise candidates for Assembly poll

KOLKATA: Senior Congress leaders held a meeting in New Delhi to prepare a list of the candidates for the assembly election.
Trinmool Congress already announced 228 candidates name (see-http://www.aitmc.org/cand_list.pdf)
and offered 64 seats to Congress.
This however created resentment among the Congress workers and leaders in West Bengal.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had said, that they will be happy if Congress fields its candidates in 64 constituencies after seat adjustment. “Else, we will announce our candidates in those seats by Monday, she said.”
The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Manas Bhuniya arrived New Delhi last night, has already finalised the candidates for the 90 assembly seats and central leadership of the Congress has to approve it.
A meeting of the Congress’s screening committee for West Bengal chaired by Janardhan Poojari discussed the list of the candidates. Other screening committee members like leaders like P J Kurian and Working Committee Member in-charge for West Bengal Shakeel Ahmad joined the meeting.
Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee had held discussion with them over the issue last night.
Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury, MP, had yesterday said that the Trinamool’s one-sided declaration to the seats was an insult to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. He had also alleged that the Mamata Banerjee’s party wanted to abolish Congress in West Bengal.
MP Deepa Dasmunshi also expressed her resentment over the Trinmool Congress list.
It has been learnt that Sonia Gandhi has been strongly supporting the continuation of the alliance. Sonia Gandhi, who is in London, is expected to be back here today.

LF drops 9 ministers and some MLA for Assembly poll

Left Front today published the list of 292 candidates for upcoming West Bengal Assembly poll. LF dropped nine ministers and some sitting MLA fearing anti incumbency.
LF chairman Biman Bose announced the list in a press conference at CPI-M headquarter on Alimuddin Street.
CPI-M will field 210 Forward Bloc 34, RSP 23, CPI 12, WBSP 5, RCPI, MFB and DSP 2 each and RJD and Biplobi Bangla Congress one. The state has 294-member Assembly.
The nominees for Serampore in Hooghly, Kalimpong will be announced later.
Assembly Speaker H A Halim and deputy speaker Bhaktipada Ghosh as well as LF chief whip Syed Masiha have will not contest on health ground.
Manab Mukherjee, Partha Dey, Nandogopal Bhattacharjee, Bankim Ghosh, Rabin Ghosh, Benoy Krishan Biswas, Rabindranth Hembram, Yogesh Chandra Barman and Tapan Roy have been denied ticket.
Bose said some of them will not contest as they wanted to work for the party.
Chief minsiter Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been renominated from Jadavpur.
Existing ministers are contesting in this election-Nirupam Sen (Burdwan-South), Surya Kanta Mishra (Narayangar), Ashok Bhattacharya (Siliguri), Kanti Ganguly (Raidighi), Abdul Rezzak Mollah (Canning-East) and Debesh Das (Entally).
Goutam Deb will contest from Dum Dum.
Fuad Halim, son of Speaker H A Halim, will contest from Ballygunge.
Bose said the list also included 46 women candidates, 14 more than in 2006. Besides, 56 Muslims are in the list.Polling in the six-phase elections will be held April 18, 23, 27, May 3, 7 and 10. Counting will take place on May 13.

Tagore 150-birth anniversary observed

KOLKATA: Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Sanskrit Siksha Samsad organised a programme at ‘Baikunta Dham’ near Southern Avenue on 25 February to celebrate 150-birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
The programme was presided by professor Dr Gopal Mitra. Bramhachari Mural Bhai, the general secretary of Dakhineswar Ramkrishna Sangha Adyapeath delivered his speech in that occasion.Dr Suresh Kumar Bandhopadhya, register of Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Sanskrit Siksha Samsad, and professor Ranjana Mukherjee also addressed the gathering.

Human Rights and Law College to be set up in Panskura

KOLKATA: Panskura Brihannala Welfare Society (PBWS) and Asian Human Rights Society (AHRS) will set up a Human Rights and Law College at Kanakpur near Panskura in East Midnapore.
Secretary of Panskura Brihannala Welfare Society (PBWS) and secretary of state women wing of AHRS, Barama (Sova Halder), said the fund would be provided by the Asian Human Rights Society.
Md Mehebub Rahmani, president of AHRS laid the foundation stone for the college on Saturday. He said without legal awareness men can’t fight against the violators of the human rights.
Quazi Sadeque Hossain, general secretary of AHRS said that the requirement to set up human rights and law-college is very much important to help the tortured victims.
Barama said there are a large number of cases of human rights violation taking place in several areas of East and West Midnapore and the brihannala are the worst victims of human rights violation cases.
“Even police hate us and denied to pursue our cases. So legal awareness is much required to organize movement against the human rights violations, she said.
Barama said that a group of miscreants snatched the valuables and money of the brihannala (eunuch) and fled away but police are not arresting the criminals and taking bribes from them. Most of the victims (brihannala) lost their deposits following the stealing of the valuables by the miscreants.
“Even the miscreants group plotted a conspiracy to murder me as I led a movements by the brihannala to protest against the looting and snatching by the miscreants. I lodged a complaint but the culprits are not behind the bars, said Barama.
A meeting was organised and several human rights activists participated in the programme. Manju Mukherjee, Khokan Banik, Ratneswar Kayal, Barun Mahato, Kundan Halder
Madan Mohan Upadhya, secretary of Vivekananda Sishu Mandir (Radhamohanpur), Ganga Pada Maity, vice president of the same organisation, Sudarshan Maity, headmaster delivered their speech in the occasion.
Human rights activist Kundan Halder said more movements should be organised to stop the attack on eunuchs and administration should pursue the criminal cases against the attackers, who are robbing the valuables of the brihannala.
Khokan Banik said there is a long history heritage of the eunuch of India and they have their own separate culture and should be helped to maintain their tradition.

LF proves mass strength by pouring crowd in Brigade rally

KOLKATA: The Trinamul Congress leaders are hampering the development works in West Bengal, Left Front (LF) chairman Biman Bose said today.
He was addressing a big rally at Brigade parade ground. This is the last Left Front rally at Brigade before Assembly poll.
He said the Trinamul is an evil force and people should deject this party as the party is hampering all development works in the state.
Other LF leaders also said in their speech that the Trinamul supporters in connivance with the Maoists terrorizing the people of Junglemahal and instigating violence.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee expressed his satisfaction over the gathering at Brigade said that they are ready to fight at the Assembly election
Chief minister said UPA government at the Centre is solely responsible for the price hike of the essential commodities and the government failed to take action against the corruption and scams.
He said that the Trinamul has hand in glove with the Maoists and is responsible for several murder and violence in Junglemahal areas. He said Trinamul leaders should plead apology for their mistakes. He urged that all the supporters should fight to oust the evil forces from the state.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on railways satisfied over land acquistion process for railway projects

Pix:Bapi Raju Kanumuru, Member of Loksabha (third from left) with Varun Vharthuar, general manager, Eastern Railway and Vinoy Mittal, general manager, South Eastern Railway (second and third from right respectively )

KOLKATA: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways in Kolkata, members of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways under the convenership of Bapi Raju Kanumuru, Member of Loksabha held a meeting with both Eastern and South Eastern Railways today in a city hotel.
During the meeting, members discussed regarding the policy of employment in Railways and also land acquisition. Both the General Managers of Eastern and South Eastern Railways, Varun Bharthuar and Vinay Mittal explained elaborately regarding the policies and present condition in details. Members expressed their satisfaction after the discussion specially for the transparency on this two subjects.
Among the members Khiladi Lal Bairwa, Dr. Ram Chandra Dome, Pralhad Joshi, Bapi Raju Kanumuru, Dr.Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi, Somabhai G. Koli Patel and Satabdi Roy from Loksabha and Om Prakash Mathur, Tarini Kanta Roy, T.M. Selvaganapathi and Sushila Tiriya from Rajyasabha and officials from Loksabha Secretariat were present in the meeting. Other than GMs, senior officers of both Eastern and South Eastern Railways also joined the meeting.

Tusker damages Technology market of IIT Kharagpur

KOLKATA: A tusker entered into the campus of the IIT Kharagpur this evening and damaged havoc the Technology market.
The animal earlier destroyed crops and damaged many residences at Jakpur, Thakurnagar and Palasia in rural areas of Kharagpur.
A police officer said the animal damaged the gate of the Tata Stadium and some shops of the market. Shop owners soon fled away after closing their shops. People also stayed inside their residence. Senior divisional forest officials arrived at the spot and supervising elephant driving operation. A large number of crowds gathered at the spot and forest employees facing difficulties to continue the tusker driving operation. Police also arrived at the spot and urging people to vacate the area.

Red Cross camp in Sunderbans

Pix: Red Cross Camp at Najat

Report by: Kundan Halder

BASIRHAT: Volunteers of the Basirhat Junior and Youth Red Cross Unit (BJYRCU) organised a four days long camp at Najat in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas to promote and encourage the participation of children and young persons in the work of the Red Cross. The camp was inaugurated by a monk of Ramkrishna Seva Sangha on 27 January at Rabindra Siksha Niketan.
Pinaki Ranjan Kshetrapal, counselor and general secretary of the BJYRCU said around 250 persons participated in the camp. Several trainers including doctors attended the camps to develop a sense of social responsibility among the participants.
Most of the youths and school boys came from the Sunderbans areas and got training in first aid including dressing, bandage. Trainers also aware the camp goers on wounds and hemorrhage, respirator system, artificial respiration(practice), burns and scalds, fracture, asphyxia and shock.
Abu Sayed Mandal, one of the organiser said students and youths were much interested to learn those subjects as there were lack of doctors and paramedic staffs at their locality.
Nirmal Satra said students of the camp were asked to help the local people during any emergency situation. “A large number of people died following the snake bite at our locality so I attentively listened and took note how to help a snake bite persons, said Piya Mandal, a camp attendant of Sandeshkhali area.
Pinaki Ranjan Kshetrapal said they have urged the students to aware people for donating blood in summer during the crisis of blood.

70 persons ill 5000 affected following ammonia gas leak in Dum Dum

Pix: People outside their residences after gas leak (top)

People admitted hospital

Seventy people fell ill following the leak of ammonia gas from a cold storage at Nagerbazar in Dum Dum today.
Panic gripped residents and most of them ran away from the locality after the gas leak and most of them developed breathing problem. Around 5000 people were affected and some of them were admitted to a local hospital. A hospital, near the cold storage was evacuated. The disaster management group and BSF personnel arrived at the spot. The fire and emergency service employees initially failed to detect the spot from where the gas emitting since afternoon. Later they wear mask and entered into the cold storage. The cold storage is for preservation of fish, police said.
Seven fire tenders have been pressed into service to detect the source of the leakage and plug it as efforts were being made to contact the owners.
Traffic on the adjacent Jessore road was disrupted. The cold storage was closed as it was a Sunday.

Gita Devi died

Actress Gita De passed away in a hospital last night after a long illness. Celebrated actress was 80. She acted around in 200 Bengali films and dramas. She was admitted to a hospital few days back. She joined in acting when she was 6-year-old. Some of her famous films were Ahuti, Meghe Dhaka Tara, Kabi, Phuleswari and Byapika Biday.
She also acted in Star theatre in several times with theater personality Sisir Bhaduri. She earned the acclamation by her acting when she was only 13-year-old.
Singer Pintu Bhattacharya died today after suffering from cancer for a prolonged period. He was 71-year-old. He was admitted to a cancer hospital in South Kolkata two days back and doctor advised him for a biopsy test. But he died before the result come in.

Baul, Kirtaniya arrive to enjoy Jaydeb fair

KOLKATA: Around 250 akhada (tent) were set up by the baul and kirtaniya (folk and kirtaniya singer) at Kenduli-Jaydeb in Birbhum following the four days long “Jaydeb Mela” this year.
Few thousands baul and kirtaniya arrived on Friday here and singing songs and playing instruments. Few lakhs visitors arrived here and many of them took bath in the River Ajay on the day of Makar Sankranti. Folk singers from foreign countries have reached at Kenduli and staying at the akhada. The fair had been organised more than 100 years ago and the fair was previously recognised as Baul mela. But now-a-days kirtaniyas are thronging to visit the fair and organised their programme in several places.
The mercury dipped down and the temperature was 6 degree centigrade on Saturday. But people ignored the icy chill and dipped in the river.
No tourist lodge or hotels are located here but tourists were being accommodated in the tents. Some organizations were regularly catering free meals (kichdi with alur dum and cabbages curry) to the visitors. The fair brings the memory of the poet Jaydeb, who wrote many poems on communal harmony and love.
Police said they set up eight watchtowers and several drop gates for the safety and security of the visitors and a special control room was opened.

Special EC team arrives to oversee law and order

File Pix :Mob violence

KOLKATA: A four-member special Election Commission team arrived on Sunday to see the law and order situation in West Bengal.
The special EC team, led by Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar Sudhir Kumar Rakesh, arrived in Kolkata to oversee law and order in the state ahead of the Assembly elections, West Bengal Joint CEO Dibyendu Sarkar said, two other members would arrive later tonight.
The team may visit the trouble-hit districts where political violence occurred in past few days. The decision to send a fact-finding team was taken by the EC after representatives of various political parties had informed them about the worsening law and order situation and series of political violence.
An official said that maintenance of law and order situation is vitial to the conduct of free and fair and peaceful election.
Three other senior police officers including Zaki Ahmed (DIG National Crime Record Bureau), P R K Naidu (DIG National Crime Record Bureau) and D K Pandey (ADG Jharkhand) arrived today apart from Bihar CEO.Other two senior police officers V S Reddy (DIG Andhra Pradesh) and P S Rampassi (DIG Orissa), would arrive later tonight.