News Analysis India

Tag: Bengal

  • TMC MLA Tapas Roy holds Congress responsible for rise of BJP in Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Accusing the Congress of “muddling” the state’s political scenario with its anti-Mamata Banerjee campaigns, the TMC on Saturday held the grand old party responsible for the rise of communal forces, such as the BJP, in West Bengal.

    State minister and TMC MLA Tapas Roy, during a press meet here, also claimed that the Congress failed as a party at the Centre, as a result of which “this divisive force (BJP) took centre stage in the country”.

    “By practising strident and blind anti-Mamata policy in Bengal, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Adhir Choudhury dragged state politics backwards. That, in turn, resulted in the emergence of forces like the BJP,” Roy said.

    Sharpening his attack on the saffron party, Roy alleged that the BJP was trying to disparage the inclusive nature of the state, and its history.

    “By eulogising Veer Savarkar in Netaji’s Bengal, the saffron camp is distorting the culture of the state,” the legislator claimed.

    Asserting that the saffron camp’s dream to turn West Bengal into Gujarat will come to nought, he said the way BJP leaders have been hurting the ‘asmita’ (self pride) of the state’s 10 crore people with their statements, there is room for little doubt that they would face a “humiliating defeat” in the upcoming Assembly polls.

    “Your (BJP’s) dreams to turn Bengal into Gujarat will never be realised. The party’s central leaders are coming here from Gujarat, while state leaders are talking of building ‘Sonar Bangla’ (golden Bangla) by taking cues from the western state. Which Gujarat are you referring to? Is it the one where 2,000 people were slaughtered in three days some years ago?” Roy quipped.

    Drawing parallels between the two states, the Baranagar MLA, quoting recent national crime data, said that for every one lakh people, 32 crimes occur in Kolkata against 54 in Ahmedabad.

    “There are 98,000 schools in Bengal against 55,000 schools in Gujarat. Female literacy in rural Bengal stands at 73 per cent, while in Gujarat it has reached 68 per cent. BJP central leaders from Gujarat don’t have the right to draw comparisons between the two states.

    “Also, take note of the fact that almost all heavyweight bank defaulters are from Gujarat,” Roy added. Asked about senior TMC leader Satabdi Roy, who had voiced her discontent about the party on Friday, the minister made light of the matter, and said, “She is an asset to the party.

    She has always been loyal to party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

  • To popularise solar energy, Bengal allows net metering for individual households

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: In a bid to popularise solar energy in the state, the West Bengal government has allowed net metering for individual household rooftop solar panels starting from 1 KW, an official said.

    Earlier institutional, commercial, industrial and cooperative housing were only allowed the benefit of net metering and that too for 5 KW capacity onward.

    The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission in its recent amendments to the Cogeneration and Electricity Generation from Renewable Sources Regulations 2013 had allowed net metering for individual households from 1 KW but had restricted it to 5 KW, a top official told PTI.

    “To boost renewable energy use, we have allowed net- metering of solar power installation from 1 KW to 5 KW. Now there is no restriction and anyone can install rooftop solar panel. Earlier regulations did not allow net metering for common households,” a WBERC official said.

    However, a consumer cannot install solar panels more than its own load.

    That means if a household has an existing electricity load of 2 KW then his installation cannot be higher than 2 KW even if he has space and interest, a WBERC official said.

    The net metering concept allows to set-off the number of units produced from the total consumption and the consumer pays electricity charges of only what he had derived from the grid or distribution company.

    The regulation allows set-off of up to 90 per cent of his solar power generation for any month The new amendment mandates “gross metering” facilities for solar system installation capacities above 5 KW.

    The commercial benefit for a consumer is far less in case of gross-metering compared to net-metering thus making adoption less commercially attractive.

    The Union Power ministry in its model regulation had provided gross metering over 10 KW solar installations, the official added.

  • Mamata blakens her display picture in solidarity with victims

    Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) erupted in a big way condemning Thursday’s Tinsukia killings with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday turning her social media display picture black as a mark of solidarity with the Assam victims’ families and lambasting the BJP for injecting fear in every household of the country.

    Five people of Bengali community were brutally gunned down by unknown assailants at Tinsukia on Thursday evening.

    While the CPI(M) took out a rally on Friday evening TMC MP and Abhishek Banerjee led a huge rally in the noon demanding Assam Chief Minister’ Sarbanand Sonwal’s resignation for “presiding over a Government of killers” and failing to protect the lives of innocent, hapless people.

    The TMC leaders tweeted “in solidarity, on Protest day to condemn the brutal killings of Bengalis by a State ruled by the BJP we are turning out Twitter/FB DPs into black,” adding street protests would continue throughout Bengal even as an embarrassed BJP leadership wondered why the Trinamool and the Left were making an issue out of the incident as “the Assam Government has taken prompt action over the issue.”

    Calling the Thursday’s killings as an “extension of Assam Government’s NRC drive” the Bengal Chief Minister said “the people who were killed on Thursday belong to the poorest of the poor section of the society” wondering whether the killings were a direct fallout of the animosity provoked by the NRC drive in that State.

    The BJP was driving out the Biharis from Gujarat, Bengalis and UP wallahs from Assam so that it had become difficult to survive peacefully in one’s own country, Banerjee alleged saying her party would always remain by the side of the victims of such mass extraditions.

    “Under this Government (in Centre) India is in the grip of fear. Every household is in fear. There is fear of demonetisation, there is fear of murder like the one happened in Tinsukia, the fear of being ejected in the name of NRC, the fear of central Agencies,” Banerjee said.

    Attacking the BJP for creating a rift among the people of the country the Chief Minister said those who were talking about nationalism and unity of the country were actually trying to divide its citizens along the lines of religion, caste, language.

    Her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee who led the Friday’s rally too demanded immediate halt in persecution of Bengalis in Assam saying “there is a clear BJP hand in the Assam killings. The fact of the matter is that the Chief Minister of that State who had led the NRC movement should immediately resign for failing to protect the lives of the innocent citizens.”

    CPI(M) which also took out an impressive rally on Friday evening said the party would continue to carry out protest movements against the BJP’s divisive politics. “Ever since the BJP has come to power either in Delhi or in Assam or anywhere the places concerned have seen killings like this. These are no ordinary political murders but they contain communal and sectarian venom which may have far reaching effect,” CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakrabarty said.