News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal

  • Cyclone Jawad: Rain lashes Odisha, West Bengal; more in store for next two days

    By PTI

    BHUBANESWAR/KOLKATA: Heavy rain pounded the southern part of West Bengal and coastal region of Odisha on Sunday affecting normal life, as cyclone Jawad weakened into a depression, the Met department said.

    The cyclonic storm is likely to further weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area during next 12 hours, as a result of which several districts of south Bengal may receive heavy rain till Tuesday morning.

    Heavy rain affected functioning of Paradip port in Odisha while reports of crop loss is received from different parts of the state, an official said.

    The West Bengal government has stopped ferry services on the Hooghly river, evacuated people from coastal areas and urged tourists not to visit seaside resorts.

    A trawler sank during anchoring in coastal South 24 Parganas but no casualty was reported, an official said.

    Fishermen have been asked not to venture into the westcentral and northwest Bay of Bengal, and along and off Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal coasts during the next 24 hours.

    “The Depression (remnant of cyclonic storm Jawad) over northwest Bay of Bengal near Odisha coast moved northeastwards with a speed of 25 kmph during past 6 hours, and lay centred at 5.30 pm over northwest Bay of Bengal close to Odisha coast about 30 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 120 km east-northeast of Puri (Odisha) and 210 south-southwest of Sagar Island (West Bengal),” the IMD said in its bulletin at 8 pm.

    The coastal districts of Odisha were soaked as the remnants of cyclone Jawad reached Puri coast in the afternoon before taking a re-curve in north-northeast direction and reaching Paradip.

    Later the system further progressed towards West Bengal coast.

    As the system reached near Puri, devotees and several organisations in the town started prayer seeking blessings of Lord Jagannath to save the state.

    South Bengal districts such as North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Hooghly, Birbhum, Bankura and Nadia received heavy rain of varied intensity on Sunday.

    The weatherman said the districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad are likely to witness heavy rain till Tuesday morning.

    Squally wind with speed reaching 40 to 50 kilometres per hour gusting to 60 kmph is also likely along and off the West Bengal coast till Monday afternoon.

    During its northward journey, the depression caused heavy rainfall across Odisha while the districts of Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara suffered the burnt of the rain fury, affecting normal life.

    The highest rainfall of 201 mm was recorded in Paradip between 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm, disrupting loading and unloading of goods at the port.

    Jagatsinghpur received an average of 100 mm rainfall.

    While Paradip got 201 mm of rain, it was followed by Erasama (where the 1999 super cyclone made landfall) with 188 mm, Balikuda (130 mm), Nuagaon (123 mm), Kujang (114 mm) and Jagatsinghpur (66 mm).

    The Regional Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar issued a heavy rainfall alert for 14 districts in the state in the next 12 hours.

    The Met office said Kolkata, where the sky has been overcast since Saturday with intermittent rainfall, received 5.5 mm rain in 24 hours till 8.30 am on Sunday.

    Digha recorded 19.7 mm rain, while Midnapore got 16 mm and Kalaikunda 15 mm rain during the same period, it said.

    A rise in water level was witnessed at various embankments, ponds and water bodies in southern Bengal.

    The state administration had asked tourists not to visit seaside resorts such as Digha, Mandarmani, Bakkhali, Frazerganj and other coastal areas on the weekend.

    However, with the MeT department forecasting that there will not be a cyclonic storm in West Bengal, tourists were seen wading into waters and taking photographs of the choppy sea in Digha in Purba Medinipur district and Bakkhali in South 24 Parganas, ignoring the warnings of disaster management personnel camping there.

    An official said regular ferry services on Hooghly connecting North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts had been suspended.

    The West Bengal government has evacuated 24,375 people from coastal areas of South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur and opened 82 relief centres in the two districts.

    The administration has also opened 115 multipurpose cyclone shelters and 135 additional temporary relief shelters to deal with any “emergency-like situation”, an official said.

    “We have kept everything ready to face any problem due to heavy rain in the next couple of days. Weekly offs and other holidays of all staffers have been cancelled,” he said.

    Nineteen National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in West Bengal and quick response teams of the state power and public works departments and West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL) have been posted at crucial points, the official said.

    While almost all fishermen have returned to Kakdwip, Digha and other coastal areas, the authorities are coordinating with fishermen associations to find out if anyone is still in the deep sea.

    One trawler sank during anchoring at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district.

    However, no casualty was reported.

    Damage to crop, animal and fisheries following the incident is being assessed, an official said.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is constantly monitoring the situation and officials of the municipal bodies are on guard, state minister Firhad Hakim said.

    In the last two years, West Bengal has witnessed three devastating cyclones — Bulbul in November 2019, Amphan in May 2020 and Yaas in May 2021 – that left behind a trail of death and destruction.

  • Second COVID-19 vaccine dose of 18 lakh people in West Bengal overdue: Report

    Quite a few of them changed their mobile numbers after the initial dose and could not be traced, the official said.

  • Buoyed by repealing of farm laws, Trinamool Congress to fuel CAA agitation

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: After PM Modi’s announcement of repealing the three farm laws, West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress is gearing up to raise the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) issues. Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, the BJP had used these  issues to woo Hindu voters while the TMC had opposed the same to keep its Muslim vote bank intact. 

    With Modi’s ‘tactical retreat’ ahead of Assembly elections in five states, Mamata, eyeing to portray her party nationally as the BJP’s primary opponent, is likely to raise the twin issues during the upcoming electoral exercises.

    The Trinamool Congress high command has asked its cadres to reunite those who staged demonstrations in Kolkata’s Park Circus similar to the way protesters did in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh against  the citizenship law.

    “We have taken a lesson from the farmers’ movement against the three farm Acts. The victory of peasants’ movement has encouraged us to hit the streets again on CAA and NRC issues,” said a senior TMC leader.

    Shortly after Modi’s announcement, a street event with the slogan ‘Be united to secure another victory’ was organised in Kolkata in protest against the CAA. Meanwhile, the forums against CAA are planning sit-in-demonstrations across the state.

    The state capital had witnessed a massive movement in Park Circus, following the Shaheen Bagh model, where hundreds of protesters demonstrated for several days. “The farmers’ protest proved that success comes if a movement is organised in a right direction. We are hopeful that our series of movements in coming days will force the Centre to repeal the CAA,” said Faridul Islam, who was part of the Park Circus movement.

    In the recent Bengal Assembly elections, the BJP attempted to consolidate Hindu electorates with its Hindutva rhetoric, which proved a futile effort. It rather consolidated Muslim voters and the TMC bagged more than 99 per cent of the minority vote-share. Though Modi and Amit Shah promised to implement the CAA and NRC in Bengal, they became mum after the poll debacle.

  • Chaos in Bengal assembly over reduction in liquor prices, BJP MLAs walkout

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP MLAs staged a walkout in the West Bengal assembly on Wednesday after Speaker Biman Banerjee refused to admit a series of adjournment motions moved by the opposition parties over a host of issues, including the reduction in duty on liquor while ignoring taxes on fuel.

    Reading out one of the adjournment motions, BJP’s Asansol South MLA Agnimitra Paul said duty on liquor has been reduced in the state, but the government did not decrease the VAT on petrol and diesel.

    BJP’s Siliguri MLA Sankar Ghosh moved an adjournment motion over post-poll violence in the state. Another motion was moved over the unemployment situation in the state.

    As the speaker refused to admit the adjournment motions, the BJP MLAs trooped into the Well, shouting slogans against the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

    Amid the din, they walked out of the House. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari told reporters outside the House that the state government was trying to lead the youth of the state to the wrong path by slashing liquor prices by up to 30 per cent.

    This move will ruin many families of the state, he said. He said that the state government should immediately reduce VAT on fuel as prices of commodities are skyrocketing.

    He claimed that the unemployment situation in the state was precarious, alleging the government was not providing jobs to those belonging to the OBC category.

    The BJP’s north Bengal MLAs will move an adjournment motion on Thursday, highlighting the plight of tea garden workers in the state, Adhikari announced.

  • West Bengal synonymous with corruption, anarchy under TMC rule: JP Nadda

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN/KOLKATA: BJP president JP Nadda on Tuesday said West Bengal has become synonymous with corruption, bloodshed and anarchy under the TMC rule, prompting a sharp reaction from the state’s CM Mamata Banerjee.

    Lashing out at Nadda, the West Bengal CM termed his statement an attempt to “defame” the state and said the BJP should look at the situation in states ruled by it.

    Nadda made the statement while addressing people of the Bengali community at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district.

    He said, “There was a time when Bengal showed the way to the rest of the country but today it is passing through a bad phase.”

    ​ALSO READ | Nadda sets off Uttarakhand campaign with pitch to martyrs’ families

    “The name of West Bengal, which was once associated with great social reformers, thinkers, philosophers, literary figures and freedom fighters, has become synonymous with corruption, bloodshed and anarchy under the TMC,” he said.

    Naming Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Subhas Chandra Bose and Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, he drew a comparison between its “glorious” past and “ugly” present.

    “TMC leaders in West Bengal today are involved in corrupt practices in every scheme, including the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Murders, rapes, crime against women, human trafficking and sexual harassment cases are at their peak. There have been 123 sexual harassment cases and 53 murders in West Bengal since the Assembly election results are out. People have been forced to leave their homes. The BJP has given shelter to 191 refugees,” he claimed.

    He appealed to people of the community to first re-elect the BJP in Uttarakhand and follow it up with a victory to the party in West Bengal in a democratic manner so that the “grim picture” changes.

    Highlighting outreach efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to people of Indian origin living anywhere in the world, Nadda spoke of his visit to a Matua community temple in Bangladesh during his visit to that country.

    ALSO READ | ‘Will write new story in Bengal’: Nadda assures leaders, voters amid state BJP infighting

    He said Modi has come to the rescue of members of Indian communities, be it Sikhs or Parsis, whenever they have suffered persecution.

    The Citizenship Amendment Act is aimed at giving a life of dignity to people of Indian origin who escape to India after suffering persecution in foreign lands, he said.

    Nadda also reminded Bengalis living in Uttarakhand how they had been exempted by the Pushkar Singh Dhami government from the compulsion of writing the word “East Pakistan” in their caste certificates.

    The Uttarakhand cabinet in August cleared a proposal to drop the word “East Pakistan” from caste certificates issued to members of the displaced Bengali community settled mostly in Udham Singh Nagar district of the state.

    Reacting to the remarks, Mamata said the BJP should look at the situation in states ruled by it.

    Not a single untoward incident was reported in West Bengal during the recent festivals, she said in Kolkata.

    Several states are emulating the schemes brought out by her government, proving “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”, she claimed, quoting Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

    “There are several people who are trying to defame Bengal. Today, I saw the BJP’s national president (Nadda) delivering a speech to Bengalis settled in Uttarakhand. He said there is lawlessness in Bengal. I will say charity begins at home. Look at what is happening in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura and Assam. Please look in the mirror and see your faces before criticising Bengal,” she said without elaborating.

  • Mamata Banerjee trying to belittle Congress that did a lot for her: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday charged Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee with being ungrateful, claiming that for narrow political interest she is trying to belittle the grand old party which had supported her in the past.

    Chowdhury, also the leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, asserted that the Congress gave her recognition in the UPA government and supported her to become the chief minister of West Bengal in 2011.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo was the railway minister in the UPA government which was headed by the Congress.

    When she ousted the 34-year-old Left Front government a decade ago, the Congress was the TMC’s alliance partner.

    “Do you think the Congress has no contribution to the TMC’s coming to power in West Bengal in 2011? Do you think the Gandhi family had no role in your political career?” Chowdhury asked at the end of a party rally organised in Kolkata to protest against the rise in fuel prices and essential commodities.

    Without naming Banerjee, Chowdhury said she will not gain anything by belittling the Congress.

    Wondering how Banerjee dreams about ousting the Narendra Modi government from power without the Congress on her side, the Baharampur MP said, “Are you really serious about dislodging Modi, or there is more to it than meets the eye?” Chowdhury, a vociferous critic of the TMC supremo, had on October 31 also claimed that the Congress had always come out in support of her and wondered if she was working as an “agent of the BJP”.

    At Sunday’s rally, he said, “After her repeated barbs at our party for the past three months, she has suddenly fallen silent after the win of the Congress in recent by-elections in some north Indian states. People of the country have shown the TMC that the Congress is getting their support.”

    In a dig at the industrialisation drive by the West Bengal government, the senior Congress leader said, “How many investments have come from the five editions of Bengal Global Business Summit? Now they are planning another business meet and promising lakhs of youths with employment. But let me ask if hundreds have got jobs. Not a single.”

    Referring to the assertion by Banerjee that lakhs of employment will be generated by the Deucha Pschami coal block in the state, Chowdhury said, “This is the last of your tall claims. In West Bengal, only the migrant workers industry has developed under which youths leave their home state for employment.”

    Chowdhury has been more vocal against the TMC ever since the TMC projected her as the spearhead of the anti-BJP campaign and said only her party can take the mantle as the main adversary capable to oust Narendra Modi.

    The TMC’s mouthpiece and national General Secretary Abhisek Banerjee had also accused the Congress of failing to give a proper fight to BJP since 2014, allowing the saffron camp to occupy the centrestage.

    Turning his tirade towards the prime minister, Chowdhury said Modi had promised to fight terrorism, black money and counterfeit notes by demonetisation in 2016 but none of them could be checked as the plight of the common man increased manifold.

  • West Bengal’s education, tourism departments win gold at Skoch award

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said school and higher education and tourism departments of her government have secured gold at the Skoch award and congratulated officials for their hard work and dedication.

    Education minister Bratya Basu also expressed happiness over the achievements and complimented all the stakeholders in the sector, including teachers, officials and students, for their efforts and services to ensure that teaching activities do not get hampered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “School Education Department and Higher Education Department of GoWB – both have won the prestigious SKOCH GOLD awards. Heartiest congratulations to all officials and members for this remarkable achievement,” Banerjee wrote on Twitter.

    The Skoch Award covers the best of efforts in digital, financial and social inclusion.

    “Happy to share that the Tourism Department of GoWB has received the esteemed SKOCH GOLD award for transformational performance during #COVID19! Congratulations to all officials and members for your hard work and dedication. Let us keep aiming higher,” Banerjee also said on the microblogging site.

  • Centre should distribute Rs 4 lakh crore raised from hiked oil prices among states: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Claiming that the Centre has raised Rs 4 lakh crore in the recent times from increased fuel prices, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded that the money be equally distributed among the states.

    Banerjee, during an Assembly session, alleged that the Union government has slashed excise duty recently on petrol and diesel, with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in five states.

    “The central government has collected around Rs 4 lakh crore from the taxes levied from selling cooking gas, petrol and diesel at increased prices. Now, they (BJP) want the states to reduce the VAT. Where will the states get their money from? The Centre should distribute that Rs 4 lakh crore equally among the states,” she said while addressing the West Bengal assembly.

    The CM further said that the state has been providing several subsidies despite financial constraints.

    “Whenever elections are near, they (Centre) bring down the prices. Once that is over, they increase it again. Those lecturing us on oil prices should first answer where the state government will get its money from. The Union government does give us our due funds,” she said, targeting the BJP, which has threatemend to launch a “movement” if the VAT on oil is not reduced.

    Banerjee also accused the central government of meting out a step-motherly treatment to Bengal during distribution of vaccines among states. “The number of vaccines doled out to us was much less compared to states such as Uttar Pradesh. We have ensured that not a single vaccine dose gets wasted,” she said.

  • No plan to leave BJP, will play role of conscience-keeper: Tathagata Roy

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP leader Tathagata Roy on Sunday asserted that he will continue to play the role of his party’s “conscience-keeper”, a day after the saffron camp national vice-president, Dilip Ghosh, told him that he was free to leave the camp if he was “upset and ashamed” over its style of functioning.

    Roy clarified that he has no plan of quitting the organisation.

    He took to Twitter on Sunday and said, “I am being deluged with phone calls since yesterday. Let me assure you that I am not voluntarily leaving the party.”

    The former Meghalaya governor had recently been critical of the decisions taken by BJP’s ex-West Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, Ghosh, and senior leaders Arvind Menon and Shiv Prakash, ahead of March-April assembly polls, and blamed them in a series of tweets for the saffron camp’s poor show in the state.

    Earlier, too, he had flayed the senior leaders for “indiscriminate” induction of TMC leaders into the party without taking their experience and chance of winning into account.

    Ghosh, who was the state president of the BJP during assembly polls, took exception to his tweets and told reporters on Saturday “If you are so upset and ashamed of all that is happening within the party, why don’t you just leave?” Maintaining that he will remain an ordinary member of the BJP, Roy, in response to Ghosh’s barbs, said that had he left the party, he would have unravelled many secrets, but that wasn’t happening now.

    “I am an ordinary member of the BJP. I will perform the role of conscience-keeper of the party, like the conscience-keeper in ‘Jatra’ (stage play). Had I left the party, I would have unravelled many secrets. But that is not happening now,” the former governor stated.

    The incumbent state president of the Bengal BJP unit, Sukanta Majumdar, had refused to be a part of the controversy on Saturday, insisting that it was the “prerogative of the central leadership” to take a call on the comments made by Roy.

  • Private bus operators in West Bengal demand hike in bus fare

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Private bus operators in West Bengal on Tuesday demanded that fares be immediately increased in order to cope with the rise in diesel prices and other factors involved in running their vehicles.

    Joint Council of Bus Syndicates general secretary Tapan Banerjee said that only about 30 per cent of buses registered with it are at present running in the state.

    All Bengal Bus Minibus Samanyay Samiti (ABBMSS), another body of bus operators, claimed that around 60 per cent of its buses in south Bengal and 50 per cent buses in the northern districts are running.

    “Without an immediate increase in fares by the government, it is becoming impossible for bus operators to carry on with the business given the huge daily operating losses,” Banerjee told PTI.

    ABBMSS general secretary Rahul Chatterjee said that the government has mooted alternative proposals to reduce operating costs, including changing over to CNG, but an increase in fares is imperative.

    “These are long term proposals which will take time to implement, but as of now there must be an increase in fares,” he told PTI.

    Sources said that some bus operators are requesting passengers to pay a little extra than the stipulated fares, which are also leading to fracas between the commuters and the bus conductors on occasions.

    “This is not a solution, the government should increase the fares so that these can be charged as per fare charts provided by the transport department,” Chatterjee said.

    Banerjee claimed that the last time bus fares were increased in West Bengal was in March, 2018 when diesel prices were around Rs 63 per litre in the state.

    “Diesel price is now more than Rs 100 here and is increasing almost daily, how can we make ends meet?” he asked, adding that other operating costs like toll tax on highways and maintenance -related expenses have also risen.

    Chatterjee said that apart from the owner, at least six workers earn their livelihood from one bus.

    “When a bus goes off the road, all these people become jobless,” he said.

    Banerjee claimed that private bus operators carry almost 85 per cent of bus passengers, with the rest being served by state transport undertakings like West Bengal Transport Corporation, North Bengal State Transport Corporation and South Bengal State Transport Corporation.