Author: admin2

Gangasagar Mela in January is an important event in the calendar for Hindus. This annual pilgrimage for lakhs of Hindus from across the country and even outside is a very important occasion for many people. Over the last few years, the Trinamool Congress Government has been setting up several facilities for the first time in the mela’s history. The fair has now become an occasion for tourists as well.

The Power Department has been making all necessary arrangements in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply during the Gangasagar Mela. Modernisation work has been undertaken to increase the capacity of the 33/11 kV substation at Rudranagar.

The department has also decided to ensure power supply to 54 points within the Mela and its adjoining areas. In the previous year, the department had supplied power to 40 points.

Underground cables are being laid between Kachuberia and Rudranagar to enable automated power supply through the DG system if there is any problem in any area.

There will be adequate power arrangements at Bangabasi Ground adjacent to the Mohun Bagan Ground, so that the pilgrims do not face any inconvenience during their short stay in the area.

Arrangements would also be made to ensure the security of the EHV (extra high voltage) substation in Kakdwip, as well as meeting the extra demand for power.

The State Irrigation Department is carrying out dredging of the Muriganga River using state-of-the-art machinery to enable round-the-clock ferrying of pilgrims to Gangasagar Mela and thereby reduce the travel time.

The Irrigation Minister said that, following the instruction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, his department has taken up dredging in a scientific and efficient manner. The travel time will be lesser by at least three hours and the solution will be long-term, according to a minister of the department, unlike earlier, when the river needed to be dredged every year before the annual fair.

The next Gangasagar Mela is scheduled to be held on January 10 and 11, when millions of people from different parts of the country will visit Sagar Island to take a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganga with the Bay of Bengal during Makar Sankranti. The footfall at the Mela this year was 25 lakh.

Gangasagar has also emerged as a major tourist destination, something for which the Trinamool Congress Government’s tourism policy is responsible.

Source: Millennium Post

National President of Trinamool Youth Congress, and MP, Abhishek Banerjee today addressed a rally at Goaltore. This was a preparatory meeting ahead of the mega rally at Brigade Parade Grounds on January 19,2019.

Highlights of Abhishek’s speech:

I have addressed many public rallies in Paschim Medinipur district in the past. However, I have no qualms in admitting that today’s turnout has broken all records of the past.

People have braced torrential downpour to come to today’s public meeting. The attendance of women today is exemplary.

I have always maintained that the workers, supporters and well-wishers of Trinamool who are in front of the stage are the assets of the party.

Trinamool does not have any ‘number two’ leader. We have only one leader – Mamata Banerjee. Rest of us are all workers of the party.

It is because of the tireless dedication and determination of our workers that Trinamool came back to power for a second term.

It is because of the sacrifice, passion and spontaneity of our workers that the flag of Trinamool has reached every nook and corner of the State.

Those who have helped us establish Trinamool in the grassroots, with the slogans of Mamata Banerjee Zindabad and Trinamool Congress Zindabad, are the real assets of the party.

I have said this earlier. Our old workers have a bigger right on the party compared to others. It is also our responsibility to accommodate the new workers according to their capabilities. Mamata Banerjee has maintained that our party will be strengthened by the collective responsibility of old and new workers.

The new workers must be aware of the party’s history, and Mamata Banerjee’s struggles. If someone thinks they will join the party for benefits, the door of the party will be closed for them.

One day an MLA will become former MLA, MPs will become former MPs and ministers will also become former ministers. But the workers and supporters of the party will never become former. They are the present, and they are the future. This is their identity.

Today we have gathered here for the preparation of upcoming rally at Brigade Parade Grounds on January 19. Last time Mamata Banerjee had organised a Brigade rally on January 30, 2014.

The Brigade rally is being organised to give a call to oust the communal BJP out of power at Centre.

Leaders of several Opposition parties will be present at the Brigade rally to strengthen Mamata Banerjee’s stand against the Centre. Several Chief Ministers will be present.

It is our resolve to uproot communal BJP from power at Centre, just like we ousted the CPI(M) from power in Bangla in 2011.

Undivided Medinipur has a rich history. BJP has not been able to blacken the heritage of this historic land despite several attempts.

This is the land of martyr Matangini Hazra, Khudiram Bose, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sushil Samanta, and others.

We are ready to lay down our lives, but we will not bow our heads down.

You all know the drubbing BJP received in the three States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

BJP claims to be the flag-bearers of Hinduism. 92% voters in Chhattisgarh are Hindus. 94% of the voters in Madhya Pradesh are Hindus. 91.7% voters in Rajasthan are Hindus. But people rejected BJP in these States. People have understood that voting for BJP is a self-defeating exercise.

In the name of Rath Yatra, they have brought a 7 star AC luxury bus from Delhi. We have heard of Rath Yatra of Shri Jagannath or Shri Krishna. But in the name of rath, communal asuras of Bangla will be rising a luxury bus. People of Bangla can see through this facade.

We have to be alert. They cannot compete with us in terms of development. We have fulfilled the promises that we made before coming to power.

We had said we will establish peace in Jangalmahal. We have done that. We had promised we will return the land in Singur. We have done that. We had said we will build roads in rural areas. We have done that. We had promised we will supply uninterrupted power supply to rural households. We have done that.

The Modi Government has pushed the country to the brink of economic disaster in the name of achhe din. We respect tea sellers, but in the name of selling tea, Narendra Modi came to power. We have never seen him selling tea. But Mamata Banerjee continues to live in a humble residence with tiled roof, wear simple sarees and hawai chappals.

We have never seen any CM during the Left rule, or even before that, conduct administrative review meetings in the blocks and districts along with her entire team of officials. There are 28 other States in the country. No one can match Bangla in terms of development.

BJP only speaks of communal politics. They want to incite riots and create divisions. They do not want development. They want Bangla to lag behind, just like the CPI(M). We will not allow that to happen. We will put up resistance against them.

Mamata Banerjee has carried out development in every corner of the State. She has worked for people from every strata of the society. She has started schemes from birth to death – from Kanyashree to Yuvashree, Nija Griha Nija Bhoomi to Gatidhara, Sabuj Shree to Baitarani.

Mamata Banerjee does not indulge in appeasement politics for the sake of votes. She has given Kanyashree scholarships, Sabuj Sathi cycles, shoes and uniforms to school students. They do not have voting rights. Mamata Banerjee wants them to become better citizens when they grow up. This is the difference between her and other leaders.

Netaji had said, “Give me blood and I will give you freedom.” The motto of BJP is “Give me votes and I will unleash bloodshed.” While Mamata Banerjee says, “Give me 42 out of 42 seats and I will give you a united, progressive, secular, peaceful India.”

Nobody has been able to stop Mamata Banerjee. BJP has used the CBI, ED, IT and other agencies against her, but failed. She inspires us with her life of struggle. One cannot become Mamata Banerjee just by delivering a few speeches. She is the pride of Bangla.

I will appeal to all our workers to be active in your booths and ensure Trinamool wins 42 out of 42 seats.

Even today our MPs have sat on a dharna in Parliament to protest against the agrarian crisis in the country. What has Modi done? He waived loans of crorepatis. Our CM waived khajna tax on agricultural land and did away with the mutation fee.

Those who claim to be the flag-bearers of Hinduism, what have they done for Hindus? A 3000 crore scam in the name of Namami Gange project. We are not atheists like the CPI(M). Neither do we sell religion for votes. Mamata Banerjee has taken several initiatives for Hindus – from a skywalk in Dakshineswar to development of Gangasagar. She is also planning a new skywalk at Kalighat and has also developed Tarapith.

We work for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains – everyone. Swami Vivekananda has taught us to be tolerant and respectful of all religions. Modi used Swami Ji’s name for garnering votes. But after coming to power did not show any respect to him. Mamata Banerjee gave due respect and recognition to Belur Math.
What was the condition of Jangalmahal earlier? There was anarchy and bloodshed. Peace has returned in the last seven years. There is a tide of development under Mamata Banerjee. We have to strengthen her in the future by winning 42 out of 42 seats. Join the mega rally at Brigade grounds on January 19. Let Paschim Medinipur have a historic participation.
I had said, Du hajar unish, BJP finish. But they have fizzled out in 2018 itself. The party itself will go into oblivion in the future. They forced the entire country to stand in queues during demonetisation. 152 lives were lost. All were Hindus. 180 children died due to lack of oxygen at Gorakhpur hospital. They were Hindus. 8 farmers were killed in Madhya Pradesh; they were Hindus. And they talk about protecting Hinduism?
We have to prepare us for the upcoming elections. We are ready to give our lives, but we will never allow Bangla to be divided. Those who oppose Mamata Banerjee will face a drubbing.
We won 19 seats in 2009, 34 in 2014. Now our target should be to win all 42 seats.

Du hajar unish, BJP finish. BJP hatao, desh bachao, RSS hatao, desh bachao.

The Youth Services and Sports (YSS) Department will be organising the West Bengal State Student-Youth Festival 2018-19 from December 17.

The cultural competition-cum-programme is divided into three tiers – civic body-level, district level and State level.

The dates are as follows:

Block/Municipality/Municipal Corporation/Notified Area Authority/Borough level – December 17 to 21, 2018
District level – January 2 to 5, 2019
State level – February 11 to 13, 2019

For any further details, one can get in touch at:

Nearest block/municipality/municipal corporation/borough
Nearest district youth office
Youth Services and Sports (YSS) Department, 32/1 BBD Bag (South), Kolkata 700001
Department contact number: 22480626, 22653231
Department website: www.wbyouthservices.in
State Youth Centre, Moulali, Kolkata 700014

The State Panchayats & Rural Development Department has directed all rural bodies to submit reports on the overall development and status of various ongoing projects by February 15, 2019.

The department has further directed the heads of various bodies to connect to the masses on issues of development and infrastructure. The gram panchayat representatives should interact with villages at the ground level, learn about problems, if any, that are being faced by them about the condition of roads, electrical connections for homes and availability of drinking water.

A total of 3,207 gram panchayats have been entrusted to prepare the reports that will help the panchayat boards to prioritise work as per the demands of the people..

It may be mentioned that Bangla has again emerged as the frontrunner in the 100 Days’ Work Scheme. The State has nearly achieved the target for the year, three months before the deadline.

The target for the State for the financial year (FY) 2018-19, set by the Central Government, was creating 25 crore man-days by March 31, 2019. Till Thursday, December 6, the number of man-days created was 23 crore 22 lakh 87 thousand. The State Government is confident of comfortably exceeding the target.

In FY 2017-18 too, the State had overtaken the Centre’s target of 23 crore man-days by creating 31.25 crore man-days.

The average number of working days in the 2017-18 was 60. This financial year, the number will already touch 59 by the end of December.

In the 2017-18 fiscal, Rs 7,000 crore was spent to give salaries to 52 lakh families. This year, Rs 7,000 crore has already been spent for 49.53 lakh families, as of December 6.

 

Bangla is one of the top destinations in the country in terms of industry-friendliness, and its policies have proved to be a magnet for industrialists as well as entrepreneurs. This was mentioned in no uncertain terms by speaker after speaker at the recently-held National Leadership Conference on First Generation Entrepreneurs, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Kolkata.

The additional chief secretary of the Industry, Commerce and Enterprises Department said that the State ranks high in the index of Ease of Doing Business (EODB) because it is rapidly moving towards achieving a positive change in the business environment. Entrepreneurs are trusted to get their certifications in order, instead of authorities asserting a set of compulsions.

The managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited said that the organisation has created the West Bengal MSME Venture Capital Fund, which envisages support to investors, both in the manufacturing and services sectors, for setting up micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

A prominent industrialist of the State said that the Bangla Government is surely moving fast on mobilising optimum assistance to entrepreneurs. Not only does the government offer assistance but also aims at providing guidance, he remarked.

Another leader of a major business house said that the current economic situation demands the creation of jobs by entrepreneurs in order to provide meaningful opportunities to the teeming millions of this country, and in this respect the Bangla Government is doing a good job. It is successfully kindling the entrepreneurial spirit in countless citizens of the State, especially in the MSME space.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been successful in bringing Bangla out of the industrial doldrums of the Left Front era into a zone of fast growth and entrepreneurial spirit through suitable policies for all. Among other things, the Silpa Sathi single-window service for business has been a big help in this regard.

Source: Millennium Post

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today inaugurated Bangla Sangeet Mela 2018 and Biswa Bangla Loksanskriti Utsav 2018 from the open air auditorium at Uttirna in Alipore today. On the occasion, the Chief Minister gave away Sangeet Samman awards to eminent singers and musicians.

Bangla Sangeet Mela will be held in as many as 10 venues in the city from December 14 to 22 this year in which an estimated 2,000 singers, including those from districts, are expected to perform. The Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav will also be held side by side from December 14-18 at Ektara Mukta Manch.

For details of the event, click here.

Sangeet Samman winners:

Mon Mukherjee (Jojo) – Modern music
Srikumar Chattopadhyay – Devotional music
Gita Chowdhury – Folk artist
Manab Mukherjee – Flute player
Rahul Chatterjee – Sitar player
Saraswati Devi – Jhumur artist
Bibha Hansda – Santhali singer
Mahim Fakir – Fakiri music
Durga Roy – Bhawaiya artist
Shiv Sundar Das – Baul artist
Asim Roy – Folk artist

Sangeet Maha Samman winners:

Rupankar Bagchi
Raghab Chatterjee
Manamoy Bhattacharya
Srabani Sen
Arijit Singh
Shantanu Mukherjee (Shaan)
Debojyoti Mishra
Saikat Mitra
Prateek Chowdhury

Highlights of Chief Minister’s speech:

A galaxy of singers, musicians and composers are present here today.

A lot of artists who were born in Bangla are now famous all over the world. They have not given up their originality. We must preserve this connection with our roots.

We are missing Dwijen Da today. He is not keeping well. It is difficult to imagine a programme without him or Sandhya Di. We hope he gets well soon.

From Bhawaiya to folk music, from Jhargram to Murshidabad, we are honouring talents from across Bangla today.

Culture has no limits. Music has no boundaries. Dhamsa-Madol, Chhau, Rava, Baul, Lepcha music – artists from various spheres of music are present here today.

We are proud to say nearly two lakh folk artists are registered under Lok Prasar Prakalpa. We give them a monthly stipend, and they perform at government functions and ads.

Nearly 1500 artists perform in the Bangla Sangeet Mela. Additionally, 550 music artists also perform. We organise music shows in every para. We will take this initiative to block level.

We have to take music to the grassroots, inculcate the spirit of singing among our younger generation.

We have huge talent pool in Bangla. Take the Baul and Bhawaiya artistes for example. We want our culture to remain alive forever.

Music is life. It is a wonder of the world. Let music create new connections among people. Music has no end. It is evergreen.

My best wishes and greetings to musicians and artists across Bangla, India and the world.

The initiative on the part of the Mamata Banerjee government to store potatoes in cold storages nearly free of charge in the month of December is likely to maintain retail prices at a stable level even in February-March.

The state government has already issued a notification in this regard, stating that potatoes can be kept in the cold storages till December 15 without paying any additional rent and beyond this period till December 31, an extra rent at the rate of Rs 12 per quintal could be charged from the users of the cold storages.

It may be mentioned that in the end of November, cold storages are closed for routine maintenance work for the next year. So, a huge amount of potatoes are dispatched to the market, which is much more than the demand. Thus, they have to be sold off at distress-price levels. The retail prices had dropped to a ridiculous Rs 2.50/kg in December 2016. This results in huge losses for the farmers.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed government officials to keep the potato prices under control. Every year, the price of potatoes start soaring steadily in January and February and so, the government has decided to extend the storage facility till another month, which will create a supply-demand balance. This will ensure a parity in the market price.

The youth of Bangla are reaping the benefits of the State Government’s Utkarsh Bangla Scheme. Youth from the socially backward communities, for whom the scheme has been primarily undertaken, are benefitting a lot because they are getting job placements after the completion of their courses.

According to the secretary of the Training and Skill Development Department, in the current year, about 7,500 students of vocational and technical education have got job placements. He said that in the coming days and months, about a lakh more placement opportunities will come for the students.

Students from ITIs, polytechnic colleges and other vocational training centres get jobs under the Utkarsh Bangla Scheme. According to the concerned minister, more than 500 companies from across the country are collaborating with the State Government to ensure employment for these students.

Suriname, a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean, is set to ignite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s dream of making Durga Puja a global festival.

The small country in South America, with a population of five lakh, is globally known as a tourist destination.

The ambassador of Suriname to India has requested the Bengal Government to help the country organise a “Kolkata-style Durga Puja”. She was in Kolkata recently to participate at an event organised by an industry body, where she broached the subject.

Suriname has lot of people of Indian descent, descended from indented workers the British transported to work in sugar and other plantations.

Explaining the reason behind hosting a grand Durga Puja, the ambassador said the people in Suriname would love the grandeur of Durga Puja. She further said that a small Durga Puja is held in her country, but not like the ones held in Kolkata. Her government would like to have a great pandal and decoration, but for which the people there do not have the expertise.

According to her, another aspect of Durga Puja in Kolkata the people of Suriname (those who participate in Durga Puja) like is the ‘sindoor khela’.

The Surinamese ambassador said that she is keen to participate in Bengal Global Business Summit as her country’s government is planning to tap Bengal for investment in hospitality, mining and gold.

Source: The Times of India