Author: AITC

The West Bengal government today announced a scheme by which sex workers would be rehabilitated through an alternative means of livelihood. West Bengal Women Welfare Minister Shashi Panja said that the scheme, christened ‘Muktir Alo’(Ray of Freedom), was designed for sex workers who were willing to opt for it.

The proposed scheme would help them to return to mainstream, the Minister told in the Assembly. She said that the registered persons would be given house rent and transport allowance during thetraining period. The period of training would be six months, she said.

A survey, led by Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s mayoral council member Shashi Panja, identified as many as 789 elderly sex workers who are so infirm that they cannot even go door-to-door for begging.

The government has identified an old two-storey building near the Tollygunge area where the rehabilitation centre for the aging sex workers and a residential school for sex workers’ children will be housed. The new address will accommodate at least 100 sex workers in the first phase. While the housing department will renovate the building, thefinance department will sanction Rs 50 crore annually for the project.

The state Cabinet also approved creation of the North Bengal Sports Promotional Board for promotion of all kinds of sports.  The board, which is to be headedby Baichung Bhutia, is to be set up at Kanchenjunga Stadium.

As already announced by Chief Minister Ms.Mamata Banerjee, the Cabinet gave its approval to the Uttarkanya financial directorate whereby issues like pension and gratuity can be addressed from north Bengal itself instead of Kolkata.

This apart, Chai tribe has also been included in the Scheduled Caste category.

The government has also decided to revampthe state Heritage Commission.

The state Cabinet has decided that thethree state-run medical colleges which will come up in public privatepartnership (PPP) mode in the state will not function as hospitals, and willfocus only on medical education.

The three medical colleges which are to beset up on PPP mode will be set up at Dhubulia, Coochbehar and Bhangar.

Mr Partha Chatterjee, the state EducationMinister, said that the work for setting up the medical colleges will startsoon.

With such a proposal, the number of medicalseats available for the state will increase.

West Bengal Chief Minister has alreadydeclared that about 40 super-specialty hospitals will come up in the state.Tenders have already been floated. Work is also on to extend some of theexisting hospitals. The number of beds has crossed 10,000. However, there is adearth of doctors. On this account, the retirement age of doctors was raisedfrom 60 to 62 years.

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. MamataBanerjee reviewed the functioning of the different government departments inHowrah district. Chief Secretary of the state and other senior officialsincluding the Howrah District Magistrate were present in the meeting which washeld at Sarat Sadan.

Fifteen Trinamool MLAs, MPs Prasun Banerjeeand Sultan Ahmed, the Mayor of Howrah and the Zilla Sabhadhipati were alsopresent at the meeting.

The Chief Minister told the officials to overseethat the government schemes and make sure that they were being implementedproperly in the district.

After the meeting the Chief Minister saidthat she was happy with the pace of the various projects. She acknowledged thatthe pace slackened during the General Elections and said that it will berevived. She asked the officials to do their homework before going out to workfor the next day.

Incidentally, Howrah has a new policecommissionerate. WB CM also announced that no-refusal taxis will soon ply inHowrah. Transport system in Howrah is also being revamped with new busesconnecting the rural areas.

While the Chief Minister instructed thedistrict officials to arrange for setting up camps for disbursing amenities andfacilities to the local people, she also laid stress to bring pace in the workof completion of the textile park in Belur and the Mother & Child Hub atUluberia Hospital. She also asked the officials to prepare a budget to for theconservation of the greenery and water bodies in the district.

Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee chaireda meeting at Nabanna with all policesuperintendents – just a day before the Police Budget was placed at the StateAssembly – to discuss law and order situation in Bengal. The Commissioners ofthe five commissionerates, the Home Secretary and other officials were presentat the meeting.

The district police chiefs were present inthe meeting with 'status reports' of the law and order situations in theirrespective districts.

The Chief Minister asked police to takecomplaints irrespective of `any political colour`.

Urging police to deal with citizens onhumanitarian grounds, Ms. Banerjee asked them to accept FIRs and act oncomplaints immediately. She has pointed out that cases should be left pendingat the police stations.

The Chief Minister, who handles the HomeDept., also addressed the Assembly on Friday, where the budget for the Dept. was placed. Yesterday, she had already accepted the proposal of induction of fivehundred SI`s, into the police force.

The State Government is undertaking aproject to set up a Coal Corridor in the four districts of Bardhaman, Bankura,Birbhum and Purulia. The district magistrates of the respective districts havealready been asked to send reports on the issue.

The Coal Corridor will be modelled on thelines of the Delhi-Kolkata Industrial corridor, with four-lane roads andwidened bridges, which will connect the mines by tributary roads. This willhelp speed up the communication between the mines and the thermal plants.

The four districts of Bardhaman, Bankura,Birbhum and Purulia have vast coal reserves. Recently a reserve of high qualitycoal has been discovered in Panchami in Birbhum. It is expected that huge employmentopportunities will be generated at the Panchami Coal Reserve.

The Government has formed a task forcecomprising 10 members to speed up the process of the proposed Coal Corridor.

The new Government assumed office a fewweeks ago. We were expecting it to start with a positive outlook and take up adevelopmental agenda. However, we are shocked that a beginning has already beenmade through rumour, gossip and `plants` in the media.

Senior Trinamool Congress MP Debabrata Bandyopahyay`sresidence in Delhi was visited by the CBI on the pretext of “collecting somedocuments”.  This has been done without eventalking to the concerned person.

We strongly condemn this attitude of usingthe CBI with the motive of political vendetta against the main Oppositionparties. In a democratic setup, this is just not done.

Debabrata Bandyopadhyay has an impeccabletrack record. He is one of the most revered retired IAS officers, who served boththe Central and the State Governments in various senior roles. His career hasbeen without blemish. He is also regarded as the father of the land reformmovement in India.

We note with concern and disgust this formof petty politics to malign a gentleman with more than 40 years copybook publiclife. His integrity, credibility and honesty for the last four decades havebeen unquestionable. This is a deliberate attempt to humiliate him.

For years, the Congress Government has used the CBI with a political motive. The BJP is following that sickening path.

We, the All India Trinamool Congress, willfight this in the way we have fought our battles for the last 35 years -politically and democratically.

Statementissued by Derek O`Brien, National Spokesperson.

—

তৃণমূল সাংসদের বিরুদ্ধে সিবিআইএর এফাইআর – দলের প্রতিক্রিয়া

কেন্দ্রে নতুন সরকার ক্ষমতাসীন হওয়ার পর সকলেই আশা করেছিল যে এক নতুন পথচলার আরম্ভ হবে, উন্নয়নকে দিশা করে নানা কর্মকান্ড নেওয়া হবে। আমরা হতবাক যে নতুন সরকার শুরুতেই কুত্সা, অপপ্রচারে লিপ্ত হয়েছে।

বরিষ্ঠ তৃণমূল সাংসদ দেবব্রত বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের দিল্লির বাড়িতে সিবিআই “নথি সংগ্রহ” করার নাম করে আজ হানা দেয়। দেবব্রত বাবু এ ব্যাপারে ওয়াকিবহালই ছিলেন না।

রাজনৈতিক স্বার্থ-সিদ্ধির জন্যে সিবিআই এর ব্যবহারের আমরা তীব্র নিন্দা করি। এই ঘটনা দেশের গণতান্ত্রিক কাঠামোর পরিপন্থী।

দেবব্রত বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় দেশের এক গণমান্য এক ব্যক্তি। কেন্দ্রীয় ও রাজ্য সরকারের নানা পদে তিনি কাজ করেছেন ৪০ বছরের ও বেশি সময় ধরে। দক্ষতা ও স্বচ্ছতার সাথে নানা দায়িত্ব সামলেছেন তিনি। তাকে দেশের ভুমি সংস্কারের জনক বলেও অভিহিত করা হয়। চার দশকের ওনার কর্মজীবন সম্পূর্ণ নিষ্কলঙ্ক। এহেন মানুষকে কালিমালিপ্ত করার প্রচেষ্টা অত্যন্ত নিন্দনীয়।

কংগ্রেস ক্ষমতায় থাকাকালিন বিরোধীদের বিরুদ্ধে সিবিআইকে যথেচ্ছভাবে ব্যাবহার করেছে। বিজেপিও ক্ষমতায় এসে সেই একই পদ্ধতি অবলম্বন করছে।

সর্বভারতীয় তৃণমূল কংগ্রেসের পক্ষ থেকে এই ন্যাক্কারজনক ঘটনার প্রতিবাদ আমরা রাজনৈতিক ও গণতান্ত্রিক ভাবেই করব, যেমনটা করে এসছি দীর্ঘ ৩৫ বছর।

– ডেরেক ও`ব্রায়েন, সর্বভারতীয় তৃণমূল কংগ্রেসের জাতীয় মুখপাত্র

Every college must have a web portal of itsown by December so that college admission can be fully online next year,Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told vice-chancellors of all affiliatinguniversities on Wednesday.

At the meeting with the VCs, the Ministerrepeated what he had said about the government`s stand on centralized onlineadmission to colleges.

The government is determined to introduceonline admission at every college next year. Every college must have its ownweb portal in six months. 2015 has been set as the deadline for colleges acrossthe state to switch to the online system.

The Education Minister had called themeeting with the VCs and other senior officials of universities to discuss thedifficulties they faced in running the institutions. This was his first meetingwith the university heads after assuming office as education minister on May27.

The minister told the VCs that they shouldensure that the colleges maintain transparency in the admission process andstudents are admitted strictly on the basis of merit. He wanted to know fromthe vice-chancellors whether they had any plans for the development of theirinstitutions. He promised all help for implementation of the development plans,including introduction of more courses.

Trinamool Congress MP Sugato Bose won thehearts of parliamentarians across party lines with his maiden speech in the LokSabha on Wednesday.

Team Trinamool is the Parliament took pridein the fact that Bose`s speech and that of one of the party MPs, Ratna De Nag(chairing the House), created a day of glory for the party.

A historian who has taught at USuniversities like Tufts and Harvard, Bose drew the government`s attention toissues like the need for a generous foreign policy towards neighbours,atrocities against dalits and concerns of minorities.

Most of his arguments were interspersedwith liberal quoting of Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam even as he duginto his knowledge of Indian history.

Bose warned the government not to confuse”uniformity with unity”and “majoritarianism with democracy”. “West Bengal willnever allow the language of citizenship to be used as a facade foranti-minority prejudice,” the Jadavpur MP said with reference to infiltrationand illegal migration.

Calling the President`s address a”recitation of pious platitudes”, he commended the government`s move to inviteSAARC countries and urged that regional problems not be allowed to impedeIndia's desire to play a global role. He said the biggest challenge for Indiaand China would be to peacefully manage their simultaneous rise even as hewelcomed engagement with Japan.

Bose, however, criticized the government`s”patronizing” aim to bring “the eastern region of the country on a par with thewestern region in terms of physical and social infrastructure”.

He argued that west and north had a lot tolearn from the east on “every conceivable index of human development and socialinfrastructure” like health, education and gender balance.

He also drew the Centre`s attention to hisstate`s growing debt burden and asked the government to devise policies toprovide relief as it was impeding the development agenda of the state.

An eco tourism advisory board will also beset up to facilitate implementation of projects. The decision was taken at ameeting chaired by Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee with Forest Department officialsat Nabanna.

The board will primarily help incoordinating between different departments, earmarking locations in the forestareas where eco tourism projects can be undertaken and formulate the dos anddon'ts for undertaking the projects. 

The Wild Life Act has provision for using20 per cent of the land within the forest areas for other purposes, providedthe ecology is not disturbed. Ms. Banerjee has asked forest officials to”think out of the box” and coordinate with their counterparts in theTourism Department for utilizing this 20 per cent land in implementing ecotourism projects. 

In the wake of problems faced by touristsin booking lodges and bungalows through the over-pressured Forest DepartmentMs. Banerjee approved 50 per cent of the bookings through the TourismDepartment.

In Jaldapara, the Forest Department hadrestricted giving permission for booking elephant safari for the past twoyears. Prior to that, bookings could be done through the Tourism Department aswell. The board will help to iron out such differences.

The Chief Minister further stressed onmaintenance and supervision of bungalows and rest houses located in the forestareas. She pulled up the forest officials for the neglected condition of thebungalows. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme isalso being delayed in many forest areas, she pointed out.

Forest Minister Binoy Krishna Barman,Tourism Minister Bratya Basu and secretaries of the respective departments, aswell as the Panchayat Department, along with the district forest officials attendedthe meeting.