Author: AITC

After assuming power in 2011, the vision ofWB CM Ms. Mamata Banerjee was to decentralise governance. In line with thevision, the West Bengal Government is in the process of setting up 22 newmunicipalities in the state.

The new municipalities will come up atTehatta, Chanchal, Canning, Falakata, Kakdwip, Belda, Khatra, Gazole,Buniyadpur, Bally West, Andul, Domjur, Bagnan, Bakshirhat, Thakurnagar, Amta,Kolaghat-Mecheda, Amtala, Domkal, Tarapith and Mollarpur. In addition to this,discussion is currently going on to set up the 22nd municipality at Maynaguri.

The Municipal Affairs Minister, FirhadHakim, said that this would be done to decentralise administration throughlocal bodies and speed up the pace of development programmes across the state.

Mr Hakim said that the state government hadalready approved constitution of four new municipal corporations in thedistricts of North and South 24-Parganas.

The government also sanctioned inclusion ofa few municipalities and adjoining areas into three existing municipalcorporations.

 Amunicipal corporation with a mega-city population of at least ten lakh wouldhelp the state government get funds from various sources including centralschemes for effective local administration.

On May 26, Chief Minister Ms. MamataBanerjee after a cabinet meeting had referred to the creation of four newmunicipal corporations.

West Bengal received 156 investmentproposals amounting to Rs 28,318 crore in fiscal 2013-14, the state Finance,Industries and Commerce Minister said at the State Assembly on Tuesday.

The proposals have the potential to generalemployment for 1.52 lakh people, state Finance, Industries and CommerceMinister Amit Mitra said at the state assembly here.

Dr Mitra said 296 projects entailing aninvestment of Rs 78,092 crore have either been initiated or are in differentstages of implementation since June 2011 and till January 2014. The Trinamoolcame to power in May 2011.

Mitra said that in contrast, the erstwhileLeft Front government could implement only four projects out of the manymemorandum of understanding signed in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Mitra claimed the state recorded thehighest bank credit growth among all states at 105 percent.

The state`s Index of Industrial production(IIP) stood at 9.9 percent.

The Industry Minister said: “Both theAmbani Group and Emami Group will set up cement plants at Raghunathpur inPurulia. While the Ambani Group will invest Rs 600 crore on 300 acres of land, theEmamai Group will invest Rs 300 crore. Both the groups have bought land fromWBIDC at market price.”

Mr Mitra said to expedite the process ofinvestment the state government had set up “Shilpa Sathi” – a singlewindow system to help investors.  

On the occasion of the Trinamool led WestBengal Government completing three years in power, the State Government hascome out with a book listing the “special development plans”undertaken in the past three years.

A sharp increase in budgetary allocation inseveral departments, including Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education,Panchayat and Rural Development, Agriculture, School Education and PublicHealth Engineering, from 2011 to 2014 as well as introduction of innovativeschemes like Kanyashree, Yuvashree and initiatives like fairprice shops and Kisan Credit Cards are some of the major achievements of thestate government.

“…the government has put the stateon fast track in its first three years……” and the initiatives takenduring this period “are tailor-made to rocket the state to thepinnacle” in every field, according to the 72-page book titled Let BengalShow the Way.

The book provides a graphicalrepresentation of the government's initiatives in a comparative manner. Thedepartment-wise achievements during April 2011 to March 2014 have been comparedwith the last three years (April 2008 to March 2011) of the Left Front'stenure.

Bagging the credit of restoring workculture in Bengal that had deteriorated in the past 34 years, the State Governmenthas brought down the loss of mandays due to strikes from 172.2 to 0.65.

A higher number of students have beenincluded in the ambit of scholarships and loans with 57.23 lakh scholarshipsand 3.19 lakh loans been distributed compared to 8.41 lakh scholarships and1.12 lakh loans distributed in the past three years of the Left's tenure.Concepts of setting up marketing hubs, distribution of bicycles andconstruction of minority bhawans are other achievements. 

The Agriculture Marketing Department hasincreased the investment in market infrastructure from Rs 64.7 crore to Rs1,147.73 crore. There has been an increase in farmer's household income and asubsequent rise in the production of food grain from 468 metric ton to 500metric ton.

Construction of an additional 1,000 km ofrural roads and providing food grain at Rs 2 per kg to an additional crore poorare among the most appreciated initiatives. Others include setting up of newuniversities, ITIs, sick newborn care units, critical care units and additionalbeds in hospitals.

Under the Chief Minister's pet schemes likeYuvashree, 87,465 youths have beenprovided unemployment allowance and in Kanyashreehas been sanctioned to 8.74 lakh girls.

Click here to read the booklet online.

North Bengal hassuffered due to complete negligence under the previous regime. Within threeyears after coming to power the Trinamool Government, under the guidance of ChiefMinister Ms. Mamata Banerjee, a surge of development has taken place in theregion. A new department dedicated to the development of North BengalDevelopment was formed three years ago; the department has fast-tracked growthand development in the six districts of North Bengal.

334 projects, whichwere pending implementation, have been completed in just two years. Thedepartment has completed over 600 projects in the span of three years.

From Malda toBalurghat, Darjeeling to Coochbehar, and Jalpaiguri to Alipurduar, there hasbeen a flood of development in all spheres – education, health, tourism, roads,drinking water supply, transport among others.

• The first SportVillage of the state has been set up at Jalpaiguri
• An Indoor Stadium with500 seats have been set up at Alipurduar
• The Panchanan BarmaUniversity and a Govt. Engineering College are coming up at Coochbehar.
• The work of theHeritage Road in Coochbehar is going on
• Dewanhat College isbeing renovated
• Works of new buildingsfor Ghoksadanga and Nishigunj College have started
• A Theatre ExcellenceCenter is being set up at Balurghat
• Work of Bhootni Bridgeat Manikchak, Malda, has started
• Construction of aCentral Bus Terminus at Malda has started
• A Ring Road is beingconstructed at Siliguri
• Works of threeseparate roads to connect Siliguri with Jalpaiguri has started

Under the Left regime theNorth Bengal Development Council spent Rs 370 crores for the six North Bengaldistricts in 11 years. In other words, each district was entitled to Rs 5-7Crores per year. After the Trinamool Government came in power, Jalpaiguridistrict alone got allocations worth Rs 210.88 crores in two years. Such is thedifference.

In an attempt to stop corruption in theprocess of issuing licence by the food and supplies department, the stategovernment has decided to introduce an online system.

“This new system will be functional fromNovember this year. This will have two benefits. The first is that the peoplewilling to avail of food department licence will not have to take the troubleto come to the department office and this will also do away with the corruptpractices that are involved in the licence issuing process,” the state food& supplies minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick, told the media on the sidelines ofthe ongoing extended budget session of the West Bengal assembly.

The food department grants licence forration shops, kerosene, fair price shops and LPG dealerships, among others.

“Under the new system, interested peoplewill have to apply as well as pay the licence fees online. The only thing thatthe person concerned will need is a credit or debit card,” Mullick added.

The state food and supplies minister alsosaid his department has decided to increase the vigilance teams in each districtfrom one to two. “Each vigilance team will have four members and one of thefour will be a quality control officer,” he said.

The minister said that his department hasalso decided to depute quality control officer in all the flour mills. “However,this inspector will be not be deputed in one particular flour mill for anindefinite period. They will be shifted after seven days. This will ensure thatthere are no links between an inspector and the mill management,” Mullick said.

Already the state food and suppliesdepartment has introduced a system where the public can register theirgrievances and complaints against the department on a website.

The public can also view online the statusof their complaints and whether any action has been taken against the same.

The four newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs took their oath earlier today. In an election held in February, painter Jogen Chowdhury,actor Mithun Chakraborty, social activist KD Singh and editor of a Bengalidaily Ahmed Hassan Imran had won the elections as candidates of the TrinamoolCongress.

While Jogen Chowdhury and Ahmed Hassan Imran took oath in Bangla, Mithun Chakraborty chose to do so in Hindi. Dr KD Singh took his oath in English. After his oath Jogen Chowdhury said, “Banglar joy hok”.

Trinamool Chairperson Ms. Mamata Banerjee hadcongratulated the winning candidates. She had dedicated the victory to the Maa,Mati, Manush of Bengal. She hoped the winners will pursue the cause of Bengal`sdevelopment in the Parliament.

“There was a time when we had only onerepresentative in the Rajya Sabha. We have come a long way. I thank everyonewho voted for our candidates”, remarked the Chairperson after theelections.

Chief minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee haslined up a retinue of her senior cabinet colleagues to put forth Bengal`sdemands in New Delhi. The list includes, finance and industry minister AmitMitra, irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee and North Bengal affairs ministerGautam Deb among others.

Finance minister Dr Amit Mitra, who attended the state finance ministers` meet in Delhi today, raised the concernsof the people of Bengal. “The previous Government did nothing for the people of Bengal. The Prime Minister as well as the Finance Minister ignored our demands” he said. 

“I voiced theconcerns of the people of the state. We have put forth our demands to the newly-elected Government” he added.

After coming to power in May 2011, theTrinamool Congress government had been seeking a moratorium with the UPA-IIregime.

While Dr Mitra has taken up the statefinance issue, Rajib Banerjee and Gautam Deb will take up the issue of centralassistance for North Bengal`s flood control measures.

Asking student unions to not interfere incollege administrative work, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjeetoday said a helpline number would be available for students tomorrow wherethey can directly get information on college admissions.

“We have told student union leaderswho met me during the day that their responsibility has now increased becausein some places online admissions will be held and in other places it will bethe manual process. They cannot interfere into administrative work,”Chatterjee told reporters.

The minister also announced a toll-freehelpline number for college admissions – 1800 103 7033 – which would beavailable between 9 AM and 6 PM from tomorrow.

Students can call up the number or SMStheir queries at 9223225477 to get all information and also lodge complaintsrelated to admissions.

Earlier in the day, the State Assemblypassed The West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education (amendment) Bill, 2014. TheBill aims at including primary education in High Madrasah system of education,regularise primary section of recognised High Madrasahs as well as SishuShiksha Kendras run by minority affairs and Madrasah education department.

Kolkata has beenranked as the best place for quality of life among Indian cities in arecently-conducted survey by a Bangalore-based organisation Janaagraha. Thestudy was based on more than 100 parameters in 21 selected cities.

Kolkata toppedwhile Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal came second and third respectively. Delhiranked fifth.

The Chief Ministerof West Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee wrote on her Facebook page, “We are happythat over the last three years, our efforts to restore the past glory ofKolkata and make it a truly great Metro – from beautification to making thecity clean and green to improving civic amenities – is yielding results.”

She also added, “Moreis planned in the coming days. There is so much more to be done for Kolkata andthe people of Kolkata.”

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দিল্লি, মুম্বইকে পিছনে ফেলে পরিষেবায় প্রথম কলকাতা

নাগরিক পরিষেবা,নগর পরিকল্পনা থেকে পুর পরিচালনার মতো গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বিষয়েদিল্লি, মুম্বই,চেন্নাই, বেঙ্গালুরু–সহ দেশের২১টি শহরেরমধ্যে প্রথমহয়েছে কলকাতা৷

`জনাগ্রহ` নামে বেঙ্গালুরুর প্রতিষ্ঠানটি নগরোন্নয়ন ও পরিকল্পনায় জাতীয়ও আন্তর্জাতিক পর্যায়ে স্বীকৃত৷ দু`বছর ধরে শহরগুলির পুর পরিষেবার মান ও ভবিষ্যত্‍ উন্নতিরসম্ভাবনা নিয়ে সমীক্ষা চালাচ্ছে তারা৷ সেই জন্য পরিষেবার মানের পাশাপাশি পুর আইন ও পুরসভাপরিচালনার নিয়মকানুনে দ্রুত কাজেরসুযোগ এবং স্বচ্ছতা কতটা আছে, তা–ও তাদেরসমীক্ষার বিবেচ্যছিল৷ এ জন্য ৮৩টি প্রশ্নের তালিকাতৈরি করেছিলতারা৷

এই মাপকাঠিতে দশের মধ্যেচার পেয়ে দেশে এক নম্বর স্থানদখল করেছেকলকাতা৷ সামগ্রিক বিচারে দিল্লিও মুম্বইকলকাতার থেকে অনেকটাই পিছিয়ে৷