Author: AITC

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. MamataBanerjee has taken initiatives to revive the car safaris that had been stoppedin the Buxa Tiger Reserve four years ago .This would boost the tourism industrythat directly and indirectly employs several thousand people, felt the ChiefMinister.

Thereserve which spans 762 sq km in Jalpaiguri district has 12-15tigers. The area is known for its scenic beauty and otherwild animals such as bison, elephants and deer. The tourism season starts onSeptember 15 and ends on June 15.

TheChief Minister also announced several other steps to boost tourism, such asmaking Jayanti, an area inside the BTR, a model village. She said that”tourists like the car safari in BTR, which will be restored.”

Touroperators said that since the car safaris stopped in 2010, the number oftourists coming to the biggest forest in north Bengal had fallen.

TheChief Minister said yesterday: “Like other places in the Dooars, we areconcentrating on tourism in Buxa Duar and Jayanti areas of Buxa Tiger Reserve.A.R. Bardhan, the tourism secretary, along with other officials last weekvisited Buxa Duar and Jayanti and he will submit a report to me.” She said thatin Jayanti and Buxa Duar, “tourism centres would be set up soon so thattourists can know about the history” behind the fort in Buxa Duar, a village inthe BTA area, as well as other villages there. The trekking route towards BuxaDuar and Lepchakha, another village, “have been improved and will be improvedmore in the near future”, the Chief Minister said.

TheChief Minister, who has earlier spoken of initiating several tourist projectsin the hills, said she was “impressed with the natural beauty in Jayanti”, butadded that the area was “congested”. “I have asked Gautam Deb, the north Bengaldevelopment minister, to see if villagers can be shifted from Jayanti, thendevelopmental work in connection with tourism can be done there,” she said.

TheChief Minister also spoke about a plan to make Jayanti, which is in the BTRarea, a model village. A model village is generally one where tourists canavail themselves of homestays and mingle with the local community. Thecommunity itself benefits as better roads, water supply and other amenities aremade available for the villagers.

The State government would set up a newfinance directorate in North Bengal, said Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee.

“This is a major initiative for the peoplein North Bengal who have to come to Kolkata for different work. Now issues likepension and recruitment of teachers will be addressed from the directorate,”Ms. Banerjee told journalists after an administrative meeting at Mongpong inDarjeeling district.

The establishment of a finance directorateis the second major administrative step after the Trinamool Congress governmentdecided to set up Uttarkanya – a branch secretariat dedicated to North Bengalin January this year.

The Chief Minister, who over the past fewdays have been in North Bengal, said she had visited various sites fordevelopment of tourism in the region. She claimed the reports that forestsafari has been shut in North Bengal were false.

“This is a deliberate attempt to malignus… You can check records to know the facts,” Ms. Banerjee said.

She said that along with developing sitesin Buxa Tiger Reserve, Mongpong, and at Jaldhaka where the infrastructure wasdestroyed during the movement for separate Statehood, various important tourismsites had been located.

On ensuring greater connectivity to theregion, Ms. Banerjee said additional flights to Bagdogra would start duringDurga Puja, but she wanted more flights should fly between Kolkata and Bagdografor the entire year. “We are giving a lot of advantages (to airlines) and haveeven waived taxes on aviation fuel,” she said. The Chief Minister said thatadditional Rs. 30 crore had been allocated for development of an airport inCooch Behar district.

The West Bengal Government Wednesday launcheda residential football academy, first-ever done by any state, to promoteyoung local talents.

“No other state government or theCentre has taken any such initiative so far, but we have done it under the strongleadership of Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee,” state`s Sports ministerMadan Mitra said after announcing the launch of the `Bengal Football Academy`here today.

The announcement was made amid the presenceof country`s yesteryear legendary footballers like P K Banerjee, Chuni Goswami,Arun Ghosh, Naimuddin, Subhash Bhowmik, Subrata Bhattacharya, Crompton Duttaand Samaresh Dutta besides the Academy`s Technical Director Goutam Sarkar.

Mitra said that the Academy would be aresidential one for which forty talents in the age group of 13 to 15 years havealready been shortlisted for five years training period in the first batch atits stadium at Khardaha.

Sponsored by the West Bengal State Councilof Sports, the Academy would formally be inaugurated by the state Finance andIndustry Minister Amit Mitra on June 8 at Khardaha in the presence of 100luminaries of Indian football.

Even as there is a budgetary allocation ofRs one crore for the purpose, the allocation could be revised if required, thesports minister said.

The state government also has a plan tomodernise its training stadium at Khardaha at an expense of Rs 10 crore withthe inclusion of a swimming pool, athletic track, state-of-the art gymnasiumand a guest house, Mitra said.

He also announced that the state governmenthas decided to set up 100 giant screens in and around the city ahead of thesoccer World Cup in Brazil to satisfy football enthusiasts here.

“Before each World Cup match on thegiant screens, a short film on Bengal Football Academy would be shown,”Mitra said.

The leaders of the party today advised theMLAs to do proper homework and be regular while attending the West BengalAssembly.

Lauding the Chairperson Ms. MamataBanerjee’s leadership which helped the party to bag 34 of the 42 seats in thejust-held Lok Sabha elections, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjeesaid the advice was given to members of the Trinamool Congress LegislatureParty by All India General Secretary.

New members were also asked to remainabreast of the rules and regulations of the House. Government Chief WhipSobhandeb Chattopadhyay, senior party leader and Panchayat Minister SubrataMukherjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra also gave similar advice.

The strength of the party, which swept theAssembly by-elections winning five of the six seats, increased to 191 in the294-member House.

The State Transport Department has decidedto attach bio-toilets in all long distance buses operated by the state-runtransport corporations, Transport Minister Madan Mitra said today. On a pilotbasis, the South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) has alreadyattached bio-toilets in two buses that were today flagged off from Esplanade bythe minister.  

The minister asked the principal secretaryof the transport department, Mr Alapan Bandopadhyay, for its speedyimplementation. Bio- toilets will be attached in all buses that cover more than125 km on a single route, Mr Mitra said. Some seats might come down forattaching the toilet in the buses, but passengers will be benefited.  

SBSTC today introduced two AC buses fromEsplanade bus depot.  They will ply fromthe Esplanade bus depot to various destinations in south Bengal.

The State Transport Department will set upan A-C bus terminus near Thakurpukur. The department has sanctioned Rs 10 crorefor setting up the terminus. The terminus will have cafeteria, a cyber cafe anda restaurant. The SBSTC will set up another bus terminus near Pailan in South24 Parganas. The terminus will come up on three acres land.

Newly elected Trinamool Congress MPs were lectured on parliamentary rules andprocedures to senior leaders in Delhi today. Around 20 of Trinamool`s 34 MPsare first-timers.

Veterans such as Saugata Roy, Sudip Bandopadhyayand Kalyan Banerjee gave a crash course at a closed-door session at Banga Bhavan on a day Parliament`s session started.

“Apart fromparliamentary rules and procedures, the MPs were taught how to play the role ofa constructive Opposition,” a Trinamool MP said.

Saugata Roy told the MPs about parliamentary rules ofbusiness and procedures such as Question Hour and Zero Hour.

Kalyan Banerjee, who heads the standing committee on coal,spoke on how parliamentary panels work. MPs have to be part of a host ofparliamentary panels that prepare reports on crucial issues.

Rajya Sabha MP and Trinamool spokesperson Derek O`Brieneducated the first-timers on how to handle the media.

On the occasion of the World EnvironmentDay, West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee has issued an appeal to thepeople to conserve the nature.

She wrote on her Facebook page:”Environment is the most important resource for life. We draw more, thangive back to nature and environment. In the words of Tagore – “দিয়েছি যত নিয়েছি তার বেশি“ (I havetaken from you more than what I could give you).”

“To save our very existence, we needto save earth, trees, water, sea, river, all water bodies and keep the airclean to prevent global warming. This is necessary for a sustainableenvironment,” Ms. Benerjee wrote.

The Chief Minister appealed to all to”strive towards this goal for our better tomorrow.”

With a photograph of hers where she is seenwatering some plants, the message from Ms. Banerjee read: “Incidentally, todayI am in the midst of (a) lush green forest cover at (the) Jaldapara NationalPark in North Bengal. The greeneries, captivating flora and fauna, beautifulelephants, rhinos, the fast flowing streams and above all, the warmth of thepeople around, have left me spell-bound.”

The Chief Minister concluded the messagewith the information that she has two meetings on Thursday: One with the TribalAdvisory Council and the other with North Bengal Development Council.”Lastly, I will join a `Tree Plantation` programme at Hollong,” shewrote.

সবুজ প্রকৃতি আমাদের মা।

প্রকৃতির আঁচলে ভরা থাক আকাশ, বাতাস, নদী, সমুদ্র, সূর্য, চন্দ্র, তারা।

ভরা থাক স্মৃতি সুধায় পরিবেশ রক্ষার সবুজ আনন্দ ধারা।

সবুজ বাঁচুক, সবুজ থাকুক, সবুজ ধ্বংস করো না।

এ পৃথিবী তোমার, আমা্‌র সবার।

প্রকৃতি নষ্ট করো না।

With the words above, Ms. Mamata Banerjee triedher had at poetry. It translates to: “The gree nature is our mother/ Letthe sky, winds, rivers, oceans, sun, moon and stars fill the nature`s embrace/Let the heady memories be filled with the happiness derived from conservationof the greenery/ Let the greens survive, let the greens stay; do not destroythe greens/ This world belongs to us all/ Do not destruct the nature.”

Team Trinamool is all set for the oathceremony of the newly-elected MPs, which is due to begin tomorrow inParliament. In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election, Trinamool registereda massive victory by winning 34 out of the 42 seats in West Bengal, thusimproving the party`s tally of 19 MPs in 2009. This time Trinamool fought theelections alone, without any alliance.

Out of the 34 MPs, 14 have been re-electedwhile the rest are all first time Parliamentarians. Needless to say that theyare excited about their new role. From filmstars to academicians, doctors tolawyers – the Team Trinamool in Parliament reflects the entire spectrum of thesociety. Apart from the 34 Lok Sabha MPs, 4 newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs – Mithun Chakraborty, Jogen Chowdhury, KD Singh, Ahmed Hassan Imran – will also take oath.

25 out of the 34 MPs already reached Delhion Monday, amid much fanfare. Huge crowds gathered at the airport to welcomethem. National Spokesperson of Trinamool and Chief Whip of the party in RajyaSabha, Derek O`Brien was present at the airport to receive the newly-electedMPs.

Although the swearing-in of MPs will beginon June 4, the turn of Trinamool MPs will come only on June 5, as the processis done in an alphabetical order of the name of the States. In the next twodays, the MPs will be taken through the whole process of Parliamentaryprocedures and rules. They will also have to complete all the formalities ofprocuring their MP ID Card and other routine paperwork in the Parliament.