Tag: Chief Minister

New fleets of electric, CNG buses flagged off

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Twenty electric buses and 20 CNG buses were flagged off recently by the State Transport Minister from Paribahan Bhawan in Kolkata.

Both electric and CNG buses are environment-friendly and hence are being introduced by the government to curb the level of pollution in the State. Several such buses are already running in the State. In February, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had inaugurated 20 electric buses.

While the electric buses will be run by West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC), the CNG buses will be run by South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC).

Each of the electric buses is 12 metres in length. They are more spacious and have more number of seats. While the electric buses will run in and around Kolkata, the CNG buses will be plying in and around the Durgapur-Asansol zone.

It may be mentioned that the State Transport Department has planned to operate CNG buses all over the State, which will be done in phases.

During the inauguration programme, the Transport Minister said that the State Government will be purchasing 150 more electric buses. Of the 150 e-buses, 25 each will be rolled out in Asansol and Siliguri and 50 each will be rolled out in Haldia and the New Town-Rajarhat zone.

Sources: Millennium Post, The Statesman

 

SSKM’s new-look Woodburn Ward a big success

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The new budget service at the Woodburn Ward of SSKM Hospital, the State Government’s premier super-specialty hospital, has been an unqualified success.

According to a senior official in the Health Department, the earning comes to an average of Rs 6 lakh per month.

The service is called budget service because, compared to the best private hospitals, the cost is less. But the quality of service is as good, if not better. It was opened more than a year back, on May 26, 2018.

There are 16 cabins in all, 10 small and six big. The rates have been fixed at Rs 2,500 for a small cabin and Rs 4,000 for a big cabin.

Source: Bartaman

 

Kolkata Traffic Police begins campaign to ensure school children wear helmets

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From Monday, Kolkata Traffic Police began its Traffic Awareness Week. The aim is to create awareness among schoolchildren about wearing helmets while coming to and leaving from school on their guardians’ scooters and bikes.

It has been found that parents too are often unaware of this essential need, and so the effort is to make them aware too.

Workshops are being held by Traffic Police officers at different places, involving children and their guardians. There they would be taught the pros and cons of wearing helmets.

The Traffic Awareness Week is part of Safe Drive Save Life, the now State-wide campaign of the government to make drivers/riders aware of the rules of the road.

Over the years, the project has become a buzzword for following traffic rules in Bangla, and through the project’s success in the State, in other parts of the country too. The Supreme Court too had showered appreciation on it, holding it up as a shining example of what honest intent can achieve.

State Govt educating farmers on indiscriminate use of fertilisers

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The Agriculture Department has taken up a State-wide scheme to spread awareness among the farmers about the ill-effects of environmental hazards caused due to indiscriminate and non-judicious application of chemical pesticides, and exhorting farmers to turn to bio-fertilisers instead.

To ensure the quality of pesticides, measures are being taken for examining pesticide samples. Analysis of the quality of pesticide samples are done in various government-run laboratories.

The plant protection wing has been implementing Bio Village Demonstration Programme, a seed treatment campaign to overcome various environmental hazards.

It is also taking necessary steps to combat threats to different crops due to environmental hazards and bad weather.

 

 

 

Set up task force to detect & take action against tax evasion: Dr Amit Mitra to Union Fin MIn

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Flagging concerns regarding many instances of frauds under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Bangla Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra has written a letter to the Union Finance Minister asking for the setting up of task force having both State and Central officers to detect all cases of tax evasion and take action against racketeers for recovery of evaded tax.

The letter, dated Tuesday, says that Union Government data presented in the Rajya Sabha last month showed that 9,385 cases of tax fraud involving an amount of Rs 45,682.83 crore has been detected by authorities under the GST regime since its rollout on July 1, 2017.

Even this amount, stated Dr Mitra, is “understated” since it does not include complete data of frauds under SGST, which, if compiled for all States, may show tax evasion of over Rs 1 lakh crore.

In view of this huge loss of tax revenue, the State Finance Minister has requested for the topic of GST fraud and its impact on overall GST collections to be discussed in-depth in the upcoming GST Council meeting.

Dr Mitra has also asked for the compilation of a list of all cancelled GSTINs with PAN, email addresses and other details, to be shared with all officers so that the same fraud is not investigated by multiple agencies.

Another aspect of GST mentioned in the letter is that the new return system with invoice matching needed to be put in place in October (for large taxpayers) and in January (for all taxpayers) “without fail”.

It needs to be mentioned here that the issue of tax evasion had also been broached by Dr Mitra in his letter to the Union Finance Minister on July 1. Among other issues, he had stated that “for want of inbuilt system-based matching, hawala billing and fake trade has grown in leaps and bounds and the realization of tax has suffered.”

Source: The India Express

 

RBI cash transfer to govt increases financial risk for nation

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The Trinamool Congress Government has expressed grave concerns over the huge transfer of cash reserves from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Central Government.

The State Finance Minister, Dr Amit Mitra said yesterday in the Assembly that the Rs 1.76 lakh crore transferred from dividend and surplus reserves has increased the financial risk of the country, suffering already as it is due to the massive mismanagement of the economy by the BJP-led government.

Contrary to the general condition of the country, he said, Bangla was faring much better, its GDP growth rate in 2018-19 being the highest among all the States.

He said two past governors of the RBI have spoken on the issue of transfer of cash reserves. It is a question of the RBI’s autonomy, which is under a question mark now. There should be a discussion on this topic. This decision will not only affect the Central Government but also all the State governments.

Explaining the reasons behind the superior performance of Bangla among the general gloom, he said that because the State Government increased the planned expenditure and capital expenditure, and because private investments are pouring in as a result of the industrial policy of the State, there has been a rise in the GDP.

The planned expenditure was increased from Rs 57,779 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 71,113 crore in 2018-19, which is an increase of 23 per cent, while the capital expenditure was increased from Rs 19,085 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 23,787 crore in 2018-19, an increase of 25 per cent.

Source: moneycontrol.com

 

Nabadwip and Cooch Behar given heritage status

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The towns of Nabadwip and Cooch Behar have been officially given heritage status by the State Government. The process was in the works for the last few months, and finally, recently, the announcement was officially made.

The decision regarding giving the status of heritage town has been taken by the State Government after detailed studies of the places by teams of multi-disciplinary experts from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the Indian Institute of Science and Technology, Shibpur.

Long and storied history

Both towns have a lot of history and culture entwined with them. Nabadwip is the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the 16th-century proponent of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Cooch Behar is well-known as the capital of the formerly princely state of the same name, and the royal palace there draws a lot of tourists. It is also famous as the site of a famous Ras Mela at the Madan Mohan Bari temple grounds.

The State Heritage Commission has brought out a detailed list of the heritage structures in the two towns. Nabadwip has 86 such structures and Cooch Behar has 155.

Preserving heritage

Being a heritage town comes with several restrictions aimed at preserving the heritage value of the place and keeping the place beautiful to draw tourists. And arrival of more tourists would naturally open up a lot of economic opportunities.

As part of the rules, putting up advertisement hoardings in and around the heritage structures is banned. There are strict rules regarding the sale, lease and renovation of properties and setting them up as lodges. Applications need to be sent to the relevant municipality or zilla parishad, or even to the State Heritage Commission, if required.

 

Source: Ei Samay

 

Bengalathon 2019: Focus on senior citizen support

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The third edition of the highly popular annual hackathon organised by the State Information Technology and Electronics (IT&E) Department, Bengalathon, was launched yesterday, that is, August 15.

The focus this year is on harnessing technology for elderly care, said a senior official of the IT&E Department.

Innovative ideas are also being invited in the areas of face recognition, solid waste management, road safety, health, citizen feedback, water quality monitoring, smart water metering, soil productivity, quick accident response and open data platform.

An example of elderly care using technology is the app-based digital visitor control system that HIDCO is setting up at Snehodiya, the senior citizen’s home in New Town. This will enable security guards at the gate to monitor the entry and exit of all visitors electronically and notify the facility manager or resident by SMS.

Bengalathon is an India-wide competition meant to recognise and promote innovative ideas on tech-based interventions for a better life. Through this competition, the State Government is trying to position Bangla as the best in using emerging technologies to provide solutions for real-life challenges.

TiE, a non-profit organisation, helps in linking the winners to global enterprises, for funding and further technical support.

Source: Millennium Post

 

Bangla Govt observing Sanskriti Dibas on the occasion of Rakhi Bandhan

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The Bangla Government is celebrating Sanskriti Dibas today. The idea to celebrate the occasion of Rakhi Bandhan as Sanskriti Dibas was initiated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to spread the message of communal harmony.

In 1905, Rabindranath Tagore had observed Rakhi Bandhan as a mark of unity between Hindus and Muslims when the British decided to divide Bengal.

The State Youth Services and Sports Department is hosting the programmes across 342 blocks, 122 municipalities, six municipal corporations and all the 144 wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

It may be mentioned here that Mamata Banerjee has time and again spread the message of unity and harmony at various public meetings. She has urged people to uphold the spirit of Bangla which stands for peace, progress and prosperity.

Mamata Banerjee to address students on the occasion of Kanyashree Dibas

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This day is celebrated by the Bangla Government as Kanyashree Dibas, dedicated to the flagship Kanyashree Prakalpa or Kanyashree Scheme. This much-feted scheme was conceived by Chief Minister Banerjee and it was she who inaugurated it on October 1, 2013.

The scheme has benefitted about 58 lakh girls till now in over 17,000 institutions, including schools, colleges and universities across the State.

Kanyashree Prakalpa has six primary objectives: Incentivising education through scholarships; discouraging early marriage of girls; incentivising education through scholarships; reducing the incidence of dropping out of schools; improving infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate by delaying the age of marriage and consequently increasing the age of first birth; eradicating under-nutrition and malnutrition of female children; and, preventing trafficking and exploitation.

The scheme also pays for the vocational training of girls so that after passing out of schools, they can start earning, if not interested in further education.

On this occasion, Mamata Banerjee will address students at a grand programme. She will also award girls who have achieved in various fields, like education, sports and social activity.