KMC to take measures to ensure street food vendors follow hygienic practices

KMC to take measures to ensure street food vendors follow hygienic practices

Posted on December 22, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Kolkata Municipal Corporation is gearing up to take measures to ensure street food vendors follow proper hygienic practices.

Street food in Kolkata, with phuchkas and aloo chats as its staple attraction, are a hit among citizens and outsiders as it is cheap and easily available. Since a large section of students dip into street food, KMC authorities feel the food items should be safe and are not allowed to be sold under unhygienic conditions.

“We want to make street foods safe in the city. It has been our focus to ensure that street food vendors maintain a standard of hygiene so that the customers will not have to be suspicious of the quality of food offered,” Atin Ghosh, member, mayor-in-council (health) said.

In keeping with the guidelines formulated in the seminar, KMC health department, under the supervision of Mr Ghosh, has decided to formulate their own regulatory guidelines taking into account the demand of the city.

Use of safe, potable running water will be a key measure to be taken under the guidelines being worked out since water that is unsafe for consumption cause a variety of diseases. The vendors must also ensure proper garbage disposal and that food is handled in a scientific way. A certain level of temperature is maintained while cooking the food is also being considered.

KMC plans mega water project to link north and south Kolkata

Posted on November 26, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

In one of the biggest water projects ever considered in Kolkata, the civic body plans to link two of its major water pumping stations through a 70-km-long pipeline, creating a ‘water grid’ that will not only end the city’s water woes in five years but also prepare it for the future.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation has submitted the proposal to the state government to be included in the AMRUT scheme. It will cost a whopping Rs 1,400 crore and ensure uninterrupted supply of filtered water to every home even in the added areas and protect groundwater from further depletion.

The plan is to link Palta waterworks near Barrackpore with the Garden Reach water treatment plant in the south-western part of the city.

Once the link-up happens, KMC can get water from Palta to supply all the ‘dry’ areas.

The new pipeline will run along EM Bypass till Garia and then travel along Tolly’s Nullah to Kudghat, where it will take a left turn to meet MG Road and finally merge with an existing line on James Long Sarani to link up with the Garden Reach network.

An added advantage of running the pipeline along EM Bypass is that the newly built Dhapa water treatment plant will also be connected with both Palta and Garden Reach waterworks.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee is gung ho about the project and said it will be “really useful” to the city.

EM Bypass flats will get filtered water soon

Posted on November 21, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Buoyed by the warm response to its pilot project on piping filtered water to some apartment complexes, Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to lay a dedicated water pipeline to supply filtered water from the Dhapa plant to all major complexes along EM Bypass.

In the first phase, KMC will lay a 24-inch pipeline along EM Bypass, which will be linked to all major housing complexes. In the second phase, based on applications from the cooperative societies, the civic body will install water meters in these apartments.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said that the civic body would definitely supply filtered water to the major housing complexes along the EM Bypass as part of a plan to ban drawing of ground water.

“We need to supply filtered water to the multistoried buildings and housing complexes. This is necessary to save city’s groundwater from being depleted,” he said.

KMC service centre on way

Posted on November 21, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The KMC authorities have decided to build a citizens’ service centre adjacent to the civic headquarters on S N Banerjee Road. The construction will begin in December with an 18-month deadline in mind.

The G+ IV building will be constructed on a 12 cottah plot where the Chaplin cinema building once stood.

Once the building was complete, it would ease the pressure from the headquarters as some of the departments, like the treasury , trade licence and information technology, will be shifted to the new set up.

According to plans, the civic body will open up a whole floor for the citizens’ service centre. This centre will be modelled after some of the cash collection centres set up in different locations across the city .

“We will dedidate a 6,000 sq ft floor to the tax payers who can turn up at the new centre for paying property tax bills. Traders will also be entertained to pay their trade licence renewal fee at the new centre. Once construction is complete, we will offer a single window system for our citizens to avail of different civic services,” mayor Sovan Chatterjee said.

Environment-friendly immersions in Kolkata after Durga Puja

Posted on October 26, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

It was a beautiful sight at Hooghly – on the east bank at Baje Kadamtala Ghat. It was height of environment friendly immersion. Festivities continued on immersion day in Kolkata without polluting the river, thus obeying the norms laid down by the Calcutta High Court.

At Baje Kadamtala Ghat, a Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) floating crane was working overtime to pick-up the idols before they get fully dipped. There was a host of dedicated KMC employees, segregating -recyclable and non-recyclable materials for final disposal.

Even a score of foreign tourists, who were busy clicking the “amazing sights,” were impressed by the efforts to keep the river clean. “It is indeed magical sights and sounds. The efforts of the civic body to save the river are appreciable,” said Arnold Smith, a tourist from Amsterdam, who came to city to experience the festivity.

Immersions are conducted in Kolkata in the presence of a crane mounted on a barge on the Hooghly, two other cranes on the banks of the river, four pay loaders and a full team of Kolkata Municipal Corporation on each of the 13 most-visited ghats.

KMC and Kolkata Police gear up for Durga Puja immersions

Posted on October 17, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Elaborate security arrangements by Kolkata police as well as civic authorities are in place at various ghats of the river Hooghly to ensure that the immersion of Durga idols passes off peacefully.

Officers of the Kolkata Police are manning the riverfront to prevent onlookers from getting too close to the river. Special vigil is being maintained from a watch tower near the ghat.

Cranes have been deployed at certain ghats to lift and extricate the remains of idols from the river to avoid pollution.

Additional lights have been put up at the immersion ghats and the flowers, levers and metallic weapons are being dumped in separate vats to avoid polluting the river.

Other than maintaining law and order during immersion, the teams of river police and disaster management groups patrolling the Hooghly river. Closed-circuit television cameras have been installed at certain ghats.

Kolkata to brighten up for Durga Puja, buses to ply all night

Posted on October 15, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Tourism department and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) have joined hands to decorate the city with lights before Durga Puja.

All entry-exit points to the city would be decorated with light gates and important buildings and road crossings would be decorated with chain lights.

According to tourism department guidelines, the illumination would be done from October 18 to October 26 for 12 hours starting from 5.30 pm.

It’s a unique initiative on the part of the Government and KMC. Illuminating the city is something new and exciting.

Decorative light gates would be put up temporarily at Second Hooghly Bridge and Howrah Bridge. Important road crossings that would be illuminated with decorative chain lights include Shyambazar, Dalhousie, Dorina, Park Street, Elliot Park, Rabindra Sadan, National Library, Belvedre, Hazra, Rashbehari Avenue, Gariahat flyover and the riverfront.

All important and landmark buildings of Kolkata too would be illuminated with chain lights during the festive days. These buildings would include government and heritage buildings that usually attract tourists round the year.

The State Transport department has also taken decision to run Govt buses all through the night during the Puja days. Conductors and drivers will work in two shifts- day and night, to ease the worries of the pandal hoppers.

KMC announces grant for women-led Puja panels

Posted on September 24, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Mayor Sovan Chatterje has announced Rs 10,000 grant for puja committees formed exclusively by women in the city. The initiative aims to encourage women to organise pujas in the city.

In the monthly meeting held at Kolkata Municipal Corporation today,the mayor announced this special subscription to the puja committees headed by women. The amount provided will come from sponsors who fund different puja committees in the city.

The move was announced by the Chief Minister a few days ago,where the KMC will act as the nodal agency with the job of providing the allotted amount.

This move will help out the puja committees formed by women which usually find themselves strapped for funds. Unable to find sponsorship, such committees are sometimes forced to close down as they cannot find advertisements. The CM’s initiative comes as a relief to such puja committees.

Bengal shines at SKOCH Awards for smart governance

Posted on September 24, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Fair Price Medicine Shops and CCU in districts of West Bengal have been ranked best project in the country in the health sector and were honoured with the prestigious SKOCH Award of Excellence.

Also, Bengal is on the top spot nationally in Finance and amongst the top three states in Agriculture and Rural Development and Governance.

Kanyashree, e-Governance project of KMC, web-based integrated monitoring system of panchayat bodies and GRIPS of the Directorate of Commercial Taxes are also among the winners.

Overall, the award authorities have adjudged Bengal as the state with maximum improvement in performance during last one year.

Reacting to the honour for Bengal in various sectors, West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee wrote on her social media pages: “Hearty congratulations and best wishes to my entire ‘Paschimbanga Paribar’.”

UNICEF and WB Govt to jointly work for adolescent kids

Posted on September 18, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The United Nations Children’s Educational Fund or UNICEF and West Bengal Government will jointly launch a programme for the welfare of kids attaining puberty.

With an aim of making Kolkata more hospitable for adolescents, a meeting was organised by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in the presence of representatives of UNICEF, State Women and Child Welfare Minister Dr Shashi Panja, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and other officials.

West Bengal Government, UNICEF and KMC will jointly work for the adolescent kids in slum areas with a focus on children who have dropped out of school or fell prey to trafficking. A pilot project will be launched in Ward No. 26 of KMC area.

Awareness drives for Bengal government’s flagship schemes like Kanyashree and Shishu Sathi will also be conducted. Government will conduct surveys to ensure common people are getting benefits of the schemes, the Minister said.

Chief Field Office of UNICEF in West Bengal, Ashadur Rahman feels that the impact of Kanyashree has been huge at the grassroots. He suggested that Bengal’s successful ‘Kanyashree’ scheme for the empowerment of girl child should be followed as an example by rest of the states in India.