Month: January 2014

The state government has taken an initiative to open all the closed rice mills in the state. Subsidies will be given for setting up rice mills in 165 blocks of the state that do not have any such facility.

The government will give a subsidy of Rs 75 lakh to those who are willing open a rice mill in tribal areas, and Rs 45 lakh subsidy to those who set up rice mills in non-tribal areas of the state, Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick said. He said that an additional subsidy of Rs 5 lakh will be given as allowance in each case to encourage interested groups in setting up rice mills in the state.

The Food Minister also said that the state government will build godowns near the rice mills to help farmers stockpile their paddy.

A meeting was held today between the rice mill owners and the Food Minister. A committee has been set up under the agricultural advisor to the Chief Minister to look into the technicalities of reopening the closed rice mills.

West Bengal Government has expressed its discontent against the hurried manner in which the Govt of India is trying to pass the Regulatory Reforms Bill 2013.  The State Government has asked for clarifications regarding the sudden alacrity in the Govt regarding the passage of the bill. With the next general elections knocking on the door, the rush in passing important bill is not correct, feel West Bengal Government. It has informed the Central Government that it will not comment on the Bill for the time being and will take a view on the matter only after a new government is instituted at the Centre.

According to the Planning Commission, the new law is needed to maintain convergence in the way different regulators function and ensure that consistency is maintained in issues such as determination of tariffs, enforcement of performance standards, and promoting investment, especially in the infrastructure sector including electricity, telecom, Internet, airports, oil, gas, and ports.

A moot question here is with several existing regulators – both sector-specific and cross-sector, is there a need for another monitoring mechanism? If yes, what should be expected from this institutional framework proposed by the Planning Commission? A related question is, whether this is another attempt for formation of a super regulator. Countries such as India have witnessed problems of overlapping jurisdictions resulting in poor enforcement of regulations and inordinate delays.

In this light, the decision of West Bengal Government is surely worth applauding.

The state government will observe the 150th birth anniversary of the legendary Rajbangshi social reformer and educationist Thakur Panchanan throughout the year in North Bengal beginning 13 February. During her recently concluded North Bengal tour, the Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee had announced the plan of the government to commemorate the occasion.

The North Bengal Development Minister, Mr Gautam Deb, said discussions were held yesterday over the issue and he would report the same to the Chief Minister in Kolkata. He said the government would confer Panchanan Barma Smarak award to the eminent personalities of North Bengal.

“Four meritorious students belonging to the economically poor families of each six North Bengal districts would be given Rs 10,000. A model village of north Bengal would be named as Panchanan Barma Model Village. I will inform the Chief Minister in Kolkata. However, we have not selected the venue yet – either it will be in Coochbehar or in Siliguri,” Mr Deb told reporters.

Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee is likely to inaugurate the programme and WB Governor M K Narayanan may be present during the closing ceremony. “We have decided to rename Naukaghat More in Siliguri as Panchanan Barma More. The road which connects Naukaghat More and North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) will also be named after Panchanan Barma,” the Minister said.

The All India President of Trinamool YUVA, Abhishek Banerjee said at a rally yesterday that there is no place for people in Trinamool Congress who wish to join the party to achieve fame and get a designation. The young leader was speaking at a street corner meeting in Bowbazar, which was a prequel to the mega rally to be held at Brigade parade grounds on 30 January. He asked the supporters to protest against the slander campaign launched by the Opposition to diminish the achievements of the Trinamool Government under Ms. Mamata Banerjee. He said that conspiracies are being hatched against the government to stop the wave of developmental work in the state. He asked the people to counter it whole-heartedly.

Mr Banerjee took potshots at the CPI(M) for entering into an unofficial alliance with Congress for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The YUVA President asked people to join the Brigade rally on 30 January in large numbers and make the event a historic one. He said that the party Chairperson Ms. Mamata Banerjee will announce a proper guideline for campaigning for Lok Sabha polls, during the rally.

Present at the meeting were Trinamool Secretary General, Mr. Partha Chatterjee, Leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Mr. Sudip Bandopadhyay, Minister Mr. Sadhan Pandey, Deputy Speaker of West Bengal Assembly Ms. Sonali Guha, Parliamentary Secretary Mr Tapas Roy, MLAs Ms. Mala Saha and Ms. Smita Bakshi among others.

Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee had promised the people of rural Bengal that her government will provide better health services. Keeping her word, the state government has begun the process of setting up 7 new super-speciality hospitals in various districts across the state.

McNally Bharat Engineering Co Ltd is building three super-speciality hospitals in two districts at a cost of Rs. 118.59 crore. The West Bengal government is setting up these hospitals under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) at Debra and Salboni in West Midnapore district and Nandigram in East Midnapore district.

Four more super-speciality hospital projects have been taken up in three other districts. These projects will also be financed through BRGF. These four projects will come up at Metiabruz and Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district, Sagardighi in Murshidabad district and Bolpur in Birbhum district; they will be constructed by Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners, the State implementing agency.

Celebrated painter Jogen Chowdhury, actor Mithun Chakraborty, social activist KD Singh and editor of a Bengali daily Ahmed Hassan Imran filed their nominations for Rajya Sabha at West Bengal Assembly as candidates of the Trinamool Congress.

KD Singh, who is a Trinamool MP from Jharkhand, has another 18 months left for his term to end, but chose to contest polls from Bengal. Mithun Chakraborty`s nomination was announced by the Chairperson herself on Facebook. Regarding the nominations for Rajya Sabha, WB CM said that it was a tradition that eminent artists and social activists are nominated for Rajya Sabha, which the Trinamool followed.

28 January is the last date for filing Rajya Sabha nominations. The election will be held on 7 February. The support of 49 MLAs is needed for a candidate to win. Trinamool has the support of 193 MLAs, good enough to ensure three candidates and another 46 to back the fourth candidate, Ahmed Hassan Imran.

To make homes affordable to the economically challenged, the state government has decided to bring townships back into the expanded category of projects for which the administration can waive the threshold on land ownership, Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said.

“However, we are going to make it mandatory for builders acquiring land in excess of the land ceiling to reserve a portion of their projects for people from the economically weaker sections,” Hakim said. Real estate developers could be asked to put aside 15-25% of residential projects built with exemption from the ceiling on land ownership for affordable housing, he added.

The state does not allow private ownership of more than 24 acres except for pre-approved commercial projects and infrastructure development for which waivers can be secured under section 14Y of the Land Reforms Act. This, in West Bengal, is popularly known as `14Y clearance`.

Several townships are in the pipeline – the most notable among them being the Shapoorji Pallonji Group project at Rajarhat on the outskirts of Kolkata.

A recent study by consulting and audit firm KPMG showed that the cumulative demand for new homes in the state is expected to go up to 2.68 million till 2030, and that 99% of this will come from economically weaker people. The study was commissioned by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers` Association of India, or CREDAI.

West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan appreciated the state government`s success in bringing back peace to Maoist hotbed Jangalmahal and Darjeeling hills, saying 2013 has been a year of achievements and development for the people.

“The year 2013 has been a year of achievements. Peace has been restored in Jangalmahal. It is no mean achievement. It is the result of a massive development thrust by the state government,” Mr Narayanan noted in his address on the occasion of the 65th Republic Day.

Development activities in Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars were also bearing fruit, he said adding the GDP/SDP growth of the state was 7.6 per cent while it was 4.96 per cent for the country as a whole.

Mr. Narayanan also lauded the state government`s success in covering 3.2 crore people of the total population of about 9 crore under the Rs 2-per-kg food grains scheme.

“The improvement in the state`s performance under NRGEGS has been impressive. Last year, the state government was able to spend more than Rs 4,000 crore and ensure work for 20.18 crore man days,” he said.

শনিবার দমদমের দীপেন ঘোষ সরণিতে সভা করে বুদ্ধবাবুদের তুলোধনা করলেন তৃণমূল নেতৃত্ব। দমদমের সভায় এ দিন মুকুলবাবু থেকে শুরু করে রাজ্যের পাঁচ মন্ত্রী মদন মিত্র, জ্যোতিপ্রিয় মল্লিক, ফিরহাদ হাকিম, চন্দ্রিমা ভট্টাচার্য, সাধন পাণ্ডে তো বটেই লোকসভায় তৃণমূলের দলনেতা সুদীপ বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়, তৃণমূল যুবার সভাপতি অভিষেক বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় প্রমুখ  বিরোধীদের কড়া সমালোচনা করেন। আগামী ৩০ জানুয়ারি দলের ব্রিগেড সমাবেশের প্রচারকে সামনে রেখেই তৃণমূল নেতৃত্ব সভা করেন দমদমে।

দমদমের সভায় মদন, জ্যোতিপ্রিয়, সুদীপবাবুরা প্রশ্ন তোলেন, রাজ্যে গণতন্ত্র আছে বলেই সাত দিন আগে বুদ্ধবাবুরা এখানে সভা করতে পেরেছেন। এলাকায় মিছিল করেছেন। দমদমে দুলাল-কাণ্ডের প্রসঙ্গ টেনে তৃণমূল নেতারা বলেন, “ওঁদের সময়ে দুষ্কৃতীদের মদত দেওয়া হত। দমদমে জোড়া খুনের অভিযুক্তদের দলের সম্পদ বলা হত।” এলাকার মানুষকে হুঁশিয়ারি দিয়ে জ্যোতিপ্রিয়বাবু বলেন, “সিপিএমের কিছু নেতার ইন্ধনে দুলালকে জেল থেকে বের করার চেষ্টা হচ্ছে। আপনারা সচেতন থাকবেন।“

পাশাপাশি ব্রিগেডের সমাবেশের প্রচারে কলকাতার উত্তরে সিঁথি মোড় থেকে পার্ক সার্কাস বিশাল মিছিলও করেছে তৃণমূল। সুদীপবাবুর নেতৃত্বে সেই মিছিলের মাঝপথে সামিল হয়েছিলেন সাংসদ শুভেন্দু অধিকারী।

সেই সঙ্গে এ দিন কংগ্রেস, সিপিএম থেকে তৃণমূলে যোগদানের পর্বও অব্যাহত ছিল। তৃণমূল ভবনে এ দিন উত্তর ২৪ পরগনার কংগ্রেস নেতা দেবী ঘোষাল দল ছেড়ে সদলবলে শাসক দলে যোগ দেন। দমদমের সভাতেও স্থানীয় এক কংগ্রেস নেতা সদলবলে তৃণমূলে যোগ দেন। দলত্যাগের প্রেক্ষিতে মুকুলবাবুর দাবি, “মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের নেতৃত্বে সরকারের যে উন্নয়ন যজ্ঞ চলছে তা বিরোধী দলের অনেক নেতা-কর্মীই উপেক্ষা করতে পারছেন না।“