Month: February 2015

Breakthrough in Hilsa production in Bengal

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The West Bengal Fisheries Department has taken up an initiative to supply Hilsa fish, the savoury for Bengali taste buds, throughout the year.

Now Bengalis will not have to wait till monsoon to have their favourite fish. To make Hilsa available round the year the Scientists of Kakdwip’s Institute of Aqua Culture have come up with an innovative method of cultivating Hilsa in tank water with induced salinity.  The research process started way back in October – November 2013.

Initially, the scientists failed to save the seedlings but after making changes in the salinity content of the water and bringing changes in the feed, they met with success. Some apprehensions have been expressed if the unique taste of the fish will be retained as it travels through Pacific Ocean before coming to the shores of Bengal, scientists are hopeful as the feed consists of ‘phytoplankton’, the taste will be intact.

In the past, WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee had sent letters to the erstwhile Prime Minister asking him to take steps to bring down the price of Hilsa imported from Bangladesh.

Also, to shore up sharply falling yields of Hilsa, the Bengal CM had promised alternative employment and rice at Rs 2 a kg to around 200,000 fishermen to ensure they don’t catch it during the breeding season.

Social Media gives high-five for WiFi Kolkata

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Kolkata took its first tottering step towards turning into a Wi-Fi city with a tweet from chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in which she announced turning Park Street into a Wi-Fi zone.

As soon as Mamata went online after inaugurating the service and her message was flashed on a giant screen, hundreds seated in the audience along the southern flank of Park Street attempted to log in.

“We are proud to be the country’s first Wi-Fi city. More than 2,000kms of cables have already been laid and work along just 250300kms is left,” the CM said.

On social media, it was a festive mood. Thousands of messages were pouring in on the official Twitter account of Mamata Banerjee, thanking her for delivering the digital gift to the city.

Here are some tweets:

Wi1

The first tweet

 

Wi2

Voice of youth

 

Wi3

 

Sentiment of the city

Wi5

WB CM with the selfie stick

 

Wi6

People on Twitter thanking Didi

tweet6

Stepping into the future

tweet8

Looking forward towards a more empowered generation

tweet7

All India Radio’s tweet mentioning the WiFi Launch

tweet5

Dignitaries on the stage taking a groupife to mark the launch

Tweet4

Kolkata’s achievement becomes a reason for pride for Indian’s abroad

Tweet2

Congratulations and support pours in for Kolkata

Statement on Srinjoy Bose’s resignation: Derek O’Brien

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It is Srinjoy’s personal choice. It is his prerogative. It is his democratic right.

We have been saying for some time now that he has been put under tremendous pressure by the party in power at the Centre. He was released on bail yesterday. He resigned today. Did this pressure lead to some coordination? We are happy that he got “freedom” yesterday.

The Rajya Sabha seat which becomes vacant will be filled by the All India Trinamool Congress. We will soon announce the name of a party member who will then become a member of the Rajya Sabha.

We wish Srinjoy well in all that he does. We wish him a speedy recovery. Our warm wishes to him and his entire family.

Statement by Derek O’Brien, National Spokesperson and Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha

 

এটা সৃন্জয়ের ব্যক্তিগত সিদ্ধান্ত। এটা তার গনতান্ত্রিক অধিকার।

আমরা কিছুদিন ধরেই বলছিলাম যে কেন্দ্রীয় সরকার তাকে প্রচণ্ড চাপের মধ্যে রেখেছে। গতকাল তিনি জামিন পেয়েছেন। আজ তিনি ইস্তফা দিয়েছেন। তাঁর এই সিদ্ধান্ত কি এই চাপেরই ফল? আমরা খুশি যে তিনি গতকাল “মুক্তি” পেয়েছেন।

রাজ্যসভার খালি হওয়া পদটি সর্ব ভারতীয় তৃণমূল কংগ্রেস পূর্ণ করবে। খুব শীঘ্রই আমরা রাজ্যসভার নতুন প্রার্থীর নাম ঘোষণা করব।

আমাদের তরফ থেকে সৃন্জয়কে ভবিষ্যতের জন্য শুভকামনা জানাই।  ও ভবিষ্যতে যাই করুক তাতে যেন সাফল্য পায়।  সৃন্জয় ও তার পরিবারের জন্য রইল আন্তরিক শুভেচ্ছা।

সর্ব ভারতীয় মুখপাত্র, রাজ্যসভার মুখ্য সচেতক ডেরেক ও’ ব্রায়েনের বিবৃতি

Women empowerment: WB Govt to provide vocational training to girls

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After the grand success of the Kanyashree Prakalpa, the WB Government has moved another step forward in empowering women. To make women self-reliant, the state government has come up with a very innovative plan.

West Bengal Government has tied up with leading cosmetic and beauty care firms – Shahnaz Hussain and Sharmila Singh Flora – for imparting vocational training in beautician courses to girls across villages of the State.  The training is free and a certificate will be provided at the end of the course.

Currently, the training is being imparted to secondary-pass girls belonging to Other Backward Classes, in the age group of 18-35. Applications can be submitted online.

At the moment there are 65 training centres in 14 villages. The target is to set up such training centres in all 40,000 villages of West Bengal. It is a three month course, with 4 hours training for 4 days in a week.

Once the training is over, the State Government will provide loan to the girls to set up their own shops, if they so desire. They can either do it individually or in a group.

WB CM launches ‘WiFi Kolkata’ with a groupfie

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Kolkata is going to become the first fully Wi-Fi enabled city in India. WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee today inaugurated the first phase of the Wi-Fi services at Park Street.

High speed 4G Wi-Fi service is now available in Park street along with the adjoining areas from this evening. The rest of the city will be covered in a phased manner within the next three months. Salt Lake, Barasat, Rajarhat and Howrah will also be made Wi-Fi enabled, CM announced.

The launch event was attended by WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee, Honourable Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee, ministers, MPs and representatives from Reliance group. The highlight of the launch was a ‘groupfie’ taken by WB CM

At the event, the Mayor of Kolkata made his foray into the world of Twitter with his first tweet using WiFi services:

Here are some pictures from the launch: http://goo.gl/3Aq7b8

State educational body ties up with UK for teachers’ training

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The West Bengal Education Department has been going through massive changes in the last three years, implementing different ideas from the experts which may benefit the student. Now, it has gone for an international tie-up with an UK-based organisation.

The State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) under the Government of West Bengal has taken a unique step to meet up the demand of teachers in Government and Government-aided schools of the State. The educational body under the State Government has teamed up with the third largest educational institution of Great Britain, Open University, UK for forming a guideline on teaching methods.

Teacher Education through School-based Support (TES India) has been formed to serve the purpose in association of the State body and the UK institution. A programme entitled Open Educational Resource is underway.

Besides forming booklets, there will be the scope of training for the teachers through online methods. Mobile phone apps, video clippings will extensively be used to serve the purpose.

The State Government committee that makes the syllabi for different classes has already started training teachers at primary and post primary level with the new system. In the coming two years, it is expected that the new programme will begin to show its results

Water for all: Bengal shows the way

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Public Health Engineering Department has been working towards the commitment of providing clean drinking water to every block in West Bengal.

A ‘Vision 2020’ document has been formulated which involves step for the medium term and the long term with a budget of Rs 1295 crore and Rs 21,285 crore respectively.

Here are the few key highlights in efforts of providing clean drinking water for all:

  • 428 numbers of piped water projects has been sanctioned, which is estimated to benefit around 1.25 crore people ( 2011 census data).
  • More than 41 thousand hand pumps installed.
  • The coverage of piped water has increased from 37.95% to 44.11%.
  • For arsenic purification, 349 projects have been undertaken. Out of which 212 have already started. More than 28 lakh people will benefit from this.
  • A “International Centre for Water Quality” is proposed to come up at Joka, Kolkata. This will be the first in the kind in India.
  • 7 bottling plants have already started and 15 on the move purification machines have started.

 

Significant Projects:

  • Jangalmahal : Around 50 projects of piped water has been undertaken in the backward areas of Jangalmahal, out of which 39 has already been commissioned. It involves an expenditure of Rs 141 crores and will benefit more than 3 lakh people.
  • In Bankura under the BRGF (Backward Region Grant Fund) a project has been undertaken with a cost of 1011 crore which will benefit 30 lakh people. A project for Purulia is also undertaken with assistance from JICA worth Rs 1173 crore, which will benefit 15 lakh people.
  • Major projects are underway in Kulpi, Panskura, Habra, Gaighata, Bally and others.

 

Achievements in Kolkata:

  • 95% of the area in Kolkata, under KMC is now supplied with clean drinking water.
  • The project of laying of 64’’ diameter Transmission Main from Palta to Tallah, with a cost of Rs 326 crores, has been completed and it has benefited around 20 lakh citizens of Kolkata.
  • Construction of 15 MGD Water treatment plant at Garden Reach and Chetla Booster Pumping Station has finished. These projects will benefit around 2.5 lakh residents of Behala, Chetla and parts of South Kolkata.
  • Construction of Intake Jetty and Pump House at ‘Mayer Ghat’ along with 30 MGD capacity “Jai Hind” project at Dhapa and its distribution network has been completed with a cost of around Rs 400 crore. This will benefit around 7 lakh residents of Kolkata.

TMC RS MPs to meet Vice President on Feb 6

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 A delegation of Trinamool Congress will meet Vice-president and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to take up the issue of MPs being “targetted” by the CBI in the Saradha scam.

“It was decided at the TMC core committee meeting, which was held a few days ago and presided over by party supremoMamata Banerjee that an eight-member delegation of our Rajya Sabha members would meet Hamid Ansari who has given a date on February 6 to meet him,” TMC national spokesman and RS MP Derek O’Brien told PTI here today.

“We want to share with the Vice-president, who is Chairman of Rajya Sabha our concern that TMC RS members were being targeted politically by using CBI as the BJP is in minority there (RS) and TMC has taken the lead role in the opposition there,” O’Brien said.

TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee had alleged after the party’s core committee meeting on Saturday that BJP, which does not have majority in Rajya Sabha, was arresting TMC MPs on various pretexts and a delegation of the party would meet Ansari.

 

PTI Story

KMC Clean City project to turn Kolkata vat-free

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Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s solid waste management department is on its way to realize the dream of a vat-free city that they had started nurturing after the introduction of mechanized compactors last year. Aptly christened Clean City programme, this is a boon for the citizens who had for years lived through stench from more than 200 open vats around the city. The open vats are being discontinued.

Once the garbage disposal modernization project is fully implemented, there will be as many as 78 modern garbage transfer stations – located at vantage points of the city – fitted with modern vehicles and equipment. These stations will replace large garbage vats that litter the road.

Currently, there are such station at Kalighat, Southern Avenue, Ballygunge Circular Road, Tallah, Chetla, Northern Park, Samsul Huda Road, Mirza Ghalib Street and other junctures. KMC is striving hard to replace all major vats since there are no less than 150 such vats in Kolkata. This apart, the KMC plans to buy movable compactors to collect garbage from roadside vats.

Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said that Kolkata Municipal Corporation has taken up a project to turn Kolkata into a “Vat free” city within March 2015.

Around 163 moveable compactors will be set up in all the fifteen boroughs replacing the vats at an estimated cost of Rs 152 crore. The project is expected to be completed by March 2015. Some of the wards under KMC have already got compactor machines. Around 15 such machines have already begun functioning. This is part of a beautification drive for the city, the Mayor said.

KMC has been also planning to extend the time of duty from 5 to 9 p.m. for workers who are deployed to clean the city.

Land clearance in Bengal just a click away

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As promised by WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee during the Bengal Global Business Summit 2015, all roadblocks relating to land procurement has been done with.

Now with a click, the investors can log onto the webpage of the Land Department and submit their application online. At the initial phase, the State Government is giving this facility for 38 blocks.

The highlights of this facility are as follows:

  • 38 blocks under Howrah, Jalpaiguri, Nadia, Bardhaman, North and South 24 Parganas, Purulia, Purba and Paschim Midinipur and Hooghly are now available through this website.
  • Within 21 days from application the investors will be provided with Mutation Certificate
  • Clearance certificate for conversion and character change of a land will be provided within 30 days
  • Within seven days of online submission the investor will be informed about the status of the application
  • The contact details of the concerned officers of the department is available at the site for the investors to contact them over phone / email directly
  • At the moment this facility is available for MSME sector
  • Within 31st March’15 all 341 blocks of the State will be brought under this facility enabling all citizens to apply for mutation certification, conversion application/certificate etc. online