Month: May 2015

WB CM distributes relief at Indo-Nepal border

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West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee was present at the Panitanki check post on the Indo-Nepal border today to oversee the passage of truckloads of relief materials from India to Nepal after the devastating earthquake that shook Nepal.

West Bengal government has sent 30 trucks to Nepal with water, medicines, dry and packaged food, tarpaulins among other things.

The West Bengal Chief Minister had earlier visited Siliguri in North Bengal on last Sunday, April 26, 2015, to take stock of the damages in north Bengal after Saturday’s earthquake. She visited the affected people in Siliguri and Mirik and had said that a rescue team was also being rushed to Nepal. She had also chaired a meeting with the district magistrates of the six north Bengal districts to assess the situation and send relief materials.

Incidentally, West Bengal, under Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee, had always stood beside the disaster affected States, at the crunch time. Earlier, in September 2011, Ms Mamata Banerjee had undertaken sending of relief materials to the earthquake –affected Sikkim. She had also visited the State. In fact, West Bengal Government was the first to reach relief materials and medical kits to the quake-hit people of Sikkim.

The Chief Minister tweeted:

KMC eyes more compactors to fight filth

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Convinced with the efficiency of compactor stations — 43 at work and 25 more in the pipeline — Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee has given a go-ahead to the civic board to extend the service to areas where it has still not been introduced. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation also has plans to procure movable compactor machines to take care of existing garbage vats.

This is not all. Keeping in mind next year’s assembly elections, the Kolkata Mayor has made cleanliness a priority. Accordingly, the KMC solid waste management department has requisitioned 800 trash bins that will be strategically placed to collect waste from large municipal markets. The KMC is also contemplating to introduce small battery-driven cars to replace hand carts for door-to-door collection of garbage. Such battery cars are already operational in areas like Manoharpukur Road, Sarat Bose Road and parts of Rashbehari Avenue.

However, of all these measures to make Kolkata a sparkling clean city, the Trinamool board is focusing most on the construction of more compactor stations. It was in December 2012 when Kalighat got the first compactor machine in the city. Then four more stations came up, one each in Southern Avenue, Samsul Huda Road, Tallah and Chetla.

Later West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee sanctioned a special Rs 30 crore funds for construction of compactor stations. The state funds were utilized for setting up 30 compactor stations during the period. In the last phase, the KMC set up stations at Mirza Ghalib Street to replace the infamous vat opposite the Food Corporation office. Similarly, large vats that used to spill garbage over to Camac Street, Surjya Sen Street were replaced thereafter.

The civic body will now concentrate on setting up garbage compactor machines at New Alipore, Bondel Road and Garfa Road among other areas. Initially, there was a plan to set up 78 compactor stations. But encouraged by the success of such stations, the KMC may now go up to 100 stations across the city.

“Ultimately, our aim is to make Kolkata a vat-free city. After getting a positive response from citizens, we are now committed to continue with the mission,” Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said.

WB Govt: Ensuring social security of workers & reviving work culture

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West Bengal Government always has the interests of the people at the top of the list of priorities. The government is committed towards providing employment opportunities to the youth, as well as ensuring the rights of the workers.

The Government is committed to reviving the work culture, which is reflected in the reduction in the decrease in the number of man-days lost due to strikes.

Social security of the labourers is also top priority for the All India Trinamool Congress led Maa, Mati, Manush Government.

Some of the achievements of the Labour Department:

New Employment Bank to provide new opportunities: The number of verified and registered employment-seekers so far after the Employment Bank portal was introduced in July 2012 is approximately 15 lakh. The number of verified and registered employers is 279 (as of 31.01.2014).

New Dimension Yuvashree Project: We have introduced the Yuvashree Project in order to provide the unemployed youth with monthly incentives. The project, with the message `Do away with despair, build up life,` is being implemented from October 2013. A decision to grant Rs 1500 as allowance to the first 1 lakh eligible employment-seekers registered with the New Employment Bank, to provide new opportunities to unemployed youth, has been taken. At present, 87,000 young job-seekers have availed themselves of this allowance.

Employment: During 2013-14, new employment provisions have surpassed the target to reach 13.22 lakh. We have planned to make more than 16 lakh employment opportunities in financial year 2014-15.

Enhancement of age-limit for recruitment to government jobs: The age-limit for recruitment to government jobs has been enhanced to 40 years in case of general candidates, 45 years for SC / ST candidates and 43 years for differently-abled and OBC candidates.

Reduction in the number of man-days on account of strikes: Work culture is back in the state after the new government has assumed power. The number of man-days lost due to strikes was nearly 3.06 crore in the span of 2007-2011 whereas it has been reduced to 60,000 during 2011-12. During 2012-13 it has further reduced to 5200 and till January 2014 the number is equivalent to 0.

More speed to social security projects: The number of registered workers in social security projects was 26 lakh within the span of 2001-2011, with an average of 2.6 lakh per year. The number jumped to 31 lakh, with an average of 12.4 lakh per year, from the period of May 2011 to January 2014.

An amount of Rs 9 crore was distributed among 45,000 workers from 2001 to April 2011. Whereas, from May 2011 to January 2014, Rs 176 crore was distributed among 6.32 lakh workers.

Samajik Mukti Card – all facilities at hand: Workers in the unorganised sector have easy access to their accounts of State-Assisted Scheme of Provident Fund for Unorganised Workers (SASPFUW) through smart cards. So far, 7.5 lakh workers in the unorganised sector have been given smart cards. 

Shramik Mela: For the first time, Shramik Melas are being organised to reach out to more workers in the unorganised sector.

Shramik Barta – all news ready at hand: The Labour Department has been publishing a quarterly Bengali journal named Shramik Barta since August 2013.

ESI – manifold increase in facilities: The ESI Hospital of Manicktala has been modernised through the introduction of modular operation theatre, and post-graduate courses in pathology and anaesthesia have been introduced in this hospital. This is the first ESI Hospital in the country to be declared a Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science and Research.

For the first time in India, a Pain Management Institute has been operational at the ESI Hospital in Sealdah.

Services of ESI Hospitals have been introduced in regions out of the purview of their service-areas. Service-dispensaries have been operational in Midnapore town, Berhampur, Malda, Rampurhat and Jamuria during the tenure of the present government.