Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to start a hearse service. It already has an ambulance service, which is quite popular.
The rate for the vehicles has been decided at Rs 150 for every two hours, which is much less than that of private services providers. After two hours, it will be charged at Rs 50 per hour.
The service will start with three vehicles. More will be added later. There will be a dedicated helpline number for accessing the service.
Source: Ei Samay
The State Finance Department’s e-pension system, a revolutionary project which has also been nominated for the Skoch Award, has so far ensured initiation of pension of more than 6,000 retired employees, without delay of a single day after retirement.
Now even school teachers, employees of panchayat and civic bodies will be a part of this system too. With this initiative, an employee now receives his or her Pension Payment Order (PPO) through email, 15 days ahead of retirement.
With the introduction of the e-pension system, an employee just needs to scan all documents and upload it through a portal, the link of which is available on the website of the Finance Department . An application number gets generated as soon as the employee uploads the same. Using the application number, the employee can even track which particular stage his or her application is passing through.
The concerned officials take minimum time in clearing the files and at least 15 days before retirement, the employee gets an email with directions to go to the concerned treasury to provide details of the pension account where it will get deposited.
Source: Millennium Post
The Bengal Government has started using GPS and GIS to create real-time interactive maps of the Sundarbans region. These technologies would help keep a ‘smart’ eye on the entire biosphere – forest cover, land use, illegal activities, etc.
Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based radio navigation system that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver while geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage and present spatial or geographic data. GIS accuracy depends upon source data, and it is here that the accuracy of GPS comes into use.
The surveillance system implemented by the Forest Department uses GPS to capture the data and GIS tools (softwares) to analyse that data. The information being collected, which will be on a continuous basis, is helping the Government to keep track of detailed data on forest cover (number and types of trees, their exact locations, even information on trees cut down) and human habitation, nature of an area, locations of coves and bays, etc. Importantly too, all data would be updated on a real-time basis.
The Forest Department officials are using these data along with the existing ground maps to create a comprehensive database of the region. This method of data compilation would eventually be used to cover the whole of Bengal.
The Sundarbans forest in Bengal comprises of the Matla, Raidighi, Ramganga, Namkhana, Bakkhali and Bhagabatpur forest ranges. The mangrove cover comprises of 77,243 hectares and the wildlife sanctuary, 60,000 hectares. Eco-tourism is permitted on an area comprising of a little more than 27,000 hectares.
The data is also being made available for use by other departments. According to the Chief Conservator of Forests, Bengal, who is overseeing the whole project, the data would be a big help for departments like Tourism and Land and Land Reforms.
The Bengal Government is setting up a university in the district of Purba Medinipur, which would be the first university in the district.
The land for setting up the university has already been designated – a plot of 20 acres in Kapaseria mouza in Mahishadal block, part of Haldia subdivision, and located on national highway 41 (NH-41).
It would be named after Mahatma Gandhi and might be inaugurated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on October 2, the birth anniversary of the ‘Father of the Nation’.
The setting up of the university would be a big boon to the students from the district as they would now be able to pursue post-graduate and doctoral studies nearer home. Students from the district have always fare very well in secondary and higher secondary exams and now, a university is being built for them.
Classes would begin from July, and would, for the time being, be held at Mahishadal Raj College.
Source: bengali.news18.com
In a bid to ensure overall development of the state, the Mamata Banerjee government has increased the expenditure for developing physical infrastructure “four-fold”, since 2011.
The Chief Minister tweeted on Sunday: “Infrastructure development is going on in a rapid pace in Bengal. In fact, expenditure on physical infrastructure in the state has increased almost 4-fold since 2011.”
Giving detailed information on the expenditure carried out by her government, the Chief Minister stated in the tweet: “Recently, new infrastructure projects including flyovers, rural and urban drinking water, roads and bridges, power, affordable housing, irrigation etc worth Rs 18,000 crore, have been sanctioned by our government.”
She also tweeted: “This is in addition to the Rs 25,755 crore budgetary allocation for capital expenditure, for the current financial year. These will open up huge investment opportunities and generate employment in the state.”
After coming to power, Mamata Banerjee had given equal stress on the development of both the rural and urban parts of the state. Development of roads and bridges has ensured better connectivity between different parts of the state.
The Bengal Government has set an example for other States by increasing the income level of farmers three times. The average annual income of farmers in the State has gone up threefold during financial year 2017-18 than what it was seven years ago.
According to the Agriculture Department, the average annual income of a farmer now stands at Rs 2.91 lakh during 2017-18 while it stood at Rs 2,39,123 during 2016-17. During 2010-11, the average annual income of a farmer was Rs 91,000.
This has become possible due to various social schemes introduced by the Trinamool Congress Government to improve the socio-economic conditions of the farmers.
The overall production of each farmer has shot up as their expenses have slashed due to the availability of certified seeds at much cheaper rates. The agricultural growth rate has gone up which in turn is expected to drive up the State’s economic growth rate.
Distribution of paddy seeds at subsidised rates by the Agriculture Department and giving farmers platforms to sell their produce directly at various State Government-managed outlets and Krishak Bazars at proper costs are among those contributing to the rise of income for farmers.
The State Agriculture Department has already ironed out the middle-man system that had become a practice during the regime of the erstwhile Left Front government.
The State Government has been providing Rs 400 crore subsidy to the farmers. The Agriculture Department provides certified seeds to farmers at 50 per cent subsidised rates or Rs 20 is given to them against per kg of paddy seeds, whichever is less. One farmer can receive up to 100 kg seeds at a time. The amount is credited to the bank accounts of individual farmers.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has laid enormous emphasis on the well-being of farmers and on the increase of productivity through the introduction of a host of new schemes.
Source: Millennium Post
In May 2011, the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, established efficient governance in West Bengal, with the Government of Maa, Mati, Manush. On May 27, 2016, through a historic verdict, the government was sworn in for the second time in a row.
On the seventh anniversary of that historic day, the State Government came out with a book enlisting all the work done by various departments in the last seven years. The book was released by the Chief Minister during the administrative review meeting at Howrah on June 7, 2018.
In the last seven years, Bengal has witnessed phenomenal growth in development and prosperity. Nearly 90% of the State’s population has benefited from various public services. 90% of the State’s population is provided with food grains at a subsidised rate, under the ‘Khadya Sathi’ scheme. Apart from this, the Government has also taken initiatives such as ‘Sabujshree’, ‘Kanyashree’, ‘Sikshashree’, ‘Sabuj Sathi’, ‘Sishu Sathi’, ‘Yuvashree’, ‘Rupashree’, ‘Manabik’, and ‘Samabyathi’, to name just a few.
These schemes have made available a plethora of services to all citizens, including members of scheduled castes, tribes, minorities, and OBCs.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, through a Facebook post today, congratulated the scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) students who achieved ranks in the State Joint Entrance and NEET examinations after getting coached at specialised centres set up by the State Government.
She wrote, “The unique initiative of our government to provide high-end professional coaching to SC/ST students for engineering and medical entrance examinations have yielded great results.”
According to her post, out of the 939 students who took coaching this year, 348 SC and 76 ST students achieved ranks in the Joint Entrance Examination for engineering courses, including 95 in the top 1,000, while 125 qualified for medical courses through NEET.
“My heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all of them,” she wrote.
The Chief Minister further said that the Government is already taking steps to expand the specialised coaching arrangement so that more and more students can benefit from it and get placed in professional courses.
Click here to read Mamata Banerjee’s Facebook post
Over the last financial year (2017-18), the State Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department has done a lot of work in the area of capacity building regarding the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). The ICPS has played a key role in strengthening the child protection regime in Bengal.
Capacity building of child care officers:
Capacity building plan for FY 2018-19:
The State Government is also providing vocational training of various types to the inmates of the various Homes
Thus, through a comprehensive exercise of training child care officers as well as Home inmates, the State Government is bringing about all-round improvement in the child care scenario in Bengal.
Image is representative
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced through a Facebook post that Deocha-Pachami and Harinsingha-Dewanganj coal blocks in Birbhum district have been allocated to Bengal.
This is a major gain for the State as the two coal blocks combined form the world’s second largest, and India’s largest coal mine, having an estimated reserve of 2,102 million tonnes.
Mamata Banerjee shared her happiness with all regarding the allocation of these major coal mines to the State. She said, “I am very happy to share with all of you that after a long wait of 3 years, West Bengal has got the allocation of the Deocha Pachami Harinsingha Dewanganj Coal Mines in Birbhum district”.
In her post, she further said that the mining project has huge potential for generating nearly a lakh of direct and indirect employment opportunities in Birbhum and neighbouring districts. The project will also involve investments worth Rs 12,000 crore.
All these aspects of the project, the Chief Minister said, will enable “huge socio-economic development of Birbhum, the neighbouring districts and the entire State”.
Necessary administrative infrastructure has already been set up to start the project immediately.
