WB CM prays for tolerance at Kolkata Christmas Festival inauguration

WB CM prays for tolerance at Kolkata Christmas Festival inauguration

Posted on December 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee today inaugurated the 5th edition of the Kolkata Christmas Festival at Allen Park in the Park Street in the presence of Archbishop Thomas D’Souza and Bishop Ashoke Biswas. Eminent members of the Christian community along with State tourism minister Bratya Basu were present on the occasion.

During her short address, WB CM laid stress on growing intolerance in India. “We ask Lord Jesus to give us tolerance. We may not like someone or something but we cannot disrespect them,” she said.

“We are one. India is a country of unity in diversity. Swami Vivekananda said unity is strength, divided we fall,” the Chief Minister added.

“May Jesus Christ be our guiding star in this era of intolerance,” said while concluding her speech.

Bigger festival this year

The Kolkata Christmas Festival will continue till January 2 this season instead of December 25. Not just that, the festival venue has also undergone an expansion of sorts with the Christmas and New Year theme lighting that decks up a section of Park Street now being extended to Chowringhee as well.

While the decorative lights were installed between Park Street-Chowringhee intersection and Allen Park, this year it will extend till Mullick Bazar to the east and continue along Chowringhee till St Paul’s Cathedral to the west.

Cultural fest at Park Street

During the festival, popular city bands will per form at Allen Park in the evenings. To share the `Spirit of Christmas’, special choir performances will be held till Christmas day . Kolkata Police and Army bands will also perform at the venue.

On December 20, Sunday , school students will participate in a Christmas parade on Park Street. Cars and bikes will not be allowed on the street during the parade scheduled between 10am and noon. Also, cars will not be allowed on the street on Christmas day to encourage pedestrians.

Food, a big draw at past editions of the festival, will continue to be the crowd-puller with 40 stalls set up along Park Street to serve delicacies from various communities, including cakes, decorations and other Christmas goodies.

WB CM assures full support for dyslexia research in Bengal

Posted on December 12, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday assured that the state government will extend all cooperation to any organisation, national or international, working on dyslexia, in setting up centres in the state and carrying out research.

She was speaking at a seminar on dyslexia organised by Dyslexia Management Trust at International Management Institute. She was touched by the personal experiences recounted by other speakers at the occasion.

“Life poses several problems before us. But it offers solutions also. Just because someone is weak in studies does not mean that child is not good. We must take care of them, find out their problem. We have to think out of the box,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister also said that social media tools can come in handy in raising awareness about these issues.

WB CM pays rich tributes to former Speaker of Bengal Assembly

Posted on December 12, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The West Bengal Assembly Friday unanimously adopted a resolution to pay tribute to former Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, the longest-serving Speaker of any Legislative Assembly in the country, who passed away recently.

Speaking on the resolution in the state Assembly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her deep condolence on Halim’s demise and extended sympathies to the bereaved family members, who were present in the House as guests.

“Halim saheb was such a personality whom everybody, cutting across party lines, admired as their friend and advisor,” she said paying her rich tributes to the former Speaker.

The Chief Minister said she had seen him from near when she went to meet him at his residence after his daughter’s death.

“Halim saheb welcomed me dearly and I will cherish that memory,” Mamata Banerjee said.

Describing Halim as a great personality and an able administrator, the CM said he would remain alive with his successes in administering office for such a long tenure.

“Some deaths are touching. Emotions make you think and conscience inspires you to work,” she said in her tribute to the departed leader.

She even suggested the Chair to bring out a special publication in the memory of the former Speaker, which was accepted by Speaker Biman Banerjee.

Recollecting her similar experiences with leaders of several other parties including former chief ministers Ajoy Mukherjee, Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Jyoti Basu, besides CPI stalwart Indrajit Gupta, Mamata Banerjee said relationship knows no barriers and leaders have to do some work going above politics.

The Chief Minister said she had discussed many important issues with these leaders including Jyoti Basu and SS Ray that could not be discussed in public.

“Secrecy needs to be maintained out of mutual respect,” the Chief Minister said.

A two-minute silence was also observed in the House as a mark of respect to the departed leader.

Kolkata joins C-40 group of megacities

Posted on December 12, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Kolkata is the first city in South Asia to be included in the list of prestigious C-40 group of megacities, which is committed to creating environment-friendly cities.

An agreement in this regard was signed between state urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim and Kevin Austin, deputy executive director of C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group at Nabanna on Friday.

Hakim said that apart from Kolkata three other Indian cities namely Jaipur, Delhi and Mumbai were eager to join the C40 group. Finally, Kolkata was selected.

The group will offer help to the state government on a host of areas for addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The major areas are solid waste management and air pollution. The group will come up with a blueprint including suggestions and ways by which they can be implemented so as to help Kolkata to become an environment-friendly city. The blueprint will be given to both KMDA and KMC for implementation.

C-40 Group helps in achieving the common goal of all the cities in saving the climate. The group offers cities a forum where they can share knowledge to take meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change, said Hakim.

Bengal’s joining the group was conceived by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her London visit.

Image via englishsamachar.com

Best of Bengali television world honoured at Tele Academy Awards

Posted on December 4, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The Tele-Academy 2015-16 organised by the West Bengal Tele Academy of the State Government was organised today Nazrul Mancha at 5 PM.

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee felicitated actors and technicians working in the television industry for their outstanding performances through their career as well as in the last year.

“We are really honoured and blessed to be able to felicitate the talent of TV industry. Very talented people are being honoured here today for their performances,” she said.

“There was a time when TV was called an idiot box. But now it is a huge industry, generating livelihood for people,” the CM added.

The West Bengal Tele Academy Awards 2016 covers the entire gamut of Film and TV, rewarding excellence in production, programming, photography and technology, among others. The awards have been constituted as a token of respect and gratitude to the entire Film and TV industry in West Bengal.

In 2014, the inaugural year of the Tele Akademi Awards, actors Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Monoj Mitra, Sabitri Chattopadhyay and Madhabi Mukhopadhyay were presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The Trinamool Government had introduced Banga Sammanana in the year 2011 for notable contribution to the state; the Government has also been honouring distinguished artists from the field of music with Sangeet Samman, and those associated with sports with the Khel Samman.

“We believe “Telly”wood is as glamorous as Tollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood,” WB CM said while wishing the members of the Bengali television fraternity.

WB Govt pulls cobblers out of daily drudgery

Posted on November 28, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

A thousand odd people, belonging to 150 families, living in the heart of the city for nearly 200 years have suddenly found a parent. The cobblers off S N Banerjee Road, settled here as a colony on Uma Das Lane, have been adopted by the state MSME department to become self-sufficient and come out of economic slavery.

This week, the cobblers were given a loan without any collaterals by a commercial bank, which is a first in its own right. “We are trying to develop this cobblers’ cluster of Janbazaar as a model, but what was important was revenue. On the one hand, the cobblers needed skill development and a decent working capital and on the other, we have to develop a completely mechanized modern shoe-making unit that can be utilized by all,” said state MSME secretary Rajiva Sinha.

“We realized that if the cobblers have to reach a breakthrough, just a soft loan and bettering their traditional skills will not help. They need land to build a new mechanized centre. But since the cobblers are too poor, we got the West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation to buy a one-bigha plot at Beliaghata and give it on perpetual lease to the cobblers,” explained Sinha.

Replica of Eiffel Tower coming up at Eco Park, Rajarhat

Posted on November 27, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

West Bengal government is now constructing a scale model of the Eiffel Tower at Eco Park in Rajarhat.

Though at 55-metres, the replica will be about six times smaller than the iconic 324-metre structure in Paris, it will still be about as tall as an 18-storey building. The foundation stone for the project, to be built by the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), was laid by West Bengal Chief Minister at Eco Park today.

The Eiffel Tower replica is going to be a part of the “Seven Wonders of the World” theme-park at the Eco Park in Rajarhat.

Like the original monument, the replica tower will also have two tiers where tourists can climb up to the observation room, at a height of 25 meters from the ground, and get a panoramic view of the city. Apart from two elevators, the building plan also includes a coffee shop and a souvenir shop.

Kolkata already boasts of a Big Ben, a scaled down version of the clock tower by the same name at London’s Westminster.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay bats for tolerance in Lok Sabha

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

Speaking in Lok Sabha during a special sitting to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, the leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay today asked the Prime Minister to rise to the occasion and act against the incidents of intolerance in the country.

“Every citizen have the right to practice their own religion. Few incidents are sending out a negative image of the country,” he said.

The Kolkata Uttar MP added, “People like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, A R Rahman, Mithun Chakraborty are feeling unsafe in their own country. We must find the cause.”

“This is the country of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Deb and Swami Vivekananda. We must show tolerance. Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa said ‘Joto Mot, Toto Poth’ (As Many Opinions, That Many Ways). We must respect this spirit,” said Sudip Banerjee.

He also showered praises on Dr BR Ambedkar, the chief architect of our Constitution who was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal. He said Ambedkar was a revivor of Buddhism in India and a social engineer.

We should unequivocally lodge our protests from the Parliament against the incidents of intolerance, Sudip Bandyopadhyay advised the Prime Minister while concluding his speech.

Full transcript of his speech here

Mamata Banerjee designs logo of Bidhannagar civic body

Posted on November 25, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The new Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now have a logo of its own, designed and approved by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Mamata has earlier designed logos for various government schemes and concepts like `Biswa Bangla’ and `Kanyashree’, which are now widely used.

BMC mayor Sabyasachi Dutta said the corporation needed a logo of its own for identification. “The civic body did not have a logo till now. The name of the civic body is now officially Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation,“ added Dutta. According to BMC, the logo, which is blue in colour with a tinge of yellow, was finalized on Monday . The corporation authorities have already carved the mayor’s letterhead with the new logo at the top. The name `Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation’ will be written in blue colour.

The letterheads of the corporation top brass, including the commissioner, chairperson, deputy mayor and the seven mayor-in-council members, will also use the new logo. The Chief Minister’s designs have also been used in manufacturing sarees under handloom brand Tantuja.

Tabu gives away Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Awards at KIFF closing ceremony

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

After the star-studded opening ceremony and week-long screenings of world cinema, City of Joy was witness to a gala closing ceremony of the 21st Kolkata International Film Festival.

Veteran actors Sharmila Tagore and Tabu graced the event, to be held at Nazrul Mancha at 5 PM, along with delegates from all over the world. Honourable ministers Firhad Hakim and Aroop Biswas will be present on the occasion while Subrata Mukherjee will preside over the function.

As many as 149 films by 137 directors from 61 countries were screened across 12 venues in the week-long extravaganza. This year for the second time, the KIFF was a competitive event. The competition focussed on films helmed by women filmmakers.

Headed by Sharmila Tagore, the jury comprising well-known Chinese-American actress Bai Ling, Polish director Filip Marczewski, Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz and Sri Lankan actress Swarna Mallawarachchi, selected the Best Film and Best Director from 14 short-listed movies.