Tag: Kolkata

Amit Mitra to lead Team Bengal at China expo

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State Finance, Industries and Commerce Minister Dr Amit Mitra will lead a delegation to the third China South Asia Business Forum and Expo to be held between June 11 and 16 at Kunming, China to showcase West Bengal as an investment-friendly state.

Promoting Bengal

The government would participate in the expo in a big way to showcase Bengal. The governor of Yunnan had earlier invited the West Bengal government officials to showcase the state in China.

The government will put up 28 stalls in the expo focusing on industry , tourism and food processing.

Dr Mitra will lead the state delegation along with senior officials of food processing, industries, tourism and micro, small and medium enterprises departments. WBIDC and industry representatives will also accompany him.

Bilateral ties

The state government is already working on a project to restore the old Chinatown in Tiretta Bazaar through preservation of the historic character of the place, by revitalizing the area into a street food hub and introducing a night market that could attract tourists from China to come and have a look at.

MoUs will also be signed between tour operators of Kunming and West Bengal that will help them exchange familiarization visits.

Already, the West Bengal Incentive Scheme 2015 has come into effect in consultation with travel and tour operators’ associations and industry stakeholders. Apart from usual incentives, provisions for granting tourism promotion assistance at the rate of 75% of VAT for five years and entitlement of additional floor area ratio for mega tourism units have come as a big boost to investment in the tourism sector.

Sister cities

Kolkata and Kunming are now dubbed as sister cities and there is already a direct flight between the two cities with flight timing of just over two hours. The frequency can also be raised.

This year, West Bengal tourism will be repositioned in the international and domestic tour and travel sector with a new brand logo. Having a state delegation led by the finance minister and senior bureaucrats and industrialists will only further help in showcasing the state in this sector.

New Sports Policy for Bengal passed by State Cabinet

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The West Bengal Cabinet passed the new Sports Policy 2015 for overall development of sports infrastructure and welfare of sports persons in the state.

State Youth Welfare Minister Mr Aroop Biswas, who also looks after Ministry of Sports, said that the policy would help improve existing sports infrastructure and install the latest state-of-the-art sports infrastructure in the state.

Spirit of sportsmanship

The policy would also provide cash incentives, awards and employment opportunities to outstanding sports persons, Mr Biswas said, adding it would also strengthen infrastructure in educational institutions including universities.

“The new Sports Policy will create a culture of sports by imbibing higher moral and ethical values and spirit of sportsmanship raising the level of desire to excel among the youth of the state,” the Minister said.

Provision has been made in the policy to encourage adventure sports in the state. Steps were there to bring about transparency in the working of the State Sports Associations, he said.

Recognising talent

A policy like this was a long-felt need to encourage involvement of private and corporate entities in the development of sports infrastructure, training and conduct of sports competitions leading to broadbasing of sports in the state, the Minister said.

Finally, the policy would recognise talent in sports and reward young women and men, who achieve excellence in sports, he added. For this, the Minister said, steps had been taken to reconstitute District Sports Councils and the Sub-divisional Sports Councils with a wider participation of sports bodies.

He also said that the State Government would set up a State Sports Institute to enable the sports persons to undergo certificate and diploma courses in different areas related to sports.

Promoting excellence

To promote excellence in international and national competitions, the sports department would set up residential academies in different disciplines like Table Tennis, Archery, Badminton, Volley Ball, Athletics, Gymnastics and Swimming immediately. “We have already set up a residential Football academy in the state,” the Minister said.

The Minister further said that the State Government would financially support individual sportspersons from the state who qualify for the Olympic, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, World Cup and similar level of continental competitions to the extent it remained uncovered from any other source.

The sports department would also create a data bank for sportspersons in the state, the Minister said adding each sub-division would have a stadium.

Bengal to woo IT cos at Analytics City

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Keeping up with its smart city initiatives, the state government is now working on plans to develop an `Analytics City’ near Kolkata to woo reputable IT firms dealing in data analysis. It will have the infrastructure of a smart city with residential and commercial complexes and other facilities.

The proposal of developing such a theme-based city was earlier mooted by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). Discussions have been held with state urban development officials on the proposal.

The state government is already working on plans to develop a number of ‘theme-based’ townships and cities. Places like Bolpur, Kalyani, Asansol, Dumurjala, Baruipur and Debgram has been identified for such theme-based townships and a number of real estate developers have also shown interest to build these theme cities.

Besides, the state government is also working on plans to develop smart cities, keeping New Town, where a number of initiatives have already been taken, on top of the list.

CM puts Bengal in Cannes spotlight

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Shooting international movies in Bengal has often meant horror stories of unprofessionalism and permission procuring problems. But Mamata Banerjee is all set to bring about a positive change in the scheme of things.

As a first step, she has sent actor-director Arindam Sil to the 68th Cannes Film Festival as part of an official delegate of the state government. Apart from trying to get films for the Kolkata Film Festival, Arindam Sil is there to woo international production houses by presenting Bengal as India’s most shooting-friendly destination.

Audio-visual presentation

He is carrying an audio-visual presentation that has glimpses of movies shot in Bengal -right from ‘Howrah Bridge’, ‘Mera Naam Joker’, ‘Yaraana’, ‘Main Hoon Na’, ‘ Aradhana’, ‘Mr and Mrs Iyer’, ‘City of Joy’, ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ to ‘The Japanese Wife’, ‘Yuva’, ‘Parineeta’, ‘Kahaani’, ‘Barfi’ and ‘Love Aaj Kal’.

The presentation was prepared by the state tourism department.

Single window clearance

Shooting units can now apply free of cost to the information and cultural affairs department and inform about their requirements.

Arindam Sil said there are no costs involved in the shooting. “Nothing will be charged for shooting at public places and government areas. A nominal price will be charged only if 20 policemen are needed to guard shooting locations. All permissions will be handled and coordinated from one point. The I&CA department will coordinate with Lalbazar, Kolkata municipality and police for permissions. Getting the same permissions in Mumbai will mean shelling out approximately Rs 1 lakh. Added to that is the delay. In Bengal, we will offer logistic support as well,“ he added. Henceforth, police and municipal permissions to shoot in Bengal will get single window clearance.

State youth welfare minister Aroop Biswas said, “We are trying to expedite matters and extending necessary support for shooting in Bengal. Strikes don’t happen at the drop of a hat any longer.”

Those handling international productions in India are thrilled with this news.

Kolkata in ‘Fastest-Growing Global Cities’ list

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Kolkata has emerged as one of the top three fastest growing cities in India in AT Kearney’s Global Cities Index, which is topped by New York and London. The other two cities are Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Kolkata has been improving their scores steadily in business activity, information exchange, human capital and cultural experience – key parameters used to measure a city’s global engagement in the index released today, said the London-based global management consulting group.

Kolkata, along with the two other Indian cities have made particularly strong improvements in information exchange, in part due to gains in the number of broadband subscribers, it said.

The ability to attract human capital is key to the success of any city. For that it needs to be able to provide a good environment for living as well as innovation,” said an official of AT Kearney.

The Global Cities 2015 includes two parts – The Global Cities Index (GCI) and the Global Cities Outlook (GCO).

The GCI provides a unique assessment of global engagement for 125 cities, measuring how globally engaged each city is across 26 metrics in five dimensions- Business Activity, Human Capital, Information Exchange, Cultural Experience, and Political Engagement.

The GCO is new this year: It evaluates the future potential of 125 cities based on the rate of change across four dimensions – Personal Well-being, Economics, Innovation, and Governance.

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee informed about this feat through Twitter:

Trinamool Government stresses upon improvements of roads

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For any government, the proof of success in developmental work lies in the fact of how much money that government spent on the projects. By this yardstick, the Trinamool Government has proved to be far more successful than the previous Left Front Government (comparing the first four years of the present dispensation to the last four of the Left Front).

Take the case of Public Works Department (PWD). For building roads, bridges and national highways, the Left Front Government spent Rs 2421,28,00,000 during its last four years, that is, 2007-08 to 2010-11. On the other hand, the Trinamool Government spent during its first four years (that is, till 2014-15) spent Rs 5978,99,00,000, an increase of almost two-and-a-half times. Therefore, the average spend per year during the last four years of the Left Front Government was Rs 605,32,00,000 whereas the same during the first four years of the Trinamool Government was Rs 1494,73,00,00 – almost two-and-a-half times more.

If considered percentage-wise, the change from 2007-08 to 2010-11 was an increase of only 33.91, whereas the change from 2011-12 to 2014-14, that is, the first four years of the Trinamool Government, was an increase of a massive 195.9. Hence, from these data, it is quite clear that the development during the rule of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has been extremely impressive.

If compared to the consumer price index (CPI), one finds that the rate at which the CPI increased over the last four years of Left Front rule, the budget for PWD did not. Therefore, there had been no effective increase in the budget allocation in the last four years of Left Front rule.

Rural roads

In the case of building the rural network of roads, too (though, of course, this does not fall under the PWD). Under the Trinamool Government, 8,200 km of rural roads has been constructed. For every kilometre, Rs 60 lakh has been spent. This is a record for the state, and for this, the State has consistently got appreciation from the Centre.

Widening National Highways

During these four years, 1270 km of National Highways has been two-laned and 2672 km has been widened to 5.5 m, which is again a record.

Latest developments

The Trinamool Government-formed State Highway Development Corporation (SHDC) has taken up plans for building 1,000 km of highways during the current financial year (2015-16), and 3,000 km more through the public-private partnership (PPP) route.

Work has also started on the Asian Highways – Rs 600.84 crore is being spent on Asian Highway-2, linking the Nepal border to the Bangladesh border, and Rs 971.4 crore is being spent on Asian Highway-48, linking the Bangladesh border to the Bhutan border.

Besides, the work for building 88 bridges and railway overbridges is almost complete. Rest houses for travelers called Path Sathi and Sulabh toilets totalling 150 have been built. A lot of other new projects have also been taken up.

Other PWD projects

Besides roads and bridges, a lot of PWD projects in the health and education sectors have also either been completed with distinction or are to be completed soon. For example, the building housing the Linear Accelerator Facility at NRS Medical College and Hospital, Trauma Centre at SSKM, Orthopaedic Centre at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the sixth floor of Lumbini Park Mental Hospital, a government engineering college and a leather technology building in Salt Lake, the Women’s University in Diamond Harbour, Kazi Nazrul University, Bankura University, and others.

Therefore, it is quite apparent that within a short span of time, the Trinamool Congress Government has done a lot of work regarding the building of roads and bridges. Under the able leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the State has progressed by leaps and bounds.

Child-friendly Police Stations being set up in Bengal

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After setting up Women Police Stations across the State, the West Bengal Government is setting another example by forming Child-friendly Police Stations.

As a start-up, some police stations in Kolkata and different districts of the State have been identified. A meeting was held in this regard with the UNICEF officials at Nabanna.  Nine police stations in Kolkata and 29 police stations across the State have been shortlisted initially.

Such police stations will help the children to file their complaints in a friendlier atmosphere. Also, children, who have committed offences, will be dealt according to their age.

The Police Department is framing a guideline for the Child-friendly police stations and will also provide special training to the officers who will be in charge of those. It has been decided that a Child Welfare Officer will be designated in these police stations. A separate register will also be in place for the children who would lodge complaints.

It has been decided that to protect minor girls who have been subjected to sexual assaults, only women officers will speak to the victims. Audio-visual recordings of the complainant’s verbatim accounts will be preserved. In case of juvenile offenders, the identity of the offenders will be kept undisclosed and Juvenile Justice Board will be the first body to be approached in these cases.

Besides administrative measures, infrastructure will be put in place like proper sitting area for children, basic amenities like drinking water, proper toilets. Also, the Child-friendly police stations will organize community programmes to create awareness regarding child security.

Kolkata to get solar grid soon

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Kolkata is set to be lit up by the sun after dusk after a successful three-month pilot project at Deshapriya Park boosted the confidence of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities and plans are being made to install solar panels in street lights across the city and connect them to the main conventional power grid that runs Kolkata and its suburbs.

Clean and green power

The exercise, once complete, will reduce the dependence on electricity to a great extent and also help people breathe better quality air — with lesser amounts of the deadly carbon emissions. Above all, the initiative will help the cash-strapped KMC to save crores of rupees.

The changeover will be equivalent to planting around 600 fully grown trees within the city at one go, or stop adding nearly 7,000 kilos of carbon dioxide every hour to the air we breathe. Carbon dioxide, a green house gas, is one of the major reasons behind global warming.

Solar Pilot Project

The pilot project involved 50 solar panels — installed on street lamps at Deshapriya Park in South Kolkata three months ago. It was a first of its kind experiment in India where grid-connected street lamps were using solar panels to light up roads. All solar street lighting systems that are there in the country, including in Kolkata, are battery-operated and have no connection to the grid, unlike the new system. As far as installing solar panels in street lamps across the city is concerned, a concept note has been prepared and discussions are on..

The note has been prepared by experts of KMC, CESC and a private body, which is approved by the Union government and was awarded the Green Oscar in 2004.

The project was launched in February with funds from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited. The street lights were fitted with ‘intelligent controllers’ which help the LED light to use only that much power that has been generated throughout the day or less than that. The surplus, if any, will be routed to the conventional power grid and a record of the amount of power transferred would be kept for future reference.

Alternative sources of energy

A bright sunny day in May is expected to generate 1 kilowatt of electricity. The ‘intelligent controller’ will ensure that the LED bulb uses a maximum of 1 kilowatt or less, with the extra power being sent to the grid.

On a cloudy day, when there is less sunlight, the street lamp can draw power from the grid, because it had deposited the extra power it generated to the grid on a sunny day. In other words, it will be somewhat like a bank account: You can withdraw only as much as you deposit.

Street lights in Kolkata consume around 10 MW of electricity every hour. As this power comes from the burning of coal in our thermal power plants, at least 7,000 kilos of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere every hour to light up Kolkata. If the power is shifted to solar, this can be stopped to a great extent, if not entirely.

Bad road in Kolkata? Register your complaint to KMC via WhatsApp

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Repairing your neighbourhood roads will now be a WhatsApp message away. Kolkata Municipal Corporation is coming up with a dedicated number where you can send photos of broken roads and get them repaired in 48 hours.

All you have to do is take click a photo and WhatsApp it to the soon-to-be-announced KMC number, giving the exact address and the nearest landmark. After receiving the photographs, a team from the borough will visit the spot immediately to make a preliminary study o the damage.

There are around 4,000 km of roads in Kolkata, of which 1,800 km is repaired every year by the civic authorities.

The complaints will be collected centrally , sorted and handed out to the respective borough offices. Soon, residents can WhatsApp their complaint if a streetlight is defunct or a beautified road needs maintenance.

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.