Bengal Barta

Six Municipalities goes for polls today    Six Municipalities goes for poll today and as per the reports from the sources till 2:00 pm almost 60 percent vote has been casted except in Durgapur and Pashkura where 50 and 54% vote has been casted. Haldia which remains the CPM stronghold is also seems to be casting for Paribartan as told by Trinamool leaderships there where people gathered in large numbers to cast their vote which is very positive move. In Haldia almost 67% vote has been casted where as in Coopers camp it remains highest 81%.  Due to scorching heat people gathered in large numbers during morning to cast their vote which gradually decreases after 12:00 pm as the heat increases but again return back after 2:30 pm as the heat slightly decreased. As per the experts Nalhati could go under Trinamool where as in Haldia CPM is in backfoot due to absence of Lakhsman Seth and other top leaders. In some places though there is a news of violence coming out but overall the poll was normal says the district administration officials.

 Mamata honoured team KKR for becoming IPL champion

The whole city of Kolkata celebrated the win of KKR with great pomp and glitter. The procession started from Hazra and all IPL team members and the “Hero of all hearts” Gautam Gambhir were all on the trailer to celebrate the great win. But the felicitation programme could not take place at Jogubabaur Bazar due to scuffle between police and mob.

The trailer then  headed towards Writers’ where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,Railway minister Mukul Roy and other ministers welcomed team KKR with great warmth. Gautam Gambhir handed over the cup to Mamata Banerjee.The KKR players were presented “Uttariyas”(small piece of cloth to pay honour to achievers),flower bouquet by Chief Minister. Bengali Film stars Jeet,Dev were present in front of Writers to welcome the team. After few minutes,Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla also arrived at Writers’.

The KKR bus after reaching Eden Gardens were welcomed by thousands of people who are fans of KKR team,Gambhir,Shah Rukh and Juhi.A huge wave of excitation was seen among the emotional people of Kolkata  when the KKR team song was played at Edens. Singers Jojo,Soumitra and the entire Bhumi team , other musical bands and singers geared up the people with their foot tapping numbers.Shah Rukh,Juhi,Jeet and KKR team members danced with the tune. Actress Rituparna Sengupta ,Locket Chatterjee ,Soham were also present at the grand ceremony.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee entered the stadium with Governor MK Narayanan and after which National Anthem was played by Kolkata police band as a mark of respect to nation and proud players of KKR team. Governor MK Narayanan told people to give a big hand of applause to all members of KKR. He then presented “Uttariyas” to all team members.One carat of gold chain was presented to all team members along with mementos. Among other dignitaries were present sports minister Madan Mitra,high officials of Kolkata police and members of Kolkata police who have succeeded in organizing the whole programme peacefully.

Cake Cutting  ceremony was organized and on the cake  it was written,”Korbo,Lorbo,Jeetbore”.The cake was jointly cut by Gambhir and Shah Rukh Khan.

The whole KKR team then took a round around the whole field.At the end CM thanked team KKR.While Shah Rukh thanked the people of Kolkata for supporting them. Similarly Juhi also thanked them all.

But after the celebration was over,huge disorder,chaos was seen at Eden Gardens. When police allowed people to enter the stadium a condition like stampede was observed in the entire field. After that the gate was closed.

PM visits Kolkata for 3 hours tour

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Kolkata for a short three hours tour on Saturday morning.  He is scheduled to attend two programs in the city which includes inauguration of the second campus of Bose Institute of Nuclear Physics at Salt Lake Sector v as well as Science Congress at Calcutta University. The Prime Minister was given a warm welcome at the airport by Governor MK Narayan, Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee and Pradesh Congress leaders.

Prime Minister is accompanied by Union Science Minister Bilas Rao Deshmukh. As per the initial reports Prime Minister has laid the foundation stone of Bose Institute of Nuclear Physics's second campus and reached Calcutta University where he inaugurated 100 years of Indian Science Congress.The program was attended by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , Calcutta University Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das. 

Roaming charge to be waived out in new Telecom plan

 

It  has been decided by the Cabinet,that the roaming charges will be waived out for making calls on your cellphone while travelling within the country.Also,you will be able to retain your number even if you move the city.The Cabinet by approving the National Telecom policy also seeks to put an end to the frustration with slow speed of internet surfing.

The policy was approved after telecom minister Kapil Sibal agreed to drop certain issues from his draft,which were seen to be controversial.The Cabinet also felt that revenue generation could not be excluded as a goal,borrowing the politically safe formulation of “affordability”from the New Telecom Policy,1999.

Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had objected to the proposal to confer pricing power on the telecom minister of the day.The meeting saw him getting support from many of the attendees:home minister P Chidambaram,finance minister Pranab Mukherjee,rural development minister Jairam Ramesh,commerce minister Anand Sharma,heavy industries minister Praful Patel and highways minister CP  Joshi.

Mamata reiterates Singur coach unit promise 

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday reiterated that a Metro coach factory will come up on 600 acres at Singur and the remaining land---part of the nearly 1000 acres earmarked for a Tata Motors small car factory---will be returned to unwilling farmers. She was speaking at the inauguration of a diesel locomotive component factory in Dankuni.She also announced the commencement of work for an electric locomotive component factory on the same premises.

The Metro coach factory will be set up with SAIL,Mamata said.On Friday,SAIL signed an MoU for a wagon manufacturing unit at Jelingham in East Midnapore.

Without naming Tata Motors or the farmers who had lodged cases against the state government when it decided to take back the Singur land,Mamata hinted that these were attempts to thwart her efforts to provide more jobs to people.