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Salt Lake turns Puja hot spot

2011-09-19T12:15:00.001+05:30

Innovative Concepts To Pull Crowd

Ajanta Chakraborty & Suman Chakraborti TNN

Kolkata: Priyanka Ghosh lives in Behala, which has its own share of high-profile pujas. But every Durga Puja, she reserves a whole day only to visit pandals at the other extreme of the city in Salt Lake.
    Her love affair with Salt Lake pujas began in 1998 when FD Block recreated Titanic. “Since then, booking an entire day for Salt Lake has become a ritual. We start after an early lunch and return late at night,” the 38-year-old homemaker quipped as she remarked: “I wonder if it will be Panchami or Shashti this time.”
    And, for FD block resident Simontini Das, it’s only Salt Lake during the Pujas. So, when was the last time she had gone pandal-hopping in other parts of the city? The 35-yearold shrugs, “Years ago. Before I was married and moved to Salt Lake. I have never felt the need to venture out of Salt Lake during Pujas.”
    Both Ghosh and Das — with their respective pandal-hopping preferences — are busy drawing up their must-see list of Salt Lake pandals. And the list doesn’t necessarily include F D Block. Pandals in the township have come a long way since the “Titanic era”. HB Block Residents’ Association secretary Abhijit Chandra vouches for that.
    “Initially, our pandal became a hit simply because we were just across FD. But now, our puja, all of 27 years, has an identity of its own,” he says.
    Little wonder then that planning starts months ahead. The TOI team found murals being conceived with care to depict Ram’s ‘Akal Bodhon’. “Ours will be an innovation based on tradition. It’s bound to be a major stop-over,” claimed Chandra. The concept has been meticulously worked out by Prabir Saha of the Government Art College and is being implemented at a cost of Rs 12 lakh.
    Concepts as opposed to themes seem to be the order of the day at Salt Lake pandals. The one coming up on the park at AE (part I) Block looks quaint with a 40-foot waterbody dug up. In the midst are scores of ladders in different hues. Secretary Supriyo Chakraborty explains: “Our slogan is Matir Tane Mati Mukhi.” The pandal depicts the ups and downs of humanity — the ladders symbolizing the struggle to stay afloat.
    “The best thing about Salt Lake puja pandals is high art within a mediocre budget,” explains Soumendra Banerjee, a resident of AE (part I) Block. “Among the 112 pujas (one in each ward), around 50 are exceptionally good. But the thrust is on character rather than cost. A lot of thought and professionalism goes into the making each pandal.” According to Banerjee, who once lived in Manicktala, “Most of pandals live up to the middle-class para culture which is woven into the ambience. No wonder, the average budget isn’t more than
Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh.”
    Painter Suvaprasanna, however, feels that Salt Lake has a “readymade ambience”, but it’s not quite middle-class. When I started living here, I thought this was a township for NRIs — far removed from the old world charm of north Kolkata. It’s tranquil against Kolkata’s vibrancy. More and more people are thronging these pandals for the sheer combine of comfort and aesthetics.”
    But then, it’s a competitive world. So what if it’s only restricted within the borders of the township. Every pandal is vying to give the other a run for footfall. The “concept” raked up by the organisers of BE East puja committee is “Shomoy Akhon” (time now). Into its 32nd year, the pandal will resemble a sundial showing the continuous passage of time. Budget? Not more than Rs 11.25 lakh.
    The “concept” for the Labony Estate Puja is innovative, yet topical. Although secretary Sumit Sarkar insists that it’s strictly apolitical, but Labony (in its 37th year) is recreating the four Vedas to trace ‘Woman Power’. Sarkar informs: “In the ancient era, women used to be emancipated and were reduced to slaves after the Manu-Samhita age. Our pandal will reflect the various stages of the society, culminating in the present when the woman gets back her freedom and rises to the decision-making level.” A recital by Ayaan Ali Khan will add zing to the Labony puja this year.
    CKCL Block — celebrating its silver jubilee — is erecting a pandal out of steel wires. Says secretary Dibyendu Banerjee: “The pandal is an abstract temple. The mandap has been christened ‘Pragati’ or progress. Steel represents development.” Another silver jubilee Puja, IB Block Welfare Association, plays around ethnicity, woven out of eco-friendly products like jute and bamboo. “Our pandal blends ritual, culture and tradition,” says secretary Partha Mitra.
    Finally, the fattest budget so far is attributed to FD Block Sarbojonin: Rs 20 lakh. The concept: Shaktipeeth. The idol: 14.3-m high. The pandal: a mountain with 12 Shiva Jyotirlingas placed on different spots. The showstopper: a Nataraj statue to the left .

(Clockwise from above) Decorations for the Labony Estate puja; the HB Block puja is depicting ‘Akal Bodhon’; the 14.3-m high FD Block pandal; the IB Block pandal decorations

Unused plots in Salt Lake draw govt attention

2011-09-07T16:02:00.002+05:30

Suman Chakraborti TNN

Kolkata: Owners of idle plots in Salt Lake will soon be served notices, asking them to make use of the land, failing which they must hand over the land to the state. Idle plots in the township will be identified through a survey by the state urban development department. “Notices will be sent soon,” said department
secretary Debasis Sen.
    Those who can’t comply by starting construction will be asked to inform the authorities so that government
could delve into the reason/ reasons behind the delay.
    There are quite a few idle residential and commercial
plots, ranging from two to five cottahs, in Salt Lake. Many of these plots have become waste dumps over a period of time. Rules state that the urban development department can serve notices on plotholders who don’t start construction within three years of taking land on lease. If the notice isn’t replied to in six months, the plot can be taken back.
    The Bidhannagar Municipality had earlier tried to identify such plots but could not contact the owners. The Left Front government also formed a committee under then chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb to identify such plots so that they could be re-distributed. However, the move didn’t progress.
    Some senior Salt Lake residents recently submitted a memorandum to chief minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to look into illegal transfer and sale of plots in the township, a long-standing problem. “Plots in Salt Lake are all leased out. While plots are distributed for costs ranging between Rs 2,750 to Rs 5,000 per cottah, depending on location, a cottah of land is illegally getting sold from anything between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore,” said B N Chatterjee, secretary of Salt Lake Citizens’ Welfare Society.
    The state government
has leased out plots in Salt Lake since the 1970s to enable middle-class
people build houses in the township. Under the rules, all plots were handed over to leaseholders
for 999 years after which the plots would be taken back by the government. However, the government found over the years that many of the original leaseholders transferred
their plots. Most such transfers took place in the 90s. A number of plots and houses were illegally sold or rented out by leaseholders.
    There are about 12,000 plots in the township, out of which almost 35% have already been transferred or sold illegally. Besides, the government was losing lakhs from stamp duty and registration fee as these transactions gave the government and the local civic body a slip. The government authorities had earlier served notices on such individuals who had illegally transferred or sold plots. But many alleged offenders moved court.
LAND-ING IN TROUBLE
12,000^|Total number of plots 4500^|Number of plots illegally transferred or sold
    2,750 to 5,000 per cottah^|Original price of plots 50 lakh to 1 crore per | Price on which plots are illegally sold

Armed Salt Lake robbers batter 65-year-old woman UNSAFE CITY AND DANGEROUS SUBURB, CRIMINALS HAVE A FREE RUN

2011-08-04T07:54:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: A buzzing cellphone saved 65-year-old Salt Lake resident Sumitra Mookerjea’s life on Wednesday. But for the ring, she could well have met the fate of 93-year-old Shanta Bhattacharya, who was gagged by robbers and suffocated to death at her Ultadanga apartment last week.
    Sumitra’s bruises speak of her ordeal — the robbers held a knife to her throat, hit her with an iron rod and slapped her without provocation. She could barely speak of the shock she felt on finding three masked men in her bedroom at 3.45am. Her husband, 72-year-old Devdas Mookerjea, was sleeping in an adjoining room in their twostoried house at Salt Lake’s AH-239. The elderly couple lives alone.
    The gang brazenly made a front-door entry after breaking the locks of the main gate and the grille. “I woke up with a start.
There were three armed men in my room. One of them had a gun. The other one locked my husband’s bedroom from outside while the third held a knife to my throat. I screamed for help. They tied me up and were about to gag me when I pleaded with them not to do so as it would choke me. I promised not to shout again. But one of them suddenly hit me with an iron rod. My knees buckled but he stepped up and slapped me,” Sumitra said.
    The noise woke Devdas. With memories of the Ultadanga murder-robbery fresh on his mind, he feared the worst when he found his door locked from outside. Trapped and unable to do a thing, Devdas picked up his cellphone and kept calling his wife. “The robbers thought that some outsider had been alerted,” Sumitra said. Gang stole jewellery
Kolkata: The gang lost all its bravado and asked Sumitra to show the rear door with the knife still pointed at her throat. “They fled through the backdoor but snatched whatever ornaments I wore and my cellphone,” she said.
    Devdas said that the gang had dragged her from the first floor to the ground floor to help them flee. “They untied her before escaping. They were around 25-30 years old and spoke in Bengali,” he said.
    As the news spread in the locality, relatives rushed to their home. North 24-Parganas SP Champak Bhattacharya and local Trinamool MLA Sujit Bose also visited the Mookerjeas. “A gang of three committed the robbery. The couple has provided us details of what is missing from the house. We are probing the case,” Bhattacharya said. The police videographed the house while fingerprint experts collected samples.
    The robbery, less than a month after a similar attempt at CF Block, sent shockwaves in the township. “AH block is mostly home to elderly people. The police should be more active in preventing such incidents,” said Gopal Chandra Bandyopadhaya, an elderly neighbour of the Mookerjeas. TNN

BRUISED... Sumitra Mookerjea talks to cops at her home on Wednesday

SC cancels Left govt’s land deal with Sourav

2011-05-28T12:40:00.001+05:30

Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped the Left Front government’s decision to allot Sourav Ganguly a large tract of land in Salt Lake on which he had planned his dream project — an international school with special focus on sports.
    A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly allowed a petition filed by an NGO alleging the tract of land worth 44.9 crore was allotted to the cricketer for just 63 lakh, and that too in extraordinary haste and breach of rules and regulations.
    The judges, who admitted they drew a lot of joy from Sourav’s batting and captaincy skills, clarified these personal impressions counted for little when the case in hand projected a wrong act.
    Setting aside a Calcutta high court order approving the allotment, the bench said: “It is clear that the government made allotment of the new plot to Sourav Ganguly on terms which were even more generous than the ones suggested by Sourav in his letter dated January 19, 2009. Such action of the government smacks of arbitrariness and falls foul of Article 14 (right to equality).”
    In a rap to the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee regime, the bench added: “The government was anxious to oblige the allottee by giving bigger plot that too with no loss of time.”
    Justice Ganguly, who wrote the judgment for the bench, faulted the allotment as irregular and hasty. The apex court asked the cricketer to return the land within two weeks.
    “Sourav must, within two weeks from date, hand over peaceful and vacant possession of plot no. CA-222 measuring 63.04 cottahs (a little over an acre) in Sector-IV, Salt Lake City (Bidhannagar), Kolkata, to the concerned department of the state government. Within two weeks thereafter, the state government must refund to Sourav, by a cheque, the entire money paid by him for such allotment,” Justice Ganguly said. Norms flouted in giving land to Sourav: SC
New Delhi: Justice A K Ganguly of the Supreme Court said he was aware of Sourav Ganguly’s contribution to Indian cricket and had watched him on TV. “But as a judge, I have different duties to discharge. Here, I must be objective and eschew my likes and dislikes and render justice to a cause which has come before the court,” he said.
    The petitioner had pointed out that in response to an advertisement for setting up of a school in Salt Lake City, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had received 24 applications. But it only entertained Ganguly's application. The NGO said Ganguly had initially taken possession of the allotted 48 cottahs of land. But later, he wrote to urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya pleading for additional land citing the ICSE guidelines, which stipulated that no affiliation would be accorded to a school set up on less than 60 kathas.
    The Left Front government, throwing rules and regulations to the wind, rushed through the entire exercise and allotted him aplot of 63.04 kathas.
    The NGO had also alleged that to overcome the ICSE condition that the school management could not be vested in a single individual, Ganguly floated a trust, much after the allotment of land, for the proposed international school. The trust comprised his mother, father, sister, brother, wife and other relatives.
    The bench said, “It is clear that Sourav is selectively seeking compliance of ICSE norms in asking for a bigger plot. In so far as other norms are concerned, they are clearly flouted as seen in the constitution of the trust set up to run the school.”
    The petitioner had also challenged the allotment on the ground that there were two other English medium schools operating in plots adjoining to the one given to him. It said the HC had upheld the allotment of land to Ganguly despite the NGO mentioning the violations of allotment and affiliation rules in its petition.
    Humanity had organized agitations against “the handing over of a plot that has been designated for a college in Salt Lake ’s master plan to an individual.” The former skipper started constructing his integrated school project (primary to the higher secondary levels) on this plot in June last year.
    The Calcutta high court had, in April last year, upheld the land allotment observing in its order that there was no arbitrariness in the state government’s action of allotting the land to Sourav.
    This order was challenged by Humanity and others following which the apex court had issued notice to the state government on September 16, last year. The apex court also took an undertaking from the cricketer’s counsel on the same day, that no construction activities will be done by him on the disputed land and status quo would be maintained till further order.
    Humnaity’s Arunangshu Chakraborty told TOI on Thursday, “The apex court admitted our plea that the land allotted to Sourav earlier was a different land. It was at B F 158 and measured 48 cottahs. There was a clause in the agreement that the government could change the location of the plot. The government used this clause and gave Sourav the 63 cottahs at CA 220.”
    Chakraborty added, “Sourav’s counsel pleaded this plot was lieu of the earlier one. But the court pointed out that in his letter addressed to the former urban development minister Bhattacharya, Sourav had said that he would surrender this plot and apply for a bigger of a plot. The government would have made the fresh allotment after registration of the surrendered deal. But nothing of the sort was done. What’s more, Sourav had mentioned that the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination would not give affiliation to his academy unless he had a 60-cottah plot. Our counsel argued that the plot in question was not allotted in the name of the Ganguly Educational Society, but in Sourav’s.”
    The original petition read, “The people of Salt Lake in whose interest Salt Lake City was established ... the rule of law which was deliberately throttled by the state authorities by way of distributing plots of land to many having proximity to political leaders without following any policy guidelines.”
    (With inputs from Ajanta Chakraborty in Kolkata)

Salt Lake tax to be levied after May 13

2011-05-06T08:50:00.000+05:30

Suman Chakraborti TNN

Kolkata: Residents of Salt Lake had better brace to pay property tax right after the assembly election results are declared on May 13. The Trinamool-run Bidhannagar Municipality is waiting for declaration of the election results before it starts sending tax bills to residents of the township.

Neither municipality chairperson Anita Mondal nor vice-chairman and Trinamool candidate from Rajarhat-New Town assembly constituency, Sabyasachi Dutta, would speak on the issue now, preferring to reserve their comments till May 13.

The civic authorities had, earlier, said they had come up with a new property tax structure in accordance with the Bengal Municipal Act, 1977. It had also been decided earlier to collect property tax with effect from April 1, 2010. The Trinamool-led civic board is expecting the party to form the next state government, which would make it easier for them to get the tax structure approved.

Trinamool sources said the civic authorities will start sending tax bills once party chief Mamata Banerjee approves the tax structure after the election results are declared. Civic authorities plan to discuss the issue with Bidhannagar Welfare Association and other stake holders before the new structure is finally announced.
Under this tax structure, owners of residential houses will receive quarterly tax bills ranging from Rs 70 to Rs 120. If the civic body collects taxes based on the new structure, it will earn about Rs 1 crore each quarter.

Civic officials, however, said they would lose about Rs 6 crore a year if they collected taxes following this structure, which prevailed in 1977. But, at least, residents would be happy to pay a lower tax, they said. The civic authorities reduced their spending earlier by not using cars and mobile phones they are entitled to. “We have been trying to earn revenue from sources like amusement tax and parking fees,” said an official.

The property tax dispute in Salt Lake has been raging since May 2007 when the earlier tax structure framed by the previous Left Front-led civic board was scrapped by the Supreme Court following complaints from the Bidhannagar Welfare Association. Since then, tax collection has been stopped in Salt Lake.

A Rabindra Bhavan for Salt Lake on the cards

2011-03-15T15:30:00.002+05:30

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: After years of reluctance, Bidhannagar Municipality has finally found a plot of land to set up a Rabindra Bhavan at Salt Lake.
    The bhavan will be set up on a 40 cottah plot in FE Block near the municipality building. The project was approved at a recent meeting of the municipality’s board of councillors. Municipality chairperson Anita Mandal said the dispute over the plot has been resolved. “The proposal was approved in our board meeting. We’ll now engage architects to prepare a model based on which the Rabindra Bhavan will be set up,” she said. The cost for the project will also be estimated.
    At present, there is the Rabindra-Okakura Bhavan, an Indo-Japanese cultural centre beside City Centre in Salt Lake. It was inaugurated by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the presence of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. However, there has
been a demand for a bhavan dedicated to Tagore and meant for research on the Nobel laureate’s works.
    According to plans, the bhavan will be a three-storey structure with an auditorium and several other facilities. It will display works of Tagore and there will be opportunities for scholars and students alike to do research work.
    The project was planned during the previous Left-run civic board’s tenure following proposals from residents that the township should have such a platform where everything on Tagore would come under one roof. However, since then, the project had remained on paper for various reasons.
    First, there was a problem with the plot that the state urban development department had given to the civic authorities. After measurement, civic engineers had then said that the plot was a triangular one and was not suitable for constructing the bhavan.
    The civic authorities requested the state government to reconsider and earmark another plot.

Civic move to achieve a clean, green Salt Lake

2011-02-02T11:08:00.002+05:30

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: The Bidhannagar Municipality has launched its Green City Clean City programme in Salt Lake. Under the programme, the staff engaged in waste management will collect the daily garbage in the township and dump it directly in Mollar bheri, minimising the use of vats as far as possible.
    The Green City Clean City initiative has been taken with the plan to completely abolish the vat collection system. The workers engaged in sweeping the streets and collecting the daily accumulated garbage have been provided with gloves, masks and uniforms. The workers will clean up all the roads in the township.
    “It is a new system that we are now experimenting with and trying to fully implement for the entire township. Apart from the existing set-up, we are bringing five more garbage collecting trucks very soon,” said chairman-in-council (waste management) member Debasis Jana. The civic authorities will spend about Rs 15 lakh for the project. The authorities have in fact increased the budgetary allocations implementing the scheme.
    The workers have been divided in such a way that each of them will be looking after some particular lanes inside the blocks. The project has been launched from AE and BE blocks and will further spread to other areas of the township. The waste is collected from all the individual residential houses and there are separate bins to dump specific types of garbage. The garbage on the roads is also collected and put into the bins. After mass collection, the garbage is then dumped in the trucks that goes directly to the Mollar bheri dumping ground.
    Civic officials said it will take some time for the project
to be fully operational across the entire township. “We are trying to remove the vat system in this way which is more systematic in nature,” said a civic official. The old waste collection system through the vats will be steadily phased out.
    Among the other long-term plans of the civic authorities is to carry out tree plantation programmes, beautification and maintenance of the islands and the green verges that falls in between the blocks and to switch to solar power for the lighting of the islands and for the streetlights, particularly for the added areas.

A worker in uniform collects garbage in Salt Lake

Salt Lake streetlights may soon run on solar power

2011-01-09T20:35:00.002+05:30

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Salt Lake may soon have solar-powered streetlights. After its formation last June, the Bidhannagar Municipality’s Trinamool-run board had submitted a proposal to West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) to install about 100 solar panels for use as streetlights in the township.
    “The Bidhannagar Municipality has shown interest in illuminating 100 streetlights with solar power. They have also informed us that they have made budgetary allocations to meet this goal,” WBGEDC managing director S P Gon Chaudhuri said. However, the formal process is yet to start.
    Presently, the civic body’s annual electricity bills for streetlights is around Rs 35 lakh. The municipality has allocated Rs 40 lakh in its current fiscal year budget to switch 100 of its streetlights to solar power. Civic officials said use of solar power is an integral part of the new board’s programme for a clean and green city. Regular disposal of accumulated waste is also part of the programme.
    With WBGEDC’s help, the civic body has already installed three 250 watt sodium vapour lamps to illuminate one of the traffic intersections near the municipality building. “Each of them have been running uninterrupted for the past three months,” Gon Chaudhuri said. There are further plans to beautify more such Islands with solar panels.
    Previously, there were numerous complaints that parts of the township were poorly lit. Residents complained that inadequate streetlights around Central Park, Karunamoyee and Duttabad had given a spurt to crimes like eve-teasing and molestation, making women feel unsafe to move about these areas after dark.
    One of the new technologies that the state power department is planning to introduce in the city is the smart grid system which could also be applicable to Salt Lake. “For example, if there is load-shedding in one area, the smart grid will system will divert power from areas lit up by automatically switching off air conditioners in them. The offloaded power can at least run lights and fans in areas hit by load shedding,” Gon Chaudhuri explained.

Salt Lake civic body in bulldoze mode

2010-09-16T15:47:00.002+05:30

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: After years of inaction, Bidhannagar Municipality has begun a drive to demolish unauthorised buildings in Salt Lake, a move undertaken by the new Trinamool-run civic board.
    Weeks ago, an illegal garage beside a building near the City Centre mall was demolished after locals complained that it was a nuisance in their locality. The civic authorities found that the structure had been built after bypassing building rules.
    “We are receiving numerous complaints of such buildings mushrooming in the township, flouting prescribed building rules. We are conducting surveys and preparing a list of such buildings and will carry out demolition drives,” said chairperson Anita Mandal. Mandal herself has taken up the responsibility of sanctioning building plans.
    The new board has taken up the issue of illegal buildings quite seriously. Complaints about illegal extensions in commercial highrise complexes are pouring in from areas surrounding Karunamoyee and City Centre mall, which have both residential and commercial plots.
    The civic authorities have also found that drainage and sewer lines of residential houses have been illegally connected to each other at many places. The authorities are sending notices to all households of the township, asking houseowners to disconnect drainage and sewer lines that are connected to those of other houses. The civic authorities will themselves take action if the instruction is not carried out, said sources.
    Biswajiban Majumder, who was chairman of the previous Left Front-run municipality, had earlier come out with allegations that building rules had been flouted while constructing several hundred buildings in the township and that party bigwigs had ensured that the municipality did nothing to stop such illegal acts.
    Though illegal transfer of plots and buildings violating rules is another issue, in most cases the houses that have been built violating rules are those that have been illegally transferred more than once. The civic body had received numerous complaints in the past of building plans being violated after being transferred to a new lessee. In many cases, violations in building rules have been made by constructing additional rooms or structures on top or behind a building.
    In some cases, underground spaces have been constructed. According to civic estimates, more than 100 buildings in the township have been constructed in violation of building rules. In many cases, no action could be taken against the offenders as many of them moved court after receiving notices from the municipality.

A part of a building that was demolished by the civic body

Helpline for Salt Lake senior citizens

2010-09-09T17:13:00.003+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Here’s some good news for elderly citizens living alone in Salt Lake. The Bidhannagar municipality is planning to introduce a 24-hour helpline for them. The system will include round-the-clock medical support and assistance for bill payments. The Bidhannagar police has also introduced a helpline for this vulnerable residents and is currently collecting their names and addresses to feed into their database.
    Salt Lake has a large population of elderly citizens living alone with children studying or working in other cities of the country or abroad. In fact, there are several blocks with very few young residents. The elderly men and women are completely dependant on the daily help for chores like bill payments or emergencies like illness.
    “We plan to come up with a support system for the elderly who live alone in the township. Apart from 24-hour medical help, there are needs like paying electricity and telephone bills, shopping for essential goods of daily needs and buying medicine from the pharmacy. These may appear insignificant chores but for the elderly living alone, it is a big deal. We are looking at whether an agency can be engaged to do these jobs. We will discuss the matter with civic officials,” said a member of the advisory committee that has been formed for the betterment of Salt Lake.
    Bidhannagar municipality chairperson Anita Mandal said a draft plan for services to elderly citizens had been prepared. The plan includes round-the-clock medical service provided by a dedicated medical team that will have an ambulance at its disposal.
    Salt Lake Citizens Welfare Society secretary Bhupendranath Chatterjee welcomed the proposal. “There are many elderly people who have no one to look after them. They can do with such a service. But first, a proper survey is required to identify the number of elderly people live in the township. The agency that is given the contract should have the phone numbers of everyone and contact them regularly to find out what service is required when,” he said.
    Police are also concerned about the elderly as they are vulnerable to crime. North 24-Parganas police have started a helpline for the elderly people of the township. The latter can call the number in an emergency and police will respond to the call at the earliest. The police is now collecting names of everyone above 65 years and alone in the township. The police is also considering a free ambulance service for them.
    “The police has introduced this helpline. If civic authorities join the initiative and provide peripheral services, it will be of immense help to the elderly,” said MK Pathak, secretary of Bidhannagar Senior Citizens Association.

Trinamool board sets clean, green goals for Salt Lake

2010-06-29T11:44:00.000+05:30

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Salt Lake ’s residents can look forward to improved water supply, better roads, well-lit streets at night and more regular garbage clearance in the year ahead.
These are the areas Bidhannagar Municipality’s new Trinamool Congress board will emphasise in its first budget which it will place before the civic body’s newly-elected councillors on Tuesday. Municipality officials saidSalt Lake ’s civic budget for 2010-2011, the first ever by a Trinamool Congress board in the history of the township, will have an outlay of around Rs 53 crore. A vote-on-account budget was passed by the previous Left-run board before this year’s civic elections.
Salt Lake ’s civic development was paralysed during the tenure of the Left board ever since the Supreme court scrapped the Bidhannagar Municipality’s new property tax structure way back in the mid-2007.
Now, the new Trinamool civic board earnestly wants to take up and solve this long issue.
    Till the property tax dispute gets solved, the main areas to earn revenues for the civic body will be hoardings, parking fees and amusement tax.
    “One of the main issue that we are going to stress on is providing adequate water supply. Residents of the town have been made to put up with inadequate water supply for a long time. We are in touch with the KMC authorities to provide us 10 million gallon water from Tallah. Also, we have decided not to introduce water tax. For all these reasons, a major allocation from the budget will be given to this sector,” said a civic official. The civic authorities are planning to set up a water treatment plant at the added area of Mahisbathan and for this, there will be an allocation of about Rs one crore.
    The second most important area that the authorities have identified is the upkeep of roads. “Maintenance of roads have been an area of concern for the civic body over the years,” an official said. The authorities are planning to buy a hot-mix plant somewhere in the added areas that will be beneficial for road repairs and for this, there will be an allocation of about 50 lakh. The total allocation for road repair and maintenance will be around Rs 4 crore.

The civic authorities pay around Rs 35 lakh each year for streetlights. There are plans to switch over streetlights to solar and for this there will be an allocation of around 40 lakh. “We will be giving much importance on our clean and green city programme, that includes keeping the township clean and proper waste disposal. For this, we will increase our budgetary allocations on this sector,” an official said. Also, there will be allocations for preparing a map of the township’s existing sewer and drainage lines.
“The civic authorities will be trying to improve and develop civic infrastructure of the township and for this and the budget will have proper allocations,” said senior Trinamool councillor and former accounts committee chairman Ashes Mukherjee, who had suggested such proposals in the previous Left run civic board.

Woman civic boss for Salt Lake?

2010-06-05T10:26:00.000+05:30

Choice Between Anita Mandal & Sabyasachi Dutta For Top Civic Post

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Salt Lake Municipality may get its first woman chairperson. The two names doing the rounds are those of Anita Mandal and Sabyasachi Dutta, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee announced in Kolkata on Friday after a meeting with the newly elected councillors of the municipality.
    Mandal’s name came as a surprise, as three names — that of Anupam Dutta, Krishna Chakraborty and Sudhir Saha — had been doing the rounds for the post of Bidhannagar Municipality chairperson.
    There was some confusion over the matter, as the Trinamool chief did not clearly announce Mandal’s name as chairperson. “Sabyasachi Dutta has been elected the leader of the councillors, but we will have to check out a rule under which we may have to chose a woman councillor to be the chairman of Bidhannagar Municipality. In that case, Anita Mandal will be the chairperson and Sabyasachi Dutta the vice-chairman,” Mamata announced. Anupam Dutta and Debasis Jana were named chairman-in-council members.
    When contacted, however, Mandal claimed that Mamata had given her the chairperson’s post. “My leader Mamata Banerjee told me she wanted me as chairperson of Bidhannnagar Municipality. I am honoured and will give my best. My aim would be to improve the civic condition of the township,” Mandal said. Sabyasachi Dutta, the other candidate, could not be contacted.
    Mandal is the daughter of Monoranjan Bhakta, who was a former MP in the Andaman islands. Mandal was also twotime councillor from 1995 to 2000 and again from 2000 to 2005, after which she lost to CPM’s Dilip Ghosh in 2005. This time, she managed to take sweet revenge, edging out Ghosh by a margin of 78 votes.
    Gaigatha Trinamool MLA Jyotipriya Mullick said Mandal is hardworking and has been in active politics for many years with Trinamool, right from the party’s beginning. “Salt Lake has finally got the right person as chairperson,” Mullick said.
    Mamata also announced a 20-member expert committee, which would advise the municipal council in the running of the municipality. The committee is chaired by former land reforms commissioner of the West Bengal government, Debabrata Bandyopadhyay, and comprise representatives from bureaucracy, police, judiciary, industry doctors, artists, intellectuals and sportsmen. Among the members are singer Dwijen Mukherjee, footballer Sailen Manna, retired justice G N Roy, former CBI director Upen Biswas and retired IPS officers Rachpal Singh, Sultan Singh and H A Safwi.
    While Debabrata Banerjee has been a member of Mamata’s Krishi Jami Raksha Committee for a long time, the team also includes members of Mamata’s thinktank — Sunanda Sanyal and Suvaprasanna. Kalyan Kar would represent the IT industry while Bharat Chamber of Commerce president Shyam Sundar Beriwal would represent the Marwari community. Local MLA Kakali Ghosh Dastidar and local MP Sujit Bose are also members of the committee. A few others could be included in the committee, Mamata said.
    The municipal board would be sworn in on June 15, but Mamata said she had announced the composition in advance “so that the councillors can understand their responsibilities and start functioning”. The composition of the KMC board would be announced on Sunday. “After that, all councillors would start a cleanliness drive in Kolkata and Salt Lake.”

Mamata Banerjee with Trinamool councillors at her home on Friday. On the extreme right is Anita Mandal. Sabyasachi Dutta is standing in the second row

Salt Lake Shakes Off Violent Poll History

2010-05-31T11:00:00.000+05:30

Suman Chakraborti & Debamoy Ghosh | TNN

2000 municipal election, Salt Lake FD Block: CPM men beat up Trinamool Congress supporters and hurl bombs to capture Ward 16.
2005 municipal election, Salt Lake, BK Block: Jyoti Basu’s confidential assistant Joykrisna Ghosh and former CPM MP Amitava Nandy heckled by Trinamool supporters and police.
2010 municipal election, Salt Lake: No clash, no rigging, no booth jamming. Only police ‘excesses’.
    Contrary to the fears of many that elections in Salt Lake will be violent this time, too, the entire polling process from 7am to 3pm was so peaceful that even police seemed apparently confused. After all they have been at the receiving end for years.
    Even places where bombings were a common affair — Duttabad, Mahisbathan and the bheris — were unnaturally calm. Many voters, elderly and the young, came out freely to cast their votes. Polling in the township was as high as 70%. And this time, it was genuine voting.
    “I did not have any trouble casting my vote,” said Kamalika Das of Duttabad, who walked the 3km from Purbachal with her three-month-old baby.
    In most of the 126 booths of the township, voters preferred the early hours. There were long queues from 7am to 9 am, but booths were almost empty after 11am. Only a small section of people preferred to cast their vote in the latter half of the day.
    With the state election commission (SEC) issuing tough prohibitory orders — any outsider was liable to be arrested and private buses and taxis were barred from entering the township — not many outsiders were seen in Salt Lake, a welcome change compared to previous occasions. The central forces ensured that those who had entered into the township in the past few days could not create any trouble.
    What was also surprising was the bonhomie between contesting candidates at some places — a rare sight in Salt Lake. In Ward 8, CPM candidate Chandra Sarkar, Trinamool candidate Swati Banerjee and Congress candidate Arpita Chowdhury were seen chatting with each other. And in Ward 3, CPM candidate Sharmila Das and Trinamool candidate Anindya Chatterjee were having a pleasant talk.
    The SEC had provided 60 companies of central forces in four layers of security. The Bengal police apparently did not have much to do after this.
    The state police seemed to act overzealously on the administration’s directive to arrest outsiders. At many places, police tried to nab every person they suspected to be an outsider, and ended up harassing many innocent locals.
    Samir Kumar Dutta, a resident of AB-278, was on his way to market when he was accosted by a few police officers. They demanded to know who he was and where he was going. Dutta explained that he had cast his vote in the morning and was out to buy groceries but one of the cops asked him to leave the place. Dutta kept insisting that his rights were being violated. One of the senior Bidhannagar officers allegedly caught him by the neck and dumped him in a police van.

In another case, 70-year-old N C Pal, a resident of BE-29, was left floundering as a relative he had called for help in an emergency was blocked by an election official. The College Street resident had reached Salt Lake Tank No 4 when a police jeep intercepted him. He managed to convince the police but an officer on election duty stepped in, and asked him to leave. Pal contacted police over phone and offered his voter’s ID card for verification but the poll official refused to budge. Pal had to go all the way to Ultadanga. “I was disappointed,” he said.

Another 70-year-old, Dilip Majumder, who had come from Dum Dum to Salt Lake on a ‘personal matter’ said he was harassed by police and Trinamool Congress men. “I did not go anywhere near a booth. I pleaded that I had some work but they did not listen,” he said. The CRPF finally defused the situation.
Police even stopped maids and vegetable and fruit vendors from entering Salt Lake.

Beware Of Bullets On V-Day

2010-05-26T14:06:00.000+05:30

Salt Lake, no stranger to poll bloodshed, is bracing for its fiercest political showdown. It’s a war where no quarter is given, none taken. The stakes have never been higher here

Ward 13 (previously Ward 16): Blocks FC, FD, FE, FF

This ward was the deciding factor in 2000. Re-polling was ordered with CPM and Trinamool Congress tied at 11 wards each. With a lot of heavyweights from both parties being local residents, all-out violence ensued. Several Trinamool leaders were attacked. Bombs were hurled to keep voters away and CPM candidate Gita Biswas emerged the winner. She retained her seat in 2005.

This time, too, CPM will try everything within its power to hold on

Ward 3 (previously Ward 12): Blocks AJ, BJ, AK, BK, CJ, DJ
• In 2005, police caned CPM supporters who were trying to force their way into a polling booth. Trinamool men got into the fray. Amitava Nandy, former MP from Dum Dum, and Jyoti Basu’s confidential assistant Joykrisna Ghosh were injured. Sitting Trinamool councillor Tulshi Sinha Roy won the seat
Ward 5 (previously Ward 9): Blocks AF and AG
• In the 2005 elections, MMiC Nandogopal Bhattacharya’s followers allegedly roamed the streets, forcing residents to vote for him. Trinamool complained its polling agents were beaten up and thrown out of booths. Even locals alleged CPM cadres did not let them votes freely
Ward 17 (previously parts of Ward 23): Bheri areas
• Trinamool has never succeeded in gaining a toehold in this ward. Ever since Bidhannagar Municipality came into being in 1995, this has been retained by present MMiC Ila Nandy, wife of former CPM MP Amitava Nandy. The opposition has always cried foul here. This ward has witnessed severe violence, especially in Mollarbheri and Munshirbheri. With things not exactly looking up for CPM this time round, Trinamool is going flat out to upset the Left applecart.
Ward 18 (previously parts of ward 23): Bheri areas
• High chance of trouble on poll day as CPM will try its best to retain the seat while Trinamool will do everything to oust it.
Wards 23, 24 and 25 (previously parts of Wards 19, 4 and 1): Duttabad
• These areas of Bidhannagar along EM Bypass have always witnessed poll-related violence. Notorious criminals, many allegedly backed by CPM, have sought shelter in these slums. This is where bombs and guns are stored for poll-day violence. The opposition has always complained of violence and rigging in this CPM stronghold.
Ward 19 (previously Ward 22): Sukantanagar
• A Left bastion, CPM has always ensured that it retains this ward, which is slightly detached from the main township. Complaints of rigging and violence have been common here.

Abducted by pool car driver, 6-yr-old charts great escape

2010-05-04T11:58:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

A spunky six-year-old schoolgirl used her guts and wits to escape from her kidnappers — her pool car driver and a rickshawpuller — in Salt Lake on Monday. Notwithstanding little Satwiki Chakraborty’s bravery, the incident will send a shudder through every parent that has a child travelling by pool car.
    Satwiki was not only tied up and gagged, but also slapped repeatedly while being held hostage in a shop in Falguni Market. After a half hour in complete darkness, she managed to undo the knots, rip the plaster off her mouth and banged on the locked shutters until someone heard her. Both the suspects are in custody and have confessed to kidnapping her for ransom, say police.
    For two years, Satwiki, a Class-I student of Loreto House on Middleton Street, took the same pool car to school, driven by 22-year-old Vinod Singh Rathore alias Bunty. Her classes got over by 1pm and she would be home within the hour. She was always the first to board and last to get off.
    On Monday, Bunty dropped off all the other students and stopped the car in AJ Block, saying the vehicle had run out of fuel. He then walked up to Kartick Mondal, a rickshawpuller.
    The child thought he had arranged for her to reach home and climbed into the rickshaw. But instead of pedalling towards her house, Mondal rode out of AJ Block. When Satwiki asked him why, Mondal said he was taking a shortcut. Instead, he took her to Falguni Market, where Bunty has a building materials shop by the name of Rathore Enterprises. The rickshawpuller dragged little Satwiki inside and tied her arms behind her back with a ‘gamchha’. There was no one around in that deserted hour to help her. Mondal thrashed the child when she shouted for help and gagged her with sticking plaster. He then pushed her into the shop and pulled down the shutters.
    By then, Satwiki’s parents — mother Mithu and father Saurav Chakraborty, a zoology professor at Hooghly Mahasweta Devi College — had called up Bunty, who told them that he had dropped her near the house as usual. The parents panicked and called Bidhannagar East police. Parents shocked at trusted pool car driver’s betrayal
Kolkata: As her parents panicked, little Satwiki Chakraborty was making plans to free herself from the Falguni Market shop. Bruised from being beaten by rickshawpuller Kartick Mondal, the six-yearold flexed and unflexed her wrists to loosen the knot.
    In the darkness and stifling heat, the six-year-old kept her wits and started looking for a way to draw attention. A thin sliver of light told her there was a small window, but it was locked and barred. Satwiki kept pushing till the window opened a little and then she screamed. But no one heard her. Then, she turned to the shutter and started banging on it.
    Sailendra Chowdhury, a local resident, and veterinarian Pankaj Banerjee, who has a chamber in the market, heard the noise and went to inquire. They were stunned to hear a little girl’s voice. They broke down the lock and rescued Satwiki. She seemed unruffled. After applying first-aid, they took her to Bidhannagar South police station, where police got in touch with her parents.
    Satwiki told police every detail of the ordeal and then the hunt started for her pool car driver Vinod Singh Rathore alias Bunty. Police got his address from her parents and arrested Bunty. He initially claimed a white car had picked up the girl after he dropped her near the Chakrabortys’ residence. Grilled further, he confessed that he had hatched the kidnap plot with Mondal. The rickshaw-puller was arrested.
    “The two are not history sheeters. It seems that they hatched the plot to make some quick money. Had they been hardened criminals, it may have been difficult to track down the girl,” said Rahul Srivastava, SP, North 24-Parganas.
    The shocked parents have asked police to find out if the pool car agency was also involved. “We could never have believed that Bunty would do something like this. We had lost all hope when Satwiki did not return home. Fortunately for us, she was smart enough to free herself,” the child’s mother said.

Greenpeace to celebrate Earth Day fest

2010-05-02T10:59:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Environmental crusaders Greenpeace, supported by The Times of India, will celebrate World Earth Day fest on May 1 at City Centre, Salt Lake.

A host of activities has been planned for students by Greenpeace, which believes that children are the ones who would replenish our natural resources. The programme will begin with a painting workshop, where students are expected to paint a big scroll on the theme of the environment, under the able guidance of an artist. The painted scroll would form the backdrop when the bands perform later in the evening.

Poster-making, photography and recycling are some of the other activities in the pipeline. In the ‘recycling’ section, students will be taught how to make paper bags from newspapers.

Activists Ekta Kothari and Subhash Datta will address the students. Next up is a mesmerising musical evening with some of the hottest acts in town: Five Little Indians, Ibn Batuta O Tatar and Cassini’s Division.

Some of the participating schools are La Martiniere For Girls, Birla High School, MP Birla School (Behala), Frank Anthony Public School, DPS Megacity, Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan, Salt Lake School and Calcutta international School. Participants are expected to be from classes V to XII.

FROM THE CORE OF THE HEART

2010-01-18T14:23:00.000+05:30

Nabadiganta’s chief SA Ahmed is going whole hog to step up the infrastructure at Sector V

In 2006, West Bengal government had segregated Salt Lake Sector V from Bidhannagar Municipality and had formed Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) for better management of infrastructure and other related activities there. The government has formed a 14-member committee which comprises representatives of the state IT department, KMDA, urban development and IT companies for running NDITA. In a freewheeling interview with ET’s Sutanuka Ghosal NDITA chairman SA Ahmed unveils the initiatives that the authority plans to undertake to improve the quality of infrastructure at Sector V. Excerpts:
How many units are now working at Salt Lake Sector V?
There are 603 units working at Salt Lake Sector V, which are spread over an area of 432 acres. Of these 603 units, 250 are IT facilities, both big and small. There are manufacturing units embracing Videocon, Areva and Godrej at Sector V as well. These 603 units also include schools, colleges and healthcare facilities that have come up in the area. Sector V has generated 70,000 direct jobs and an additional 30,000 indirect jobs over the years.
What is the role of NDITA in improving the infrastructure of Sector V?
    NDITA’s role is to provide modern infrastructure at the Sector V which includes roads, bridges, a water supply network, developing underground sewer lines and a drainage system. We have opted for a public-private partnership model for developing infrastructure at Sector V. Along with this, we are also involved in the traffic movement in the area. Apart from our usual exercise of maintaining infrastructure at Sector V, we are also responsible for collecting taxes, renewing trade licences and assessing property taxes.
IT companies, time-and-again, have complained about the poor internal infrastructure and water supply linkages at Sector V. What steps are you taking to address these twin issues?
    We are adopting a multi-pronged approach to address these issues. One should always remember that Sector V was set up initially for SSI units. No one had ever thought that it would turn out to be the IT hub of West Bengal. Therefore, the internal infrastructure, particularly roads, are not so broad as one can find in places like Bangalore or Hyderabad. To ease traffic movement in the area, we have come up with a new flyover near the Wipro building. Two new bridges have come up to help easy movement of cars from Kolkata to the airport and from Salt Lake to other parts of Kolkata. We are also in the process of appointing a consultant to suggest ways of managing the internal traffic, which is constantly increasing. We are also planning to introduce a one-way traffic system within the Sector V area to ease the movement of cars. We know that laying of water supply lines by Jusco, a Tata Group company, has compounded the road problem in Sector V. Jusco is slated to complete their work within March 31, 2010 and we are hopeful that traffic movement will become smoother after that. You will be surprised to know that some 8,000 vehicles ply in Sector V everyday, which include cars hired by IT companies like TCS, Wipro, IBM and others. If there are further problems, we are always open to the idea of discussing with the IT companies to sort them out.
Waterlogging and illegal parking are two major problems faced by the companies working at Sector V. How do you plan to curb these problems?
    Till last year, waterlogging had remained a problem. But not any more. We have taken adequate measures to prevent waterlogging at Sector V. From 2010, there will be no waterlogging at Salt Lake. Illegal parking is another problem area, where we are taking tough measures. If we find any cars parked illegally, we will tow away the car immediately. We have urged the Sector V units to create more parking space within their office premises, so that employees can park their vehicles there. We have come up with five parking lots in Sector V which can accommodate some 1,800-2,000 cars.
Barring a few big retail food chains, Sector V lacks good eateries that can provide quality food at affordable prices. Are you taking any initiative to address this?
    Unauthorised eateries have mushroomed in the sector along the roadside. We have decided to replace them with food kiosks which will provide affordable and quality food. We have allocated some 92 food kiosks in the area. KMDA is also planning to come up with a food park, where small eateries will come up.
Security at Sector V is probably a matter of concern to you as it also employs a large number of women. How are you addressing this issue?
    Unlike Bangalore, Sector V has not witnessed any major security problem. We are taking adequate steps to address this crucial issue. We have asked the IT companies to step up security arrangements at their premises. From our end, we have posted two patrolling vehicles, which move around Sector V on a 24x7 basis. Moreover, we have put up a surveillance system at NDITA, which is connected with the Bidhannagar (east) police station, so that we can keep a constant watch to avoid any untoward incident

Save-wetland plan ready, finally

2010-01-04T16:48:00.002+05:30

Save-wetland plan ready, finally
Local Experts & Residents Miffed At Not Being Consulted For Govt’s Grand Wetland Project
Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Seven years after declaring the East Kolkata Wetlands a Ramsar site, the state has finally come up with an action plan to protect it.
To ensure effective management, the plan proposes dividing the 12,500-hectare wetland area into four sections — substantial waterbodies, agricultural land, productive farming plots and rural settlements. “Detailed plans for each part have been chalked out and sent to the Centre. We had also sought an initial fund of Rs 3 crore, of which Rs 60 lakh has been sanctioned,” said East Kolkata Wetland Management Authority (EKWMA) chief technical officer Nitai Kundu.
To conserve only the waterbodies — that spread over 5,852.14 hectares — the authorities have decided that no conversion of wetlands, waterbodies and bheries or fish farms will be allowed. “This is ecologically the most important area of the Ramsar site. A sizeable local population depends on the sewage-fed pisciculture that is extensively done here. The waterbodies are also known to act as a carbon sink and the area a natural habitat of several aquatic flora and fauna species,” Kundu pointed out.
However, it may consider some activities to manage land parcels adjacent to these waterbodies, like desiltation programme, environment monitoring of sewage and conservation of bio-diversity as well as promotion of eco-tourism through setting up of zoological and botanical gardens, nature heritage parks, bird sanctuaries and animal rescue centres.
For managing agricultural areas spread over 4,718.56 hectares, the authorities will permit development of eco-tourism projects, like medicinal gardens, horticulture, floriculture and similar activities. It also suggests setting up of research and environmentrelated educational institutions.
The management plan also mentions measures for productive farming area spread over 602.78 hectares. This section is one of biggest challenges that EKWMA faces. It was way back in 1860 that KMC acquired this area for disposal of solid waste. Known as Dhapa now, nearly 150 tonnes of vegetables are produced daily in this zone.
Noting that the solid waste dump has reached its saturation, the management plan has suggested development of community-based facilities, including waste recycling and solid waste management programmes. The management plan has called for proper demarcation and effective control of the garbage dump to prevent leaching from contaminating groundwater. Pollution arising out of the site is to be monitored. No spatial expansion of existing habitation shall be allowed.
A part of the urban settlements of Bidhannagar Municipality and nearly 40 rural ones — spread over 1,326.52 hectares — are located in the East Kolkata Wetlands. Conversion of the existing habitation to more eco-friendly forms will be allowed. “In added areas, the environment department will examine proposals, but no waterbody will be allowed to be converted. For development proposals, prior permission of the environment department or its delegated authorities like EKWMA will be required,” Kundu said.
The EKWMA official said three projects — desilting of canals, planting of trees and desilting of ponds will be taken up soon. “We will start work to desilt 100 km of canal from January. Another 100 km stretch will be desilted under KEIP project for which the Asian Development Bank has approved Rs 32 crore,” Kundu said.
Simultaneously, an afforestation programme will be kicked off to plant 20,000 trees over three years. “We have planted 5,000 trees like teak and mahogany. We plan to plant coconut trees along the bheris,” Kundu said.
Significantly, the blueprint has neither been discussed with locals, nor experts from the region consulted. The EKWMA official argues the proposal is based on the report of Wetlands International, a consultancy firm based in the Netherlands that has considerable expertise on wetlands. But scientists here, who have worked in the wetlands for years, are livid that the government did not even consider them worthy of consultation. “Why is the wetland not in the public domain? And why have local stakeholders not been consulted?” questioned former ASI director AK Ghosh.
Environment biologist and toxicology expert Pulak Lahiri, who has worked extensively in the region, felt interaction with local residents would have helped in adding valuable inputs. “There are a lot of suggestions that only local experts can offer because they know the conditions,” he said.
That the plan is ready is itself an achievement given the constraints under which the Institute of Wetland Management & Ecological Design functions. Housed in only two flats in Salt Lake, there is neither adequate space nor infrastructure to manage something as vital as the East Kolkata Wetlands from this cubbyhole.

Trees hacked by the hundreds, but no compensation

2009-09-23T16:05:00.000+05:30

Trees hacked by the hundreds, but no compensation

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Several large trees have been chopped off along the stretch in front of City Centre in Salt Lake to make way for the East-West Metro project. A total of 800 trees will be chopped off. What’s worrying locals and green activists of the city is that the mandatory compensatory plantation is seldom put into practice after such large-scale felling of trees for several civic projects.
According to the rule book, for every tree felled, five trees have to be planted as compensation. However, in reality, this rule is hardly observed.
While the forest department has planted some saplings on road dividers, parks and green verges in Salt Lake, locals are not satisfied. “It is a complete crime as to how the trees have been chopped off,” said B K Chatterjee of Bidhannagar Bachao committee.
“The authorities have planted a few saplings haphazardly. This can in no way compensate the loss of the massive green cover,” said an horticulture expert.
On Sunday, ToI inspected some of the previous projects for which several large trees had to be felled. Several trees were cut down for the Gariahat flyover that was inaugurated way back on 2002. Seven years down the line, the concrete stretch below the flyover is now occupied as car parking lots.
Hundreds of trees were cut down along the Tolly Nullah to execute the extended Metro alignment from Tollygunge to Garia. Similarly, many trees were cut for the AJC Bose flyover project. The forest department had beautified small stretches beneath the flyover, but that can hardly compensate for the loss of full-grown trees.
Many large trees were chopped off along the Kestopur canal side off VIP Road by Hidco authorities to carry out dredging work. More recently, several large trees were felled for the EM Bypass-VIP Road flyover project. Authorities say the compensatory plantation drive would take place once the flyover work gets completed.
At present, the authorities who cut down trees hand over the required money to carry out compensatory plantation to the forest department.
“Either the contractors take up the job by themselves or they hand it over to the forest utilization division. Authorities of the Metro project had reportedly given Rs 40 lakh to the forest department to carry out compensatory forestation,” said a senior forest official.
As there is no monitoring authority to oversee the drive, there is a danger to the city’s green cover, fear environmentalists. Green activist Subhas Dutta said such a moniteering body is the need of the hour.

Trees being felled in Salt Lake for the East-West Metro project

A NOVEL THEME WITH NEW IDEAS

2008-10-04T14:15:00.002+05:30

“ARJUNA PIERCING THE BULL’S EYE”

The conflict between the deity and the demon and the struggle between the good and the evil are in principle indistinguishable. Kurukshetra rests deep inside our heart where the coexistence of the good and the evil has always kept the character of the battlefield alive. The great warrior Arjuna had come down on the Kurukshetra with the objective of upholding the spirit of virtue over vice. The grandeur of Ma Durga and the pomp of Arjuna are two sides of the same coin. Both seem to aim at the annihilation of the evil and sustenance of the good.

A part of this pandal in the form of the sharp edge of an arrow signifies the triumph of the good over the evil. Tin, the metal used on the top of the pandal, metaphorically represents the weapons used in the battle of the Kurukshetra. In the world fraught with inequality and disharmony, let the worship of Goddess Durga usher in a world of equality and unity. Let all conflicts, troubling our heart constantly, disappears for ever. Let Arjuna’s single-minded pursuit and ultimate triumph in piercing the eye of the revolving fish give us strength and impetus to make our India great and triumphant.

Let us all, at an individual level, be Arjuna ourselves; declare war against the dark cloud of evil crowding our heart; let all disharmonies vanish; let happiness, joy and peace overwhelm the great earth. At this auspicious hour, we pray for you all – be happy and enjoy yourselves.

Jayabrata Kar

Joint Coordinator
DL Block, Salt Lake

IT union plans crèche in Sector V

2008-06-14T16:57:00.002+05:30

Sobia Khan | TNN

Kolkata: An IT union, often criticised for just being there, intends to set up a crèche in Sector V, the first such in the city’s tech hub, for the benefit of young mothers employed in the various infotech companies operating in the electronics complex.
West Bengal Information Technology Services Association (WBITSA) — whose establishment in November 2006 ruffled quite a few local IT honchos — has already held preliminary talks with Webel and Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) about being allotted space to set up such a facility.
“We heard that quite a few people were leaving their jobs in the absence of such facilities, and being a responsible body, we felt that if no one else was doing it, we should come forward and set up a crèche ourselves since our goal is to promote the cause of IT in Bengal,” WBITSA general secretary Somnath Bhattacharya said.
However, Bhattacharya declined to comment on why local IT companies, which project themselves as progressive employers and have a large number of women employees, had not set up a crèche till date in Sector V. “We are willing to work with companies for ensuring that the crèche benefits as many IT sector employees as possible,” he said, adding that modalities on size and timing are still being worked out.
NITA chairman S A Ahmed said his organisation supported the crèche initiative. “We will provide all possible help to make it a success,” Ahmed said.
Incidentally, Bangalore and Hyderabad have quite a few crèches dedicated to the children of IT employees. Over 200-odd IT/ITES companies function in Sector V, which includes the likes of India’s No. 1 software exporter TCS, No. 3 exporter Wipro, as well as global biggies like IBM and Cognizant.
Both TCS and Wipro, though, are examining the benefits of having independent crèches for the benefit of their staff. Even the merits of a shared facility are being explored. “We may come up with one or share a common facility,” TCS human resources head Ajoyendra Mukherjee said.

Salt Lake planner revisits town

2008-04-23T11:33:00.002+05:30

Prithvijit Mitra & Suman Chakraborti | TNN Kolkata:

Dobrivoje Toskovic’s tryst with Salt Lake began 40 years ago when it was just a blueprint. The Yugloslavian architect was flown down to draw up the masterplan for Kolkata’s first satellite township. He gave shape to a township that has grown manifold over the years and inspired several more in and around the city. More than four decades later, 81-yearold Toskovic revisited Salt Lake on Tuesday to check out if it had grown according to plan. And, he came back impressed. “It has grown into a lovely garden city, just as I had planned. There are community housing, parks, clean roads and the traffic management seemed fine. I did feel a bit nostalgic today. But more than anything else, I felt proud that the city had developed just the way I had wanted it to,” Toskovic said. He visited Central Park, several blocks in the township and was elated to see the greenery all around. “The roads are nicely lined with trees, which is a wonderful sight.” Toskovic arrived in Kolkata a few days ago to attend a prize distribution ceremony and decided to visit the township on Tuesday. “He was happy after visiting the township, saying that much of his plan had materialised,” said Bidhannagar municipality chairman Biswajiban Majumder. The Belgrade-based architect had emphasised greenery, which he had wanted in 50% of the township. “He visited Central Park and was happy that his wish for greenery in the township had been implemented,” said a civic official. Toskovic said he had planned to use the central patch of greenery (Central Park) to hold cultural programmes and to set up a treasure hall. He was happy to learn that various cultural programmes and fairs were being held there. He was also pleased that most of the blocks had community halls of their own, as planned. However, he lamented the absence of landmarks. In his masterplan, he had earmarked all the corner plots for institutions that could serve as landmarks. Besides, the islands in the middle of the roads were much bigger in his plan. And, he had kept highrises completely out of it.

Water crisis haunts Salt Lake

2008-04-10T09:06:00.000+05:30

When it comes to water supply, Kolkata is way ahead of other metros. But the posh satellite township of Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of the city is an exception.

Salt Lake residents have a tough time every summer when taps run dry. Come 2009 and their suffering is only going to get worse. A survey by French consultant Seureca has predicted that water supply to the township will fall far short of the increasing demand. The state urban development department had engaged Seureca to conduct a water management survey at Salt Lake and its adjacent areas. The survey was aimed at exploring the feasibility of outsourcing water supply, sewerage, drainage and solid waste management of the township through public-private partnership.

The experts have pointed out that the projected demand for piped water in Salt Lake area - excluding Sector V - would far exceed the supply capacity by end-2008, The daily demand of water that stands at 9 million gallon a day will touch 20 million gallon by then. At present, the municipality receives around 6 million gallon from Tala and the civic body pumps in around 3 million gallon every day.

Salt Lake residents can easily understand the gravity of the situation as they already have to bear with shortage during the summer. Civic officials conceded that the township does not have a water treatment plant. It has to depend on the daily supply of filtered surface water from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. According to an agreement, the municipality can get a maximum of 10 million gallon of filtered water per day, but receives much less now.

There exists an underground reservoir with a capacity of five million gallon per day for emergency. But the report predicts that it will be of little help in tackling the crisis. Seureca has proposed that a new underground reservoir be built. The report warns that unless this is done, water supply may have to be slashed to six hours a day in the future to narrow down the demand-supply gap. But the Bidhannagar Municipality is working on several plans to improve the water supply system. The municipality's chairman-in-council, Tapan Talukdar, who looks after the township's water supply system, said they have started working on increasing the capacity of the water tanks.

"We have started working on increasing the capacity of water tanks 1, 3 and 13. Gradually, capacity of all the water tanks will be increased. We have also submitted a proposal to KMC to increase the supply of water from Tala," he said.

At present, the 17 water tanks at Salt lake have a capacity of 20,000 gallon each. The capacity would be increased to 25,000 gallon, Talukdar said. Besides, the civic body is trying to introduce water service charges to earn revenue with which it can pay for additional water supply from Tala.

The civic authorities are also trying to extend the duration of supplying filtered water from seven to 12 hours a day. The state urban and municipal affairs department also plans to introduce 24-hour surface water supply to all municipality areas under KMA with the help of JNNURM funds.

Source: TOI

Sec V won’t be flooded this year

2008-03-31T00:08:00.002+05:30

Techies may no longer have to wade through knee-deep water in the coming monsoon. “Sector V will not be inundated this time,” Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) chairman S A Ahmed told TOI. “Work on the damaged roads and sewerlines will be completed by July,” he added. NITA is the authority responsible for Sector V.
Drain water from Sector V drains into Bagjola canal. With drain water from New Town also being channelised through the canal, it invariably overflows during the monsoon as it is illequipped to flush out water from both sides.
Companies at Sector V, also called Nabadiganta Township now, said they would wait to see what happens when it actually starts pouring in June-July. “As we are the worst sufferers whenever it rains, we are keeping our fingers crossed on this. However, the NITA initiative is a welcome development,” Wipro senior manager (administration and facilities) Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya said.
Incidentally, state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya has also said in the recent past that improving drainage and sewerage systems of Sector V would be accorded top priority. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority has been asked to prepare a master plan in this regard.
“Beautification of Sector V will be completed in 18 months,” Ahmed said. NITA has signed agreements with Encon and Selvel for improving the IT hub.
Ahmed said easing traffic in Sector V would also be given importance. “Work on building a flyover in front of Wipro and J K Saha junction is in progress. Also, two bridges are expected to come up near Kestopur canal by mid-2009,” he added.

Sobia Khan | TNN

In good books?

2008-03-14T18:07:00.004+05:30

Is Book Fair 2008 a hit or a miss? Arshad Ali finds out the answer to the big question While booksellers and stall owners of the 550-odd stalls at the 33rd Book Fair, now christened Boi Mela, complain of poor business and slumping sales, organisers are happy that the fair has finally taken place. The last minute cancellation of the Kolkata Book Fair at the Park Circus Maidan and a change in its venue has proved to be a bane for some and boon for others. Most booksellers complain of unprecedented losses this year. “On an average, we sell books worth Rs 4 lakh every year but going by the trend this year, I doubt if it will touch the 1 lakh mark,” said Ajay Kumar Shaw of Kwality Book Stall. He said more lovers than book lovers were visiting the fair. “Most people come in pairs, eat and hang around rather than buy books,” he said. According to some, the real season of holding the fair has been spent in political bickering. “We are bearing the brunt at the end of the day, losing at least 70 per cent of normal business. The mela season is over and now it is time for board exams. ICSE and CBSE are in progress whereas higher secondary is knocking at the door,” pointed out Samit Banerjee of Education Forum, a publisher and bookseller adding that many parents have opted out for the same reason. People, like the owner of Madina Publications, attribute the loss to the delay in completion of stalls. “The lights have been put up this morning and there are still no provision for fans. This place has become a furnace and visitors have chosen to stay away,” he told this EKP correspondent on Tuesday (March 3), pointing at the bundled books that were still to be put up on display. Some stall owners, however, look at this fair more like an annual ritual that should be organised irrespective of earnings from it. “We have suffered losses but are happy that all the senior members of the fraternity have met in this huge get together,” said Debashish Bhattacharya, a member of a little magazine that has put up its stall in the Little Magazine Corner. Organisers admit there had been impediments. “The success of the fair lies in the fact that it happened and the secretary of the guild is solely responsible for the inconveniences caused. The fair almost got called off and if that happened it would have been like Durga Puja not happening in Kolkata,” said Anil Acharya, secretary of one of the sub committees of the Boi Mela. He admitted there had been a delay and businessmen have incurred a loss. “Another huge fair was being held on these grounds and everything had to be dismantled before we could put up the fair and it is true that we couldn’t do justice to all, but I request booksellers to be a bit patient and hope that business will pick up in the remaining days of the fair,” he said. Others however believe it is only a matter of time before people get acclimatised to this new format and venue. “We have had reasonable footfall in spite of the board exams being on. If the book fair continues here and is held at the right time, people would happily accept it,” claimed Soumitra Lahiri, PRO.

Source: Times of India

Goons raid Salt Lake flat, loot jewellery

2008-02-11T22:48:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Yet another case of robbery in Salt Lake, four armed youths broke into a house in Baisakhi Abasan on Sunday night, tied up a woman and looted cash and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh.

The four armed goons raided the house of Pranab Dey, a promoter, around 9.30 pm when he was out for work. The robbers asked his wife Debi to open the door, saying they had come to meet her husband to discuss something important. But Debi was reluctant to open the door as she did not know them. When the four failed to convince her, one of them sprayed chilly powder into her eyes. As she was temporarily blinded, the four barged into the house.

The gang then tied up Debi with a rope and gagged her. They also beat up her physically challenged son. The domestic help engaged by the Deys was also not present in the house when the incident occurred. She had just left for the local market to shop for Saraswati Puja. The robbers then opened the almirah, looted the cash and jewellery and left.

Neighbours complained that this was not the first time such an incident had occurred in the housing complex. They said robberies are frequent in the locality and numerous attempts to draw the police’s attention have gone in vain.

The area falls under the Bidhannagar east police station. Police suspect the gang had been tracking Dey’s movement and came to his house when he was not around.
“Our officers have reached the place and we are trying to nab the criminals as soon as possible,” said a police officer.

This is the third incident of robbery in Salt Lake in the past four weeks. In January, burglars broke into the house of a 72-year-old widow and robbed her. Last week, a gang of robbers broke open the door of a flat in BB Block and looted jewellery worth nearly Rs 15 lakh.

Goons raid Salt Lake house, rob 72-yr-old

2008-01-24T23:15:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: A gang of robbers sneaked into a Salt Lake home in the wee hours of Wednesday, tied up a 72-year-old widow and her maid, and looted cash before fleeing. Police were yet to arrest anyone. Raids are on to nab the gang.
Aparna Basu, who stays with her domestic help at her AH Block residence, said a gang of four cut through the window grille on the ground floor around 2 am on Wednesday. However, finding nothing on the ground floor, the four barged into Aparna’s bedroom, where she and her maid Sabita were sleeping.
“When I woke up with a jolt, the goons, their faces covered with shawls, asked me to keep quiet and threatened me by brandishing a revolver. They then tied me and my maid and asked me where I have kept my jewellery. When I said I did not have any jewellery at home, they ransacked the room and took away about Rs 1,700 that I had,” Aparna said. The gang was inside the house for around two hours, she said.
They locked up Aparna and Sabita before leaving the house. The neighbours got to know about the robbery only after Sabita screamed for help. They rushed to the house and opened the door with the help of police and rescued the duo.
Police are looking into all possible angles. “We have started an inquiry into the case,” said a senior Bidhannagar police officer. Police were also trying to ascertain whether Sabita, the domestic maid hired three months ago, had a hand in the robbery.
Aparna, a retired government employee, had been living in the house since 1992. Her husband Sivaprasad Basu, a former PWD employee, had passed away long ago. Both her daughters are married. The elder daughter now lives in the US and the younger daughter stays in Mumbai. “I have been living here for many years but have never had such an experience. I am now feeling very insecure and wondering whether
I will continue to live here or shift to my relatives’ house elsewhere,” she said.
Aparna’s relatives rushed to her house as soon as they got the news in the morning. “It seems that the gang was keeping an eye on the house for some time and attacked only after being sure that my aunt stays alone,” said Aparna’s nephew PN Dutta.
Incidentally, Aparna claimed to be a cousin of former chief minister Jyoti Basu. But Basu’s personal aide Joykrishna Ghosh said the former chief minister’s relatives denied this claim.

No Parking

2008-01-16T18:38:00.000+05:30

Even as another shopping mall and multiplex readies to open its door in Salt Lake’s CK block, residents fear that this will make living in the area difficult

Archisman Dinda, Salt Lake

If mall hopping is a habit that you have mastered, then in a few months time you will have one more venue to hangout in. What with a 300-seater multiplex, along with a 90,000 sq feet of shopping area all set to open its doors in CK block. But this, as the saying goes, is just one side of the coin. The shopping complex which is expected to draw an average footfall of 2,000 people daily has just 30 car parks. The mall that opens into the 2nd avenue in CK block has very little road clearance. This would mean endless traffic snarls in the area and residents have already hit the panic button, even as authorities indulge in an endless blame-game.
“How can the municipality allow an eight-storied commercial building to come up within such a thickly populated residential area?” asked Pinakiranjan Mukherjee, a resident of the area. Indeed, once the shopping mall becomes functional, the large volume of vehicular traffic will make it difficult for residents of the area to drive in and out of their own block. “The plot that has been earmarked for this commercial activity and we had lot of difficulty in accommodating all these facilities,” reasoned Anjan Dutta, the architect of the building.
The ground floor and the first floor of the mall will house a retail chain, while the second floor is expected to address the fashion needs of the city with many international brands setting shop, along with a multi-cuisine food court at the third level. The complex will also house an exclusive club and an array of other facilities. The expected footfall on weekends in expected to touch 4,000 people with at least 300 cars rolling in. And in the absence of proper parking space, a large chunk of the battery of cars will spill over and block arterial road that leads to the block, say residents. And it is not just the probable traffic congestion that is bothering them. “Not only will our block get congested, but the security will also become a major concern as places like these attract a host of people from outside the township,” says Arun Chackraborty, a resident of CK block.
“I am not aware of the parking problem but I will surely find out,” was all that chairman of the Bidhanangar Municipality, Biswajiban Mazumdar was ready to say when asked. However, municipal officials blame the Urban Development (UD) department for this problem.
“The plot has been earmarked by UD as a commercial plot, we were bound to sanction it, and when we sanction the building plan it never states what amount of crowd it will draw. So, we didn’t know it would have a footfall of 4,000 people,” said an official.
PK Pradhan, principal secretary, UD, refutes these allegations. “Irrespective of land pattern, it is the sole right and responsibility of the municipality to decide as to what type of commercial complex it will sanction in accordance to the building laws,”added Pradhan. “Car parking space is allotted not on the basic of footfalls but on the basic of built-up-area and we have sanctioned accordingly,” added another official. Saswati Mondal, councillor, ward No. 13, promises to look into this matter. “It was sanctioned much before I was elected but I will definitely put forward this complain to the chairman,” she assured. As the blame game continues, residents feel that their complaints will fall on deaf ears as all parties involved stand to gain from the entire project.
“While the builder will use maximum space for commercial activity forcing people to use road space as parking lots from which the municipality will collect parking fees,” pointed out a resident.

Source: Times of India

Salt Lake civic body in tax row

2008-01-09T17:34:00.000+05:30

Piling up garbage, lack of maintenance of roads and street lights - it's the same old story in Salt Lake. The imbroglio over realisation of property tax from residents has put the municipality in a soup. The municipality has no funds to run the daily amenities.

Nearly eight months after the Supreme Court scrapped the property tax structure and asked Bidhannagar Municipality to stop tax collection, the matter is still pending before the court.

The municipality had planned to upgrade civic amenities with the fund. However, the plan hit a roadblock after the apex court's verdict. According to the civic body's estimates, it could have earned Rs 10 crore to Rs 12 crore this year from property taxes only. The municipality is already running losses of about Rs 7 crore since tax collection stopped. "Had we been able to collect taxes in the last seven months, we could have earned nearly Rs 6 crore to 7 crore more," said municipality's finance officer Somnath Mukherjee. According to records, the civic body had earned nearly Rs 10 crore from tax and other revenue collections in 2005 and nearly the same amount in 2006.

However, Mukherjee said their plea to get Rs 5 crore fund to make up the loss of not being able to collect taxes has gone to the finance department. "The money is likely to be sanctioned soon," he said.

The municipality spends about Rs 75 lakh per month for maintaining basic civic services, which means it has already spent Rs 5.25 crore from June last year. Besides, it has to pay Rs 1 crore to KMC every year for getting water from Tallah. The civic body spends around Rs 20 lakh on salaries, Rs 30 lakh on streetlight bills, Rs 10 lakh for maintaining the water reservoirs and pumping stations and about Rs 10 lakh for solid waste disposal.

The civic body had also lined up several projects to develop civic amenities, using the tax money. It had allocated Rs 7 crore for road repair that was supposed to be completed by 2007. For water supply, it had allocated Rs 5 crore. The civic body had also allocated Rs 5 crore for parks, Rs 3 crore for markets and Rs 3 crore for drainage and streetlights. All these projects are slated to be completed by 2009.

Source: Times Of India

Poor signal

2008-01-08T11:24:00.000+05:30

Installed traffic lights remain idle in Sector V even after fatal accidents on the Sector V-Newtown stretch

The high-speed corridor connecting Sector V and Newtown with E M Bypass is a drivers’ nightmare with 15 accidents in the past six months. The North 24 Parganas police reacted by installing traffic lights at the government’s expense at the Bowlers’ Den crossing and at College Moore. But the lights remain unused. “We aren’t able to use the lights because the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) has not been able to provide us with a connection,” said Ashok Biswas, additional SP Salt Lake.
Anindo Banerjee of Enkon, the organisation that installed the traffic signals, disagreed. He said that the posts at Bowlers’ Den do not have an electricity connection but the lights at Sector V’s College More had a connection. “It’s one of the busiest traffic junctions, but the lights remain unused as the police are not ready to take charge,” he added.
Authorities are passing the buck on why it is taking so long for the traffic lights to work. Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA), the civic body in charge of maintenance, has been trying to upgrade infrastructural facilities for some time but said that bureaucratic apathy made their job difficult. Enkon is also in charge of beautification of Sector V. They are supposed to upgrade the user facilities by installing new bus stands, landscaping of the boulevard. Unfortunately, none of these developments are visible. Banerjee blamed other governmental agencies for destroying their work. “We did install railings at certain pathways but it was uprooted by WBSEDCL workers for laying cables,” he said.
The image of the township has taken a beating due to overhead wires. “It is an eyesore and makes the city look so untidy,” said Moushumi Das an engineering student.
“We have been trying to pursue the local cable companies to cooperate with us as it is our duty to dismantle all overhead wires but they did not respond,” complained Banerjee.
He also blames water logging as another primary factor for destruction of greenery. “Everything was destroyed by water-logging,” said Pinaki Halder, executive officer, NITA, “We are conducting regular review meeting and the work is in the initial stage hopefully it will take concrete shape after few months”.

Archisman Dinda, New Town

Look East

2008-01-07T15:03:00.000+05:30

Salt Lake and Sector V are turning out to be the new commercial hubs even as more people are turning away from the traditional hangouts to the eastern fringes

Basundhara Ghosh, Salt Lake

It was not many years ago that the perfect long drive out of the city was towards the airport. But, today, to reach the eastern fringes of the city, one has to negotiate fearful traffic at various junctions of the EM Bypass because of the increased flow of cars to and from that area.
In fact, while the chunk of the IT workforce of a few thousand people travel to sector V everyday, a large number of people are now going their to shop, catch films and eat out. Rahul Dasgupta, a resident of Bansdroni in fact voices his preference for City Center and Inox in Salt Lake vis-à-vis its counterpart in Forum. “It’s far more spacious and chilled out and a true hangout place,” he explains. Needless to say then that businesses are growing and those involved in it are positive of future growth trends. “Since our inception in 2004, we have seen a 40 per cent compounded annual growth in terms of footfall with our current average footfall (per day) being about 4000-5000 patrons on weekends and 2500+ patrons on weekdays.
Earlier our patron profile was mainly predominated by residents of Salt Lake and the surrounding catchment areas but now patrons are coming in from as far as Behala, Alipur, Diamond Harbour, Barasat, Thakurpukur and even Barrackpore,” says Subhasis Ganguli, regional general manager, Inox, City Centre.
The area is also flourishing in terms of food joints - both restaurants and coffee outlets have opened up aplenty across the area. Anand Puri whose family owns Trinca’s on Park Street and BB’s in Sector V, has a positive outlook on business in this area. “There is a lot of prospect here. As soon as the Rajarhat township is built, we expect business to flourish,” said Puri. In fact people like Debanjan Niyogi, who resides in Tollygunge feel that it would great if Salt Lake and Rajarhat is connected via the metro soon, because conveyance still is an issue if one does not have private transport. Indeed, if these loose ends can be tied, East Kolkata will emerge as the favoured commercial destination of the city.

Source: East Kolkata Plus (Times of India)

Forged bank drafts put businessmen in spot

2007-12-24T18:23:00.000+05:30

Several businessmen, dealing in information technology components, were found to have been defrauded with forged bank drafts.
The forged drafts bear such a striking resemblance to the originals that even banks cleared those without expressing any doubt. The incidents of forged draft have a larger ramification with bank draft being the only trusted tool for any major bulk transaction.
The racket seems to be well organised. “The person, who came to me on December 6, was suave, fluent in three languages and presentable in every sense of the word. He introduced himself as Amulya Acharya (50), a doctor from Raniganj and attached to the statewide immunization campaign. Acharya said he needed to buy a few laptops to present to some doctors at a workshop. I found his words very convincing. Besides, he told me a few things that only a doctor could say,” said Koushik Mukherjee of Junction IT at Salt Lake, one of the victims of the forged draft.
Only a few days later, Acharya placed an order for
three laptops with Mukherjee. But he did not turn up on December 16, the day he was supposed to come. He told Mukherjee over phone that he could not come, but his man would definitely be there with the bank draft the next day. Again, Acharya called up that day to say that his man had reached Howrah.
“The person said he was carrying only a draft for Rs 90,000 while the three laptops cost Rs 1,80,000 (Rs 60,000 each). But the person (Acharya) asked me to deliver only one laptop to his man and he would come personally to collect the other two by paying a draft for the remaining Rs 90,000. That led me to believe that he was a genuine customer. But I still checked out the draft in detail and found no fault with it,” said Mukherjee.
“The next day, even my bank — Syndicate Bank — cleared it for encashment. The draft, however, was returned to me as forged from the service branch of the State Bank of India,” he added.
Later, Mukherjee found out that several other businessmen, two from Asansol and three more in Kolkata, had also been defrauded. In every case, the draft No. was the same. It appears that the racket has the technology and the tools to produce near perfect fake drafts.
“We have found similar complaints from some other parts of the state। So, we are looking into it,” said a senior CID officer.

Source: Times of India

Miss-Utilization of Legal System in India by female named Sushoma:-

2007-11-22T10:21:00.000+05:30

Again, we’re publishing news about a female who had taken Indian legal system as granted and molested the value of Indian cultures. We’ve always raised our voices against such activities where women are taking undue advantage of laws and bringing their male counterparts to the court. Women got such right due to the Legal system of India. This law was to protect them from humiliations, but unfortunately this law is getting molested and utilized against men time to time and these female are taking undue advantage of this kind of one sided legal system in India. Even, police had to arrest the man first without any interrogation and send them to the court after few days vide act 496 if a women lodge a case against her husband in the local police station. This harassment is not limiting only surrounding the man; it entangles his family and others against whom the women reported in the PS.

Sushuma Howlader (26) fled with a man named Ranjan Srivastav after getting married for more than 2 years. Suroth Howlader (29) filed a charge of adultery in the local PS and applied for a divorce suit at Nadia district, Kata Gunj, Kalyani.

Police didn’t act on that case, but when she brought the case against her husband on molestation, police arrested Surath from Nadia. Sushuma was found residing with another man in Sukanta Nagar. She brought allegations under different sections against her husband under the section e.g. 498, 302, and 506. These allegations comprised of kidnapping, attempt to murder and inhumanly tortures on wives. These are all un-bail able cases.

Cat’s Eye Investigations took up this case as always and started their investigations and found evidences which proves that, she’s guilty and carried away with her extra marital affairs. She is also guilty with polygamous attitude, because when she was found by the investigators at Sukanta Nagar, she was not staying with Ranjan, with whom she fled her in-laws. The case is still under sub-judice and Suroth received temporary bails to fight the cases at Court to get the divorce without any compensation.

Kali Puja in Salt Lake City

2007-11-10T23:03:00.000+05:30

Diwali, celebrated as the festival

Following close on the heels of the Durga Puja, the Bengali equivalent to Dussehra, this festival celebrates the dark and bloodthirsty goddess Kali, conqueror of time and consort of Shiva. Icons are painted, religious pujas or ceremonies are performed and there are pilgrimages to local holy sites devoted to Kali, of which there are 51 throughout Bengal.

Kali is one of the most perplexing and mysterious figures of the Hindu pantheon. She is the supreme warrior-goddess, the very manifestation of female rage, bloodthirst and frenzy. She is usually represented wearing a necklace of severed human heads, with weapons in her six arms and drinking the fresh blood of her enemies from a cup. Her skirt is woven from severed human hands and she is depicted as standing on the prostrate body of her consort Shiva, or on a corpse (possibly one of her enemies). This represents her dominance and conquest of all enemies including time and entropy: she is the only force who can tame the inexorable power of Shiva, the Lord of Destruction.

Kali is also worshipped by her devotees in her aspects of Dark Mother, the fiercely protective female who unleashes her rage only to clear away obstacles and protect her offspring. She has also been associated to human sacrifice, orgies, demonic worship and unpalatable quasi-legal blood rituals, hence her devotions are often conducted with the utmost austerity and solemnity, partly to deflate her horrific reputation.

Kali is certainly an interesting and deeply symbolic religious figure, worth investigating, though don't go overboard: we wouldn't recommend impaling your boss on a pike to drink his blood next time you hit the glass ceiling.

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Murder in Salt Lake City

2007-10-27T16:42:00.000+05:30

The murder of the caretaker of an under-construction house in EE Block of Salt Lake's east Bidhannagar police station area on Saturday has spread panic among residents of the township. His pregnant wife, who was also attacked, is battling for life at Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospital 18 Oct.

Shankar Bose, a resident of a flat opposite to the house under construction where Bikash Karmakar was a caretaker, was woken up by sound of firing around 3.15 am on Saturday. He telephoned the Bidhannagar East police station.

"I found two men — one was clad in lungi, his faced covered with a gamchha. The other wore a T-shirt and black trousers. They were coming out of the under construction building. The lungi clad man was brandishing a single-shotter, the other held a bhojali," said a horror stricken Bose.

The duo disappeared, but came back a little later. "They once more entered the ground floor of the building, came out and took away Bikash's new bicycle," added Dibyendu Ganguly, another eyewitness. Residents said that assailants were moving about confidently.

The residents mustered courage to get out of their flats to see what had happened only after the police arrived at 3.45 a.m. Bikash and his wife Tumpa, a four-month pregnant wife, were lying in pool of blood. The police took both of them in a police van to the NRS Hospital. Bikash died in the hospital.

Neighbours in the EE block said, 32-year-old Bikash was helpful and amiable. "We never imagined that he could have an enemy,"said a EE block resident. His mother Padma Karmakar said that her son was friendly to every one.

"Vengeance appears to be the motive behind the murder. We are checking out Bikash's antecedence," said additional SP (Bidhannagar) Ajay Nand. Bidhannagar East police station officers said that the assailant might have tried to abduct Bikash's good-looking wife. Bikash was attacked when he tried to resist.

Just after Durga Pujo, ClickSaltLake is back with Sharadia Suveccha and best wishes. We hope our viewers have enjoyed the online pujo. We're overwhelmed with the responses from our viewers and we're excited by seeing their interests. Thanks again for all your support to our endeavour.
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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Krishna Nagar Original Durga Idol in Salt Lake, Cluster-13

2007-10-15T12:49:00.000+05:30

Hand-made pottery is predominantly a woman's art in West Bengal. Women of Kumbhakar (potter) caste and of Patua caste generally make variety of dolls and toys. These hand made figures, small dolls and toys are done by pressing and moulding methods. In Bishnupur (Bankura), Chaurigacha - Katalia (Kandi - Murshidabad) and some other places in Midnapore and Bankura the most primitive method of hand-modeled pottery is still pursued almost exclusively by women.

In West Bengal big jars are usually prepared by men and comparatively small pots are made by women. Clay modeling by hand is widely practiced by the women of Patidar Chitrakar (Painters) castes. In Bankura Midnapore, Birbhum and some areas of Howrah, Hooghly and Murshidabad districts, women of Kumbhakar and Patidar- Chitrakar are engaged in making hand - modeled pottery as part time occupation. The women of Sankhari (conchshell carvers) families in Bishnupur (Bankura) make clay figurines of mother-dolls at a particular time of the year, especially for ritual purposes. Two principle variants of West Bengal Pottery are Bankura-style and Krishnanagar-style.

Krishnanagar Pottery

Krishnanagar clay-modeling is about 250 years old and the potters of Krishnanagar did not originally belong to their present locality. Krishna Chandra, the Maharaja of Krishnanagar in 1728 brought them from Dacca in East Bengal or from Natore in North Bengal.

In Krishnanagar pottery the social scenes of our country and the people, the different castes and racial types are reproduced realistically in clay-models. For example social scenes like collectors court, tea garden, Pandit-Sabha, Charak festival etc are used in clay modeling. This pottery is very popular and in most of the international exhibitions held since 1851, Krishnanagar clay-models have won medals and certificates and also great admiration from the people of Europe. The prices were very high even one hundred years ago and one can easily imagine its possible clientele today. The customers of these models used to be mainly Europeans.

The worship of Goddess Durga is very much part of Bengal’s Culture and spiritual heritage. Keeping this in mind, the Purba Durgostsav Committee of cluster 13 sparing no efforts to make this festive occasion joyous and meaningful with the total participation of local people, especially all the women who took special initiative to raise funding and making this puja successful in all the respects. The enthusiasm and spontaneous participation is the spirit of this festival, stated by Mr. Mihir Sarkar the renowned Archeologists and secretery of this Puja society.

The pandal is made by Plywoods instead of making it with conventional idea of cloth rugged pandals. The designers and craftsmen from Burdwan district, erected and beautified the panda lwith wooden colorful puppets, while this is the first time Saltlake City would witness the idol from Krishna Nagar. The gorgeous deity and the artistic finish of the matri murti is astonishingly bright and made us to bow our head and surrender all our devotion to its own feet.--

Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Globalization of Durga Puja

2007-10-11T22:58:00.000+05:30

FD Block Pujo Committee of Saltlake city this time thought to give a huge surprise to the population during Durga Puja. They made Hogwarts castle in the huge play ground of FD block. The theme of this Puja committee was this year "Harry Potter" to attract higher numbers to people to their pujo. Remember the Hogwarts Castle where harry went to learn the Wizardry? If not pls find the video below.

This year the theme of FD block's pujo gimmick is "Harry Potter". But with a sudden astonishment the puja committee members have been called by the Delhi High Court and a case of copyright had been filed against them . This law suit had been filed by the legal associates of Ms J.K Rowling the famous author accusing stealing her theme without her acknowledgement.

This is a sheer copyright violation taking umbrage at the organisers using her characters without her permission, Rowling had sued the organizers on October 8, asking for Rs 20 lakh for copyright violation and compensation.

The Puja Commitee still believes that, they can minimize the compensation amount.

The setting at FD Park was almost complete, with the blue tipped Hogwarts castle and the flaming red Hogwarts Express all set to chug off from platform 9-3/4.

The designers had planned to place life size models of the bespectacled Potter and his companions inside the pandal.

A whopping Rs 5 lakh has been invested in the pandal alone. “We did not have any commercial motive behind this. The immense popularity of Harry Potter prompted us to choose this as a theme to get more footfalls for our pandals,” said Roy Chowdhury.

ClickSaltlake would review the pandals and our Pujo section would have an extensive photo gallery for FD block for our viewers to find the simmilarities and voting.

There were many terms like Plagiarism and copy & paste, mugging etc. Would it be suitable for this situation or we need to bring another new terms in wikipedia "Pandalism" or "Muggleism"? I'm sure the idea is great when people try to copy. FD block Puja is not a copy of Harry Potter, it had given Harry and his creator a new dimension in India.

Any how, we feel this debate would bring more crowds than what the Puja Committee was expecting in the coming four days during puja.

For the Potter lovers, the clip below had been given for a quick recollection.

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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Land Frauds are happening in Salt Lake City, Kolkata

2007-10-06T19:37:00.000+05:30

With the massive promise of upcoming developments and growth of Kolkata, specially Saltlake City and Rajarhat, the price of lands and immovable properties are going high. Please don't think that, every body and any body of the general population is fair enough and honest. Yes, Frauds are there and beware of them. With the recent change of the Kolkata politics and change of CPIM party, from the party of poor to migration to Land Mafia had been noticed. Many big shots and political leaders of the ruling party are found corrupted and involved in different scams relating to murders, extorsion, and land swapping.

This would be always true that, there is no dearth of intelligent people in the population who would always make money out of thin air. Unfortunately, many of them try to cheat common people like you and me by taking the opportunity of such developments and exploiting politics and legal systems of India. The recent societal change had been noticed in India, which is undergoing a tremendous socio-economic change and where many values of life are diminishing like anything and many new found values are being coming up to catch up the Western World. This is nothing but a kind of rat race, and a gross value change for social system.

Here, none can trust another person blindly, and even wife could just marry you for money. In ClickSaltlake we've decided to fight back and bring different shocking stories about our life in association with Cat's Eye Multimedia, this mission will fight back all the decay of our society from different angles.

Here's a case for our reader's preview. A common man like you a me, named Mr. Swapan Kr. Chowdhury, residing at Labony Estate, Saltlake City, recently lodged a case against a person named Adityala Mukherjee, residing at AE-228, Sector-1, Saltlake. Cat's eye took over the case from Swapan Kumar Chowdgury and found that Adityalal had been trusted by Mr. Chowdhury for long and lended him more than 4 Lacs of rupees to buy Lands in Saltlake City, Rajar Hat and even in worst case scenario behind the Ruby General Hospital over a time span of more than 6 months. Adityalal, staged the drama infront of Mr. Chowdhury such a way that, he;s highly connected with the ruling party and Police adminstration is the city and very resourceful, so that one can trust him blindly. Mr. Chowdhury was searching for a land to develop a house in nearby area and came across this cheat by putting a paper Advertisement.

There's a looming demand of land or properties near Rajarhat or behind Ruby General Hospital. I personally encountered with such a situation where, even I had to witdraw the advance of Rs.50K from the brokers. Because I found that the land I've booked behind Ruby General Hospital is a vested land by Govt after searching the property. The agents and brokers and sub brokers would produce different falsified search report infront of you. But, please restrict the grid of yours, those might become "Limon" once purchase and realize, it would be too late.

ClickSaltlake and Cat's Eye Multimedia jointly try to protect the interests of the common people. Hence, we would really appreciate if anyone in this locality facing any problem kindly raise your voice and get in touch with us to resolve your any problems. Or even you can write us mail

Stop Killing us....The Irony

2007-09-21T09:00:00.000+05:30

Kolkata is now expanding, after Saltlake City now Rajarhat and many other places are coming up as well and there's a huge movement of raising huge Multi storied buildings and developments in every sphere. Every where you'll find some new constructions are coming up and the builders are expecting great businesses and demands sooner, because this is the first time ruling party is talking about something known as growth. So, huge population would shift towards the city to cater all those jobs , and construction business would be always on higher demands at any point of time, especially if it could be done during economic boom. Because these city dwellers need places to stay.

So let us get places in the city by hook or crook, even at the costs of green. Common people are still ignorant about the plantations. Govt helps to put plantations and bringing up amusement parks, but where is green in this one of the most polluted city except a small patch in Central Kolkata.

Well, green is getting finished faster, weather is changing and becoming unpredictable every where all round the world. Even last year winter, the oldest people couldn't remember whether they had ever seen such long lasting winter in their life time. There's Global warming a term we're hearing and getting common to us and it's not only happening with us too and affecting our climates. The Ice in the Arctics are melting down.

We're working hard for it though, by conducting seminars and workshops. We're trying to create the awareness all round. That's the point where we're trying to wash off our hands and limiting our responsibilities. Tsunami hit taken thousands of lives and more than lakhs became home less. Still we're not serious, just attending workshops and enjoying the parties in the meet.

On 16-18th of Sept, 2007 in one side the National Symposium is happening on Global Warming at EZCC (Eastern Zone Cultural Center) at HB Block Island

organized by West Bengal Science Forum (Paschim Bango Biggyan Mancho) in one side and on the other side of the road from HB island to the Tank 13, people were cutting down trees and piling it up at the road side, so that, they can celebrate the Viswakarma Pujo well and do the lighting well. They are not connected with the seminar directly, but doing a good business due to this big gathering.

What an Irony, the symposium is happening with many eminent speakers and conducted by many famous people and environmentalists, but what about these people Ramu, Jatin and Suresh who drive three wheel environment friendly Cycle Ricksaws in Saltlake City, they're just trying to celebrate Viswakarma Pujo on 18th Sept, 2007 near tank no.13.

Fortunately these types of symposiums all round India ends up with gala success and after spending thousands of rupees since our freedom. The attendees feel happy with good lunches and gift packs and rest of the common people forget as soon as it ends up. The cause is never conveyed well and communicated properly to the roots in our country and make the common people understand about the fatality of the green destructions.

Ramu, Jatin and people like them would still drive three wheel cycle ricksaw to keep the environment friendly, to live their life, even if they don't attend these symposiums. Those attendees and these types of symposiums how long we could afford to attend and make successful by missing the main stream of people ?

ClickSaltlake would always try to bring such incidences to your notice. We'll try to make it a to make it a better place to live.

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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Origin of Durga Pujo - The Mythology

2007-09-19T11:49:00.001+05:30

This time ClickSaltlake Team would bring you the coverage of Online Durga Puja coverage at Salt Lake City।

Durga, a beautiful warrior seated upon a tiger.

Devi is the great goddess of the Hindus,the consort of Shiva and she is worshiped in various forms corresponding to her two aspects: benevolence and fierceness. She is Uma, "light"; Gauri, "yellow or brilliant"; Parvati, "the mountaineer"; and Jagatmata, "the-mother-of-the-world" in her milder guise. The terrible emanations are Durga "the inaccessible"; Kali, "the black"; Chandi, "the fierce"; and Bhairavi, "the terrible."

Descent of the Goddess

Durga, a beautiful warrior seated upon a tiger, was the first appearance of the great goddess. The circumstance of her miraculous arrival was the tyranny of the monster-demon Mahishasur, who through terrific austerities had acquired invincible strength. The gods were afraid of this water-buffalo bull because neither Vishnu nor Shiva could prevail against him. It seemed that the joint energy of Shakti was only capable of vanquishing Mahisha, and so it was the eighteen-armed Durga who went out to do battle.

Battlefield

She went to battle on her ferocious mount lion, armed with the weapons given to her by the other Gods. Durga is one of the angry and aggressive aspects of the goddess Shakti, whose role in Hindu mythology was to fight and conquer demons and also personify the Sakti or female aspect of any male deity. In the battle, she fought and killed the evil Mahishasura and restored heaven to the Gods. Since then the goddess is invoked for protection from the powers of evil. Durga Puja is observed in her honor, to celebrate her victory over evil.

Revered Mother

She has been worshiped from about 400 AD, but probably earlier, to the present. Her literary references are chiefly the Ramayana and Mahabharata, epic and Puranic texts, and she is mentioned by name in Vedic literature. In general, Durga is regarded in northern India as the gentle bride epitomizing family unity while in southern India she is revered more in her warrior aspect.

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Dibyendu Choudhury to Salt lake City

Is it a fact that Kolkata you’re losing your heart….

2007-09-13T15:20:00.000+05:30

The maddening traffic was always there, but we used to praise Kolkata for your heart and charm, you’re losing it and getting self centered. We used to miss you wherever we’re in this earth. You now love and appreciate nothing but…body…lust…extravaganza…you're IT Savvy Kolkata…you don’t have heart.

Thousands of cars and traffic passed by the accident spot and the body of a young guy named Bijoy Dey, age-25, only money earner of the family working in Price Water House Coopers yesterday, none came across to help him and hospitalize. He died on the road without getting any one’s help in a road accident but he saved a mentally retarded woman who came infront of his bike. Bijoy you've proved again that young and talented people like you are still there who still care the humanity, but I guess you've forgotten that, you're living in this heartless city, which you had paid off by giving your own life lying on the road after the accident and waiting for the medication and help on a busy road. You're few in numbers, so none could stop for you while going to their work. This incident happened in front of the boat club named “Nal Ban” in Saltlake City. It's shame to us and our so called working IT savvy office going crowd who could not stop to help one to stay on the right time to their office.

Isn’t it the same repetition of the news 3 weeks back, when a helpless lad was crying and asking for the help in the PNB Island of Salt Lake, sitting in the middle of the road with his blood bathed younger brother after an accident? Everyone had seen it, but none offered him help then and there.

None stopped to help the unknown in this city. Let us try to get into finding the root cause of such attitudes of the city dwellers. Is it the end of the rat race when we’re trying to stay happy within our periphery, our family members and our jobs or, something else?

Mostly said, unfortunately it’s the Kolkata Police who had emerged as the suckers. They unnecessarily harass the common people who’ve tried to help others. The city cops had been designed once in the model of the famous Scotland Yard . Since then, they’ve been evolved as the Govt paid official bouncers and we paid their salaries from our hard earned money as tax. Instead being friendly to the society and common people, they started extracting money from the common people and business men to live their lavish life styles. They forgot their main duty to control the crime and criminals to help the society. Younger people are ready to get a job in police in Kolkata by giving bribes in Lakhs, and they’re sure they can get the return within few years.

Today a news came, few people who have cleared the written exam for Kolkata Police, sent their proxy runners to qualify in the physical tests in Salt Lake Stadium and were caught red handed. So, just imagine the people who had already qualified in those exams in past by the help of proxy writers or runners and got admitted in Police Dept through corruption, can they be helpful for the society?

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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury