Lakhs stolen in Salt Lake burglary

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Kolkata:Burglars broke into a house at Salt Lake’s FD Block and fled with cash and jewellery worth several lakhs. The Bidhannagar North police have started a probe. 

The complaint lodged by businessman Shambhu Kedia, who lives in a three-storied building at FD Block, says that on Wednesday morning he found one of the almirahs on the second floor broken open and about 300gm gold jewellery and Rs 1 lakh in cash missing. 

Police suspect that the burglars climbed up the water pipes to the second floor. The window grilles of the room next to the pipes were broken open. The family was present in the house as the burglars broke into it and operated silently. 

The family said they had employed a domestic help from Bihar who left the job a few days back. The police are trying to track him. Incidentally, the police had last year arrested an inter-state gang that had come from Bihar. The gang had been involved in a daring robbery in CF Block.

Sec V to get ring road, parking lot

Kolkata: In an effort to decongest Sector V and reduce the travel time between SDF Building More and 215A bus stand, the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) is going to construct a ring road along the waterbody behind the Webel office. The authorities will lay the foundation stone of the road on Thursday. 
    Also, the NDITA has identified a car-parking lot near 215A bus stand. It will be thrown open for the public on the same day. According to NDITA chairman and commerce and industries 
secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Rs 10 crore has been earmarked to construct the road. “As of now, there is no road on the proposed stretch. Once this road comes up, commuters will benefit from it immensely,” he said. 
    At present, commuters take the road along the SDF Building, Webel Crossing and College More before taking right turn to connect with 215A bus stand. However, there is no short-cut between these two busiest locations of the IT hub. During rush hours, commuters face huge traffic snarls to cover this 3-km stretch. NDITA officials feel the proposed 2.5-km ring road will help commuters cut the travel time between these two points. 
    Besides, the civic authority will also throw open a 1-acre car parking lot near 215A bus stand on Thursday for public use. “The lot will be able to accommodate about 150 cars for parking,” said NDITA chief executive officer B N Kar. This will considerably help minimizing the long-standing problem of illegal parking that Sector V has been facing over the years. The authorities are also working on setting up a multitier parking plaza in place of the current CSTC bus depot near the Wipro office. 
    As long-term plans, the authorities are mulling an option to develop intercity bus links where buses would ferry passengers within Sector V. Earlier, it was decided that no new bus routes would be permitted to ply in Sector V as there was much pressure already. 
    Apart from laying the foundation stone of the ring road and opening of the parking lot, the NDITA will also inaugurate two parks on Thursday. “I feel happy that we are not only taking decisions but ensuring that the projects are actually implemented,” said NDITA board member Suparno Moitra.

Govt mulls legal stamp on Salt Lake plot sale

Suman Chakraborti TNN 

Sale of leasehold residential property in Salt Lake is going to be legalized soon. 

    The Mamata Banerjee government plans to allow transfer of lease in the township for a fee. Most of the land in Salt Lake belongs to the urban development department and the government will fix the fee. 

    The state Cabinet meeting is likely to discuss the proposal on Tuesday. Salt Lake residents had been waiting for this for a long time. 

    If things go according to plan, plot-holders in Salt Lake can legally monetize their property by paying the government stamp duty, registration fees or some other levy. 

    “Leasehold land won’t turn into freehold land. We are mulling allowing transfer of lease but only with the permission of the government,” urban development minister Firhad Hakim said. 

    The government will continue to enjoy ownership rights and also earn revenue that it had missed out on earlier when property changed hands in Salt Lake under cover. 

    The Bidhannagar Municipality could never stop the under hand deals unless the original lessee walked up to register a formal complaint. 

    The proposal was doing the rounds since the days of the Left Front government but was allowed only for commercial properties. A case is pending in the court over the change of a commercial property into a residential highrise in HB block.Govt to fix lease fee per cottah 

    Once the proposal to legalise the sale of residential plots in Salt Lake gets through in the state Cabinet on Tuesday, the government will evaluate the plots in the township and fix a price for the transfer of lease per cottah. 

    Illegal sale of plots in Salt Lake caught the notice of the Mamata Banerjee government soon after the Trinamool Congress came to power in May, 2011. The government has been trying to find a way out since then. 

    Plots in Salt Lake were leased for a 999-year tenure in the 1970s to enable middleclass people to settle in the township on the condition that the leaseholders cannot transfer their plots. 

    According to the present rules, residential plots cannot be sold or transferred as the plot holders are actually lease holders and not owners. But later, some genuine problems cropped up. 

    The family increased at least by two-fold within a span of 50 years and the lessee could not do justice to all his/her children, because leasehold property can’t be partitioned and distributed among the heirs. 

    This prompted some to sell out the property illegally for a huge amount of money. According to estimates, out of the 12,000 plots in the township, almost 35% of the plots have been transferred or sold illegally. Plots measuring a cottah, which were originally leased out for about Rs 5,000, have been sold illegally for lakhs, say sources. Many such transfers are in the process with the help of touts and many houses have been illegally sold more than once.

Salt Lake tax to be levied after May 13

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.

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

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

Land Frauds are happening in Salt Lake City, Kolkata

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

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