1. Boy Injured in Bengal Post-Election Violence
An election official went missing and a Class 7 student suffered a bullet injury on his left ankle in a suspected political clash on Friday, 19 April, a day after the second phase of voting in the eastern state where the Centre has sent an additional 50 companies of paramilitary forces over concerns of poll-related violence.
In Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, which voted on Thursday, a bullet grazed Mohammed Abdul in a village in Chopra block, triggering a blame game between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Locket Chatterjee’s Rented House Vandalised in Hooghly
Bengal BJP leader Locket Chatterjee’s rented accommodation was ransacked in the Hooghly district on Friday, 18 April, police said. The incident came to light after Chatterjee had reached home from her election campaign on Friday morning, police added. Chatterjee, who is contesting from the Hooghly Parliamentary seat, blamed Trinamool Congress supporters behind the attack.
The actor-turned-politician alleged that a few people were loitering outside her house since a few days and she had threatened them. But when she was not at home, some people allegedly barged into her house at Green Park area in Bandel, and vandalised it, police said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Mamata Cry to Stall Minority Vote Division
Mamata Banerjee on Friday, 19 April, wooed Murshidabad’s Behrampore, one of the traditional bases of the Congress in Bengal, and urged voters to back Trinamul.
“Please do not vote the Congress or the Left. It will only help the BJP. You should vote for our party this time as we are the strongest political force in the state. We want our candidates to emerge as winners in all 42 seats of Bengal so that we can take a leading role in forming the new government in Delhi with other regional parties,” the chief minister said.
During past week, Mamata has been focusing on Murshidabad district, which has three Lok Sabha seats — Murshidabad, Behrampore and Jangipur.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. JU Alumni Body Takes Global Leap
The alumni association of Jadavpur University has decided to start a chapter in the US on the lines of one run by former students of IIT Kharagpur.
The alumni association of IIT Kharagpur provides students and researchers scholarship for pursuing higher studies in the US. The JU alumni foundation will be headquartered in California.
The foundation, in association with the alumni chapter on the JU campus, would screen students based on their performance in courses they have pursued at the university, the details of the internship or project and the profile of the host institute.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. Dhapa Water Plant Upgrade to Solve Crisis off Bypass
In an endeavor to ward off water crisis in large areas off Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to augment the capacity of Jaihind Jalprakalpa, better known as Dhapa water treatment plant, by 20 million gallons. The water supply department will need to spend around Rs 100 crore for the augmentation in the next two years, an official explained.
The present capacity of Dhapa water treatment plant is 30 million gallons of filtered water every day. The plant caters to over 8 lakh people in large areas from Topsia to Patuli, located off EM Bypass.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Double-Decker Buses to Return; Open-Top for Tourism, Closed-Roof Vehicles for Commute
The iconic double-decker buses which rekindle childhood memories for some are set to roll again. At a recent transport department meeting, it was decided that the state will procure 10 double-decker buses. The government will procure 10 chassis and then get the body of the vehicles fabricated separately. The technical specifications have been worked out, but routes on which the buses will ply are yet to be decided.
Last July, transport minister Subhendu Adhikari had announced that the government was mulling the reintroduction of double-decker buses as part of its plan to transform Kolkata into a modern global city.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. Tram Lovers, Activists Plan Protest Against Withdrawal
The tram network, which has come back in 127 countries between 2000 and 2019, is shrinking fast in Kolkata — to such an extent that even the most loyal commuter finds it an unviable mode of transport.
Environmentalists and tram-lovers in the city have now planned to stage a dharna to protest against the government’s vision-myopia that is leading to the systematic withdrawal of the city’s first public transport, and Asia’s oldest surviving tram network, at a time when fossil fuel-run vehicles have turned out to be the biggest polluters of the city’s ambient air.
(Source: The Times of India)
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