1. Robbery at Gunpoint Near Calcutta's South City Mall
A young woman and a friend walking along a lane adjoining the South City complex after watching a film at Basusree cinema were allegedly robbed at gunpoint and one of them was pistol-whipped around 2.15 am on Friday by three motorbike-borne men.
When the police tracked the bikers down using a vital piece of information — that the two-wheeler was a blue Pulsar — they found a bag with a snake. “There was a snake in that bag. They said they often used the snake to scare people and rob them,” a police officer said.
An officer at Lalbazar reconstructed the robbery: “The bike trailed the victims from Prince Anwar Shah Road and blocked their way when they were passing through the deserted lane leading to Katjunagar. One of them brandished a gun and demanded all valuables from the woman.”
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Dengue Is Calcutta Mayor Hakim's Priority
Mayor-designate Firhad ‘Bobby’ Hakim on Friday flagged dengue as his primary challenge and said he would focus on running a year-round campaign to raise public awareness about the disease.
“We have to make people aware and conscious about dengue because the disease keeps changing in nature. Dengue now stings even in winter. To combat it, we need to have an awareness and cleanliness drive throughout the year,” he told Metro.
Hakim’s predecessor, Sovan Chatterjee, had only recently written to the departmental heads, borough chairpersons and councillors of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), making them directly accountable for vector control.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Girl Smashes Record To Cross Bangla Channel
Howrah resident Tahrina Nasrin, an income tax department employee, has become the fastest Indian woman to cross the 16.1km long Bangla Channel — between Shah Porir Dwip and Saint Martin — in Bangladesh in 3 hours 9 minutes and 58 seconds. She broke the record of Ritu Kedia, who completed the stretch in 3 hours and 40 minutes.
The 24-year-old open-water swimmer reached Cox’s Bazar on 20 November and practised over the next two days to get accustomed to the water. “The temperature of water is crucial and a swimmer needs to get accustomed to it. I found the weather quite comfortable and decided to take the plunge on Friday,” said the student of Masudur Rahman Baidya, the only man to complete the English Channel with amputated legs.
(Source: The Times Of India)
4. Flyers On Time But Denied Boarding At Calcutta Airport
Domestic flyers arriving at the airport more than an hour before take-off but stuck in long queues inside the terminal are allegedly often denied boarding if the 45-minute check-in window closes by the time they reach an airline counter.
A woman who was to take a flight to Mumbai last Tuesday alleged that she was denied boarding by the airline despite reaching the airport more than an hour ahead of her flight’s scheduled departure.
“On entering the terminal, I had approached an employee of the airline to tell him that my flight was at 7.55 am. He enquired if it was the Delhi flight. I told him that my flight was to Mumbai, at which he said there was still time and that I should get my bag screened and queue up for check-in,” she recounted to Metro on Friday.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. Litter Law Rots For Years For Want Of Witnesses
The state assembly on Thursday passed The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018, to raise the quantum of fine from a range of Rs 50-Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,000-Rs 1 lakh but poor implementation of the now-amended Section 338 hardly made the penalties a deterrent all these years. Since 2015, not a single person has been prosecuted under municipal laws for littering or dumping garbage at public places. The few cases that had landed in municipal courts had fallen flat for lack of witnesses. Penalties, under municipal laws, can only be imposed by civic courts after a hearing.
(Source: The Times Of India)
6. Majerhat Bridge Plan Hits Design Block
The Majerhat bridge reconstruction project is back on the drawing board, for the second time, following objections raised by Metro Railway to the public works department’s proposal.
At a meeting on Thursday the government asked the Haryana-based company that has bagged the contract to build the bridge to factor in the structural specifications of the proposed Majerhat station of Joka-Esplanade Metro and come up with a design solution.
At the meeting in Nabanna, chaired by chief secretary Malay De, company representatives were told that a proposed design would only be sent to a “third party” for approval, a mandatory requirement, if there were no objections from the railways.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Binay Tamang Plans Soccer Boost For Darjeeling
GTA head Binay Tamang has drawn up elaborate plans to showcase Darjeeling as a destination for football enthusiasts and build infrastructure to popularise the sports for visitors, along with the world famous Darjeeling Tea and its landscape.
The plan, he said, includes resumption of the famous gold cup tournament in the hills, invite to football clubs of India and abroad and visit countries like Germany and Spain to bring in investments for of sports infrastructure.
“We want people to visit Darjeeling for its tourist attractions, tea and football. The hills were once known to be a soccer hub and the prestigious gold cup tournament was held every year. It was back in 1985 that the tourney was held for the last time. After 25 years, we want to revive the glory and hence, planned to host the GTA Chairman Gold Cup that would commence in the hills soon,” said Tamang.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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