1. Cash for 3,000km Bengal Rural Roads
The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to provide Rs 2,700 crore to widen and renovate 3,000 km of rural roads so that their bad condition doesn’t affect the Trinamul Congress’ prospects in panchayat polls next year. The roads which used to be maintained by zilla parishads are in bad shape and were taken over by the state public works department recently at the instruction of the Chief Minister.
"It is expected that work on majority of the roads will start by March next year. The aim of the scheme is to improve rural connectivity," said a senior government official. Engineers working on the project have said width of all the roads is three metres or less and the initial plan is to widen those to five metres.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. TSK 25K Gets Bigger, Better
A field of 13,500-plus that included a current double world record-holder in long- distance running raised the stakes for eastern India’s only internationally-accredited road race on a morning when spirit matched substance. Tata Steel Kolkata 25K, partnered by The Telegraph, hit the ground running in more ways than one.
The growing appeal of the race was reflected in the first live telecast of the event by STAR Sports and Hotstar and the participation of elite international athletes and some amateurs for whom running road races across the world is like a pilgrimage.
The runners, including TSK first-timers who had come down from cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad, were happy with the course and the way the event was managed in its fourth year. Many were happier still to have completed the 25K and the 10K with personal best timings.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Doctors Call for Cost Cut in Cancer Care
Oncologists on Sunday, 17 December, called for cost regulation and transparency in billing at private hospitals. The doctors were speaking at the annual meet of Bengal Oncology Foundation at GD Birla Sabhagar, and the event was also attended by hospital administrators and cancer patients. Several patients shared how hefty hospital bills left them confused and helpless.
"Corporate hospitals should give patients a cost estimate at the start of treatment, " surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay said. He wanted private hospitals to set up help desks to explain the break-up of the bill to patients and their family members.
Purnima Mukherjee, 60, of Howrah, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November. She suffered a fall during treatment, leading to an extended stay in a private hospital, at the end of which she was surprised at the escalation in cost. Doctors wanted private hospitals to cut additional costs for patients who cannot afford it. "Corporate hospitals should try to reduce their profit margin without compromising on the quality of treatment offered," Mukhopadhyay said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Bengal on Top in Crimes by Foreigners in 2016: NCRB
West Bengal tops the list when it comes to crimes committed by foreigners, way ahead of national capital Delhi and tourist hotspot Goa, reveals latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
In 2016, as many as 520 foreigners committed crimes in Bengal, a figure that is three-and-a-half times more than Delhi’s, the second on the list.
Bengal government officials maintain that a huge porous border and infiltration from Bangladesh contribute significantly to the number of foreign criminals. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, during a meeting with Chief Ministers and Home Ministers of eastern states on 7 December, had called for stricter vigilance and technology-based surveillance to plug border gaps.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Mystery of the Missing Cat
Businessman Tejash Bole has fought casual cops, roused their boss, moved magistrates and stirred the High Court to action. But his beloved Julie, the mother of three who disappeared from his life and fourth-floor flat 13 months ago, remains untraced.
That fateful morning of 14 November 2016, is burned into the 45-year-old Central Avenue resident’s memory. He remembers seeing the slight parting in the window mesh of his Chandni Chowk home and thinking that, like many times before, Julie had sneaked out to explore a neighbour’s kitchen. But unlike those past occasions, the one- and- a- half-year- old female cat never returned. So, Bole decided to go to the police. He had good reason.
"Some of my neighbours hated my cats because Julie had once wet their kitchen, Bole, who runs an online directory of medical equipment, said. “I had kept silent when her kittens, whom I wanted to give out for adoption through OLX and Quickr, had vanished one after another a few weeks earlier. But this time I put my foot down. " Bowbazar police’s lighthearted treatment of his complaint, though, left Bole aghast. So, on 18 November 2016, he emailed a stiff letter of complaint to police commissioner Rajeev Kumar. The next day, an officer from Bowbazar police station came scurrying to meet Bole.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. City's Only Link With Dickens Lies in Decay
In an obscure corner of South Park Street cemetery lies the city’s only link with British novelist Charles Dickens. The tombstone of Walter Landor Dickens, the author’s second son, is scarred with decayed masonry and an almost illegible marble plaque. However, this was not its original place. After his death at the age of 22 on 31 December 1863, Dickens – a lieutenant in the British Indian Army – was buried at the Bhowanipore Cemetery.
The grave had disappeared from public memory till 1911, when a New York Times article titled ‘Dickens’ Soldier Son’ stated that it had been discovered near the entrance of the military cemetery. So how was it moved from the Bhowanipore burial ground, which was closed in 1790.
In 1987, some students of Jadavpur University raised funds to move the tombstone of their favourite author’s son to the cemetery at South Park Street. “The original place of the tombstone was in the middle of the second row on the left of the pathway from the entrance of the Bhowanipore Cemetery,” said historian Asesh Dutta Gupta.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. Now, Get a Taste of Exotic Meat Dishes at State Outlets
The West Bengal Livestock Development Corporation (WBLSDC) will set up take-away meat shops – Kaviar – at various places across the city and in seven districts, which will sell both frozen raw meat and dressed and processed meat items.
“We are setting up the Kaviar meat shops in various places in the city and in the DMs’ office complexes in Burdwan, East and West Midnapore, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Bolpur and Howrah,” said WBLSDC managing director Gaurishankar Konar.
Of these, the shops in Alipurduar and Howrah have already been set up. Konar said that apart from chicken and mutton, unconventional meat like rabbit, dressed peking duck and dressed turkey will be available.
“The shops will also sell ready-to-eat meat dishes,” he added. Cooked meat dishes had become popular during the Aahare Bangla food fair at New Town and the authorities have planned to cash in on that.
(Source: The Times of India)
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