1. Two Dead As Bombs & Bullets Fly In Battle Zone Bhatpara; Top Cop Shifted
Two persons, including a 17-year-old, died and six were injured as the troubled Bhatpara area witnessed a couple of hours of bombing and firing in pitched battles between Trinamool and BJP supporters on Thursday morning.
Police intervened, first with a lathi-charge, then with tear-gas and finally fired in the air to bring the situation under control. The latest round of violence came on the same day state director-general of police Virendra was supposed to inaugurate a new police station in Bhatpara; before the day ended, Barrackpore commissioner Tanmay Raychaudhuri had been removed from his post and replaced by Manoj Verma (who was the Darjeeling inspector-general of police).
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. BJP List On ‘Extortion’ In Housing Scheme
BJP workers in West Burdwan’s Budbud have brought out a list of beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana from whom money had been allegedly extorted by a Trinamool gram panchayat chief.
The BJP is distributing the list among residents with the demand that the “cut money” be returned.
Ashok Bhattacharya, the chief of Chaktentul gram panchayat in Galsi block 1, has stopped going to office since 10 June after some suspected BJP workers ransacked the office and his home.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Graft Scan On Projects And Panchayats
A sum of Rs 1.4 crore was allegedly withdrawn and shown as “spent” by Trinamul-run gram panchayats in Birbhum in the 100 days’ job scheme on 26 projects that never took shape, district officials have said.
The disclosure comes over a week after chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s instruction to district authorities to detect and clamp down on corruption.
Birbhum district magistrate Moumita Godara Basu and Birbhum zilla parishad chief Bikash Roy Chowdhury came across the alleged siphoning of funds when they visited eight sites on Wednesday and found no work — mainly digging of ponds — was carried out under the job scheme, MGNREGA.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Kolkata Debates Muslim Citizens’ Letter To CM
The letter to CM Mamata Banerjee from a section of Muslims on Wednesday urging two things — strict action against members of the community who indulge in crime to help overcome the perception that they are being shielded or appeased and engage or encourage engagements with Muslim youths and their families across Kolkata in gender-sensitisation, civic consciousness and law-compliance — has triggered a debate with some lauding the initiative and others questioning it.
Shahenshah Mirza, the great-great grandson of Wajid Ali Shah, the last nawab of Awadh who settled in Kolkata in 1856, says the letter had gone down well with most of the people he knew. “There is an overwhelming feeling that whenever crime happens, demonstrative action should be taken irrespective of faith and political affiliation. There has been a growing perception in recent years that politicians in Bengal are trying to appease Muslims for their votes. That is not true. I believe it is propaganda. We don’t want anyone to appease the community. All we want is a level-playing field. But because of this perception, many from other communities are turning anti-Muslim. Hence, we have decided to speak out when any such incident happens so that we make our stand clear,” he said.
(Source: The Times Of India)
5. Snatch The Phone And Steal The Bike: Cops Nab Duo Who Learnt It On The Net
Cops busted a gang of motorbike and mobile thieves on Wednesday night and arrested two persons after Anubhav Roy, a resident of Haridevpur and a bike taxi operator lodged a complaint. Inspired by several Facebook and Tiktok troll videos, the gang used to snatch cellphones from bikers. And when the biker chased the snatcher, another person used to run away with the two-wheeler. The duo arrested were identified as Chandan Roy (23) and Raj Das (31).
On Wednesday evening, the 24-year-old bike taxi operator was sitting on his motorbike near Balwant Singh Dhaba with a cup of tea when he received a call from a rider. When he was about to take the call, someone pushed him and he fell down. His phone was stolen before he could stand up.
(Source: The Times Of India)
6. 30% Quota For Bengal At NUJS
A gazette notification of the Bengal government has been issued to reserve 30 per cent of the seats in the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) for state students.
The Bengal Assembly had passed a bill in November last year that guaranteed 30 per cent of the seats in NUJS for students of the state.
Till the bill was tabled, reservation for students ”domiciled in West Bengal” was limited to 10 out of 125 seats. Now, 37 seats will be reserved for local candidates.
The notification of 21 May, 2019, was issued after governor Keshari Nath Tripathi gave his assent, a source said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. JU To Start Domicile Reservation This Year
Jadavpur University has got a nod from both the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) Board and state government to introduce 90% reservation for domicile candidates while the remaining seats will be offered to other students. On Thursday, the WBJEE Board chairman Malayendu Saha said the domicile reservation will be implemented from this year.
However, the decision of the varsity has garnered a divided opinion from various engineering departments. Two engineering departments had, initially, turned down the proposal, citing that the tradition, followed over the past several decades in the varsity, produced excellent alumni. “The department has pointed out it was due to the diversity among students that the department has been able to keep its flag flying high over the years. So, they are not interested in limiting the majority of the seats to domicile candidates only,” said sources.
(Source: The Times Of India)
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