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QKolkata: Left Groups Plan 24-Day Protest Against Centre & More

Your daily lowdown of top stories from Kolkata.

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1. TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee Hurt in Car Accident

Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee was injured due to a road accident near Lake Kali Bari on Friday, 17 August morning when his car was hit by a yellow taxi which allegedly violated the signal.

Banerjee was admitted to Belle Vue Hospital as he complained of chest pain and sustained minor injuries.

“A south-bound taxi dashed one east-bound private car near Lake Kali Bari. The occupant of the car, MP Kalyan Banerjee, sustained minor injuries and was admitted at the hospital.

“The taxi involved in the accident was taken to the local police station along with its driver,” said a senior police officer. An FIR has been lodged for rash driving.

(Source: The Indian Express)

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2. Bagdogra Land Cash Rider

The Mamata Banerjee government informed the Airports Authority of India, on 17 August, that it will not be able to hand over 70 acres for the expansion of the Bagdogra airport near Siliguri until the central agency pays for the land.

"We have informed the AAI that we cannot give land free of cost if it is not in our possession. We don't acquire land for central agencies free of cost under our policy," said a senior state official.

The AAI had earlier informed Bengal that it develops infrastructure only when land is provided free of cost by the state government. Guruprasad Mahapatra, the chairman of AAI, had recently said the agency could not pay for the Bagdogra land as it would set a wrong example.

(Source: The Telegraph)

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3. Left Groups Plan 24-Day March to Protest Policies of State, Centre

Left groups will hold a 24-day march across the state in September to protest against “anti-people” policies of the state and central governments.

The march, which will press for an eight-point charter of demands including remunerative prices for farmers, lowering of rates for petroleum substances and ensuring standard minimum wages for all.

The “Adhikar Yatra” will start from Cooch Behar in north Bengal on 10 September and continue till 3 October with an aim to touch 78,000 polling booths across 126 blocks and 127 cities.

“The rights of farmers and trade unions are being throttled by the present central government. Labour laws are being amended. We have named the march ‘Adhikar Yatra’ to demand that people’s rights must be protected,” veteran CITU leader Shyamal Chakraborty told reporters.

(Source: The Indian Express)

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4. Row Over Panchayat Polls has Led to Constitutional Crisis: WB to SC

The West Bengal government, on 17 August, told the Supreme Court that the row over the recently concluded panchayat polls in the state has led to a "constitutional crisis" since the tenure of several Panchayats were over and new bodies have not been made functional.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice DY Chandrachud was told that a constitutional crisis has emerged as tenure under Article 243(E) (duration of Panchayat) of the Constitution of several panchayats is over.

"The funds allotted to panchayats will go back. There is a constitutional crisis under Article 243(E) of the Constitution. The development in the villages has come to a standstill," the counsel for the state government said.

The top court, said that it is a part heard matter by a three-judge bench and only when the bench is in appropriate combination, it will be taken up for hearing.

It listed the matter for further hearing on 20 August.

(Source: PTI)

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5. Gorkha Paper Push for NRC

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has written to Union home minister Rajnath Singh seeking recognition of British-era documents for inclusion in Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Gogoi has pointed out that nearly 1 lakh indigenous Gorkhas of Assam have been excluded from the July 30 NRC draft that left out a total of 40 lakh people. "Their names have not appeared in the final draft owning to lack of papers prescribed," Gogoi said in his August 14 letter.

Gogoi – the son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi – has demanded that papers like "grazing permits" and "khuti (dwelling) permits" be accepted. "These documents, though not on the prescribed list, will help genuine Indian citizens of the indigenous Gorkha community prove permanent resident status before 1971 (the NRC cut-off date)," the letter says.

(Source: The Telegraph)

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6. Unable to Increase Tea Wages: Planters

Tea planters have expressed their inability to accept two back-to-back interim wage hikes proposed by the Bengal government on Thursday, 16 August, citing losses and the additional expenditure.

The proposal was rejected by Joint Forum, an umbrella body of non-Trinamool tea unions.

"As the forum has rejected the proposal of a further interim hike (another hike of Rs 17.50 was made in March this year) and is insisting on (fixing the) minimum wage, it is already a problem for the state. In fact, none from the forum was present at the meeting (on Thursday). It is unlikely that the state can enforce the revised interim rate from next month," said an observer.

(Source: The Telegraph)

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7. Indian Flag ‘Not Taken Down Before Sunset’, School Headmaster Booked

The headmaster of a school in Balurghat was booked on Wednesday, 15 August, for allegedly “insulting” the Indian flag by not taking it down before sunset. Police sources said the incident took place during the Independence Day celebration at the school, which is around 1 km away from Raigunj.

“A complaint was submitted at Raigunj police station, on the basis of which a case was lodged. The flag was later taken down in the presence of police,” a senior police officer said.

The complaint was filed by several local residents at 8 pm the same day for violating the rules of the ‘flag code’.

The case was lodged against Abdul Rahman Ali, headmaster of Sijram Junior High School under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act section 2 (a gross affront or indignity offered the Indian national flag).

(Source: The Indian Express)

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Topics:  Mamata Banerjee   TMC   QKolkata 

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