1. Affidavit on Bidhannagar Motion Sought
Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, 16 July, directed the chairperson of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to file an affidavit on Wednesday declaring that the process adopted for issuing the notification for a no-confidence motion against mayor Sabyasachi Dutta was just and proper.
In response to an order issued by Justice Samapati Chatterjee on Monday, the chairperson, Krishna Chakrabarty, added herself as a party to a petition by Dutta who had challenged the validity of the notification for the no-trust motion.
The notification was issued by the joint commissioner of the corporation who convened a meeting of councillors on 18 July for moving the no-confidence motion against Dutta.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Trinamool and BJP Claim Victory at Bongaon
The Trinamool Congress and the BJP claimed the control of Bongaon municipality in North 24-Parganas after a no-trust vote which was marked by a clash with bombs on Tuesday.
Rapid action force personnel were deployed and the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC issued at Bongaon following the clash that was triggered by police’s prevention of two councillors from attending the no-confidence vote.
The 22-member civic body originally had 20 Trinamool councillors, besides one each of the CPM and the Congress. Last month, 14 Trinamool councillors had defected to the BJP, but three of them returned to the ruling party shortly. As of now, the BJP claims the support of 11 councillors, while Trinamool has nine.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Gali No. 3 Remains Oasis of Peace in Tense Kankinara
While suspicions keep communities wary of each other in Kankinara, teen number gali remains an island of harmony in this violence-prone area.
More than 1,000 Muslim families have been protecting the two Hindu families residing in the lane. They stopped one from leaving the area and brought the other family back soon after it had left. Even as violence continued in Kankinara and a mosque in the next lane came under attack, the Hindu families of teen number gali remained unharmed.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. TMC Returns CPM Office in Birbhum
Birbhum TMC on Tuesday handed over the CPM Rajatpur party office it had occupied in 2017. TMC leaders removed the party signboard and whitewashed the office before handing over the keys to CPM.
This is the third instance of handing over of party offices, marking a departure from TMC Birbhum president Anubrata Mandal’s “medicines” and “prescriptions” for the opposition.
CPM leaders, however, refused to take it as a goodwill gesture. “TMC understood it was losing support in Rajatpur area. We had wrested control of two party offices — at Kukhutia and Sattor — before and were preparing to take back possession of the Rajatpur office,” said CPM district leader Goutam Ghosh.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Two Lakh Banned Old Vehicles Still Ply In City, Turning Air Quality Toxic
More than 2 lakh polluting commercial vehicles are still plying in Kolkata despite the Calcutta High Court banning vehicles over 15 years old in 2008. With almost all these vehicles running on diesel, experts believe they are primarily responsible for the city’s worsening air quality.
The alarming figure has been revealed in an affidavit by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), which puts the exact number of old vehicles in Kolkata at 2,19,1376 and gives a break-up of the number of over 15-year old vehicles still registered with the city’s different regional transport offices.
(Source: The Times of India)
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