1. TMC Seeks Puja Connect Report
Puja 2019 is done and dusted but the homework for Trinamul leaders is far from done with most burning the midnight oil to file reports on an outreach overdrive Mamata Banerjee had ordered for the festival.
The reports — a virtual uncharted territory for the leaders and conceptualised by consultant Prashant Kishor’s team — have to be sent to Calcutta by 18 October.
The BJP, too, has been working on similar dossiers and while this is not the first time it has been doing so, party leaders said the scale this time is much larger in the wake of unprecedented successes in Bengal in the general election. The BJP’s deadline for submission of the reports is 31 October.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Tallah Bridge in Precarious State, New One a Must, Suggests Expert
The expert assigned to ascertain the health of Tallah bridge has termed its condition critical and suggested it be strengthened for temporary use by light vehicles till alternatives are in place for its demolition to rebuild a new bridge in its place. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to take a final call on the issue on Saturday.
Consultancy firm RITES had earlier said the bridge had become fragile due to corrosion of girders. Following the RITES report, the bridge was shut to heavy traffic from 21 September. After Wednesday’s report reaffirmed the bridge’s critical condition, a decision may well be taken to take cars off it as well.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Rain Lashes City After Sparing Durga Puja
The rain that spared Calcutta during Puja lashed the city a day after.
After four days of high humidity and discomfort but very little rain, the sky opened up on Wednesday (Ekadashi). The sky was overcast since the early hours and some parts got a drizzle in the morning. The downpour started around 1pm and lasted for more than three hours.
Central Calcutta was the most drenched. New Market received over 70mm of rain in five hours, according to the civic body. Dum Dum, Dhapa and Joka received 62mm, 59mm and 55mm, respectively.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Turnout Low, But Cracks Appear in Immersion Preparedness at Ghats
The administration’s commitment to protect the Hooghly from pollution during immersion varied from ghat to ghat on Wednesday. While all steps were taken at some of the ghats, the intent was lacking at the rest. The result was obvious — several idol frames were spotted floating in the Hooghly. It could have been worse had there been no rain on Wednesday. Thanks to persistent showers, the turnout was low. While 400 idols usually turn up at each of these ghats on the day after Dashami, the count was below 100 on Wednesday.
At Baje Kadamtala Ghat near Babughat, always in focus during this time of the year and closely monitored by environmentalists and activists, every rule in the book was implemented. The scenes across the river in Howrah were in stark contrast with no attempt to even clear plastic and other non-biodegradable materials.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Struck By Cupid, Couple Ties Knot in 4 Hours in Pandal
Love often blooms at first sight but marriage has to wait. But not for this couple.
Hind Motor youth Sudip Ghoshal and Sheorafuli girl Pritama Banerjee, who have been social media friends for three months, got married within hours of their first meeting at the Santosh Mitra Square Puja pandal around 8 on Astami evening. Sudip, a pharmaceutical executive, went down on his knees and proposed to Pritama even as hundreds of pandal hoppers cheered them on. They tied the knot at a pandal in Hooghly’s Hind Motors later that night.
Even though they have been in touch on social media, Sudip and Pritama had never met before. On Astami, when Sudip learnt Pritama was in Kolkata with her friends, he asked her to meet him. “As luck would have it, Pritama happened to be in the same pandal, where I had reached with some of my friends in the evening. We met and the ambience was such that I could not stop myself from proposing to her. She was looking gorgeous,” said Ghosal.
(Source: The Times of India)
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