1. Yediyurappa in Mamata Firing Line Over Payout
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday lambasted her Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa for reneging on an assurance to pay ex gratia to the kin of two men allegedly killed in police firing in Mangalore and promised to send them compensation through her party’s labour arm.
In her fifth mass march in Calcutta against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, the Trinamul Congress supremo tore into the Karnataka chief minister.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Kolkata: Of 1,726 Held on Xmas Eve, 106 for Drunk Driving
A total of 1,726 people were apprehended in the city and its adjoining areas for allegedly flouting law on Tuesday, the Christmas Eve. According to a senior officer of Kolkata Police; 143 of them were arrested under non-bailable warrants.
“While 558 were nabbed for disorderly conduct, nine were taken into custody for gambling, 262 for triple-riding on two-wheelers and 496 for riding bikes without helmets,” Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Crime) Murli Dhar Sharma told reporters.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Rajeev Kumar Principal Secretary in IT
The Mamata Banerjee government on Thursday posted Rajeev Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, who was granted anticipatory bail by Calcutta High Court on 1 October in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, as the principal secretary of the information technology and electronics (IT and E) department.
In an order issued on Thursday, the Bengal government transferred Debasis Sen, a 1985-batch IAS officer, from the IT and E department and placed Kumar in the post. Kumar is currently the additional director general in the CID.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Bengal: State Govt Skips Unveiling of Vajpayee’s Portrait, Dhankhar Says He Is ‘Hurt’
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday expressed his displeasure after no representative from the state government attended the unveiling of a portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Raj Bhavan on his 95th birth anniversary.
Speaking to reporters, Dhankhar said the idea to unveil a three-dimensional portrait of the late prime minister was conceived on 27 November and an invitation letter for the programme was sent to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on that day. “The CM is the executive head and I have not said she has to unveil (the portrait). She may have many other engagements, and I have the highest respect for her. My grievance is not that she could not come, but lack of representation from the government and bureaucracy has hurt me,” he said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Morcha Youth Wing Calls off Darjeeling Strike
The youth wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has withdrawn the 24-hour general strike it called in the Darjeeling hills on 29 December following an appeal by party president Binay Tamang not to inconvenience tourists.
The Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha, which is allegiant to the Tamang faction of the parent party, had called the strike to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens and to demand introduction of Inner Line Permit in the hills.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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