QKolkata: HC to Pronounce Panchayat Polls Verdict Today & More
Your daily lowdown of all things Kolkata.
advertisement
1. West Bengal Panchayat Elections: Calcutta High Court Verdict Today
The Calcutta High Court will deliver its verdict on a clutch of Opposition petitions alleging a “reign of terror” unleashed by the ruling Trinamool Congress to prevent Opposition candidates from filing their nomination. State BJP general secretary Pratap Banerjee, who had moved the petition, said, “The court has completed the hearing today and tomorrow it will deliver its verdict. We believe the people of the state will get justice.”
The HC on Thursday, 19 April, also extended its stay on the panchayat poll process till Friday. The single-judge bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar will deliver the verdict at 4.30 pm on Friday. The BJP in its petition also criticised the State Election Commission’s move to withdraw the notification extending the last date of filing of panchayat nominations.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. BJP to Send ‘Attacked’ Workers to Meet PM Modi, President Kovind, ‘Expose TMC’
The BJP on Thursday, 19 April, said it will take a delegation of party workers, who were “attacked” by the Trinamool Congress during filing of nominations, to Delhi meet the Prime Minister and President and “expose TMC-sponsored violence.”
“We will take a delegation of our party workers and candidates for panchayat polls who were beaten up by TMC workers to Delhi on 24 April. We will expose the real law and order situation in the state before the prime minister and the president. We will also apprise other political parties of the present situation in Bengal,” said former BJP MLA Samik Bhattacharya.
He said the details of the visit to the national capital will be made public in the next few days.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. After Storm, KMC to Plant Deep-Rooted Trees; Activists Blame Poor Urban Planning
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) would plant more fruit-bearing trees with strong roots to withstand the kind of storm that hit the city on Tuesday and left 18 people dead. Over 300 trees were uprooted during the 15-minute storm and caused most of the deaths. Mayor-in-council member Debasish Kumar said that most of uprooted trees had weak roots and were planted during the Left Front rule in West Bengal.
“Over the past seven years, we have not planted Krishnachura and Radhachura trees. These are the trees that have been mostly uprooted. These trees have weak roots and are too high in size,’’ Kumar said.
Environmentalist Subhash Dutta blamed pandals and Durga puja decorations for preventing flow of water to trees among various reasons for weakening of their roots. “Underground wiring too damages roots of a tree,’’ he told The Indian Express. He blamed deforestation for the problem as well.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Kuheli Case: Charge-Sheet to be Filed Against Docs
The West Bengal Medical Council on Thursday, 19 April, decided to charge-sheet doctors accused in the Kuheli Chakraborty medical negligence case exactly a year after the four-month-old baby died after colonoscopy at a Kolkata hospital.
Thursday’s move came three weeks after the same council found two doctors guilty of medical negligence in the similarly-high-profile Sanjay Roy death case. The two decisions taken together indicate an increased oversight on healthcare establishments by government agencies, say senior health department officials.
“We have taken a decision to charge-sheet doctors accused of medical negligence in the Kuheli Chakraborty death case. The chargesheet will be issued soon,” WBMC registrar Dr Manas Chakraborti said. He did not clarify whether all three doctors accused in the case would be issued the chargesheet.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Expand CNG Area: Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal ordered the Bengal government on Thursday, 19 April, to allow the supply of the environment-friendly compressed natural gas to major parts of the Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA) and not just the area under the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
CMA comprises the area under the Calcutta civic body as well as urban centres in adjacent districts.
Metro had on 11 April reported that the state had filed an affidavit before the eastern zonal bench of the tribunal stating it had allowed the "area of operation within Calcutta Municipal Corporation only.” The state was referring to the area of operation of the proposed joint venture between GAIL, a central organisation, and Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation (GCGSC), a Bengal government agency.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Child Abuse Alarm for Bengal
The recent spurt in child sexual abuse, the need for awareness about the laws and preventive action were discussed at a day-long seminar at Jadavpur University on Thursday, 19 April.
Students, activists and lawyers discussed different aspects of child abuse and exchanged opinions and real-life experiences.
"There has been an alarming rise in incidents of child abuse at home. According to data recently released by the National Crime Records Bureau, crimes against children have increased in 2015 and 2016," said Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti, the chairperson of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, at the inaugural session of the seminar organised by the sociology department of the university, Indian Sociological Society and NGO Save the Children.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Xavier’s Plans Sports Academy
St Xavier's University is planning a sports academy that will offer long and short-term courses as well as a law school on the lines of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences.
Father Felix Raj, the vice chancellor of the university, said on Thursday, 19 April, the sports academy would be the first-of-its-kind within any Indian institution run by the Jesuit Fathers.
The academy will have postgraduate and undergraduate courses, besides short-term certificate programmes. "We might run an undergraduate course in hockey, cricket or football. If it is possible, we can have a separate unit for boxing where specialised training can be offered. We will also have programmes in sports management and sports science," Felix Raj said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)