QKolkata: Cong Wins One Bengal RS Seat; Shami’s Wife Meets Mamata
Your daily lowdown of all things Kolkata.
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1. Didi Ensures Cong RS Win In Bengal, To Meet Sonia Next
Mamata Banerjee is likely to meet Congress leader Sonia Gandhi during her visit to Delhi on 27 March. The Bengal CM conveyed the message to Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday when he called on Banerjee in the assembly to thank her for her party’s support to him in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Singhvi got 47 votes, 15 more than the 32 votes that Congress has in the West Bengal assembly.
The Trinamool chief threw her weight behind Singhvi when she could have sent another of her party candidates to Rajya Sabha (RS) in his place. Trinamool has 212 votes and with three GJM votes in the assembly, it adds up to 215, sufficient to send five candidates to RS.
Banerjee sacrificed one seat for Congress as she did for Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya in 2017.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. Mohammad Shami's Wife Hasin Meets CM, Seeks Emotional Support
Indian pacer Mohammad Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan met chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the assembly around 2.45pm on Friday.
Jahan, who accused her husband of domestic violence and extra marital affairs, wanted ‘emotional support’ from the chief minister. Jahan had come to the assembly when the Rajya Sabha election was on.
She went to the chief minister’s room and stayed there for 15 minutes. After the meeting, Jahan said: “The chief minister was kind and empathetic towards my struggle. She has assured me of all support”.
The meeting comes a day after the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) recommended to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to include the Bengal pacer in the list of centrally contracted players from which he was left out following Jahan's accusations that he was involved in match-fixing.
(Source: The Times Of India)
3. Shelves Go Empty, Get #Beerbiplab Trending
On Sunday, television professional Suvonkar Banerjee drove from Taratala to Kasba to check out if any pub could supply him with a bottle of beer. But he returned empty-handed. In another part of the city, entrepreneur Suvromon Chakraborty wanted to drive all the way from Naktala to Talshari because someone had informed him about beer being available there.
Designer Suchismita Dasgupta, who had also failed in the quest, then started the #beerbiplab campaign on social media demanding immediate supply of her favourite drink.
All of them are now sharing their beer woes and posting nostalgia-laced photos with beer bottles. Designer Ajopa Mukherjee, who has put up quite a few such photos with the tag #beerbiplab, said: “Sipping beer when I get home from work is a habit. But now it is only available at places like Beer Republic and Grid, which have microbreweries. But they are too far from my Naktala house. This draught is making me irritable,” Mukherjee said.
(Source: The Times Of India)
4. Dengue Is No More than Just A Post-Monsoon Threat
The end of monsoon no longer signals a break in dengue. The return of the dreaded disease in parts of Salt Lake and Dum Dum indicates that the virus is now endemic in Kolkata and that aedis aegypti larvae (mosquito that carries the virus) are still hatching, according to experts.
While prevailing weather conditions may seem unfavourable for the spread of dengue, aedis aegypti larvae could be hatching in water stored inside homes, construction sites and crevices where the ambient temperature is not high enough to kill the larvae, they point out.
Mosquito larvae can delay hatching by three-four months to tide over adverse climatic conditions, said Irfaan Akhtar, consultant microbiologist, Fortis Hospital.
(Source: The Times Of India)
5. Medical 'Fixer' Held
The investigation into the medical racket involving nursing homes, fixers and untrained personnel masquerading as paramedics has led police to a young man who allegedly runs an agency in Burdwan that supplies "technicians" for deployment in ambulances.
Sheikh Sarfarazuddin, the air-conditioner mechanic who had accompanied Madhyamik examinee Arijit Das to Calcutta in allegedly an ICCU ambulance, was allegedly deputed by Sheikh Toffajjal Hossain's agency. Arijit died on the way.
Police arrested Toffajjal, 26, of Selimdanga in East Burdwan from the office of a nursing home where he allegedly works as an intensive care unit technician. The police suspect that at least seven youths like Sarfarazuddin work under Toffajjal and accompany critically ill patients on ambulances.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Teacher Goes To Cops
A teacher who claimed to have clicked headmaster Haridayal Roy opening Madhyamik question papers ahead of schedule to help his students filed a police complaint on Friday against his senior and sought protection.
Biswajit Roy had also informed officials that Haridayal and some other teachers had prepared answers for some examinees from their Maynaguri Subhash Nagar High School.
"I am under tremendous pressure. A section of teachers and other employees of the school was with me initially but none is there now. The headmaster is influential and I am feeling scared. That is why I decided to get in touch with the police," said Biswajit.
He went to Maynaguri police station from school and was soon joined by his wife and sister.
"We have received a complaint from Biswajit Roy against Haridayal Roy, the headmaster. The complainant has accused the headmaster of leaking Madhyamik questions. It is a serious offence and we have started an investigation," said DS Sonar, deputy superintendent of police, Jalpaiguri.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Spurned Zebra Dies
The zebra born at Alipore zoo on Wednesday morning died of weakness barely after 24 hours later as the mother refused to feed him.
The foal was up and running within 30 minutes of birth but was spurned by the mother all day, leading to its condition deteriorating as the day progressed.
"It looked sprightly because of the stored energy animals are born with but the baby did not get any colostrum, the mother's first milk," said Asis Kr Samanta, the zoo director. Feeding on colostrum within an hour of birth enhances a newborn's immune system.
But every time the foal tried to feed, the mother shooed it away. By evening, the baby became extremely weak in the absence of mother's milk, officials said.
A team of keepers and vets gave the foal doses of glucose-laced water and baby food mixed with minerals and antibiotics through a feeder. "But none of these was a replacement for mother's milk," a vet said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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