QKolkata: HC Stays Expulsion Of Polish JU Student By 9 Days & More

Your daily lowdown of all things Kolkata.

Calcutta High Court. 

(File Photo: IANS)

1. Calcutta High Court Stays JU Polish Student’s Expulsion

The high court on Thursday stayed till 18 March the Centre’s expulsion order on a Polish student of Jadavpur University for alleged anti-government activities after he had participated in an anti-CAA protest.

The Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office, a wing of the Union home ministry, had asked Kamil Sedchinski, a postgraduation student of comparative literature, to leave India by 9 March.

The hearing on the petition moved by the student challenging the FRRO directive concluded on Thursday and Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya has reserved his verdict.

(Source: The Telegraph)

2. Didi Reaches Out To Tribals At Mass Marriage

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attended a mass marriage ceremony of tribal couples that Malda police organised on Thursday as part of its community development programme, and announced that more such programmes would be initiated in the other districts.

Trinamool sources pointed to similar initiatives undertaken by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in some tribal pockets of Bengal.

In the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the BJP is believed to have got the support of a considerable portion of the tribal population in north Bengal and also in some parts of south Bengal. This support had helped the party to win seven of the eight seats in north Bengal and tribal-dominated seats in south Bengal such as Jhargram, Purulia and Midnapore.

(Source: The Telegraph)

3. Tapas’ Wife Mulls Legal Step Over Viral ‘Planchette’ Clip

Widow of actor Tapas Paul, Nandini, has threatened to take action against a tantric for uploading a video of a ‘planchette’ of the actor-turned-politician, who passed away on 18 February, on social media. Nandini has threatened to move court unless the video is deleted.

Nandini acknowledged that she had learnt about the video but was yet to check the content. Her lawyer Ayan Chakraborti said they were contemplating action against the person who had uploaded the video. The nearly 1.5-minute-long video was uploaded on YouTube on 26 February with a disclaimer that it was not shot to hurt or cheat anyone. The tantric, however, could not be contacted.

(Source: The Times Of India)

4. All Int’l Flyers To Undergo Thermal Check At Airport; Singapore Advisory Withdrawn

Health officials at Kolkata airport have begun universal screening at the international wing, bringing more than 4,000 flyers a day under the ambit of thermal check to detect fever. On Thursday afternoon, the National Disaster Relief Force held a training and orientation programme for all ground-handling staff on Covid-19 virus and ways to prevent its spread at the airport.

So far, more than 45,000 passengers have been screened at the airport since 17 January. The check, which initially began on flyers from China and Hong Kong, was extended to those arriving from other South-East Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia from 2 February. Last week, the list was extended to Nepal and Singapore. But with the virus now spreading to 78 countries, the ministry of health and family welfare has asked airports to make thermal screening mandatory for all flyers from abroad. “Passengers arriving in Gulf carriers, flights from South-East Asia as well as South Asian countries Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are being screened. Earlier, only flyers with recent travel history to China, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan had to undergo mandatory thermal screening. Later, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan were added to the list,” said a senior airport official.

(Source: The Times Of India)

5. Virus Fears, Supply Gap Push Up Mutton Cost To ₹700 In City

The price of mutton — the prime ingredient of a leisurely Bengali Sunday lunch — has touched the Rs 700-mark in Kolkata for the first time ever, owing to a pan-India demand-supply crisis and rumours about novel coronavirus in Bengal’s poultry.

At most markets in the city, the price of mutton shot up by Rs 50 to Rs 80 per kilo in the last few days. Traders were unable to say when the rates will return to normal, though most of them felt they saw no scope of improvement till Holi.

Most of the goats butchered in Kolkata are from Uttar Pradesh and other parts of north India. “Things started going wrong from December itself, when the severe winter pushed up the demand for mutton, particularly in northern India,” said a trader. “Goats from Kolhapur in Maharashtra were also in high demand from the southern states. Untimely floods had already played havoc with goats in the Kolhapur region, and the situation got so bad at one point that traders in Maharashtra appealed to the authorities to curb the movement to the southern states. This, naturally, had an impact on stocks from UP.”

(Source: The Times Of India)