Bengal

Anthrax scare in West Midnapore

The Statesman 

28 Jun 2014

Nine persons, including children, have been affected
Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 27 June
In a fresh case after a gap of many years, Anthrax scare has once again gripped the tribal-dominated Boxakura village under Panchkhuri gram-panchayat in West Midnapore as nine persons, including children, have been affected by the deadly disease.
As the matter reached the ears of Chief-Minister Mamata Banerjee, the district health department took war-footing steps to contain the outbreak and sent a medical team to the affected village.
The Animal Resource department also sent its team to curb the disease as most cases of Anthrax occur in livestock, such as cattle, horses, sheep, and goats.
Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Girish Bera said the disease broke out in the tribal village due to consumption of rotten beef. Dr Bera said: “As per the statements of the affected persons, the villagers brought a dead cow from the field of a nearby village and ate its meat.
“Those who came in contact with the dead cow have been affected by the disease, while those who ate the meat have not been affected yet. But, we have already given prophylactic therapy to 47 persons who ate the meat”, said Dr Bera.
The disease was first detected yesterday when a tribal man – Birsa Tudu had gone to the outpatient department of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital to be treated for his ailment.
Dr Arun Achar, a skin specialist first suspected the disease after observing the symptoms and he immediately informed the matter to the health administration. The health department rushed to the village and found others, including children, affected by the same symptoms. 
A medical camp was immediately set up and swabs of these patients have been sent to MMCH and School of Tropical Medicine, in Kolkata, for tests. Doctors have also collected skin smear and blood samples from the affected people for examination.
The disease has created panic in the locality but steps have been taken to check further proliferation, Dr Bera said, adding that a health team has rushed to the village and undertaken the necessary preventive measures. All homes were disinfected with DDT and bleaching powder. The villagers were also advised not to take any type of beef and pork and keep away from the patients.

Haldia port scam: CVO asked to hand over important documents to CBI

Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Haldia, 24 June
The anti-corruption branch of CBI, probing the multi-crore scam in Haldia port under Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), has asked the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) to hand over around 35 to 40 important documents related with the cargo handling, shore operation, tendering action and some other issues to them within a month failing which it would take action against some port officials who are reluctant to cooperate with them during the investigation.
The CBI has started the probe on 19 June in connection with the investigation into the alleged issue of multi-crore corruption at Haldia port which had been on the Shipping Ministry’s list of top problems facing the KoPT.
Though, the CBI had lodged complaint against former and present chairman, deputy chairman of KoPT and directors of private handling agents in 2013 (SIR/ACB case no. 19), but had not got the required approval to conduct the probe from the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government. Soon after the BJP took charge at the Center, the CBI got the required approval and started the probe, a senior port official said.
Besides, based on the complaint lodged by BJP MP from Bharuch in Gujarat, Mr Mansukh Bhai D Vasava, the Union Shipping Ministry has also swung into action against other 11 major ports on the same financial scam issues. 
In the meantime, a PIL filed at the Calcutta High Court related with the financial scam at Haldia port has regularly been heard by the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra.
In his letter to former Prime Minister Manmohon Singh, Mr Vasava highlighted the financial malpractice and theft of national resources and revenue at 12 major Indian ports amounting to over Rs 8 lakh crore.
The Statesman had earlier reported on the Haldia port scam on the basis of the Rajya Sabha secretariat memorandum, CAG and parliamentary panel reports, which highlighted major discrepancies in appointment of cargo-handling agents and disposing waste oil from the ports.
The CAG had also pointed out appointment of unauthorised agents or handling agents for onshore operation violating the provisions of the Major Port Trust Act.
In his complaint, Mr Vasava has alleged: “These handling agents freely enter into contracts with the exporters/importers and charge them as per their contracted terms rates not approved by TAMP/Central government which is a statutory requirement under Section 48 of MPT Act, 1963. These private handling agents, in order to expand and maintain their monopoly, have been ensuring that most of the members of the other interest groups comprising the Board of Trustees of the Major Ports of India are those who owe allegiance to these private handling agents.”
These persons should be disqualified under Section 6 of the MPT Act,1963 and their membership should be withdrawn by the Central government forthwith as every trustee is authorised to hold office for a period as may be considered by the Central government under Section 4(2) of the MPT Act,1963, Mr Vasava said.
A document which was forwarded to the PSC also indicated a scam of Rs 24,500 crore in the past 35 years at Haldia port only mentioning that the private parties are paying just an annual license fee of a mere Rs 5,400, and they are handling the cargo, shore operations and are taking crores as profit from the port.

CBI raids Haldia Dock Complex Offices

• The Statesman
• 21 Jun 2014

Raids part of probe into multi-crore corruption scam
Biswabrata Goswami 
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Haldia, 20 June
A CBI team has started conducting raids at the offices in the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) area since yesterday in connection with the investigation into alleged corruption at Haldia port, amounting to hundreds of crores, which has reached the Shipping Ministry’s list of top problems facing the Kolkata Port Trust.
The agency officials headed by the additional SP Mr D Sahoo have already grilled a few port officials and          collected some documents with regards to the matter of shore handling and ‘forced exit’ of Haldia Bulk Terminals, a joint venture between homegrown ABG Infralogistics and French company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA).
For the past few years, Haldia Dock Banchao Committee and Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum had raised the corruption issue and demanded a CBI inquiry, but the erstwhile Congress-led Union government did not pay any heed on the matter.
Mr Ramakant Burman, secretary of Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum who had raised the corruption issue was later dismissed from service by the port authority, but the issue went to the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Transport, Tourism and Culture which had replaced the ministry’s secretary, reportedly on charges of misleading the Committee over some issues related with the port.
“Soon after taking charge at the Centre, the BJP government has taken up the issue and asked the CBI to probe the matter.
“I am very happy to hear that the CBI has started investigation and it would soon divulge the facts in front of the people,” said Mr Chandan Mitra, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP.
Two years ago, when HBT left the Haldia port, it had blamed “vested               interests” for causing a great loss to the national exchequer. HBT had been contracted to operate two mechanised berths, but, it alleged, cargo was diverted to the expensive manual berths.
While Haldia Bulk Terminals charged the Kolkata Port Trust Rs 75 per tonne of cargo, the manual berths charged Rs 150 and above.
That was the loss to the exchequer the company was referring to.
The vested interests the company was alluding to is Ripley & Co promoted by Mr Swapan Sadhan Bose, aka Tutu Bose or Tutuda, a familiar face in Kolkata's business circuit.
A document which was forwarded to the Parliamentary Standing Committee indicated a scam of Rs 24,500 crore in the past 35 years at Haldia port.
The document has pointed a finger at a private operator Ripley, a company run by the family of former and current Trinamul Rajya Sabha MPs, Mr Swapan Sadhan (Tutu) and Mr Srinjaoy Bose.
The document has also said that the aforesaid       company and its various sister concerns have been working at the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) since 1977.
The KoPT had issued them a Handling Agent License in 2006 in violation of Section 42(3) or 42(3A) of Major Port Trust Act 1963. In the document, it has been categorically mentioned that the private parties are paying just an annual    license fee of a mere Rs 5,400, and they are handling the cargo, shore operations and are taking crores as profit from the port, thereby depriving the port             authority of its financial
benefits.

Vidyasagar HOD quits prof. association post over appointment tussle

• The Statesman
• 16 Jun 2014

biswabrata goswami
Statesman News Service
Midnapore, 15 June
Mrs Indrani Datta (Chaudhuri), assistant professor, department of English of Vidyasagar University has resigned from the post of general secretary of West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association (WEBCUPA), VU unit.
She has already sent her resignation letter to the WEBCUPA president Prof. Krishnakoli Basu, who has dissolved the VU unit a few days ago.
Mrs Datta (Chaudhuri), who had led a deputation on 11 June to protest against the illegal appointment of Mr.Jayanta Kishore Nandi, in the post of the Dean of Students’ Welfare at Vidyasagar University by the authorities of the varsity in 2012 which was done by ignoring candidates having better academic career and experience records than Mr Nandi, was later criticised by a section of Trinamul Congress leaders and WEBCUPA authorities.
The matter came to light when Mr Rama Prasad Giri, president of the Paschim Medinipur district Trinamul Chhatra Parishad in a memorandum submitted to Professor Ranjan Chakrabarti, vice-chancellor, on 23 May, alleged that “the recommendation of the name of Mr J K Nandi to the post of the Dean of Students’ Welfare at Vidyasagar University was not placed in the executive council for approval and it was just reported after giving the appointment, which is a gross irregularity.” Mr Giri added in his letter that “they did not witness this kind of irregularity during the CPI-M regime” (Memorandum in possession of The Statesman).
Meanwhile, Mr S K Ghosh, Joint Secretary and the A.O. & E.O. of the Audit (PAC) Branch of the Higher Education Department in his letter no.21-HE/Audit (PAC)/1A-33/2013 dated 25 February 2014 to the senior Audit Officer to the Principal Accountant General of the Govt. of West Bengal categorically noted under para no.2 of page 3  the “non-adherence of basic essential qualifications and experiences for initial appointment in the case of Shri Jayanta Kishore Nandi, Dean of Students’ Welfare” in his audit inspection report on Vidyasagar University and a copy of this letter was forwarded to the Finance Officer and the Registrar of Vidyasagar University for information and necessary action.(Letter in possession of The Statesman).
As a mark of protest, Mrs Datta (Choudhuri) along with some students and non-teaching staff members led a movement and felicitated the present acting registrar with garland which infuriated the Trinamul Congress leadership.
“Later, our committee was dissolved and I was particularly feeling helpless when I saw my colleagues being heckled for inappropriate reasons let alone the kind of mental torture and harassment that I had to endure over the last two years, experiences that were not dissimilar to those that I faced during the Left regime. Fighting the battle within and without became difficult for me. It seemed like we had become mere puppets in the hands of a wanton king”, said Mrs Datta (Choudhuri).
In her letter to Mr Basu, Mrs Datta (Choudhuri) said, “This entire episode of our symbolic protest against nepotism and corruption, against inequality and injustice, against the authority's attempt to throttle our Fundamental Rights, was wrongly reported to the dignitaries who matter. It is also unfortunate that we, the members of our unit, have never been given an opportunity to explain our view-point. And, hence, you have been directed to dissolve the committee of our unit.”
“For this reason, in order to safe-guard my ideology and my dignity as a free citizen of an independent country I have no other option but to resign from the post of General Secretary of WBCUPA, VU Unit”, she mentioned in the letter.

Bengal

Junglemahal shows Mamata its gratitude

• The Statesman
• 17 May 2014

biswabrata goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 16 May
The tribal-dominated Jhargram parliamentary constituency which was once the hotbed of Maoist insurgency, voted the most for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s candidate, Ms Uma Soren, expressing their ‘love'  for her for maintaining peace in the forested land.
As a result, Ms Soren defeated her close contender, Dr Pulin Bihari Baske, a CPI-M candidate with a huge margin of more than 3 lakh votes.
A no-industry zone, this constituency has witnessed years of violence triggered by Maoists. In 2008, Junglemahal attracted nation-wide attention because of the killings and encounters between Maoists and security force personnel. For nearly three years since then, the region has been on the boil. But the turning point came with the death of Maoist leader Kishenji in November 2011. Junglemahal has seen no incidents of murder or abduction by Maoists in the last two years.
Restoration of peace in Junglemahal had raised expectations of Trinamul Congress that the party might be able to improve upon its tally of the Junglemahal seats in this election.
After the change of power in the state, Miss Banerjee had taken numerous steps for the development of the tribal lands and uplift of the tribal populace. She brought all people living in Junglemahal under the BPL category and introduced the scheme through which all communities in Junglemahal will get rice at Rs 2 per kg every week. Today, with peace restored, life is back to normal in this region. There is no fear of violence or of police raids or bandhs.
As per the promises made by Miss Banerjee, colleges, schools and community halls are coming up. Ponds are being dug under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
A Rs 60 crore bridge is being built from Lalgarh to Aamkola.
The state government has also employed more than 10,000 youths from the region in the police department. This has obviously made an impact among the tribal people who came out in large numbers during the polling day and voted for Mamata Banerjee’s candidate.

Bengal

TMC stars pocket ghatal, midnapore

• The Statesman
• 17 May 2014

dev wins with a whooping margin against santosh rana
Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 16 May
As the electoral battle in both the Midnapore and Ghatal parliamentary constituencies were tilted towards stardom, the Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's, star candidates,-  Dipak Adhikari (Dev) and Sandhya Roy won with whopping margins against their Left front candidates.
The contest in both the constituencies, though, was of truly fabled proportions, between novices and politically matured communist leaders.
Mrs Sandhya Roy, one of the leading ladies of Bengali cinema in the 1960s and a first-time candidate defeated the CPI candidate Mr Prabodh Panda with a margin of more than 1.8 lakhs votes. The CPI candidate's fate has been viewed particularly as tragic as the seat was represented by legendary parliamentarian and Marxist ideologue Indrajit Gupta for seven terms between 1980 and 1999.
Dev, a Tollywood star, on the other hand, managed an entry into political arena by defeating the CPI candidate Santosh Rana from Ghatal which is known as the stronghold of the Left for the past few decades.
Many political observers felt that fielding star candidates in the Left-dominated constituencies would stopped the winning run of the Left and this came true for these two constituencies where Ms Banerjee used the two celebrities as her trump cards.
In East Midnapore, the Adhikari dynasty continued its winning ways in the electoral battle where the veteran Trinamul Congress leader Sisir Adhikari from Kanthi constituency has defeated his close contestant Mr Tapas Sinha, a CPI-M candidate with a huge margin. Mr Sinha, a young candidate of the Left Front failed to make any crack in the Adhikari dynasty as he could not earn the faiths of the common people.
Like Mr Sinha, another young CPI-M candidate Sheikh Ibrahim Ali also failed to make any meaningful inroad on Mr Adhikari's son Subhendu's vote bank. Subhendu underscored his clear sweep in the constituency with a margin of more than 1.3 lakhs votes.
The victory of Subhendu Adhikari, a prime architect of the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007, came to a certain point on 27 March - the day former CPI-M MP and Haldia strongman Lakshman Seth was expelled from the party.
The main Opposition - the Left Front - had been in disarray in the district for the past few years, which got compounded since the expulsion of Mr Seth.

Bengal

Brisk voting turnout in Tamluk, Contai and Ghatal

• The Statesman
• 13 May 2014

Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Tamluk, 12 May
Polling for Tamluk, Contai and Ghatal parliamentary constituencies was marked by sporadic incidents of violence, booth jamming, rigging and intimidation. These two constituencies put up strong numbers much like the previous rounds of polling.
The turnout at 6 pm recorded by the Election Commission (EC) was 86.26% for Tamluk constituency, 85.44% for Contai constituency and 84.93% for Ghatal constituency.
The election special observers expressed satisfaction over the voting process. They, however, said that it was by-and-large peaceful, barring a few stray incidents of violence.
The Oppositions, CPI-M and Congress, however, brought several allegations of booth jamming, booth capturing and rigging against the ruling Trinamul Congress. The Left Front leaders are likely to lodge complaints with the EC with a demand of re-polling at 151 booths in Tamluk constituency alone.
Mr Tapas Sinha, a CPI-M candidate, who is taking on the veteran Trinamul Congress leader Mr Sisir Adhikari held the Trinamul Congress responsible for violating all types of election rules during the poll. He alleged that polling agents were beaten up and prevented from manning booths in several areas which include Chandipur, Bhagwanpur, Pataspur, Khejuri, Contai-North and South.
Mr Sinha who was critically beaten up by a group of unruly Trinamul Congress cadres at Bhagwanpur two days ago, also alleged that the prime accused, Nantu Pradhan, had captured at least three booths in Chandipur and cast all votes in favour of his party candidate in presence of police and security officers while he is being treated as an absconder.
The CPI-M leaders in Contai alleged that at least 70 booths of this constituency were captured and the party agents were beaten up. At several booths, voters were not allowed to exercise their franchises and they were forced to go back to their houses.
 “Electorates were intimidated by the ruling party workers at several areas. Election observers behaved like tourists and they preferred to stay either in Digha or in Haldia”, Mr Sinha alleged.
In Nandigram, which falls under Tamluk constituency, at least 100 booths were captured by the Trinamul Congress workers. With the beginning of the poll, Trinamul workers started capturing most of the booths in Gokulnagar, Sonachura and Samsabad areas and fake votes were cast. The situation was so serious that around 60 per cent polls took place within 10 am, the Left Front leaders alleged.
This apart, 27 booths in Haldia municipal area and 14 booths in Moyna were also rigged by the ruling party workers.
A state intelligence official said the degree of rigging at Nandigram was so furious that the ruling party candidate Mr Subhendu Adhikari who was the architect of the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007 is likely to win the poll with a largest margin against the opponent in West Bengal.
Mr Adhikari, however, brushed aside the allegation and said, “People have exercised their franchises freely and fearlessly. As the Opposition was confirmed of its defeat again in Tamluk, it has placed false allegation against our party. Nandigram people know what the CPI-M leaders did in their regime.”
In Ghatal constituency, the CPI-M and the Congress have held the Trinamul Congress for exercising a large scale of intimidation on the electorates, booth capturing, booth jamming and rigging.
Mr Santosh Rana, a CPI candidate who is contesting against the Tollywood star Dipak Adhikari (Dev) was himself prevented by a group of Trinamul workers at two booths (221 and 222) in Keshpur when he had gone there to verify the allegation of booth jamming from his party workers. Later, the security forces rescued him from clutches of the angered Trinamul workers and brought the situation under control.
A CPI worker, identified as Sheikh Matiuddin, was critically beaten up by the Trinamul workers when he had gone to cast his vote at Majurhati. One of the legs was broken and he was taken to the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. A local voter, named Abed Ali, was also beaten up and he suffered head injuries as the attackers beat him up with lathis.
In Beldoba village, a total of 450 electorates were gheraoed in their village till evening to prevent them from going to the booths. The CPI leaders alleged that the commission did not take any action even after repeated complaints were lodged.
In  Pngla, a CPI party office was vandalised and three persons were injured when the Trinamul Congress workers attacked them. In Harbandi village, a CPI agent, Nakul Kar, was kidnapped by the ruling party workers for several hours. He was later released just a few hours before the end of the polls.
In Ghatal, a considerable number of booths (2, 10, 24, 25, 27, 37, 38, 64, 69, 71, 72, 73) were captured by the ruling party workers.
A CPI-M local committee secretary was also beaten up by the Trinamul workers when he came out of a booth after casting his vote, the Left Front leaders alleged. The CPI is likely to appeal before the EC for re-poll at 95 booths in Ghatal
As the spotlight in this round was on Ghatal, where Trinamul’s star candidate, Dev, was taking on Mr Santosh Rana, special security was given to him.