CMYK
03
THUMBNAILS
Clay models of Lord
Ganesh ahead of Ganesh
Chaturthi at Kumartuli in
Kolkata on Wednesday.
��SNS
Dhankhar wishes Pranab
fast recovery: Governor
Jagdeep Dhankar today
prayed for the long life
and good health of for-
mer president of India,
Pranab Mukherjee during
a function at Visva
Bharati University in
Shantiniketan on Wednes-
day. “A proud son of Birb-
hum, former president of
India, Bharat Ratna
awardee, Pranab Mukher-
jee is undergoing health
issues and is admitted to
Army Hospital in New
Delhi. Let us all pray for
his long life and good
health,” he said. SNS
Items stolen from KMC
central store: KMC Engi-
neers and Allied Services
Union has demanded an
impartial enquiry into
theft of 19 tons of valu-
ables worth Rs 15 lakhs
from the KMC’s central
store. They demanded
suspension of security
guards, alleging KMC is
covering up the theft. SNS
TMC leader
‘comes clean’ on
NREGA funds
KATWA, 12 AUGUST
TMC leader, Partha Ghosh,
a member of the local Pan-
chayat Samiti in Katwa-2
Block, admitted the charge
of usurping MGNREGA
funds that was meant for the
wage labourers.
He has given a written
undertaking to refund the
‘looted’ sum, shortly. Partha
Ghosh was accused of
usurping rupees five lakh
disbursed by the Panchay-
at Samiti against the wages
of the MGNREGA wage
labourers of Chhoto
Meigachhi village. The ben-
eficiaries from the village
complained that their wages
against the jobs done by
them during 2017-18 and
2018-19 financial years,
were still pending and not
credited to their respec-
tive accounts. They visited
the Panchayat Samiti office
during lockdown and were
shown papers by officials
which claimed that the
funds were already dis-
bursed in their favour under
the responsibility of Partha
Ghosh.
The aggrieved job card
holder beneficiaries later
came to know that the
leader had prepared a forged
master roll with fictitious
names of 65 ‘unidentified’
labourers and had sub-
mitted that at the PS office.
He withdrew funds worth
Rs 5 lakh. The labourers fur-
ther alleged that Ghosh,
with the help of PS officials,
had issued 12 job cards in
favour of his family mem-
bers.
The residence of Ghosh
was surrounded and vil-
lagers demanded imme-
diate refund of the money.
Ghosh accepted that he
had withdrawn Rs 1.80 lakh
and said, “I will refund Rs
2 lakh but I have no idea as
to where the rest of the
amount is.” SNS
Forest dept officials rescue rare animals during lockdown
DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
DURGAPUR, 12 AUGUST
State forest department has
recovered many rare birds,
snakes and other animal species
in Burdwan (W) during lock-
down when creatures began
reclaiming their lost space
without human activities.
Talking to The Statesman,
Milon Kanti Mondal, divi-
sional forest officer (DFO) of
Durgapur, said, “In the past
few months since the lock
Bereaved family of doc
asked to fork out Rs 19L
Woman died outside a private hospital after her relatives failed to pay Rs 3 lakhs
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
I
n an unprecedented move
the West Bengal Clinical
Establishment Regulato-
ry Commission
(WBCERC) today has asked
the Medica Super Speciality
Hospital (MSSH) along EM
Bypass to review a Rs 19 lakh
bill for treatment of a Covid-
affected patient, Dr Pradip
Bhattacharya, who died at
the hospital on Monday.
The commission has also
proposed the MSSH man-
agement to refund a portion
of the amount by reducing the
bill to the bereaved family of
the deceased doctor of Shyam-
nagar in North 24 Parganas.
Different doctors’ bodies
came down hard on the pri-
vate hospital on social media
for overcharging on Dr Bhat-
Unemployment rate in Bengal
reduced by 40 pc: Mamata
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee on Wednes-
day claimed that the unem-
ployment rate in the state
has been reduced by 40 per
cent at a time when the coun-
try is witnessing an all time high
of 24 per cent joblesssness.
Moreover one lakh unem-
ployed youths in the state
will be provided with soft
loans and subsidies to become
self reliant under the gov-
ernment's 'Karma Sathi
Prakapla', she said on Inter-
national Youth Day.
“Today is #Internationa-
lYouthDay. #GoWB is com-
mitted to empowering the
youth. A new scheme 'Karma
Sathi Prakalpa was launched
by #Bengal Govt. One lakh
unemployed youth will be
provided soft loans and sub-
sidies to make them self-
reliant,” she tweeted.
“When the unemployment
rate in India is at an all-time
high of 24 per cent, unem-
SILENT OUTCRY
Health workers silently demonstrate against hospital management at Marawari Relief Society
Hospital, in Kolkata on Wednesday. � SNS
20,000 taxis to stay off roads on 7 Sept
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
The ongoing impasse between
the state government and the
public transport operators
seems to be far from getting over
as a section of taxi operators affil-
iated under All India Trade
Union Congress (AITUC) have
called for a strike on 7 September.
As per the West Bengal Taxi
Operators’ Co-ordination
Committee (AITUC) over
20000 taxis are expected to stay
off the city roads on that day.
The taxi drivers under the
Leftist trade union have decid-
ed to withdraw services for 24
hours to protest against the
state government’s alleged
apathy towards them on the
issue of the hike in the fare.
down period started in late
March, our forest department
has rescued and saved nine
pythons, two falcons, three
eagles, big turtle, three big and
rare owls, rare sand boa, krait,
cobra, Russel viper , monkey
etc. Most were injured. Birds
have been treated and released
in the dense forest parts.”
From Sonepur Bazar area
of ECL, the forest officials have
rescued an eagle. It was two-
and-half feet in length with spot-
ted wings. This bird is very rare
tacharya’s treatment, prompt-
ing the commission headed
by retired judge Ashim Kumar
Banerjee to take up the issue
with the MSSH management.
“We have come to know
about the bill amount from
social media and he was a pop-
ular doctor in his locality. I have
requested the hospital man-
agement to review the bill
and refund a portion of the
amount to the deceased doc-
tor’s family. They have assured
me to reconsider the bill so that
the bereaved family can get
back some money,” justice
Banerjee said.
In another incident, the
commission has also direct-
ed another private hospital
authority to appear before a
hearing at its office on 19
August.
On Tuesday, a Covid-affect-
ed female patient was denied
ployment rate in #Bengal
reduced by 40%,” she added.
Banerjee said she is hope-
ful that like in the past, the hard-
working and talented youth
of Bengal will lead the coun-
try to a bright future.
“We are proud of our youth.
They are the future. The new
generation will take our nation
“We demand revision of taxi
fare at the rate rupees 50 for
first two kilometres instead of
rupees 30 and rupees 25 for
additional kilometre instead
of rupees 15 for the poor taxi
drivers and owners so that
they can earn their livelihood,”
said the convenor of West
Bengal Taxi Operators’ Co-
ordination Committee
(AITUC). “In case of waiting
charges we demand rupees 2.50
instead of rupees 1.30 for
every 2 minutes 12 seconds
considering the hardship that
taxi operators are facing in the
post lockdown situation. We
have already waited for near-
ly two months. But despite
repeated letters and deputa-
tion to the state authorities, no
response has been received as
and is known as Indian Eagle
Owl or Rock Eagle Owl and is
not found in this part of the
world. For the first time this bird
has been spotted in Burdwan
West. “Long tailed eagles which
are mostly snake eaters have
been rescued near the Kazi
Nazrul Islam Airport area in
Andal . It must have travelled
a few thousand kilometres as
this bird is not common in these
industrial belts of the state,” DFO
Milon Mondal said.
Three rare owl species
There was no scientific reason or logic behind this
erratic decision
LEADER OF LEFT FRONT LEGISLATIVE PARTY SUJAN CHAKRABORTY
ON THE MAMATA BANERJEE GOVERNMENT’S DECISION OF BI-WEEKLY LOCKDOWN
admission at the hospital
along EM Bypass and died in
an ambulance that brought her
to the private healthcare unit
after her relatives could not pay
Rs 3 lakh rupees as advance
money during her admission.
Her relatives said that her
husband had also died of
coronavirus last week and
she also contracted the viral
infection.
She was brought to a nurs-
ing home at Park Circus from
Tamluk in East Midnapore
first and then rushed to the pri-
vate hospital.
“The hospital authority
demanded three lakh rupees
as advance money from us dur-
ing her admission. But only Rs
80,000 was lying with us and
we requested them to get the
patient admitted assuring
them to pay the remainder
within a few days. But they
forward. The youth are tal-
ented, skilful, hardworking.
Their dreams of today will
become a reality tomorrow,”
she added.
International Youth Day
is observed around the world
on this day to highlight issues
impacting the youth around
the globe.
yet. We are against charging
additional fares without the
approval of the state govern-
ment. Considering the situa-
tion, we are forced to withdraw
services. We have decided to
go on a 24 hours strike on 7 Sep.
A mass deputation will also be
organised on the same day
between 12 pm to 3 p.m. in front
of Paribahan Bhavan at R.N.
Mukherjee Road,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CITU affil-
iated taxi operators have
extended their support on
the demands of their coun-
terparts in West Bengal Taxi
Operators’ Co-ordination
Committee (AITUC). How-
ever, they have decided to
stay in ‘wait and watch’ mode
for some time more, before tak-
ing a call on the strike.
were also rescued from Asan-
sol, Ukhra, and Jamuria areas.
About seventy species of rep-
tiles were recovered which
include pythons, cobra, krait,
Russel Viper etc. But the most
surprising fact is the rescue of
a rare sand boa snake in the
district. This is the first time
that sand boa snake has been
spotted in the South Bengal
area. This snake is in huge
demand in the black market
and is protected under Wildlife
Protection Act 1972 in India.
CMYK
demanded the entire amount
of Rs 3 lakh rupees. In the
meantime, the patient writhing
in pain died inside the ambu-
lance,” the deceased’s relatives
alleged.
“We are registering a suo
moto case against the hospi-
tal. They have been asked to
appear before a hearing in our
commission office on 19
August,”the WBCERC chief
said.
On Saturday, the commis-
sion had issued an advisory
to streamline the system of
advance money deposited to
hospitals during admissions
of corona-affected persons.
WBCERC directed private
hospitals not to take more than
Rs 50,000 or 20 per cent of the
estimated treatment cost,
whichever is lower, as advance
money during the process
related to admissions.
Constant
tinkering of
lockdown dates
irks CPM, BJP
KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
CPI-M and the BJP today crit-
icised the state government
over the withdrawal of com-
plete lockdown date on 28
August.
The West Bengal gov-
ernment on Wednesday
effected a change in the
state-wide complete lock-
downs in the state for the fifth
time and decreased it by a
day by withdrawing the slat-
ed one on August 28.
The decision to with-
draw the complete lock-
down on August 28 was
taken after several com-
munications were received
citing difficulty to conduct
business and banking oper-
ations because of two days'
lockdown during Thursday
(August 27) and Friday
(August 28) in the last week
of the month.
BJP national secretary
Rahul Sinha said that the state
government turned the lock-
down process into a farce.
" The Mamata Banerjee gov-
ernment is only interested
in fulfilling its narrow polit-
ical gains. On 28 August,
TMC student's wing will
organize a political pro-
gramme following its foun-
dation day, which is also
another bigger cause for the
party to change the 28 August
lockdown date. " he said.
CPI-M central commit-
tee member and leader of the
Left Front Legislative Party,
Sujan Chakraborty said that
in Bengal lockdown could be
changed several times to
fulfil TMC's hidden agenda.
"Miss Banerjee in the name
of complete lockdown is
duping its people. Since the
beginning of the biweekly
complete lockdown, she is
misleading people, and there
was no scientific reason or
logic behind this erratic deci-
sion," he said. Lambasting
Miss Banerjee’s decision to
revoke lockdown on 28
August leader of the Oppo-
sition in the Lok Sabha,
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
said smacks of “administra-
tive directionless”. If the per-
son running the state over-
looks a long string of bank
holidays, it is a pointer to her
lack of seriousness. SNS
BJP using Tagore to score political brownie points
BISWABRATA GOSWAMI
KRISHNAGAR, 12 AUGUST
The BJP is now using
Rabindranath Tagore in polit-
ical slugfests to gain in West
Bengal, as was apparent from
recent past elections in the
state.
Apart from Trinamul supre-
mo Mamata Banerjee and
even CPI-M leader Surya
Kanta Mishra, who both high-
lighted Tagore’s song or his ide-
ology in different times dur-
ing their speeches, especial-
ly before elections, BJP top
brasses have started showing
interest in Tagore during their
speeches in various pro-
grammes.
The reference to Tagore is
not just limited to slogans.
Famous lines from his poems
are being used by Prime Min-
ister Modi and WB chief min-
ister Banerjee to take pot-
shots at each other. Modi
KOLKATA, THURSDAY 13 AUGUST 2020
More static centres for rapid
Covid tests on KMC radar
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
The Kolkata Municipal Cor-
poration (KMC) is looking
for spaces to set up more
labs to increase Covid testing
in all boroughs of the civic body
while it has already tested
samples of around 35000 peo-
ple in Kolkata.
The KMC board member
in charge of health, Atin
Ghosh, today said that the
KMC aims to increase the
number of static centres for
conducting the rapid antigen
and RT-PCR tests. “We are look-
ing for space to set up more
labs but space is not readily
available. Our aim is to cover
all the boroughs of the KMC.
Testing is most vital to check
the increase in Covid cases.
There are many who are
asymptomatic and hence
need to undergo testing to
ensure they don’t spread the
disease further,”
Mr Ghosh explained that
upto now around 35000 sam-
BJP’s ‘horse-trading’
politics defeated: Adhir
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
Leader of the Congress in the
Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury on Wednesday
said the resolution of the
Rajasthan political crisis has
dealt a blow to the BJP's
“horse-trading” politics.
Describing young lead-
ers such as Sachin Pilot as the
future of the party, the veteran
Congress MP also hailed the
political acumen of Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
for “beating BJP at its own
game”.
“The Rajasthan episode
has destroyed the myth that
the BJP and its theatrics
cannot be beaten. The horse-
trading politics of the BJP has
been defeated.
“It was a pleasure to watch
BJP shifting its MLAs to other
states out of fear that they
might switch over to the
Congress,” Chowdhury said.
The BJP can be defeated
at their own game and
Rajasthan is an example of
it, he said.
Some cops going easy
on BJP leaders: TMC MP
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
HOOGHLY, 12 AUGUST
Arambagh Trinamul MP,
Aparupa Poddar, has lashed
out at the police, accusing
them of lapses in controlling
the law and order in her con-
stituency and alleged that a sec-
tion of police officers are going
“soft” on some BJP leaders and
workers in the district.
The continuous political
violence, surrounding issues
such as setting up of a Covid
crematorium, has been rock-
ing Arambagh sub division in
recent times. The BJP in the
district has been building up
pressure on the Trinamul MP,
accusing her of “indifference”
to such episodes of violence
and held her accountable for
all such incidents.
The Trinamul MP told The
Statesman, “Rumours are
being circulated against me
recently quoted Tagore’s lines
“where the mind is without
fear” to take a dig at Baner-
jee for the alleged use of ter-
ror tactics by the TMC.
The BJP’s leaning on Tagore
is slowly appearing crystal-
clear as its district unit in
Nadia launched a massive
membership drive from their
ples have been collected for
the Covid tests and civic body
intends to increase the num-
ber of both rapid antigen and
RT-PCR tests. “At present, for
RT-PCR tests, a total of nine
vehicles, equipped with facil-
ities of testing, are roaming in
different boroughs of the city.
We are also arranging to con-
duct rapid antigen tests in Bor-
oughs for six days a week. Cen-
tres will be also set up in
every ward, for such tests,
soon” said Ghosh.
He pointed out, “Those
that are testing negative for
Covid-19 in rapid antigen
tests are being referred for RT-
PCR tests in 48 hours. We are
also handing over fitness cer-
tificates to those who test
negative for the virus. This cer-
tificate will help citizens in sev-
eral clearance purposes which
could be related to their work
“Ashok Gehlot's political
acumen forced BJP to call for
a retreat. I am really happy
that Sachin Pilot has returned
to Rajasthan. The develop-
ment proves that we can
solve any crisis amicably.
Leaders like Sachin Pilot are
future of our party,” the
member of the Congress
Working Committee (CWC)
said.
Asked whether the reso-
lution of the political impasse
in Rajasthan has bolstered
Rahul Gandhi’s stature as a
leader who can manage
crises, Chowdhury said, he
had already proved his abil-
ities during the formation of
government in Karnataka
in 2018.
“It is due to the betrayal
of a few people there that we
lost power to BJP in 2019,”
he said. He said Congress gen-
eral secretary Priyanka Gand-
hi played a crucial role in
resolving the Rajasthan cri-
sis. Pilot returned to Jaipur
on Tuesday, nearly a month
after he rebelled against
Gehlot.
that I remain indifferent
towards day to day happen-
ing in Arambagh for which
political clashes and unrest
among the common people
is on the rise. This is not true.
As an MP of Arambagh, I take
stock of day-to-day incidents
in my constituency and issue
directives accordingly.”
“I am not getting co-oper-
ation from Arambagh SDPO,
Arambagh IC and the police
super in keeping up law and
order in the constituency. It
is shocking that whenever I
call Hooghly rural SP over
phone, to discuss matters
related with law and order, he
is never ready to respond”
alleged MP Aparupa Poddar.
She added, “Moreover, the
district magistrate Mr. Y. Rat-
nakar Rao and the Arambagh
SDO in consultation with the
Arambagh civic body, have
spotted out an ideal place to
party office in Krishnagar by
singing one of Tagore's pop-
ular songs – ‘E Desher Mati
Amar’.
The party’s Nadia North dis-
trict president, Ashu Ghosh
said, “They have a target to do
10 lakh memberships ahead
of the forthcoming assembly
election. In the state, the tar-
and travel.”
Commenting on measures
to curb Covid numbers in
residential complexes, he said
“We have instructed ward
and Borough coordinators
to conduct a survey in hous-
ing complexes to determine
the number of elderly citizens
who could be potential
patients for co-morbidities. We
have also set up telemedicine
facilities for such senior cit-
izens. Strict surveillance is
also being carried out on per-
sons who are in home isola-
tion. At least 40 percent of the
affected are in home isolation
facilities.”
Meanwhile, as per KMC
report compiled on 10 August,
the present number of con-
tainment zones in the city has
come down to 23. Around
eleven containment zones
have come up in mixed
premises while there are a total
of four flats under these zones.
Most affected areas are Bagha-
jatin-G Block, Phoolbagan
and Ballygunge.
BJP workers in
Purulia join
Trinamul
PURULIA, 12 AUGUST
About 450 families, who were
BJP supporters and 11 persons
from various party organisa-
tional leaders of BJP, have
joined Trinamul Congress in
Baghmundi block of Purulia
district.
They joined in presence of
TMC district president, Guru-
pada Tudu, sabhadipati of
Purulia Zilla Parishad, Sujoy
Banerjee and district Yuva
president, Sushanta Mahato
etc.
They include mondal pres-
ident of Baghmundi block,
Rameswar Mahato, Block
Women Mondal president,
Anjana Singh Sardar etc. They
alleged that despite working
real hard for the last gram pan-
chayat elections for BJP, the
top brass ignored them.
“The most disturbing fact
is that during lockdown peo-
ple have not received any
support from BJP,” alleged
Rameswar Mahato.Vidyasagar
Chakraborty, BJP district pres-
ident said those expelled from
BJP are joining TMC. SNS
set up a crematorium for
Covid-19 dead bodies but the
BJP leadership is misguid-
ing the local people and pro-
voking them against the local
administration.”
The state BJP member,
Mr. Bhaskar Bhattacharya
said, “We highly appreciate the
impartial stand of the Aram-
bagh police administration in
dealing with the law and order
in Arambagh. The sudden out-
burst of the Arambagh TMC
MP against the police admin-
istration is an outcome of
frustration since she is unable
to make the police according
to the tune of the ruling party.”
On the contrary, West Bengal
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar
recently tweeted a number of
times against against “biased
attitude of the state police
administration” and called
them “errand boys” of the
state government.
get is to make 3 crore mem-
bers through this programme”.
The ‘much designed’ mem-
bership programme, inter-
estingly, started on 22 Shra-
van, the death anniversary of
Tagore in Kolkata where the
party’s state president Dilip
Ghosh informed that one can
give a missed call on the
party's number, log onto the
website and register as a
member.
“Bengali’s have been
maligned everywhere. Now
they say, Bengalis resort to
fights. We are referred to as a
non-Bengali party. Shyama
Prasad Mukherjee was from
Bengal itself, he asked
Rabindranath Tagore to give
a lecture in Bengali because
of him,” the BJP leader said.
Many people, however, opine
BJP’s leaning on Tagore is to
counter the TMC supremo’s
strategy of labelling them as
a party of the Hindi heartlands.