Tornado catches N Bengal & Bihar sleeping, 107 dead
Subhro Maitra & Bhuvaneshwar Prasad | TNN
Raiganj/Purnia: Nature’s 30-minute Tandava in the dead of night left a trail of destruction along its path, with at least 72 dead and 200 injured in North Bengal and east Bihar. The toll from a tornado that whipped up wind speeds ranging from 80 to 125kmph is likely to go up as information trickles in from areas cut off after communication lines snapped.
The tornado ripped through nearly 100,000 homes in Bengal’s North Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri districts and Bihar’s Araria, Kishanganj, Supaul and Purnia. “From evidences like twisted trees and poles, the depth of the thundercloud and the volume of devastation, the storm appears to be a tornado,” said G C Debnath, director, Regional Meteorological Centre.
In North Dinajpur alone, 38 deaths were reported from four blocks that bore the brunt of the storm’s fury. Additional district magistrate P K Dutta said 18 deaths occurred in Karandighi block and eight in Raiganj. Three more died in Hemtabad and two in Kaliaganj. Most of the deaths were caused by houses collapsing. The police barracks in Raiganj was flattened.
“The casualties were high because the storm struck when people had retired for the night and were caught unawares,” Dutta said. Healthcare facilities in the districts are under tremendous strain with hundreds of injured pouring in at centres meant to treat a dozen.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is keeping track of rescue operations and has been constantly on the phone coordinating with officials, chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said. State disaster management minister Mortaza Hussain said 20,000 tarpaulins, dry food and garments had been sent to the affected areas. Civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee and tourism minister Manab Mukherjee are camping in the area and supervising relief and rescue operations.
In Bihar’s Purnia, Araria, Kishanganj and Katihar districts, at least 69 people were killed and 125 injured as the storm ripped apart homes and hurtled people to death. Many died when the storm turned tin roofs into deadly missiles, slicing through people who fell in their path. The Araria district jail’s 50-foot-high wall also caved in. “We are shifting the 650 inmates of Araria jail to Purnia jail,” a jail official said.
The worst-hit was Araria, where officials put the death toll at 33.Uprooted trees blocked National Highway 34, stranding traffic for hours. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1.5 lakh to next of kin of the deceased besides ordering construction of pucca houses under Indira Awas Yojana.
THE KILLER STORM
The tornado whipped up wind speeds ranging from 80 to 125kmph It ripped through nearly 100,000 homes in Bengal’s North Dinajpur & Jalpaiguri districts
39 deaths reported in North Dinajpur; 18 in Karandighi, 8 in Raiganj
69 deaths reported in Bihar; 33 in Araria, 29 in Purnia, 6 in Katihar, and 1 in Kishanganj ....published in TOI on 15.3.2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Begging there, loving it here
Alms And The Men: Pucca House, TV & Cellphone — All From Begging Stint In Punjab
Subhro Maitra | TNN
Malda: Beggars can’t be choosers, right? Wrong. For this band of intrepid alms-seekers from Malda, the right to choose is a perk that comes with the job — from TVs and mobile phones to how big their homes will be, they have made all the correct choices.
“The mud houses are vulnerable to floods, you know. So this time I had a pucca house built with concrete,” says Anath Halder. The 60-year-old, originally a fish-net weaver by profession, switched to begging once his eyesight started failing. When it became difficult to sustain his family of wife and four sons with the meagre earnings, Anath decided to try his luck in Punjab. He has never looked back.
“I left two of my sons here in Malda and went to Gurdaspur with my wife and other two sons. In a few months, I had saved up some money,” Anath says. How much? He doesn’t want to elaborate, but enough for him to open a bank account back home in Bulbulchandi, Malda. “The house had become weak after last year’s flood, so I decided to rebuild it,” he says. He has also married off two of his sons. Anath is now preparing to return to Punjab for another stint.
Hundreds like Anath from Malda have taken up begging in the cities of north India. Most of these families are Bangladeshi migrants hailing from Bulbulchandi, Aiho in Habibpur block, Bamangola block and other places near the India-Bangladesh border. They go in groups to pilgrimage cites and temple towns like Mathura, Vrindavan, Benaras and Amritsar in groups to beg. “Many of them never return as they have few family commitments. They take diksha and eventually adopt madhukari (begging as a livelihood). There’s nothing wrong in it,” says Subal Mandal of Aiho.
Dobapara in Bulbulchandi is one such village that houses a number of migrant beggar families. Located just 5 km from the Bangladesh border, most residents crossed over years ago. On this side, life has settled into an easy rhythm. While a few family members go away for months to beg, others tend to the cattle and fields.
Septuagenarian Nirmala Halder first went to Dinanagar in Punjab about 15 years back. “I had some gynaecological problems and needed to have an operation. But my sons were in no position to pay for it. So I decided to earn for myself and went with some villagers to Punjab. Even after paying for rent, food and travel, I managed to save at least Rs 1,000 each month.” After spending five years there, Nirmala had enough money to come back for treatment to Malda.
But once her convalescence was over, Nirmala couldn’t ignore the pull that her life in Punjab exerted on her. She went back to Dinanagar — returning home after a year always meant enough money for the impoverished family of two sons.
Do they ever face problems while begging so far away from their homes? “Sometimes police harass us, especially in Delhi, but we have identity cards,” said Radha Halder. They get quarters on rent and cheap food. Is there a commission to be paid? “No, we don’t have to share our earning with anyone. Rather, travelling by train is free as well. Who will ask beggars for tickets?” quips Radha.
The next generation — the sons and daughters of beggars — see nothing wrong with the profession. “Everybody in our village is doing this. Even I had gone to Punjab for two months. I’ll go there again. is there any work for me here?” asks 16-year-old Achintya Halder.
Asim, a 28-year-old youth, studied up to Class V and went to Dinanagar as a minor. “But once I grew up, it became difficult for me to beg. I switched to collecting plastic and other recyclable waste.” Today, he has enough to keep his family in rented accommodation in Punjab. He even has a TV and mobile phone at home. “I never take my mobile to work. It may attract unnecessary attention,” he says...published in TOI on 7.3.10
Subhro Maitra | TNN
Malda: Beggars can’t be choosers, right? Wrong. For this band of intrepid alms-seekers from Malda, the right to choose is a perk that comes with the job — from TVs and mobile phones to how big their homes will be, they have made all the correct choices.
“The mud houses are vulnerable to floods, you know. So this time I had a pucca house built with concrete,” says Anath Halder. The 60-year-old, originally a fish-net weaver by profession, switched to begging once his eyesight started failing. When it became difficult to sustain his family of wife and four sons with the meagre earnings, Anath decided to try his luck in Punjab. He has never looked back.
“I left two of my sons here in Malda and went to Gurdaspur with my wife and other two sons. In a few months, I had saved up some money,” Anath says. How much? He doesn’t want to elaborate, but enough for him to open a bank account back home in Bulbulchandi, Malda. “The house had become weak after last year’s flood, so I decided to rebuild it,” he says. He has also married off two of his sons. Anath is now preparing to return to Punjab for another stint.
Hundreds like Anath from Malda have taken up begging in the cities of north India. Most of these families are Bangladeshi migrants hailing from Bulbulchandi, Aiho in Habibpur block, Bamangola block and other places near the India-Bangladesh border. They go in groups to pilgrimage cites and temple towns like Mathura, Vrindavan, Benaras and Amritsar in groups to beg. “Many of them never return as they have few family commitments. They take diksha and eventually adopt madhukari (begging as a livelihood). There’s nothing wrong in it,” says Subal Mandal of Aiho.
Dobapara in Bulbulchandi is one such village that houses a number of migrant beggar families. Located just 5 km from the Bangladesh border, most residents crossed over years ago. On this side, life has settled into an easy rhythm. While a few family members go away for months to beg, others tend to the cattle and fields.
Septuagenarian Nirmala Halder first went to Dinanagar in Punjab about 15 years back. “I had some gynaecological problems and needed to have an operation. But my sons were in no position to pay for it. So I decided to earn for myself and went with some villagers to Punjab. Even after paying for rent, food and travel, I managed to save at least Rs 1,000 each month.” After spending five years there, Nirmala had enough money to come back for treatment to Malda.
But once her convalescence was over, Nirmala couldn’t ignore the pull that her life in Punjab exerted on her. She went back to Dinanagar — returning home after a year always meant enough money for the impoverished family of two sons.
Do they ever face problems while begging so far away from their homes? “Sometimes police harass us, especially in Delhi, but we have identity cards,” said Radha Halder. They get quarters on rent and cheap food. Is there a commission to be paid? “No, we don’t have to share our earning with anyone. Rather, travelling by train is free as well. Who will ask beggars for tickets?” quips Radha.
The next generation — the sons and daughters of beggars — see nothing wrong with the profession. “Everybody in our village is doing this. Even I had gone to Punjab for two months. I’ll go there again. is there any work for me here?” asks 16-year-old Achintya Halder.
Asim, a 28-year-old youth, studied up to Class V and went to Dinanagar as a minor. “But once I grew up, it became difficult for me to beg. I switched to collecting plastic and other recyclable waste.” Today, he has enough to keep his family in rented accommodation in Punjab. He even has a TV and mobile phone at home. “I never take my mobile to work. It may attract unnecessary attention,” he says...published in TOI on 7.3.10
Friday, March 5, 2010
Woman accuses hubby of kidnap
Subhro Maitra MALDA: Having an affair with someone linked to the corridors of power is fine, but if it doesn't culminate in marriage, the results can be disastrous. Eighteen year-old girl Himadri Burman learnt it the hard way after she broke up with senior CPM minister Sailen Sarkar's domestic help Ananta Roy and married Subhas Burman. The love story soon took a turn for the worse, with Himadri lodging a kidnap complaint with police against her husband within two days of their elopement and marriage. Subhas has been arrested.
In her complaint with Gajole police, Himadri claimed she was drugged and kidnapped by Subhas. Himadri's father Biswanath Roy, who accompanied her to the police station, refused to open up. Roy only hinted that he was under "pressure".
Soon after the marriage, police reached Subhas Burman's Gournandanbati house at Bamangola on Saturday and asked Himadri to show an age proof. The verification over, Himadri told police that she had married Subhas voluntarily. Subhas also pleaded with police not to disturb them as they were leading a happy married life.
Villagers have questioned the police's motive, and why the officers had come despite no one lodging a complaint. Subhas had reportedly hinted that Ananta, Himadri's former fiance, had pulled strings.
On Sunday, the newlyweds went to a local fair. Suddenly, Subhas found his wife missing. Unable to spot her, Subhas went to Bamangola PS to lodge a diary. But police reportedly detained him. This was the same time that Himadri lodged the drug-and-kidnap complaint against him. "I was not conscious when police came to Subhas's house on Saturday as I had been drugged," she claimed.
Ananta could not be reached for comments. Even CPM minister Sailen Sarkar is not taking calls. Sarkar has told CPM's Malda secretary Jiban Moitra that he had no hand in the development. "The minister told me that he has no role," Moitra said.
Malda SP Bhuban Mandal said, "We arrested Subhas after the girl lodged a complaint."..published on 2.2.2010
In her complaint with Gajole police, Himadri claimed she was drugged and kidnapped by Subhas. Himadri's father Biswanath Roy, who accompanied her to the police station, refused to open up. Roy only hinted that he was under "pressure".
Soon after the marriage, police reached Subhas Burman's Gournandanbati house at Bamangola on Saturday and asked Himadri to show an age proof. The verification over, Himadri told police that she had married Subhas voluntarily. Subhas also pleaded with police not to disturb them as they were leading a happy married life.
Villagers have questioned the police's motive, and why the officers had come despite no one lodging a complaint. Subhas had reportedly hinted that Ananta, Himadri's former fiance, had pulled strings.
On Sunday, the newlyweds went to a local fair. Suddenly, Subhas found his wife missing. Unable to spot her, Subhas went to Bamangola PS to lodge a diary. But police reportedly detained him. This was the same time that Himadri lodged the drug-and-kidnap complaint against him. "I was not conscious when police came to Subhas's house on Saturday as I had been drugged," she claimed.
Ananta could not be reached for comments. Even CPM minister Sailen Sarkar is not taking calls. Sarkar has told CPM's Malda secretary Jiban Moitra that he had no hand in the development. "The minister told me that he has no role," Moitra said.
Malda SP Bhuban Mandal said, "We arrested Subhas after the girl lodged a complaint."..published on 2.2.2010
Bank fraud with a twist, lakhs swindled
Money gone by the time authorities are alerted
Subhro Maitra | TNN
Malda: Faking currency notes does not hit the headlines anymore. The in-thing now is forging internal bank advice from branches not interconnected under a system called the core business solutions (CBS). It’s a flourishing business in Malda, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur. Kayesh Ali from Englishbazar tried this trick with the State Bank of India’s Amrity branch and withdrew Rs 19.25 lakh.
Ali deposited a cheque issued from Central Bank Of India’s Unnao branch in Uttar Pradesh. SBI’s Amrity branch in Malda where Ali deposited the cheque made the payment after routine verification. Days after releasing the cash, SBI’s reconciliation cell in Mumbai found to their surprise that there was no such account holder in CBI’s Unnao branch and the transaction was a fraud.
But how then did the SBI make the payment to Ali without checking the account? Investigators detected the fraud after taking it up with the SBI bank authorities.
Under the existing system, for cheques issued from non-CBS branches of banks other than SBI, the bank manager on receiving the cheque sends a letter to his counterpart in the area seeking advice whether to make the payment. The SBI branch manager, in this case the Unnao branch in uttar Pradesh gets in touch with CBI Unnao and sends the advice. The communication is done through courier agencies.
The police during investigation spotted a racket hand in glove with the courier agency. They take out the original papers and forge them including signatures of bank managers. So what the bank manager of SBI’s Amrity branch received as advice from his counterpart in Uttar Pradesh was a forged one. It said that the account holder had sufficient money and the cheque could be honoured. The bank manager acted on the advice and made the Rs 19.25 lakh payment to Ali. A similar fraud was detected in Malda’s main branch. The cheque was again issued from CBI’s U n n a o branch. It was a highvalue cheque of Rs 53.50 lakh. Two similar cheques of Rs 15.50 lakh and Rs 19.58 lakh have been deposited at two branches of SBI, Malda. However, the SBI has kept the cheques on hold after they got a hint of the forgery from its regional office.
Police have rounded up two persons Samarendra Mandal and Nibaran Ghosh in this connection from Ratua and is also looking for Kayesh Ali who withdrew the money. Investigators fear that an inter-state racket have been operating in the districts for quite sometime before it caught the notice of the bank authorities. According to police, the racket includes among others persons from the courier agency.
“The miscreants managed the original letter of SBI’s Amriti branch to the SBI manager Unnao seeking clearance of the cheque from the courier agency in Malda. They then forged the letter of clearance and also the signature of SBI bank officials in Unnao and sent it to SBI’s Amriti branch by courier”, said Kalyan Mukherjee, additional superintendent of police in Malda.
Subrata Mandal, officer of the SBI Amrity branch, made the payment of Rs19.25 lakh based on the forged letter. Mandal has been suspended. SBI has showcaused Mandal asking him how he made payment based on the forged letter within a week.
Following his suspension, the SBI Officers’ Association on Thursday called an indefinite strike in all 37 SBI branches in Malda and South Dinajpur demanding unconditional withdrawal of the suspension order....published in TOI on 5.3.10
Subhro Maitra | TNN
Malda: Faking currency notes does not hit the headlines anymore. The in-thing now is forging internal bank advice from branches not interconnected under a system called the core business solutions (CBS). It’s a flourishing business in Malda, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur. Kayesh Ali from Englishbazar tried this trick with the State Bank of India’s Amrity branch and withdrew Rs 19.25 lakh.
Ali deposited a cheque issued from Central Bank Of India’s Unnao branch in Uttar Pradesh. SBI’s Amrity branch in Malda where Ali deposited the cheque made the payment after routine verification. Days after releasing the cash, SBI’s reconciliation cell in Mumbai found to their surprise that there was no such account holder in CBI’s Unnao branch and the transaction was a fraud.
But how then did the SBI make the payment to Ali without checking the account? Investigators detected the fraud after taking it up with the SBI bank authorities.
Under the existing system, for cheques issued from non-CBS branches of banks other than SBI, the bank manager on receiving the cheque sends a letter to his counterpart in the area seeking advice whether to make the payment. The SBI branch manager, in this case the Unnao branch in uttar Pradesh gets in touch with CBI Unnao and sends the advice. The communication is done through courier agencies.
The police during investigation spotted a racket hand in glove with the courier agency. They take out the original papers and forge them including signatures of bank managers. So what the bank manager of SBI’s Amrity branch received as advice from his counterpart in Uttar Pradesh was a forged one. It said that the account holder had sufficient money and the cheque could be honoured. The bank manager acted on the advice and made the Rs 19.25 lakh payment to Ali. A similar fraud was detected in Malda’s main branch. The cheque was again issued from CBI’s U n n a o branch. It was a highvalue cheque of Rs 53.50 lakh. Two similar cheques of Rs 15.50 lakh and Rs 19.58 lakh have been deposited at two branches of SBI, Malda. However, the SBI has kept the cheques on hold after they got a hint of the forgery from its regional office.
Police have rounded up two persons Samarendra Mandal and Nibaran Ghosh in this connection from Ratua and is also looking for Kayesh Ali who withdrew the money. Investigators fear that an inter-state racket have been operating in the districts for quite sometime before it caught the notice of the bank authorities. According to police, the racket includes among others persons from the courier agency.
“The miscreants managed the original letter of SBI’s Amriti branch to the SBI manager Unnao seeking clearance of the cheque from the courier agency in Malda. They then forged the letter of clearance and also the signature of SBI bank officials in Unnao and sent it to SBI’s Amriti branch by courier”, said Kalyan Mukherjee, additional superintendent of police in Malda.
Subrata Mandal, officer of the SBI Amrity branch, made the payment of Rs19.25 lakh based on the forged letter. Mandal has been suspended. SBI has showcaused Mandal asking him how he made payment based on the forged letter within a week.
Following his suspension, the SBI Officers’ Association on Thursday called an indefinite strike in all 37 SBI branches in Malda and South Dinajpur demanding unconditional withdrawal of the suspension order....published in TOI on 5.3.10
Friday, February 26, 2010
Project bonanza for North Bengal
Kolkata: North Bengal, a Congress stronghold where the Trinamool is on a sticky wicket, came for particular attention from Mamata Banerjee. In the recent past, she has come under fire from Congress leaders for ignoring the region.
Apart from new trains and services, Mamata announced water-bottling plants under the PPP mode at Malda and Farakka, apart from a number of hospitals. Of the four multi-disciplinary training centres to be set up across the country, two will be in Cooch Behar and Malda.
New Jalpaiguri will get a rail axle factory that will reduce the railways’ dependence on imports.
Of the 94 Adarsh stations planned across the country, 28 are in Bengal alone. Bolpur and Kharagpur have joined the list of stations that are to be developed into world-class terminals. As many as 22 stations in the state will be converted into multi-functional complexes.
A coach factory will be set up at Kanchrapara, and a diesel multiple unit (DMU) factory under JV/PPP mode at Sankrail, Howrah. The Kharagpur workshop will be developed into the country’s first centre of excellence in wagon prototyping, Mamata announced. Work on the eastern leg of the dedicated freight corridor will start in Dankuni in Hooghly this year.
Locations in Bengal figured in almost every paragraph of Mamata’s speech. Every time, an MP objected to the “Bengal centric budget”, Mamata would brush it off in her street-fighter way.
At least one of Mamata’s announcements evoked a sense of nostalgia among the elderly who have travelled by train from the Northeast to Kolkata before 1971. She announced a rail link between Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala, and a special train — Sanskriti Express — from Kolkata to Dhaka on the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. This will provide a shorter route from Bengal to the North-East via Bangladesh. She also announced a new line from Jogbani to Biratnagar in Nepal.
In a bid too woo urban voters, Mamata announced four extensions of the Kolkata Metro and more suburban trains on the Howrah and Sealdah sector and two more women specials.
The list of trains for Bengal seems to be an unending one. Five of the 16 Bharat Tirth trains will start from Howrah. The state has also got three Duronto trains and 17 of the 53 express trains. Five of the nine new railway line projects are also in Bengal.
It was not just about trains, tracks and factories. Mamata crossed boundaries to announce a sports academy in Kolkata (one of five across the country) and two museums on Rabindranath Tagore at Howrah and Bolpur.
Finally, she came good on her promise to give a job to each family that gives up their land for the freight corridor...published in TOI on 25.02.10
Apart from new trains and services, Mamata announced water-bottling plants under the PPP mode at Malda and Farakka, apart from a number of hospitals. Of the four multi-disciplinary training centres to be set up across the country, two will be in Cooch Behar and Malda.
New Jalpaiguri will get a rail axle factory that will reduce the railways’ dependence on imports.
Of the 94 Adarsh stations planned across the country, 28 are in Bengal alone. Bolpur and Kharagpur have joined the list of stations that are to be developed into world-class terminals. As many as 22 stations in the state will be converted into multi-functional complexes.
A coach factory will be set up at Kanchrapara, and a diesel multiple unit (DMU) factory under JV/PPP mode at Sankrail, Howrah. The Kharagpur workshop will be developed into the country’s first centre of excellence in wagon prototyping, Mamata announced. Work on the eastern leg of the dedicated freight corridor will start in Dankuni in Hooghly this year.
Locations in Bengal figured in almost every paragraph of Mamata’s speech. Every time, an MP objected to the “Bengal centric budget”, Mamata would brush it off in her street-fighter way.
At least one of Mamata’s announcements evoked a sense of nostalgia among the elderly who have travelled by train from the Northeast to Kolkata before 1971. She announced a rail link between Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala, and a special train — Sanskriti Express — from Kolkata to Dhaka on the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. This will provide a shorter route from Bengal to the North-East via Bangladesh. She also announced a new line from Jogbani to Biratnagar in Nepal.
In a bid too woo urban voters, Mamata announced four extensions of the Kolkata Metro and more suburban trains on the Howrah and Sealdah sector and two more women specials.
The list of trains for Bengal seems to be an unending one. Five of the 16 Bharat Tirth trains will start from Howrah. The state has also got three Duronto trains and 17 of the 53 express trains. Five of the nine new railway line projects are also in Bengal.
It was not just about trains, tracks and factories. Mamata crossed boundaries to announce a sports academy in Kolkata (one of five across the country) and two museums on Rabindranath Tagore at Howrah and Bolpur.
Finally, she came good on her promise to give a job to each family that gives up their land for the freight corridor...published in TOI on 25.02.10
Ghani family divided over sops
Team TOI
One hailed it as “visionary”, the other was “utterly disappointed” — Mamata Banerjee’s Railway Budget, which was hailed across North Bengal for its potential to impact the region in a way son of the soil Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s budget did during his tenure in the ’80s, seemed, rather ironically, to have caused a vertical split in the family of the late Congress stalwart.
Just like the geographical division of their constituencies, Malda North MP Mausam Noor and Malda South MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury were sharply divided in their reaction to Didi’s budget doles. While Noor, who is Ghani Khan’s niece, chose to look beyond immediate gains, Abu Hasem, his brother, found the budget sops paltry and laced with politics.
But Mamata, who was accused of ignoring North Bengal last year, did make a special attempt to reach out this time. Across cities that dot this region, there was spontaneous cheer as Mamata read her budget speech in Parliament, announcing a slew of projects that ranged from a packaged drinking water plant
in Jalpaiguri’s New Mal to railway training centres in Malda and Cooch Behar and a super speciality hospital in Malda. Two projects — a coach repairing shed proposed at New Jalpaiguri and laying of new tracks between Haldibari and Changrabanda via Mekhliganj — drew the loudest cheers. While the former will generate employment, the latter will augment infrastructure in the region.
Noor congratulated the railway minister for focusing on employment generation, something “baromama (Ghani Khan)” would do. “This rail budget definitely has more vision than immediate gains,” said Noor, adding: “With stress on infrastructure growth, Mamatadi has moved the Indian Railways a step further. Both the hospital and the institute will help create jobs. After baromama, no one has paid any heed to employment generation here.”
But her uncle railed against Mamata’s disregard for a list of proposals he had given her. “None of them (proposals in the list) was sanctioned. I’m utterly disappointed”, said Abu Hasem. “I wanted a Rajdhani express touching Malda, a superfast train between Malda and Kolkata and a train from Malda to Mumbai, among others. But nothing was approved.” ...published in TOI on 25.02.10
One hailed it as “visionary”, the other was “utterly disappointed” — Mamata Banerjee’s Railway Budget, which was hailed across North Bengal for its potential to impact the region in a way son of the soil Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s budget did during his tenure in the ’80s, seemed, rather ironically, to have caused a vertical split in the family of the late Congress stalwart.
Just like the geographical division of their constituencies, Malda North MP Mausam Noor and Malda South MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury were sharply divided in their reaction to Didi’s budget doles. While Noor, who is Ghani Khan’s niece, chose to look beyond immediate gains, Abu Hasem, his brother, found the budget sops paltry and laced with politics.
But Mamata, who was accused of ignoring North Bengal last year, did make a special attempt to reach out this time. Across cities that dot this region, there was spontaneous cheer as Mamata read her budget speech in Parliament, announcing a slew of projects that ranged from a packaged drinking water plant
in Jalpaiguri’s New Mal to railway training centres in Malda and Cooch Behar and a super speciality hospital in Malda. Two projects — a coach repairing shed proposed at New Jalpaiguri and laying of new tracks between Haldibari and Changrabanda via Mekhliganj — drew the loudest cheers. While the former will generate employment, the latter will augment infrastructure in the region.
Noor congratulated the railway minister for focusing on employment generation, something “baromama (Ghani Khan)” would do. “This rail budget definitely has more vision than immediate gains,” said Noor, adding: “With stress on infrastructure growth, Mamatadi has moved the Indian Railways a step further. Both the hospital and the institute will help create jobs. After baromama, no one has paid any heed to employment generation here.”
But her uncle railed against Mamata’s disregard for a list of proposals he had given her. “None of them (proposals in the list) was sanctioned. I’m utterly disappointed”, said Abu Hasem. “I wanted a Rajdhani express touching Malda, a superfast train between Malda and Kolkata and a train from Malda to Mumbai, among others. But nothing was approved.” ...published in TOI on 25.02.10
Malda family wants to sell child for Rs 10K
Subhro Maitra | TNN
Malda: An impoverished couple in Malda has decided to sell one of their five children to anyone who pays Rs 10,000. Kayesh Sheikh and his wife Arina Bibi of Sailpur, 20 km from Malda town, have been putting up placards announcing this at their village. Hundreds of villagers are mute spectators to this “shame”, but little has been done to alleviate their condition.
Kayesh and Arina have three sons and two daughters. Kayesh had worked as a migrant labourer in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and earned enough for sustenance. However, tragedy befell him three years ago in Hyderabad, when he fell from a mobile tower and broke his spine. “I returned home but never fully recovered,” said Kayesh. The cost of treating Kayesh, combined with running their seven-member household, proved too much for the couple. “We had to sell every household item to feed the children,” said Arina.
The couple had to depend on neighbours’ help, but it wasn’t enough. “They help us out, but how much can they do?” said Kayesh. Daughter Khosenur and son Anwar sometimes help out as agricultural labourers, and thus have little formal education. “If any couple offers us Rs 10,000, I’ll sell one of my children to treat my husband,” said a weeping Arina.
“Their condition is pathetic,” said Tafijul Hossain, gram panchayat member of Narhatta. “But they don’t have their names registered on the BPL list, which would have ensured some help.”
Malda SDO Prakash Pal said: “The administration is ready to take the responsibility of the children if the parents find them a burden,” he said, assuring that he would send teams to the village to look into the matter...published in TOI on 26.02.10
Malda: An impoverished couple in Malda has decided to sell one of their five children to anyone who pays Rs 10,000. Kayesh Sheikh and his wife Arina Bibi of Sailpur, 20 km from Malda town, have been putting up placards announcing this at their village. Hundreds of villagers are mute spectators to this “shame”, but little has been done to alleviate their condition.
Kayesh and Arina have three sons and two daughters. Kayesh had worked as a migrant labourer in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and earned enough for sustenance. However, tragedy befell him three years ago in Hyderabad, when he fell from a mobile tower and broke his spine. “I returned home but never fully recovered,” said Kayesh. The cost of treating Kayesh, combined with running their seven-member household, proved too much for the couple. “We had to sell every household item to feed the children,” said Arina.
The couple had to depend on neighbours’ help, but it wasn’t enough. “They help us out, but how much can they do?” said Kayesh. Daughter Khosenur and son Anwar sometimes help out as agricultural labourers, and thus have little formal education. “If any couple offers us Rs 10,000, I’ll sell one of my children to treat my husband,” said a weeping Arina.
“Their condition is pathetic,” said Tafijul Hossain, gram panchayat member of Narhatta. “But they don’t have their names registered on the BPL list, which would have ensured some help.”
Malda SDO Prakash Pal said: “The administration is ready to take the responsibility of the children if the parents find them a burden,” he said, assuring that he would send teams to the village to look into the matter...published in TOI on 26.02.10
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