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IT union plans crèche in Sector V

2008-06-14T16:57:00.002+05:30

Sobia Khan | TNN

Kolkata: An IT union, often criticised for just being there, intends to set up a crèche in Sector V, the first such in the city’s tech hub, for the benefit of young mothers employed in the various infotech companies operating in the electronics complex.
West Bengal Information Technology Services Association (WBITSA) — whose establishment in November 2006 ruffled quite a few local IT honchos — has already held preliminary talks with Webel and Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) about being allotted space to set up such a facility.
“We heard that quite a few people were leaving their jobs in the absence of such facilities, and being a responsible body, we felt that if no one else was doing it, we should come forward and set up a crèche ourselves since our goal is to promote the cause of IT in Bengal,” WBITSA general secretary Somnath Bhattacharya said.
However, Bhattacharya declined to comment on why local IT companies, which project themselves as progressive employers and have a large number of women employees, had not set up a crèche till date in Sector V. “We are willing to work with companies for ensuring that the crèche benefits as many IT sector employees as possible,” he said, adding that modalities on size and timing are still being worked out.
NITA chairman S A Ahmed said his organisation supported the crèche initiative. “We will provide all possible help to make it a success,” Ahmed said.
Incidentally, Bangalore and Hyderabad have quite a few crèches dedicated to the children of IT employees. Over 200-odd IT/ITES companies function in Sector V, which includes the likes of India’s No. 1 software exporter TCS, No. 3 exporter Wipro, as well as global biggies like IBM and Cognizant.
Both TCS and Wipro, though, are examining the benefits of having independent crèches for the benefit of their staff. Even the merits of a shared facility are being explored. “We may come up with one or share a common facility,” TCS human resources head Ajoyendra Mukherjee said.

Salt Lake planner revisits town

2008-04-23T11:33:00.002+05:30

Prithvijit Mitra & Suman Chakraborti | TNN Kolkata:

Dobrivoje Toskovic’s tryst with Salt Lake began 40 years ago when it was just a blueprint. The Yugloslavian architect was flown down to draw up the masterplan for Kolkata’s first satellite township. He gave shape to a township that has grown manifold over the years and inspired several more in and around the city. More than four decades later, 81-yearold Toskovic revisited Salt Lake on Tuesday to check out if it had grown according to plan. And, he came back impressed. “It has grown into a lovely garden city, just as I had planned. There are community housing, parks, clean roads and the traffic management seemed fine. I did feel a bit nostalgic today. But more than anything else, I felt proud that the city had developed just the way I had wanted it to,” Toskovic said. He visited Central Park, several blocks in the township and was elated to see the greenery all around. “The roads are nicely lined with trees, which is a wonderful sight.” Toskovic arrived in Kolkata a few days ago to attend a prize distribution ceremony and decided to visit the township on Tuesday. “He was happy after visiting the township, saying that much of his plan had materialised,” said Bidhannagar municipality chairman Biswajiban Majumder. The Belgrade-based architect had emphasised greenery, which he had wanted in 50% of the township. “He visited Central Park and was happy that his wish for greenery in the township had been implemented,” said a civic official. Toskovic said he had planned to use the central patch of greenery (Central Park) to hold cultural programmes and to set up a treasure hall. He was happy to learn that various cultural programmes and fairs were being held there. He was also pleased that most of the blocks had community halls of their own, as planned. However, he lamented the absence of landmarks. In his masterplan, he had earmarked all the corner plots for institutions that could serve as landmarks. Besides, the islands in the middle of the roads were much bigger in his plan. And, he had kept highrises completely out of it.

Water crisis haunts Salt Lake

2008-04-10T09:06:00.000+05:30

When it comes to water supply, Kolkata is way ahead of other metros. But the posh satellite township of Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of the city is an exception.

Salt Lake residents have a tough time every summer when taps run dry. Come 2009 and their suffering is only going to get worse. A survey by French consultant Seureca has predicted that water supply to the township will fall far short of the increasing demand. The state urban development department had engaged Seureca to conduct a water management survey at Salt Lake and its adjacent areas. The survey was aimed at exploring the feasibility of outsourcing water supply, sewerage, drainage and solid waste management of the township through public-private partnership.

The experts have pointed out that the projected demand for piped water in Salt Lake area - excluding Sector V - would far exceed the supply capacity by end-2008, The daily demand of water that stands at 9 million gallon a day will touch 20 million gallon by then. At present, the municipality receives around 6 million gallon from Tala and the civic body pumps in around 3 million gallon every day.

Salt Lake residents can easily understand the gravity of the situation as they already have to bear with shortage during the summer. Civic officials conceded that the township does not have a water treatment plant. It has to depend on the daily supply of filtered surface water from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. According to an agreement, the municipality can get a maximum of 10 million gallon of filtered water per day, but receives much less now.

There exists an underground reservoir with a capacity of five million gallon per day for emergency. But the report predicts that it will be of little help in tackling the crisis. Seureca has proposed that a new underground reservoir be built. The report warns that unless this is done, water supply may have to be slashed to six hours a day in the future to narrow down the demand-supply gap. But the Bidhannagar Municipality is working on several plans to improve the water supply system. The municipality's chairman-in-council, Tapan Talukdar, who looks after the township's water supply system, said they have started working on increasing the capacity of the water tanks.

"We have started working on increasing the capacity of water tanks 1, 3 and 13. Gradually, capacity of all the water tanks will be increased. We have also submitted a proposal to KMC to increase the supply of water from Tala," he said.

At present, the 17 water tanks at Salt lake have a capacity of 20,000 gallon each. The capacity would be increased to 25,000 gallon, Talukdar said. Besides, the civic body is trying to introduce water service charges to earn revenue with which it can pay for additional water supply from Tala.

The civic authorities are also trying to extend the duration of supplying filtered water from seven to 12 hours a day. The state urban and municipal affairs department also plans to introduce 24-hour surface water supply to all municipality areas under KMA with the help of JNNURM funds.

Source: TOI

Sec V won’t be flooded this year

2008-03-31T00:08:00.002+05:30

Techies may no longer have to wade through knee-deep water in the coming monsoon. “Sector V will not be inundated this time,” Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) chairman S A Ahmed told TOI. “Work on the damaged roads and sewerlines will be completed by July,” he added. NITA is the authority responsible for Sector V.
Drain water from Sector V drains into Bagjola canal. With drain water from New Town also being channelised through the canal, it invariably overflows during the monsoon as it is illequipped to flush out water from both sides.
Companies at Sector V, also called Nabadiganta Township now, said they would wait to see what happens when it actually starts pouring in June-July. “As we are the worst sufferers whenever it rains, we are keeping our fingers crossed on this. However, the NITA initiative is a welcome development,” Wipro senior manager (administration and facilities) Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya said.
Incidentally, state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya has also said in the recent past that improving drainage and sewerage systems of Sector V would be accorded top priority. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority has been asked to prepare a master plan in this regard.
“Beautification of Sector V will be completed in 18 months,” Ahmed said. NITA has signed agreements with Encon and Selvel for improving the IT hub.
Ahmed said easing traffic in Sector V would also be given importance. “Work on building a flyover in front of Wipro and J K Saha junction is in progress. Also, two bridges are expected to come up near Kestopur canal by mid-2009,” he added.

Sobia Khan | TNN

In good books?

2008-03-14T18:07:00.004+05:30

Is Book Fair 2008 a hit or a miss? Arshad Ali finds out the answer to the big question While booksellers and stall owners of the 550-odd stalls at the 33rd Book Fair, now christened Boi Mela, complain of poor business and slumping sales, organisers are happy that the fair has finally taken place. The last minute cancellation of the Kolkata Book Fair at the Park Circus Maidan and a change in its venue has proved to be a bane for some and boon for others. Most booksellers complain of unprecedented losses this year. “On an average, we sell books worth Rs 4 lakh every year but going by the trend this year, I doubt if it will touch the 1 lakh mark,” said Ajay Kumar Shaw of Kwality Book Stall. He said more lovers than book lovers were visiting the fair. “Most people come in pairs, eat and hang around rather than buy books,” he said. According to some, the real season of holding the fair has been spent in political bickering. “We are bearing the brunt at the end of the day, losing at least 70 per cent of normal business. The mela season is over and now it is time for board exams. ICSE and CBSE are in progress whereas higher secondary is knocking at the door,” pointed out Samit Banerjee of Education Forum, a publisher and bookseller adding that many parents have opted out for the same reason. People, like the owner of Madina Publications, attribute the loss to the delay in completion of stalls. “The lights have been put up this morning and there are still no provision for fans. This place has become a furnace and visitors have chosen to stay away,” he told this EKP correspondent on Tuesday (March 3), pointing at the bundled books that were still to be put up on display. Some stall owners, however, look at this fair more like an annual ritual that should be organised irrespective of earnings from it. “We have suffered losses but are happy that all the senior members of the fraternity have met in this huge get together,” said Debashish Bhattacharya, a member of a little magazine that has put up its stall in the Little Magazine Corner. Organisers admit there had been impediments. “The success of the fair lies in the fact that it happened and the secretary of the guild is solely responsible for the inconveniences caused. The fair almost got called off and if that happened it would have been like Durga Puja not happening in Kolkata,” said Anil Acharya, secretary of one of the sub committees of the Boi Mela. He admitted there had been a delay and businessmen have incurred a loss. “Another huge fair was being held on these grounds and everything had to be dismantled before we could put up the fair and it is true that we couldn’t do justice to all, but I request booksellers to be a bit patient and hope that business will pick up in the remaining days of the fair,” he said. Others however believe it is only a matter of time before people get acclimatised to this new format and venue. “We have had reasonable footfall in spite of the board exams being on. If the book fair continues here and is held at the right time, people would happily accept it,” claimed Soumitra Lahiri, PRO.

Source: Times of India

Goons raid Salt Lake flat, loot jewellery

2008-02-11T22:48:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Yet another case of robbery in Salt Lake, four armed youths broke into a house in Baisakhi Abasan on Sunday night, tied up a woman and looted cash and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh.

The four armed goons raided the house of Pranab Dey, a promoter, around 9.30 pm when he was out for work. The robbers asked his wife Debi to open the door, saying they had come to meet her husband to discuss something important. But Debi was reluctant to open the door as she did not know them. When the four failed to convince her, one of them sprayed chilly powder into her eyes. As she was temporarily blinded, the four barged into the house.

The gang then tied up Debi with a rope and gagged her. They also beat up her physically challenged son. The domestic help engaged by the Deys was also not present in the house when the incident occurred. She had just left for the local market to shop for Saraswati Puja. The robbers then opened the almirah, looted the cash and jewellery and left.

Neighbours complained that this was not the first time such an incident had occurred in the housing complex. They said robberies are frequent in the locality and numerous attempts to draw the police’s attention have gone in vain.

The area falls under the Bidhannagar east police station. Police suspect the gang had been tracking Dey’s movement and came to his house when he was not around.
“Our officers have reached the place and we are trying to nab the criminals as soon as possible,” said a police officer.

This is the third incident of robbery in Salt Lake in the past four weeks. In January, burglars broke into the house of a 72-year-old widow and robbed her. Last week, a gang of robbers broke open the door of a flat in BB Block and looted jewellery worth nearly Rs 15 lakh.

Goons raid Salt Lake house, rob 72-yr-old

2008-01-24T23:15:00.000+05:30

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: A gang of robbers sneaked into a Salt Lake home in the wee hours of Wednesday, tied up a 72-year-old widow and her maid, and looted cash before fleeing. Police were yet to arrest anyone. Raids are on to nab the gang.
Aparna Basu, who stays with her domestic help at her AH Block residence, said a gang of four cut through the window grille on the ground floor around 2 am on Wednesday. However, finding nothing on the ground floor, the four barged into Aparna’s bedroom, where she and her maid Sabita were sleeping.
“When I woke up with a jolt, the goons, their faces covered with shawls, asked me to keep quiet and threatened me by brandishing a revolver. They then tied me and my maid and asked me where I have kept my jewellery. When I said I did not have any jewellery at home, they ransacked the room and took away about Rs 1,700 that I had,” Aparna said. The gang was inside the house for around two hours, she said.
They locked up Aparna and Sabita before leaving the house. The neighbours got to know about the robbery only after Sabita screamed for help. They rushed to the house and opened the door with the help of police and rescued the duo.
Police are looking into all possible angles. “We have started an inquiry into the case,” said a senior Bidhannagar police officer. Police were also trying to ascertain whether Sabita, the domestic maid hired three months ago, had a hand in the robbery.
Aparna, a retired government employee, had been living in the house since 1992. Her husband Sivaprasad Basu, a former PWD employee, had passed away long ago. Both her daughters are married. The elder daughter now lives in the US and the younger daughter stays in Mumbai. “I have been living here for many years but have never had such an experience. I am now feeling very insecure and wondering whether
I will continue to live here or shift to my relatives’ house elsewhere,” she said.
Aparna’s relatives rushed to her house as soon as they got the news in the morning. “It seems that the gang was keeping an eye on the house for some time and attacked only after being sure that my aunt stays alone,” said Aparna’s nephew PN Dutta.
Incidentally, Aparna claimed to be a cousin of former chief minister Jyoti Basu. But Basu’s personal aide Joykrishna Ghosh said the former chief minister’s relatives denied this claim.

No Parking

2008-01-16T18:38:00.000+05:30

Even as another shopping mall and multiplex readies to open its door in Salt Lake’s CK block, residents fear that this will make living in the area difficult

Archisman Dinda, Salt Lake

If mall hopping is a habit that you have mastered, then in a few months time you will have one more venue to hangout in. What with a 300-seater multiplex, along with a 90,000 sq feet of shopping area all set to open its doors in CK block. But this, as the saying goes, is just one side of the coin. The shopping complex which is expected to draw an average footfall of 2,000 people daily has just 30 car parks. The mall that opens into the 2nd avenue in CK block has very little road clearance. This would mean endless traffic snarls in the area and residents have already hit the panic button, even as authorities indulge in an endless blame-game.
“How can the municipality allow an eight-storied commercial building to come up within such a thickly populated residential area?” asked Pinakiranjan Mukherjee, a resident of the area. Indeed, once the shopping mall becomes functional, the large volume of vehicular traffic will make it difficult for residents of the area to drive in and out of their own block. “The plot that has been earmarked for this commercial activity and we had lot of difficulty in accommodating all these facilities,” reasoned Anjan Dutta, the architect of the building.
The ground floor and the first floor of the mall will house a retail chain, while the second floor is expected to address the fashion needs of the city with many international brands setting shop, along with a multi-cuisine food court at the third level. The complex will also house an exclusive club and an array of other facilities. The expected footfall on weekends in expected to touch 4,000 people with at least 300 cars rolling in. And in the absence of proper parking space, a large chunk of the battery of cars will spill over and block arterial road that leads to the block, say residents. And it is not just the probable traffic congestion that is bothering them. “Not only will our block get congested, but the security will also become a major concern as places like these attract a host of people from outside the township,” says Arun Chackraborty, a resident of CK block.
“I am not aware of the parking problem but I will surely find out,” was all that chairman of the Bidhanangar Municipality, Biswajiban Mazumdar was ready to say when asked. However, municipal officials blame the Urban Development (UD) department for this problem.
“The plot has been earmarked by UD as a commercial plot, we were bound to sanction it, and when we sanction the building plan it never states what amount of crowd it will draw. So, we didn’t know it would have a footfall of 4,000 people,” said an official.
PK Pradhan, principal secretary, UD, refutes these allegations. “Irrespective of land pattern, it is the sole right and responsibility of the municipality to decide as to what type of commercial complex it will sanction in accordance to the building laws,”added Pradhan. “Car parking space is allotted not on the basic of footfalls but on the basic of built-up-area and we have sanctioned accordingly,” added another official. Saswati Mondal, councillor, ward No. 13, promises to look into this matter. “It was sanctioned much before I was elected but I will definitely put forward this complain to the chairman,” she assured. As the blame game continues, residents feel that their complaints will fall on deaf ears as all parties involved stand to gain from the entire project.
“While the builder will use maximum space for commercial activity forcing people to use road space as parking lots from which the municipality will collect parking fees,” pointed out a resident.

Source: Times of India

Salt Lake civic body in tax row

2008-01-09T17:34:00.000+05:30

Piling up garbage, lack of maintenance of roads and street lights - it's the same old story in Salt Lake. The imbroglio over realisation of property tax from residents has put the municipality in a soup. The municipality has no funds to run the daily amenities.

Nearly eight months after the Supreme Court scrapped the property tax structure and asked Bidhannagar Municipality to stop tax collection, the matter is still pending before the court.

The municipality had planned to upgrade civic amenities with the fund. However, the plan hit a roadblock after the apex court's verdict. According to the civic body's estimates, it could have earned Rs 10 crore to Rs 12 crore this year from property taxes only. The municipality is already running losses of about Rs 7 crore since tax collection stopped. "Had we been able to collect taxes in the last seven months, we could have earned nearly Rs 6 crore to 7 crore more," said municipality's finance officer Somnath Mukherjee. According to records, the civic body had earned nearly Rs 10 crore from tax and other revenue collections in 2005 and nearly the same amount in 2006.

However, Mukherjee said their plea to get Rs 5 crore fund to make up the loss of not being able to collect taxes has gone to the finance department. "The money is likely to be sanctioned soon," he said.

The municipality spends about Rs 75 lakh per month for maintaining basic civic services, which means it has already spent Rs 5.25 crore from June last year. Besides, it has to pay Rs 1 crore to KMC every year for getting water from Tallah. The civic body spends around Rs 20 lakh on salaries, Rs 30 lakh on streetlight bills, Rs 10 lakh for maintaining the water reservoirs and pumping stations and about Rs 10 lakh for solid waste disposal.

The civic body had also lined up several projects to develop civic amenities, using the tax money. It had allocated Rs 7 crore for road repair that was supposed to be completed by 2007. For water supply, it had allocated Rs 5 crore. The civic body had also allocated Rs 5 crore for parks, Rs 3 crore for markets and Rs 3 crore for drainage and streetlights. All these projects are slated to be completed by 2009.

Source: Times Of India

Poor signal

2008-01-08T11:24:00.000+05:30

Installed traffic lights remain idle in Sector V even after fatal accidents on the Sector V-Newtown stretch

The high-speed corridor connecting Sector V and Newtown with E M Bypass is a drivers’ nightmare with 15 accidents in the past six months. The North 24 Parganas police reacted by installing traffic lights at the government’s expense at the Bowlers’ Den crossing and at College Moore. But the lights remain unused. “We aren’t able to use the lights because the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) has not been able to provide us with a connection,” said Ashok Biswas, additional SP Salt Lake.
Anindo Banerjee of Enkon, the organisation that installed the traffic signals, disagreed. He said that the posts at Bowlers’ Den do not have an electricity connection but the lights at Sector V’s College More had a connection. “It’s one of the busiest traffic junctions, but the lights remain unused as the police are not ready to take charge,” he added.
Authorities are passing the buck on why it is taking so long for the traffic lights to work. Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA), the civic body in charge of maintenance, has been trying to upgrade infrastructural facilities for some time but said that bureaucratic apathy made their job difficult. Enkon is also in charge of beautification of Sector V. They are supposed to upgrade the user facilities by installing new bus stands, landscaping of the boulevard. Unfortunately, none of these developments are visible. Banerjee blamed other governmental agencies for destroying their work. “We did install railings at certain pathways but it was uprooted by WBSEDCL workers for laying cables,” he said.
The image of the township has taken a beating due to overhead wires. “It is an eyesore and makes the city look so untidy,” said Moushumi Das an engineering student.
“We have been trying to pursue the local cable companies to cooperate with us as it is our duty to dismantle all overhead wires but they did not respond,” complained Banerjee.
He also blames water logging as another primary factor for destruction of greenery. “Everything was destroyed by water-logging,” said Pinaki Halder, executive officer, NITA, “We are conducting regular review meeting and the work is in the initial stage hopefully it will take concrete shape after few months”.

Archisman Dinda, New Town

Look East

2008-01-07T15:03:00.000+05:30

Salt Lake and Sector V are turning out to be the new commercial hubs even as more people are turning away from the traditional hangouts to the eastern fringes

Basundhara Ghosh, Salt Lake

It was not many years ago that the perfect long drive out of the city was towards the airport. But, today, to reach the eastern fringes of the city, one has to negotiate fearful traffic at various junctions of the EM Bypass because of the increased flow of cars to and from that area.
In fact, while the chunk of the IT workforce of a few thousand people travel to sector V everyday, a large number of people are now going their to shop, catch films and eat out. Rahul Dasgupta, a resident of Bansdroni in fact voices his preference for City Center and Inox in Salt Lake vis-à-vis its counterpart in Forum. “It’s far more spacious and chilled out and a true hangout place,” he explains. Needless to say then that businesses are growing and those involved in it are positive of future growth trends. “Since our inception in 2004, we have seen a 40 per cent compounded annual growth in terms of footfall with our current average footfall (per day) being about 4000-5000 patrons on weekends and 2500+ patrons on weekdays.
Earlier our patron profile was mainly predominated by residents of Salt Lake and the surrounding catchment areas but now patrons are coming in from as far as Behala, Alipur, Diamond Harbour, Barasat, Thakurpukur and even Barrackpore,” says Subhasis Ganguli, regional general manager, Inox, City Centre.
The area is also flourishing in terms of food joints - both restaurants and coffee outlets have opened up aplenty across the area. Anand Puri whose family owns Trinca’s on Park Street and BB’s in Sector V, has a positive outlook on business in this area. “There is a lot of prospect here. As soon as the Rajarhat township is built, we expect business to flourish,” said Puri. In fact people like Debanjan Niyogi, who resides in Tollygunge feel that it would great if Salt Lake and Rajarhat is connected via the metro soon, because conveyance still is an issue if one does not have private transport. Indeed, if these loose ends can be tied, East Kolkata will emerge as the favoured commercial destination of the city.

Source: East Kolkata Plus (Times of India)

Forged bank drafts put businessmen in spot

2007-12-24T18:23:00.000+05:30

Several businessmen, dealing in information technology components, were found to have been defrauded with forged bank drafts.
The forged drafts bear such a striking resemblance to the originals that even banks cleared those without expressing any doubt. The incidents of forged draft have a larger ramification with bank draft being the only trusted tool for any major bulk transaction.
The racket seems to be well organised. “The person, who came to me on December 6, was suave, fluent in three languages and presentable in every sense of the word. He introduced himself as Amulya Acharya (50), a doctor from Raniganj and attached to the statewide immunization campaign. Acharya said he needed to buy a few laptops to present to some doctors at a workshop. I found his words very convincing. Besides, he told me a few things that only a doctor could say,” said Koushik Mukherjee of Junction IT at Salt Lake, one of the victims of the forged draft.
Only a few days later, Acharya placed an order for
three laptops with Mukherjee. But he did not turn up on December 16, the day he was supposed to come. He told Mukherjee over phone that he could not come, but his man would definitely be there with the bank draft the next day. Again, Acharya called up that day to say that his man had reached Howrah.
“The person said he was carrying only a draft for Rs 90,000 while the three laptops cost Rs 1,80,000 (Rs 60,000 each). But the person (Acharya) asked me to deliver only one laptop to his man and he would come personally to collect the other two by paying a draft for the remaining Rs 90,000. That led me to believe that he was a genuine customer. But I still checked out the draft in detail and found no fault with it,” said Mukherjee.
“The next day, even my bank — Syndicate Bank — cleared it for encashment. The draft, however, was returned to me as forged from the service branch of the State Bank of India,” he added.
Later, Mukherjee found out that several other businessmen, two from Asansol and three more in Kolkata, had also been defrauded. In every case, the draft No. was the same. It appears that the racket has the technology and the tools to produce near perfect fake drafts.
“We have found similar complaints from some other parts of the state। So, we are looking into it,” said a senior CID officer.

Source: Times of India

Miss-Utilization of Legal System in India by female named Sushoma:-

2007-11-22T10:21:00.000+05:30

Again, we’re publishing news about a female who had taken Indian legal system as granted and molested the value of Indian cultures. We’ve always raised our voices against such activities where women are taking undue advantage of laws and bringing their male counterparts to the court. Women got such right due to the Legal system of India. This law was to protect them from humiliations, but unfortunately this law is getting molested and utilized against men time to time and these female are taking undue advantage of this kind of one sided legal system in India. Even, police had to arrest the man first without any interrogation and send them to the court after few days vide act 496 if a women lodge a case against her husband in the local police station. This harassment is not limiting only surrounding the man; it entangles his family and others against whom the women reported in the PS.

Sushuma Howlader (26) fled with a man named Ranjan Srivastav after getting married for more than 2 years. Suroth Howlader (29) filed a charge of adultery in the local PS and applied for a divorce suit at Nadia district, Kata Gunj, Kalyani.

Police didn’t act on that case, but when she brought the case against her husband on molestation, police arrested Surath from Nadia. Sushuma was found residing with another man in Sukanta Nagar. She brought allegations under different sections against her husband under the section e.g. 498, 302, and 506. These allegations comprised of kidnapping, attempt to murder and inhumanly tortures on wives. These are all un-bail able cases.

Cat’s Eye Investigations took up this case as always and started their investigations and found evidences which proves that, she’s guilty and carried away with her extra marital affairs. She is also guilty with polygamous attitude, because when she was found by the investigators at Sukanta Nagar, she was not staying with Ranjan, with whom she fled her in-laws. The case is still under sub-judice and Suroth received temporary bails to fight the cases at Court to get the divorce without any compensation.

Kali Puja in Salt Lake City

2007-11-10T23:03:00.000+05:30

Diwali, celebrated as the festival

Following close on the heels of the Durga Puja, the Bengali equivalent to Dussehra, this festival celebrates the dark and bloodthirsty goddess Kali, conqueror of time and consort of Shiva. Icons are painted, religious pujas or ceremonies are performed and there are pilgrimages to local holy sites devoted to Kali, of which there are 51 throughout Bengal.

Kali is one of the most perplexing and mysterious figures of the Hindu pantheon. She is the supreme warrior-goddess, the very manifestation of female rage, bloodthirst and frenzy. She is usually represented wearing a necklace of severed human heads, with weapons in her six arms and drinking the fresh blood of her enemies from a cup. Her skirt is woven from severed human hands and she is depicted as standing on the prostrate body of her consort Shiva, or on a corpse (possibly one of her enemies). This represents her dominance and conquest of all enemies including time and entropy: she is the only force who can tame the inexorable power of Shiva, the Lord of Destruction.

Kali is also worshipped by her devotees in her aspects of Dark Mother, the fiercely protective female who unleashes her rage only to clear away obstacles and protect her offspring. She has also been associated to human sacrifice, orgies, demonic worship and unpalatable quasi-legal blood rituals, hence her devotions are often conducted with the utmost austerity and solemnity, partly to deflate her horrific reputation.

Kali is certainly an interesting and deeply symbolic religious figure, worth investigating, though don't go overboard: we wouldn't recommend impaling your boss on a pike to drink his blood next time you hit the glass ceiling.

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Murder in Salt Lake City

2007-10-27T16:42:00.000+05:30

The murder of the caretaker of an under-construction house in EE Block of Salt Lake's east Bidhannagar police station area on Saturday has spread panic among residents of the township. His pregnant wife, who was also attacked, is battling for life at Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospital 18 Oct.

Shankar Bose, a resident of a flat opposite to the house under construction where Bikash Karmakar was a caretaker, was woken up by sound of firing around 3.15 am on Saturday. He telephoned the Bidhannagar East police station.

"I found two men — one was clad in lungi, his faced covered with a gamchha. The other wore a T-shirt and black trousers. They were coming out of the under construction building. The lungi clad man was brandishing a single-shotter, the other held a bhojali," said a horror stricken Bose.

The duo disappeared, but came back a little later. "They once more entered the ground floor of the building, came out and took away Bikash's new bicycle," added Dibyendu Ganguly, another eyewitness. Residents said that assailants were moving about confidently.

The residents mustered courage to get out of their flats to see what had happened only after the police arrived at 3.45 a.m. Bikash and his wife Tumpa, a four-month pregnant wife, were lying in pool of blood. The police took both of them in a police van to the NRS Hospital. Bikash died in the hospital.

Neighbours in the EE block said, 32-year-old Bikash was helpful and amiable. "We never imagined that he could have an enemy,"said a EE block resident. His mother Padma Karmakar said that her son was friendly to every one.

"Vengeance appears to be the motive behind the murder. We are checking out Bikash's antecedence," said additional SP (Bidhannagar) Ajay Nand. Bidhannagar East police station officers said that the assailant might have tried to abduct Bikash's good-looking wife. Bikash was attacked when he tried to resist.

Just after Durga Pujo, ClickSaltLake is back with Sharadia Suveccha and best wishes. We hope our viewers have enjoyed the online pujo. We're overwhelmed with the responses from our viewers and we're excited by seeing their interests. Thanks again for all your support to our endeavour.
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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Krishna Nagar Original Durga Idol in Salt Lake, Cluster-13

2007-10-15T12:49:00.000+05:30

Hand-made pottery is predominantly a woman's art in West Bengal. Women of Kumbhakar (potter) caste and of Patua caste generally make variety of dolls and toys. These hand made figures, small dolls and toys are done by pressing and moulding methods. In Bishnupur (Bankura), Chaurigacha - Katalia (Kandi - Murshidabad) and some other places in Midnapore and Bankura the most primitive method of hand-modeled pottery is still pursued almost exclusively by women.

In West Bengal big jars are usually prepared by men and comparatively small pots are made by women. Clay modeling by hand is widely practiced by the women of Patidar Chitrakar (Painters) castes. In Bankura Midnapore, Birbhum and some areas of Howrah, Hooghly and Murshidabad districts, women of Kumbhakar and Patidar- Chitrakar are engaged in making hand - modeled pottery as part time occupation. The women of Sankhari (conchshell carvers) families in Bishnupur (Bankura) make clay figurines of mother-dolls at a particular time of the year, especially for ritual purposes. Two principle variants of West Bengal Pottery are Bankura-style and Krishnanagar-style.

Krishnanagar Pottery

Krishnanagar clay-modeling is about 250 years old and the potters of Krishnanagar did not originally belong to their present locality. Krishna Chandra, the Maharaja of Krishnanagar in 1728 brought them from Dacca in East Bengal or from Natore in North Bengal.

In Krishnanagar pottery the social scenes of our country and the people, the different castes and racial types are reproduced realistically in clay-models. For example social scenes like collectors court, tea garden, Pandit-Sabha, Charak festival etc are used in clay modeling. This pottery is very popular and in most of the international exhibitions held since 1851, Krishnanagar clay-models have won medals and certificates and also great admiration from the people of Europe. The prices were very high even one hundred years ago and one can easily imagine its possible clientele today. The customers of these models used to be mainly Europeans.

The worship of Goddess Durga is very much part of Bengal’s Culture and spiritual heritage. Keeping this in mind, the Purba Durgostsav Committee of cluster 13 sparing no efforts to make this festive occasion joyous and meaningful with the total participation of local people, especially all the women who took special initiative to raise funding and making this puja successful in all the respects. The enthusiasm and spontaneous participation is the spirit of this festival, stated by Mr. Mihir Sarkar the renowned Archeologists and secretery of this Puja society.

The pandal is made by Plywoods instead of making it with conventional idea of cloth rugged pandals. The designers and craftsmen from Burdwan district, erected and beautified the panda lwith wooden colorful puppets, while this is the first time Saltlake City would witness the idol from Krishna Nagar. The gorgeous deity and the artistic finish of the matri murti is astonishingly bright and made us to bow our head and surrender all our devotion to its own feet.--

Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Globalization of Durga Puja

2007-10-11T22:58:00.000+05:30

FD Block Pujo Committee of Saltlake city this time thought to give a huge surprise to the population during Durga Puja. They made Hogwarts castle in the huge play ground of FD block. The theme of this Puja committee was this year "Harry Potter" to attract higher numbers to people to their pujo. Remember the Hogwarts Castle where harry went to learn the Wizardry? If not pls find the video below.

This year the theme of FD block's pujo gimmick is "Harry Potter". But with a sudden astonishment the puja committee members have been called by the Delhi High Court and a case of copyright had been filed against them . This law suit had been filed by the legal associates of Ms J.K Rowling the famous author accusing stealing her theme without her acknowledgement.

This is a sheer copyright violation taking umbrage at the organisers using her characters without her permission, Rowling had sued the organizers on October 8, asking for Rs 20 lakh for copyright violation and compensation.

The Puja Commitee still believes that, they can minimize the compensation amount.

The setting at FD Park was almost complete, with the blue tipped Hogwarts castle and the flaming red Hogwarts Express all set to chug off from platform 9-3/4.

The designers had planned to place life size models of the bespectacled Potter and his companions inside the pandal.

A whopping Rs 5 lakh has been invested in the pandal alone. “We did not have any commercial motive behind this. The immense popularity of Harry Potter prompted us to choose this as a theme to get more footfalls for our pandals,” said Roy Chowdhury.

ClickSaltlake would review the pandals and our Pujo section would have an extensive photo gallery for FD block for our viewers to find the simmilarities and voting.

There were many terms like Plagiarism and copy & paste, mugging etc. Would it be suitable for this situation or we need to bring another new terms in wikipedia "Pandalism" or "Muggleism"? I'm sure the idea is great when people try to copy. FD block Puja is not a copy of Harry Potter, it had given Harry and his creator a new dimension in India.

Any how, we feel this debate would bring more crowds than what the Puja Committee was expecting in the coming four days during puja.

For the Potter lovers, the clip below had been given for a quick recollection.

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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Land Frauds are happening in Salt Lake City, Kolkata

2007-10-06T19:37:00.000+05:30

With the massive promise of upcoming developments and growth of Kolkata, specially Saltlake City and Rajarhat, the price of lands and immovable properties are going high. Please don't think that, every body and any body of the general population is fair enough and honest. Yes, Frauds are there and beware of them. With the recent change of the Kolkata politics and change of CPIM party, from the party of poor to migration to Land Mafia had been noticed. Many big shots and political leaders of the ruling party are found corrupted and involved in different scams relating to murders, extorsion, and land swapping.

This would be always true that, there is no dearth of intelligent people in the population who would always make money out of thin air. Unfortunately, many of them try to cheat common people like you and me by taking the opportunity of such developments and exploiting politics and legal systems of India. The recent societal change had been noticed in India, which is undergoing a tremendous socio-economic change and where many values of life are diminishing like anything and many new found values are being coming up to catch up the Western World. This is nothing but a kind of rat race, and a gross value change for social system.

Here, none can trust another person blindly, and even wife could just marry you for money. In ClickSaltlake we've decided to fight back and bring different shocking stories about our life in association with Cat's Eye Multimedia, this mission will fight back all the decay of our society from different angles.

Here's a case for our reader's preview. A common man like you a me, named Mr. Swapan Kr. Chowdhury, residing at Labony Estate, Saltlake City, recently lodged a case against a person named Adityala Mukherjee, residing at AE-228, Sector-1, Saltlake. Cat's eye took over the case from Swapan Kumar Chowdgury and found that Adityalal had been trusted by Mr. Chowdhury for long and lended him more than 4 Lacs of rupees to buy Lands in Saltlake City, Rajar Hat and even in worst case scenario behind the Ruby General Hospital over a time span of more than 6 months. Adityalal, staged the drama infront of Mr. Chowdhury such a way that, he;s highly connected with the ruling party and Police adminstration is the city and very resourceful, so that one can trust him blindly. Mr. Chowdhury was searching for a land to develop a house in nearby area and came across this cheat by putting a paper Advertisement.

There's a looming demand of land or properties near Rajarhat or behind Ruby General Hospital. I personally encountered with such a situation where, even I had to witdraw the advance of Rs.50K from the brokers. Because I found that the land I've booked behind Ruby General Hospital is a vested land by Govt after searching the property. The agents and brokers and sub brokers would produce different falsified search report infront of you. But, please restrict the grid of yours, those might become "Limon" once purchase and realize, it would be too late.

ClickSaltlake and Cat's Eye Multimedia jointly try to protect the interests of the common people. Hence, we would really appreciate if anyone in this locality facing any problem kindly raise your voice and get in touch with us to resolve your any problems. Or even you can write us mail

Stop Killing us....The Irony

2007-09-21T09:00:00.000+05:30

Kolkata is now expanding, after Saltlake City now Rajarhat and many other places are coming up as well and there's a huge movement of raising huge Multi storied buildings and developments in every sphere. Every where you'll find some new constructions are coming up and the builders are expecting great businesses and demands sooner, because this is the first time ruling party is talking about something known as growth. So, huge population would shift towards the city to cater all those jobs , and construction business would be always on higher demands at any point of time, especially if it could be done during economic boom. Because these city dwellers need places to stay.

So let us get places in the city by hook or crook, even at the costs of green. Common people are still ignorant about the plantations. Govt helps to put plantations and bringing up amusement parks, but where is green in this one of the most polluted city except a small patch in Central Kolkata.

Well, green is getting finished faster, weather is changing and becoming unpredictable every where all round the world. Even last year winter, the oldest people couldn't remember whether they had ever seen such long lasting winter in their life time. There's Global warming a term we're hearing and getting common to us and it's not only happening with us too and affecting our climates. The Ice in the Arctics are melting down.

We're working hard for it though, by conducting seminars and workshops. We're trying to create the awareness all round. That's the point where we're trying to wash off our hands and limiting our responsibilities. Tsunami hit taken thousands of lives and more than lakhs became home less. Still we're not serious, just attending workshops and enjoying the parties in the meet.

On 16-18th of Sept, 2007 in one side the National Symposium is happening on Global Warming at EZCC (Eastern Zone Cultural Center) at HB Block Island

organized by West Bengal Science Forum (Paschim Bango Biggyan Mancho) in one side and on the other side of the road from HB island to the Tank 13, people were cutting down trees and piling it up at the road side, so that, they can celebrate the Viswakarma Pujo well and do the lighting well. They are not connected with the seminar directly, but doing a good business due to this big gathering.

What an Irony, the symposium is happening with many eminent speakers and conducted by many famous people and environmentalists, but what about these people Ramu, Jatin and Suresh who drive three wheel environment friendly Cycle Ricksaws in Saltlake City, they're just trying to celebrate Viswakarma Pujo on 18th Sept, 2007 near tank no.13.

Fortunately these types of symposiums all round India ends up with gala success and after spending thousands of rupees since our freedom. The attendees feel happy with good lunches and gift packs and rest of the common people forget as soon as it ends up. The cause is never conveyed well and communicated properly to the roots in our country and make the common people understand about the fatality of the green destructions.

Ramu, Jatin and people like them would still drive three wheel cycle ricksaw to keep the environment friendly, to live their life, even if they don't attend these symposiums. Those attendees and these types of symposiums how long we could afford to attend and make successful by missing the main stream of people ?

ClickSaltlake would always try to bring such incidences to your notice. We'll try to make it a to make it a better place to live.

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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury

Origin of Durga Pujo - The Mythology

2007-09-19T11:49:00.001+05:30

This time ClickSaltlake Team would bring you the coverage of Online Durga Puja coverage at Salt Lake City।

Durga, a beautiful warrior seated upon a tiger.

Devi is the great goddess of the Hindus,the consort of Shiva and she is worshiped in various forms corresponding to her two aspects: benevolence and fierceness. She is Uma, "light"; Gauri, "yellow or brilliant"; Parvati, "the mountaineer"; and Jagatmata, "the-mother-of-the-world" in her milder guise. The terrible emanations are Durga "the inaccessible"; Kali, "the black"; Chandi, "the fierce"; and Bhairavi, "the terrible."

Descent of the Goddess

Durga, a beautiful warrior seated upon a tiger, was the first appearance of the great goddess. The circumstance of her miraculous arrival was the tyranny of the monster-demon Mahishasur, who through terrific austerities had acquired invincible strength. The gods were afraid of this water-buffalo bull because neither Vishnu nor Shiva could prevail against him. It seemed that the joint energy of Shakti was only capable of vanquishing Mahisha, and so it was the eighteen-armed Durga who went out to do battle.

Battlefield

She went to battle on her ferocious mount lion, armed with the weapons given to her by the other Gods. Durga is one of the angry and aggressive aspects of the goddess Shakti, whose role in Hindu mythology was to fight and conquer demons and also personify the Sakti or female aspect of any male deity. In the battle, she fought and killed the evil Mahishasura and restored heaven to the Gods. Since then the goddess is invoked for protection from the powers of evil. Durga Puja is observed in her honor, to celebrate her victory over evil.

Revered Mother

She has been worshiped from about 400 AD, but probably earlier, to the present. Her literary references are chiefly the Ramayana and Mahabharata, epic and Puranic texts, and she is mentioned by name in Vedic literature. In general, Durga is regarded in northern India as the gentle bride epitomizing family unity while in southern India she is revered more in her warrior aspect.

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Dibyendu Choudhury to Salt lake City

Is it a fact that Kolkata you’re losing your heart….

2007-09-13T15:20:00.000+05:30

The maddening traffic was always there, but we used to praise Kolkata for your heart and charm, you’re losing it and getting self centered. We used to miss you wherever we’re in this earth. You now love and appreciate nothing but…body…lust…extravaganza…you're IT Savvy Kolkata…you don’t have heart.

Thousands of cars and traffic passed by the accident spot and the body of a young guy named Bijoy Dey, age-25, only money earner of the family working in Price Water House Coopers yesterday, none came across to help him and hospitalize. He died on the road without getting any one’s help in a road accident but he saved a mentally retarded woman who came infront of his bike. Bijoy you've proved again that young and talented people like you are still there who still care the humanity, but I guess you've forgotten that, you're living in this heartless city, which you had paid off by giving your own life lying on the road after the accident and waiting for the medication and help on a busy road. You're few in numbers, so none could stop for you while going to their work. This incident happened in front of the boat club named “Nal Ban” in Saltlake City. It's shame to us and our so called working IT savvy office going crowd who could not stop to help one to stay on the right time to their office.

Isn’t it the same repetition of the news 3 weeks back, when a helpless lad was crying and asking for the help in the PNB Island of Salt Lake, sitting in the middle of the road with his blood bathed younger brother after an accident? Everyone had seen it, but none offered him help then and there.

None stopped to help the unknown in this city. Let us try to get into finding the root cause of such attitudes of the city dwellers. Is it the end of the rat race when we’re trying to stay happy within our periphery, our family members and our jobs or, something else?

Mostly said, unfortunately it’s the Kolkata Police who had emerged as the suckers. They unnecessarily harass the common people who’ve tried to help others. The city cops had been designed once in the model of the famous Scotland Yard . Since then, they’ve been evolved as the Govt paid official bouncers and we paid their salaries from our hard earned money as tax. Instead being friendly to the society and common people, they started extracting money from the common people and business men to live their lavish life styles. They forgot their main duty to control the crime and criminals to help the society. Younger people are ready to get a job in police in Kolkata by giving bribes in Lakhs, and they’re sure they can get the return within few years.

Today a news came, few people who have cleared the written exam for Kolkata Police, sent their proxy runners to qualify in the physical tests in Salt Lake Stadium and were caught red handed. So, just imagine the people who had already qualified in those exams in past by the help of proxy writers or runners and got admitted in Police Dept through corruption, can they be helpful for the society?

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Posted By Dibyendu Choudhury