State unhappy with counter-terror centre

KOLKATA: The state government wants to thrash out certain issues with the Centre over the powers and functions of the anti-terror agency, National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which the Centre will set up by March 1.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that the state government will oppose the move, as “it could not be allowed in a federal structure”. Mamata said Odisha was also opposing it.

The NCTC will derive its powers from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which allows it to make arrests or searches across the country in terror-related cases.

While the state police are supposed to be kept in the loop when such searches are conducted or arrests made, the state government is apparently not confident that this will be the case when it comes to actual operations or arrests. The top brass in the state administration is currently discussing the issue, and will take up the issue with the Centre officially.

Since former chief minister Jyoti Basu’s tenure, the sharing of power between the Centre and the state has been a critical issue in Bengal politics. And despite the widely differing political ideologies, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress seem to be having the same view regarding the fact that the state should be given more power in a federal structure.

The state government’s main objection is about the fact that the central agency can make arrests in areas that are under the state jurisdiction. This could also be the state’s conscious decision to monitor the Maoist issue where it does not want the Centre to intervene.

The NCTC will collate and analyze inputs on terror threats throughout the country and will have the legal power to make arrests and conduct search operations. The Cabinet Committee on Security ( CCS) had on January 11 approved of the creation of the NCTC, and now the Centre seems keen on knowing the views of the state governments on this.

The agency will have the power to keep a constant data on terror modules, terrorists and all their associates. It can also seek all kinds of information from any agency – including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), as well as all central armed police forces, and even the National Security Guard (NSG).

It is in these areas too that the state government is looking at whether it would be “comfortable” sharing all its information with the agency, especially ones which it has investigated and which may be “sensitive” to share.

Since former chief minister Jyoti Basu’s tenure, the sharing of power between the Centre and the state has been a critical issue in Bengal politics. And despite the widely differing political ideologies, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress seem to be having the same view regarding the fact that the state should be given more power in a federal structure.

TMC men held for attacking activist

KOLKATA: Police on Monday arrested two Trinamool Congress supporters, accused of beating up a rights activist at Bhatpara in North 24-Parganas. The victim’s fault: he had requested them to reduce the volume of the loudspeaker that was disturbing his Madhyamik examinee daughter.

Sailendranath Das alias Becha and Asish Biswas alias Suku were arrested after the victim, Debasish Pal, lodged an FIR against them with Jagaddal police station.

On Sunday evening, Trinamool supporters of Ward No. 3 of Bhatpara Municipality had organized a cultural programme at Bhatpara Central Hindu Girls’ High School. They had put one of the loudspeakers near Pal’s home at Babupara. He protested after his daughter, a Class-X student, could not pay attention to her studies because of the loud music. Pal repeatedly requested the organizers to lower the volume, but they didn’t pay heed. He then contacted the police, requesting them to intervene.

The cops from Bhatpara investigation centre later got the organizers to lower the volume. Soon, a group of youths, allegedly led by Trinamool activists Sailendranath Das and Asish Biswas, barged into Pal’s home and abused the family members, including his daughter. Pal was severely beaten up, by goons allegedly led by Das and Biswas, when he was returning home on Sunday night from Kakinara. He was critically injured and had to be hospitalized.

Mohon Das, the Trinamool Congress councillor of Ward No. 3, however, said no Trinamool supporter was involved in the attack.

Pal, an employee of Jagaddal Anglo-India Jute mill and the secretary of APDR’s Naihati-Jagaddal committee, said: “The duo was arrested only a few hours after I lodged the complaint with Jagaddal PS on Monday afternoon. The policemen from Bhatpara investigation centre also had taken action when I sought their intervention against the playing loudspeakers. The local MLA is an influential Trinamool leader, but despite that, police arrested his partymen. This is praiseworthy.”

He, however, expressed concern over his daughter’s Madhyamik preparations, saying she is still in a state of shock. Das and Biswas, the accused, were produced before the Barrackpore court on Tuesday afternoon and they were later granted bail by the court.

The victim, Debasish Pal, heaped praises on police for their prompt action. They even arrested activists of the ruling party, despite the fact that the local TMC MLA is an influential leader.

Poll debacle: CPM blames it on organization

KOLKATA: Some may blame Prakash Karat or Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for the CPM’s fast-depleting support base since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, but Alimuddin Street isn’t listening. The draft political-organizational report for the CPM state conference beginning in Kolkata on Wednesday instead views the party’s downslide primarily as an organizational failure.

The assessment has caused a flutter among sections of CPM. Some feel that the report is not in tune with the observations of the CPM central committee and the state committee.

Think about any problem right from the LF government’s land policy and the party’s approach adopted in Singur or Nandigram to the emergence of identity politics in the Hills and the plains – the root of all is chiefly organizational weakness, the draft report says, as though the party wouldn’t have faced such a problem if party cadres were all angels.

As usual, the report points to certain tendencies such as “dilution of class approach”, “nepotism”, “corruption” at various levels of party committees and also the “insincerity” to continue with the purging process effectively. These are nothing new. They have been mentioned umpteen times in party documents with little improvement. The draft report blames it on the rising consumerism among CPM activists.

Even the section dealing with the party’s organizational philosophy – democratic centralism – points to lack of democracy within party committees. But then, it does not point out the systemic inadequacies within the organization that has led to it. Delegates to the party state conference are used to such party jargons.

“There is no sincere attempt to go to the root of the problem. The approach is to maintain a status quo in party organization. State leaders didn’t encourage political debates even at the district level. How will comrades express their opinions,” a senior leader said.

The performance of the West Midnapore CPM is a case in point. “While many comrades laid down their lives in putting up a resistance against the Maoist-Trinamool onslaught, party leaders could not rein in the people at the helm who at a later phase started chasing the armed Maoist gangs with mercenaries, often without support from the local villagers. The draft report has taken note of this deviation, while most of the West Midnapore leaders maintain that there was no option other than going for the armed self defence. There is hardly any effort to clinch the debate,” a CPM delegate said.

The problem is similar in the Hills, and the tea gardens of Terai and Dooars. The CPM’s draft political-organizational report admits that the party failed to read the public pulse that led to the fall of the GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh and the rise of the GJM, but remains silent on the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government’s over-dependence on Ghisingh that ultimately unarmed the CPM activists against the “coalition” of GJM, Trinamool Congress and other forces.

Annoyed with the party’s eroding support base that has not showed signs of improvement as yet, CPM leaders want to use the state conference to clinch some of these issues. “No one would deny that some partymen became corrupt, had a nexus with realtors. But there still are some good people. They also failed to carry the masses. We should try to find out why it is so. Gaining credibility among the people is also facilitated when the party takes a correct political approach,” a CPM delegate said.

SRK inspires new hope, but some uncertain

KOLKATA: Comparisons between Bengal and Gujarat are unavoidable, what with the Left Front’s abhorrence of Narendra Modi, the Tata Nano moving to Sanand from Singur, and Gujarat surging miles ahead of Bengal on industrialisation.

Bengal’s brand image now is nothing to write home about. The former Left Front government, during the fag end of its tenure, had made an attempt to resuscitate its brand equity by engaging a private company, Saffron Brand Consultants. Its head, Wally Olins, a big name in the brand business, even met then CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss a project of branding Bengal. The mission never took off because Mamata ousted the Left government.

Mamata has taken Brand Bengal a step forward.

“Now, there will be a surge of activities related to this in the coming months. Several formalities are to be finalised. Some of Shah Rukh’s involvement may have financial implications and some may not,” an official said.

“This is a great development,” industrialist Sanjay Budhia said. “It’s fabulous that Shah Rukh Khan will represent Bengal just as Amitabh Bachchan represents Gujarat. Shah Rukh’s fame and popularity goes beyond the country. He has deep roots with the city through the IPL. The idea of anyone promoting Bengal makes me very happy, and all the more if it is Shah Rukh.”

However, not everyone is happy with the choice. Filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly said: “I cannot associate Shah Rukh Khan and Kolkata in any way. Sourav Ganguly being dropped from the team (Knight Riders) was an insult to the city. It would have been much more honourable for the city if someone from here – Sunil Gangopadhyay, Soumitra Chattopadhyay or Prosenjit – was made the brand ambassador. We have many people who have contributed enormously and we don’t need to hire brand ambassadors.”

Advertising guru Harish Bijoor believes the brand ‘hulchul’ that SRK will bring to the table is vital for Bengal’s image makeover.

“Bengal desperately needs a brand ambassador to shrug off the old associations with labour strife, bandhs, strikes, friction between government and corporate houses, Nandigram and Nano. Shah Rukh should work beautifully to the external audience. The state can use his star power in advertisements and ground level activities like investor meets,” Bijoor said.

On the need to hire a Bollywood star, Bijoor said the ambassador needed immediate recognition among non-Bengalis, be it investors or tourists. “For an internal audience, a Soumitra Chatterjee would have worked. But for the rest of India, Shah Rukh is the next best bet after Amitabh Bachchan. As for cricketers, they are always the next choice after actors,” he said.

Mamata hands KMDA baton to Hakim

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday stepped aside and appointed urban development minister Firhad Hakim as the chairperson of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Political observers believe the move is likely to make things a little more difficult for mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who, as the vice-chairman of the authority, will now have to work under Hakim. It is an open secret that the duo has not been the best of friends.

A few months ago, the chief minister, who had made Chatterjee indispensable in the administration, had kept Hakim out of the KMDA executive committee. It has been a norm to make the urban development minister the chairman of KMDA. Former urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, too, had been the chairman.

On Monday, Mamata finally adhered to the norm, but only after her apparent disillusionment with the mayor. On January 24, Chatterjee was stripped of three of his portfolios – assessment, slums and market. The move by the CM set a precedence as never before had any mayor’s wings been clipped ever since the mayor-in-council system was introduced in Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

At a meeting at the Town Hall in December, the chief minister had openly chided the mayor, asking him why he had not taken her call at 1am when a fire broken out at Topsia. She has been making her displeasure about the mayor known ever since.

Mamata, too, has been offloading some of her responsibilities – getting a new power minister (Manish Gupta) was the first such move. Last month, she appointed Chandrima Bhattacharya as the minister of state for health, even though she herself is still the minister in charge of health.

Subrata replaces Sobhandeb as INTTUC head

KOLKATA: Veteran politician and state minister, Subrata Mukherjee is getting more and more importance in Mamata Banerjee’s administrative and political functioning. The minister now wears several hats – the latest being that of Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) president. He replaced senior party leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

At a meeting convened at Writers’ Buildings on Wednesday, the chief minister announced that Mukherjee would now head the INTTUC as its all-India president in place of Sobhandeb. Purnendu Bose has been made the state chairman. The meeting was attended by Purnendu Bose, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee and others.

In the book compiled by the Mamata government on completion of 200 days in power, Mukherjee’s name is in the third position on the list of Cabinet ministers, Partha Chatterjee being the No. 2.

Only on December 27, Mukherjee was given the important department of panchayat and rural development in addition to public health and engineering (PHE). He had initially been kept out of Writers’ and was given a department housed in the New Secretariat when Mamata came to power on May 20 last year.

Apparently, Mukherjee’s detractors tried their best to keep the veteran politician at bay, citing his political flip-flops, especially the way the once all-powerful mayor sunk the Trinamool boat on the eve of the 2005 corporation elections. But the chief minister gradually realized that she needs this man – with political and administrative experience – near her.

The veteran politician and seasoned minister who debuted in the S S Ray government four decades ago, seems to be the chief minister’s trump card ahead of the crucial panchayat elections. Announcing Mukherjee’s “comeback”, the chief minister had then said, “Panchayat is an important department. We have decided to switch responsibilities. Subratada will be in charge of this department along with PHE.”

The CM created a new department for Chandranath Sinha, the former panchayat and rural development minister, who faired badly in the panchayat department.

Bengal gains Rs 346 crore from Singhvi-Mitra spat

KOLKATA: The argument between Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Amit Mitra over central assistance to Bengal has ultimately turned out to be a gain for the cash-strapped Mamata Banerjee government.

The state got an additional 346 crore under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) just a day after the powwow between the Congress leader and the Bengal finance minister over the nitty-gritty of fund allocation and actual fund flow.

This is over and above the 1,100-crore backward region grant that panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee spoke about at Writers’ Buildings on Wednesday. Finance ministry data shows the Centre released 700 crore as BRGF grants to the state between June 01, 2011, and February 6 this year. Congress national spokesperson Singhvi said in his written statement on Wednesday the Centre “released 1,046 crore under the BRGF scheme till February 7.”

But the real story lies in the fine print. A day after the war of words that ended on February 6, the Union finance ministry hiked the release of funds under BRGF by another 346 crore for the 11 backward regions of Bengal.

“I am not counting much on what I said today about fund release. I have just quoted the finance ministry data, as on February 7, in my written statement. What I wanted to clarify is my statement on February 5 when I talked about allocation/approvals and not disbursals. I said that the Centre had approved central assistance of about 8,750 crore to Bengal under the BRGF in the 2011-12 financial ,” Singhvi said.

Mitra, who had rebutted Singhvi’s allocation claim saying not a penny has come to the state’s kitty, didn’t take calls on Wednesday after Singhvi’s written statement.

“Yes, it seems so when we compare the Union finance ministry data with the figure Abhishek Singhvi stated in his statement on Wednesday. The extra funds will indeed facilitate the development of the backward regions of Bengal. There is no denying that the state government is under constraint, but then the state finance minister should have made a detailed statement on the central funds received on plan and non-plan account till date before placing what he wants more from the Centre,” the PCC chief said.

According to finance ministry data, the Centre released Rs 1,857 crore as grants for specific schemes, and another Rs 13,877 crore on non-Plan account till February 6.

Earlier in the day, minister Subrata Mukherjee said: “The public health engineering department has got Rs 1,100 crore and the public works department Rs 1,278 crore. We have just received a letter from the Planning Commission that our project for supplying clean water to Bankura has been sanctioned. The amount (Rs 1,100 crore) is from the BRGF allocations.”

Going by what Mitra was stressing the other day, Mitra has been trying to drive home the point that Bengal has not received any special fund assistance from the Centre, or a moratorium on the interest payments of the huge Rs 2 lakh crore debt, a liability inherited from the Left Front government. The fact is that Bengal didn’t get such relief than the statutory central support applicable to all the states.

However, the BRGF is a scheme where the state government and local bodies – panchayats and municipalities – can take liberty in planning and implementing projects unlike other purpose-specific central assistance projects, a Union finance ministry official said.

“The plans for such projects are drawn up at the district planning committee level under Article 243 ZD of the Constitution. The fund can be applied for rural or town roads, drinking water or anything not covered under the specified central projects. They may also be used to fill gaps in cases where specified projects fail to meet the local demand. A total 11% of the fund can be used for staff provisioning and capacity building,” the officials said.

However , the fund is meant for 11 backward districts in West Bengal – Bankura, Birbhum , Purulia, Midnapore East, Midnapore West, South 24-Parganas , Murshidabad, Malda, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri.

CU campus polls on hold, talks on for single-day voting

KOLKATA: Apprehensive of campus violence, Calcutta University on Tuesday ordered its affiliated colleges to put students’ union polls on hold so that the government can arrange for them to be held on a single day in every district.

DC(HQ) Javed Shamim met Calcutta University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das , registrar Basab Chaudhuri and higher education department joint secretary Manab Chakraborty on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

“Students’ union elections in colleges will be put on hold until further notice. We will convene a meeting with the principals and police to decide the next course of action. These colleges may be divided into zones and then fragmented into groups,” the VC said. CU will hold discussions with authorities of the colleges within a week.

On January 19, the state government had decided to hold student’s union elections in each district on a single day. “It can’t be done in Kolkata since many colleges run on shifts. We have suggested distributing the elections over two to three days,” said Shamim.

In those colleges where nominations have been filed, we have suggested to club some colleges together under one division in the same locality.,”said joint commissioner of police Javed Shamim.

Later, the West Bengal Higher Education Council members met state election commissioner Meera Pandey to discuss if the State Election Commission can play a role in holding the college union elections. The proposal was turned down as it was said that that the Commission is here to oversee municipal and panchayat polls. However the state electoral officers gave a few suggestions to the higher education council members which may find a place in the uniform election code of conduct.

Education minister Bratya Basu had earlier requested the higher education council to draw up a “futuristic uniform election code of conduct” for students’ union elections.

Papers sought on derecognition of police bodies

KOLKATA: Calcutta high court on Tuesday directed the state government to produce all relevant papers on derecognition of West Bengal Police organizations for establishing a Police Welfare Board. Justice Jayanta Biswas also issued an interim order restraining the government from evicting organizations from their respective offices till February 9 when the court will hear the case.

Two writ petitions were filed in the court challenging the state government’s decision to derecognize police organizations for establishing a police welfare board.

One of the petitions was filed by Pashim Banga Non-Gazetted Police Karmachari Samiti and the other by West Bengal Police Association.

While moving the first petition, former Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Arunavo Ghosh and Syad Chadan Hossain, counsel for the petitioner, argued that the home (police) department had issued a notice on January 10 stating that recognition of police organizations had been withdrawn for setting up a police welfare board.

According to the petitioner, the notice violates fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution as it prohibits the right to free speech and expression and freedom of association.

It was also argued that the organizations were recognized by the governor in 1969 and the new Trinamul Congress-led government suddenly withdrew recognition to the organizations without even hearing them out.

Moving the other petition by the police association, Malay Basu, Somnath Bose and Bhaskar Bannerjee argued that on January 17, the department issued an order to evict the organizations from their respective offices which, too, was done without a hearing. Faruk M. Razzak, the additional solicitor general who appeared for the central government, sought time to receive instructions on the matter. The counsel for the state also sought time as the state government pleader Ashok Banerjee will appear in the case. The state counsel said that Banerjee was not prepared on Tuesday.

After hearing submissions from different counsel, Jusice Biswas adjourned the case till February 9 and passed a directive to produce all papers on the issue of de-recognition. The court also restrained the government from evicting the organizations from their respective offices.

The Non-Gazetted Samiti has its office at Shibpur, Howrah while the police association office is in Bhowanipore.

Sushanta gets a hero’s welcome

KOLKATA: He went in as a fall guy, largely ignored by his senior comrades. But when CPM MLA Sushanta Ghosh walked out of Alipore jail on interim bail on Tuesday, there was a cheering crowd to greet him. There were slogans, bouquets, smiles and back-thumping.

If CPM couldn’t find a hero in its darkest phase, it was going to create one. Sushanta is going to be put on the dais at CPM’s Brigade rally on February 19.

The CPM strongman has spent more than six months behind bars in connection with the murder of five Trinamool Congress activists at Garbeta’s Benachapra, his ancestral home. He was granted bail in Supreme Court and the papers for his release reached the Midnapore court on Monday evening.

Early Tuesday morning, Sushanta’s legal counsels collected his release order and a special messenger set off for Kolkata with the documents around 11.15am. A procession of CPM leaders and supporters from Midnapore followed. Meanwhile, in Kolkata, a thousand-strong crowd had gathered in front of Alipore central jail to greet the Garbeta MLA.

A flock of senior leaders – Rabin Deb, Amitava Nandi, Sujan Chakraborty, Deepak Dasgupta and even the Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra – spent a few hours in front of the jail to receive their long-time comrade.

Apprehending a crowd, police had been deployed in strength since early morning and guard rails had been put up in front of the main gate. Around 2.25pm, jail guards escorted Sushanta to the main gate. As soon as he stepped out, the welcome party started shouting ‘Comrade Laal Salam’. A group of young supporters sang “We shall overcome” and a clutch of students handed him a bouquet of 181 red roses for each day spent in jail.

Senior party leaders hugged him. His close aides like West Midnapore district secretary Deepak Sarkar, Bijay Pal and Satyen Maity were in the front row. Sushanta’s wife Karuna, a CPM district committee member, was pushed to the end of the queue when the crowd surged forward. Finally, with the help of police and party leaders, the couple got into a car around 2.48pm and headed for the MLA hostel on Kyd Street.

Sushanta looked pleased but avoided speaking to the media. “The party will speak. I will not say anything. So many people have come to the jail gate. It is upto you to make out what it means,” he said. He might leave for his home in Garbeta where his elderly mother Mrinmoyee has been waiting. “I saw my son’s release on television. I am waiting for his call,” Mrinmoyee told TOI.