River cruise to Varanasi from Kolkata soon : S Ahmed
Kolkata, 12 June : A cruise up the river Ganges from Kolkata to Varanasi and touching Buddhist religious sites in Bihar would soon set sail attracting foreign tourists, mainly from the East and far East.
"We are working hard to initiate the service within three to four months," Union Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed said while inaugurating a tourism exposition here on Friday. Ahmed said that the cruise service would start from Kolkata and wind its way up the Ganges touching various Buddhist sites in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. He said that the metropolis would serve as the gateway for the Buddhist tourist circuit in East India. Various sites of Buddhist interest like Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda in Bihar and Sarnath and Vikramshila in Uttar Pradesh attract lakhs of tourists from China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other eastern and far-eastern countries.
The minister said that West Bengal has great potential in tourism business as it has great beaches in Digha on the Bay of Bengal and the Himalayas in Darjeeling apart from the Dooars region in the Terai but there is a lack of proper marketing.
>
8 killed, 15 injured in road accidents in Bangladesh
Dhaka, 12 June : Eight people, including a schoolgirl and a lawyer, were killed and 15 others injured in separate road accidents in Gazipur, Barisal, Noakhali and Lalmonirhat districts today.
In Gazipur, three people were killed and two others injured in Sreepur and Kaliakoir upazilas. In another accident, an unidentified woman was crushed under the wheels of a truck at Kharajora in Kaliakoir upazila in the morning. In Noakhali, two people, including a schoolgirl, were killed and two others injured as a pick-up van rammed into a rickshaw in front of Shahid Bhulu Stadium gate in the district town at noon. In Lalmonirhat, a motorcyclist was killed as a speedy truck rammed his bike in Aiar Khamar area in Sadar upazila.
>
CPI(M) leader shot dead in Murshidabad district
Behrampore, 12 June : Unknown gunmen shot dead a local CPI(M) leader on Friday in broad daylight here in Murshidabad district.
The police said 45-year-old Ekram Seikh, CPI(M)'s Panchanantala local committee secretary, was shot from point blank range as he entered central sericultue office beside Zilla Parishad. He died on the spot, the police said. The attackers, who came on motorbikes, fled after shooting Seikh, the police said.
>
Snake served with mid-day meal, 55 students fall ill
Rampurhat, 12 June : Fifty-five children were treated for shock and nausea in a children's care centre in Birbhum district on Friday after they found a dead snake in their mid-day meal. The food was prepared at the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centre in Kabirajpara near Rampurhat. Hospital superintendent Himadri Halder told Bengal Newz, no symptoms of food poisoning had been found so far. Dr Halder said the snake venom was not in "fatal proportion''. Children fell ill because of fear psychosis.
Rampurhat SDO A Sengupta said the snake fell accidentally into the vessel when the meal was being prepared in a shed at the centre. Suniti Majhi, ICDS supervisor of the village, blamed the cook, Maya Konai. "She never told us that the shed where the mid-day meal is cooked was in a bad condition. Somehow, the snake must have slipped in and fallen in the vessel. We will seek explanation from the cook.''
>
Kolkata police to tap every E-mail from cybercafes
Kolkata, 12 June : The soon-to-be-set-up counter terror units Special Task Force and Quick Reaction Team will be using armoured vehicles that have only been used by the army so far. Some city police forces have ordered it but the vehicles are yet to be delivered.
The decision to set up new anti-terror squads and draw up contingency plans was taken at a high-level meeting between the police commissioners of six metros around the country in Delhi on Wednesday. Senior home ministry officials were present. Kolkata was represented by commissioner of police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti. Along with modern weapons, hi-tech equipment for intelligence gathering and surveillance will also be purchased. Instruments to intercept and analyze wireless messages will be now be used in a big way. "That apart, we shall set up special control rooms that will monitor the video footage recorded at 500 spots around the city. They will work round-the-clock," said Chakrabarti.
Kolkata Police will also use a tetra communication system a multi-layer communication-cum-surveillance equipment that covers the entire city. It will help police tap all wireless communication being routed through or conducted from Kolkata. While the state will approve of the final list of equipment to be purchased, the Union home ministry has set a deadline of July 2010 to have them in place. Once the system is put in place, every cybercafe in the city will be monitored from Lalbazar. "Kolkata Police will have direct access to all e-mails being sent to and from them," said a Union home ministry official.
>
Reinforcement of staff to ensure smooth admission
Agartala, 12 June : Tripura government has decided to mobilise extra staff for ensuring smooth admission at the general degree level of the state following a clash between the Students Federation of India (SFI) and National Student Union of India (NSUI) in the prestigious MBB college in Agartala.
Talking to reporters here today Higher Education Minister Anil Sarkar said the admission process was solely an administrative matter and that no student had the right to interfere in the process. Elected student councils and NSS volunteers might be engaged if college authority desired, he added.
Meanwhile, police said at least four students were injured in the group clash in MBB College yesterday and both the SFI and NSUI had filed separate cases. During the evening, both the groups made loud demonstration in the city against each other.