Petrol prices hikes by Rs 4, diesel up 2/-

PTI, New Delhi, 1 July : Days before the Budget, the government on Wednesday hiked petrol and diesel prices by Rs four and Rs 2 per litre, respectively, with effect from midnight tonight.
It, however, decided against decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, while leaving LPG and kerosene prices unchanged. Provisions would be made in the budget, to be presented on 6 July, to cover the loss on account of LPG and kerosene, Petroleum minister Murli Deora said.
The decision to increase the price was taken after Deora met prime minister Manmohan Singh.

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Eastzone NSG commando hub inaugurated in Kolkata

Kolkata, 1 July : The National Security Guard (NSG) commandos posted in Kolkata will have a permanent address by the end of November. The deadline for making the campus at Badu, off Madhyamgram Choumatha, functional was announced by the director-general of the NSG, N.P.S. Aulakh, at the inauguration of the commando hub at Salt Lake stadium on Wednesday evening.

“We have asked the National Buildings Construction Corporation to build the campus and expect to move in by the end of November,” said Aulakh. Till the 23-acre campus is ready, the NSG will operate from its temporary base at the stadium. About 250 commandos are posted in Kolkata. “The hub is operational now. We are ready to act from today,” declared Aulakh on Wednesday.
According to him, the NSG will collaborate with the state police, providing cops training in VIP security and bomb disposal.
“The presence of the NSG in the state will also increase the confidence of the state police,” said state chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti. န Photos : AFP

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Left Front routed in municipal polls in West Bengal

PTI, Kolkata, 1 July : Close on the heels of the Lok Sabha election reverses, the left bastion in West Bengal crumbled further on Wednesday with Trinamool Congress and Congress combine winning 13 municipalities among 16 that went to the polls on Sunday. Nine of these municipalities were under the Left control, while six were under Congress and Trinamool Congress.
A new municipality was created at Dankuni in Hooghly district. The CPI(M)-led Left Front managed to win in only three and that too in a tough contest. Trinamool Congress wrested key municipalities like Asansol Municipal Corporation, Dum Dum, South Dum Dum, Uluberia, Mahestala, Madhyamgram and Rajpur-Sonarpur in south Bengal districts which were traditionally Left strongholds. In a ward in Dum Dum, Left Front lost for the first time in 48 years while it had last lost in Asansol in 1980. Trinamool along with Congress retained control in Kulti and Egra municipalities, while Congress held sway over the Kaliaganj and Islampur civic bodies in north Bengal. The Left Front won in Rajarhat-Gopalpur in the eastern fringes of the city, Gangarampur in South Dinajpur and Mal in Jalpaiguri district, with the last having been wrested from a Congress-Trinamool board. န Photo : Avijit Konar & Gour Sharma