Bimal Gurung says he will declare 'Gorkhaland' if talks fail

Darjeeling, Siliguri, 7 October : Gorkha Janamukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today said they expected their demand for statehood will be granted soon.
"We have already attended three rounds of talks and in the fourth round we are expecting that our one-point demand for statehood will be granted," he told a rally at Darjeeling on the occasion of second foundation day of GJM. GJM, he said, had been conducting the movement for a separate Gorkhaland in a non violent way and would stick to it "till the last". The fourth round of talks between GJM, West Bengal government and the Centre is scheduled to be held in Darjeeling.
Gorkha Land Personnel (GJM's security wing) held a march past and Gurung took the salute before the foundation day programme which was attended by about 100 gorkha representatives from across the state. န Photo : Himalaya Darpan

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Kuwait Airways to fly 38 major destinations from Ctg

Dhaka, 7 October : After 28 years of service from Dhaka to Kuwait and beyond, Kuwait Airways starts twice a week flights (Friday & Sunday departing at 5:35 am - Departure Flight KU286 & Arrival Flight KU285) from the port city Chittagong to 38 major destinations from 30 October.
To launch this new destination, Kuwait Airways has chosen Surf board as a tool and surfing as an experience to connect both the port cities - Chittagong and Kuwait. The airline has chosen Jafar Alam the award winning Bangladeshi surfer as the brand ambassador. So Kuwait and 38 destinations are just a surf away from Chittagong. On the occasion of launching the new destinations, Kuwait Airways organised a press conference at a city hotel on Wednesday.
Addressing the conference, Samiur Razzak, Sales Manager-Passenger, Kuwait Airways said that "Chittagong has enormous commercial potential and we are the first and only full-service carrier to start flights. န Photo : Firoz Ahmed

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Kolkata Police gets its first woman DC-DD head

Kolkata, 7 October : Damayanti Sen, a 1996 batch IPS officer became the first woman in the history of Kolkata Police to be given the mantle of deputy commissioner, detective department (DCDD) on Wednesday. Till now, joint commissioner (headquarters) Jawed Shamim, was shouldering the additional responsibility as chief of the detective department.
The no-nonsense woman, an Economics graduate of Jadavpur University, was first posted as assistant SP (Town) of South 24-Parganas. She rose to be additional SP of the district before moving to the city police as deputy commissioner (special) of the detective department. She then served as DC (north) and DC (central).
The list of some of the most successful detective department chiefs also includes the present commissioner of police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti. Sen who was DC Central, has been replaced by DC (ESD) Tripurari.

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Chhattradhar Mahato's police custody extended till 10 October
Jhargram, 7 October : ACJM of Jhargram court Wednesday remanded Chhattradhar Mahato, tribal leader arrested from restive Lalgarh, to police custody for three more days.
Mahato, leader of the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), was brought to the Jhargram court in West Midnapore district and the court sent him to three days of police custody. The Lalgarh leader, who has been spearheading a movement protesting the alleged police excesses in the region, was arrested 26 September near Lalgarh by a Kolkata Police Special Task Force (STF) team.
Later, the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) brought him in to Kolkata for interrogation. On 27 September he was remanded in police custody till 1 October. န Photo : PTI

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7held suspecting of carrying Uranium in Behrampore

Behrampore, Kolkata, 7 October : Police arrested seven people in Behrampore's Mankara on Tuesday suspecting them of carrying explosives, but the arrested people claimed that the powdery-white substance they were carrying in a sealed plastic packet was 380 grams of uranium. Police have sent the substance to a Kolkata laboratory to verify whether it really is uranium.
"On Tuesday morning, we received a tip-off that six persons hailing from Katwa would come to Murshidabad to meet Madhab Mondal, a resident of Kamnagar village, with a consignment of explosives," Murshidabad SP B L Meena told Bengal Newz. "Accordingly, officers of Behrampore police station intercepted a Bolero and Maruti Omni near the Mankara crossing. There were six passengers in the two cars, from whom we seized 380 grams of a chemical substance, which they are claiming to be uranium. We, however, aren't sure about their claim and have thus sent it to a Kolkata lab for testing."
After interrogating the six people, police arrested Madhab Mondal from Rejinagar, to whom they would allegedly sell their consignment, said the SP. န Photo : Moinak Mukherjee

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National Fibre Policy to be formulated by 2009-end
Kolkata, 7 October : Indian Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday mentioned that a workgroup has been formed for the development of National Fibre Policy, which is expected to be ready by end of 2009. "Hopefully, by the end of this year, a comprehensive policy on all fibres will be in place," said Maran, who was addressing a textile industry seminar in Kolkata. He mentioned that NFP will provide equal opportunities to all the players of textile industry. In India, manmade fibres provide 40% of the industry while natural fibres constitute 60%.

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Bangladesh reinforces troops as tension mounts along Myanmar border
Dhaka, 7 October : Bangladesh has cancelled leave of its border guards and stepped up army deployment on its border with Myanmar, alleging large-scale intrusion and to protest against the eastern neighbour erecting a border fence.

Tension mounted along the Naikhyangchhari border in Bandarban after Myanmar resumed border fencing Friday. Myanmar Saturday also reinforced army deployment on its side of the border. Placing its forces "on alert" along the 300 km border, Dhaka may need to resume diplomatic efforts to stop intrusion of Myanmar citizens into the Bangladesh territory seeking shelter or employment, New Age newspaper said Wednesday quoting an unnamed home ministry official.
Dhaka has from time to time received Rohingyas, the Muslim tribals who oppose the military junta in Yangon. The official said intrusion of Myanmar citizens into Bangladesh was damaging Bangladesh's labour market and reputation of Bangladeshi workers. န Photos : AP

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BCB to invite Sangakkara for 2011 WC mascot launch

Dhaka, 7 October : The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), co-host of the 2011 ICC World Cup, is planning to invite Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara for the unveiling ceremony of the 2011 World Cup mascot in Dhaka. Sangakkara's Indian and Bangladeshi counterparts, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Mashrafe Mortaza, too, would be present at the event. This was revealed by Jalal Younis, the BCB Media Director.
Kumar Sangakkara, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Mashrafe Mortaza will share the same stage in January, 2010 when the WC mascot is revealed to the cricket lovers around the world. However, a notable absentee in the above elite company may be Younis Khan as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been stripped off their rights to host the quadrennial showpiece.

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300+ houses, shops damaged in Rangpur tornado

UNB, Rangpur, 7 October : Over 300 houses and shops were razed when a tornado blew over Kaunia at around 11am(BDST) on Wednesday.
Also, several hundred trees and some electric poles were ripped up. Thirty-five people were injured under collapsed roofs of houses. Two of the injured were admitted to the local health complex. The most affected places are Gopal, Bishnupur and Kursha villages and Lengrar Bazar market place, Mahiruddin, chairman of Kursha Union Parishad, told UNB. Officials including the upazila project implementation officer went to those areas, said Rangpur district relief and rehabilitation officer Moklesur Rahman.

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Chidambaram to Maoists : Give up violence and talk
PTI, Mumbai, 7 October : Maoist guerrillas should give up their "armed liberation struggle" to pave the way for dialogue and the development of violence-hit states, home minister P Chidambaram said here on Wednesday, a day after the decapitated body of a Jharkhand police officer who had been abducted by guerrillas was found.
Addressing a press conference here, Chidambaram refused to term actions against the guerrillas as "war" and said : "It is Naxalites who believe in violence, who use words like war and war preparation. We do not treat it as war.

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Miraculous escape for child born inside a train's toilet

Purulia, 7 October : In a case that seems to be straight out of 'Ripley's Believe It or Not', a woman delivered a child inside a toilet of a moving train and the newborn slipped down the outlet into the tracks but miraculously escaped unhurt.
Bhola Roy and his pregnant wife Rinku boarded Tata-Chhapra Express from Tatanagar on Tuesday night. When the train was running between Gamaria and Birrajpur stations, the women went to toilet and delivered the baby, who slipped down the outlet, officials said on Wednesday. Rinku, in a state of shock, immediately jumped off the train, even before her husband could pull the alarm chain. By then, the train had already travelled about two kilometres. When the train stopped, the passengers walked back to the spot where Rinku and her child were lying, they said, adding both were brought back to the train. A medical team attended on them at the Purulia station, when the train reached around midnight.
The mother and baby were referred to the Purulia Sadar hospital where their condition was stated to be out of danger, hospital superintendent Swapan Kumar said. န File Photo : Unicef

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Uttarakhand landslides trap WB and Tripura tourists

Kolkata, 7 October : A group of 40 tourists from Wrest Bengal and Tripura is trapped without food and water in a lonely stretch of mountain highway cracking up from landslides between Pithoragarh and Lohaghat in Uttarakhand.
When last reports came in late in last night, work to repair the highway had been called off because of darkness and rainfall and no rescuer had reached the spot. The district administration in Pithoragarh said it was helpless. The tourists, among them five children, were travelling in a bus as part of a conducted tour organized by a Kolkata-based company. The bus left Pithoragarh at 9 am but the tourists said no one warned them about the dangers ahead. “Landslides had hit the highway since morning but we weren’t aware of it,” said Suman Bhattacharya of Agartala, whose family, too, was on the bus.
“Till Ghat, some 35 km before Lohaghat, there was no problem. All hell broke loose after that. Huge chunks of rock have been falling, trees have got uprooted. At least 100 cars are lined up behind our vehicle.” said a Bengal tourist.

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Cong, TMC locked in bitter fight in Arunachal Pradesh
PTI, Itanagar, 7 October : Two allies of the Indian UPA govt - Congress and the Mamata's Trinamool Congress are at loggerheads in poll-bound Arunachal Pradesh.
TMC, contesting the 13 October assembly elections for the first time in the state (as Bengal Newz break the news a month back), is trying hard to give a tough fight to the ruling Congress which has all 60 seats in the outgoing House. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu today accused the TMC of creating confusion by claiming that the party had the blessings of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Trinamool leader and Union minister of state for Urban Development Saugata Roy, on the other hand, claimed that the Congress would not be able to form the government on its own and would have to take the help of his party.
He also accused the Congress government in the state of being corrupt !

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Mujib killers were told, Bangladesh to be monarchy !!

Dhaka, 7 October : Mutineers who killed Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 were provoked by an army officer with a 'story' that their country was about to be declared a 'monarchy', which would be subservient to neighbouring India, the Supreme Court has been told.

The former officer said that 14 August, 1975, he "had excited his colleagues, saying that the president would proclaim monarchy in the country on 15 August, the democracy will be damaged and the country will go under the possession of India and therefore they should depose the government of Sheikh Mujib,” The Daily Star reported Wednesday. Following this, the army men attacked the residence of then president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and killed him and 28 others on the morning of 15 August in 1975.
The confessional statement was placed before the apex court by Abdullah-al Mamun, counsel for two other convicts, Bazlul Huda and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, on the second day of the trial that has resumed under tight security.

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