Tripura boy Somdev Devvarman
Attains career best rankings
PTI, New Delhi, 25 Octobr : Tripura boy Somdev Devvarman continued his upward journey in the ranking list, as India's new tennis star rose by three rungs to career best 121 on Monday.
Somdev, who took a short break last week, had achieved his career best ranking of 124 recently. Also improving his ranking was Prakash Amritraj, who after making the singles quarterfinals at the Calabasas Challenger event in US has jumped 17 places to 232. Indias Sania Mirza maintained her singles ranking (58) but lost two positions in the doubles list to stand at 38 in the new WTA list, issued on Monday.

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Maoist again kill CPI(M) leader in West Midnapore
Midnapore, 26 October : Suspected Maoist guerrillas shot dead a CPI(M) leader in West Bengal’s violence-hit West Midnapore district Monday afternoon, police said.
Pratap Nayak was shot dead by a group of motorcycle-borne unidentified miscreants suspected to be Maoists near Binpur bazaar when he was returning home in the afternoon,” a police official said. Nayak was a local CPI(M) leader and member of the Singhpur Panchayat committee.

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Kishenji had contacted me, says WBengal minister Kshiti Goswami
Kolkata, 26 October : West Bengal's PWD minister Kshiti Goswami today said Maoist leader Kishenji had contacted him three months back alleging "atrocities" by combined security forces in Lalgarh and adjacent areas.
He said Kishenji had rung him up when he was in Agartala three months back. "I had told him that such talks can not be held over telephone and suggested that he sit with the state government to submit his views and proposals," the senior RSP leader told reporters here at the end of Left Front meeting here. Meanwhile, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said he is not aware of such talks. "Maybe Goswami had talked to the chief minister about this," he said.

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Tripura SR troopers secure top Commando honours
IANS, Agartala, 26 October : Troopers of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), who played a key role in curbing terrorism in the state, have bagged all the 14 top positions in the Police Commando Instructor Course (PCIC) at the National Security Guards (NSG) campus in Manesar, Haryana.
“The daredevil TSR troopers bagged all 14 top positions in the 75-day course held earlier this month at the NSG academy in Manesar,” Deputy Inspector General Nepal Das told IANS Monday. “The TSR jawans outshone their counterparts from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Assam, Delhi and Chhattisgarh in quick shooting, commando actions, running and other events.”
The course ended 21 October and they returned home 24 October. Congratulating the troopers, Tripura police chief Pranay Sahay asked the elite combatants to train other TSR personnel group by group so that any extremist elements in the northeastern state bordering Bangladesh could be thwarted. န Photo : Reuters

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"Darjeeling Toy Train" receives Vestibule Coaches

Darjeeling, 26 October : World famous toy train of Darjeeling in West Bengal has received vestibule coaches, which will now enable it’s passengers to move from one coach to another coach easily. Earlier the passengers had to jump off the train to enter another compartment of the train.
Speaking to media after conducting the first successful trial run, Subrata Nath, Director of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), disclosed it to media persons on Sunday. “We are going to introduce vestibule coaches where a person can move from one coach to another coach. And we are taking a trial run. We have already taken one trial. We will take another one or more trials. This will be the first time in any of the India hill railway that vestibule coaches are introduced,” said Subrata Nath, Director, DHR.
This narrow gauge train is referred as ‘Toy’ because of its relatively small size and snail pace. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), which runs the toy train, was conferred world heritage status in 1999. It is the second railway line in the world to be declared a UNESCO heritage site, the first being the Zemerin in Austria.

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Mamata eyes Lalgarh’s missing cops to put WB govt on backfoot
Kolkata, 26 October : The Maoist attack on Sankrail police station and the continuing situation in Lalgarh is now slowly snowballing into a major political issue.
The Opposition Trinamool Congress is gearing up to highlight the issue of two constables, who had gone missing from a police station in Lalgarh on 30 July. Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Partho Chatterjee will escort the family members of the two missing constables Sabir Ali Mollah and Kanchan Gorai to New Delhi on Monday. “We will ensure justice for the family members of the two constables, who are still missing in Lalgarh. The state government is making no attempt to rescue them,” said Chatterjee.
Apart from meeting Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, the family members are expected to hold a press conference in New Delhi. The Trinamool has also planned to launch an agitation demanding the rescue of the two constables.

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Massive green drive to save forests by Tripura govt

Agartala, 26 October : The Tripura government has decided to launch a massive afforestation drive across the state, particularly in two categories of forest areas, given the rapidly denuding forest cover and environmental degradation.
All kinds of trees, especially those with rich timber content like sal, teak, mahogany, sandhi, gamai, koroi, etc will be planted across the forest areas of the state. This was disclosed by the forest minister Jiten Chowdhury in a speech delivered at Tepania under Udaipur subdivision of South Tripura after inauguration of two newly built tree houses, “Prashanti” and “Banbithi”, in the eco park. The houses have been built atop trees in the Tepania eco park to attract tourists.
“We have known since long that 60 per cent of Tripura’s geographical areas are under forests. However, the state’s forest cover has calamitously come down and there is hardly any deep forest cover fit for habitation of wild animals. This was exposed by a census based on satellite photography,” Choudhury said.

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Suspension of work at Hindustan Engineering & Ind.
Howrah, 26 October : The management of famous Hindustan Engineering and Industries Ltd (HEI) of Satragachi in Howrah put out the suspension of work notice at the factory gate, official sources said today.
The HEI mainly manufactures wagons, the sources said. The HEI management in the suspension of work notice said" they have to suspend operations in the factory as they were incurring losses.

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Suchitra Sen Film Fest in her Bangladesh hometown

Dhaka, 26 October : A festival of films starring legendary Bengali actress Suchitra Sen is being hosted in her Pabna hometown, where a lawmaker has demanded that her ancestral home be preserved for posterity.

The home of the actress is now under "illegal occupation" and must be freed, demanded Bangladeshi actress and lawmaker Kobori Chowdhury who opened the week-long festival. Chowdhury, along with film director Soovas Dutt, opened the festival to honour the screen legend who lives as a recluse in Kolkata, The Daily Star said Monday. Along with the festival's opening Friday, a rally was organised that was joined by thousands, including cultural activists and students. They marched through the streets before converging at the Town Hall premises for the festival.
The festival kicked off with the screening of "Harano Sur", one of Suchitra's better-known films. Eight films, including "Agni Parikkha", "Deep Jele Jai", "Shilpi", "Shath Pakey Bandha", "Shap Mochon" and "Shagorika" will be screened at the festival.

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Mohiuddin Babar to chair Asian CSR jury
Dhaka, 26 October : Mohiuddin Babar, columnist, researcher on CSR and a broadcaster, has been selected by the Manila-based Asian Forum on CSR to chair the jury for Asian CSR Awards for 2009.
The Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines organises the conferences of Asian CSR Forum in different Asian cities every year, says a press release. Babar is heading the panel of judges drawn from academia, NGOs and think tanks from different countries in the region. The Forum awards businesses in the region for remarkable practices and achievements in the field of CSR, including best workplace practices, health, education and environment.
A total of 132 business establishments from 14 countries are in the race for the prestigious regional award this year. Earlier, Babar was made a judge for the awards in 2007 and 2008. He is currently working on a project on Climate Change Adaptations and CSR.

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Maoists network can't be cracked overnight : WBP

Kolkata, 26 October : Cracking the Maoists network in West Bengal will not be easy, top police and administrative officials admit days after the rebels cocked a snook at the authorities with the dramatic abduction of a cop in Sankrail near the Lalgarh region.
"It would not be right to call the Lalgarh operation totally successful right now. The Maoist network can't be cracked overnight and it's not a very easy task either. You have to give some more time," Surajit Kar Purakayastha, the state inspector general of police (Law and Order), said. It has been over four months since a massive security offensive was launched in the Lalgarh region of West Midnapore district to flush out Maoists. While it has not seen much success yet, police insist that investigations into the rebel network are yielding positive results.
"The outcome of the investigation has been satisfactory, especially after the arrest of tribal leader Chhattradhar Mahato," Purakayastha said.

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Six 'Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh' men arrested

Dhaka, Khulna, 26 October : Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on Sunday night arrested two Majlis-e-Shura members and four other members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) after busting their dens in Narayanganj, Khulna and Jamalpur.
The two arrested Majlis-e-Shura members were identified as Mehedi Hasan Abir, in-charge of the country's southern part of the outfit, and Badal. The four other arrestees could not be named immediately. Maj Shakhawat Hossain, deputy director of the Legal and Media Wing of RAB, confirmed the arrests to The Daily Star and said Badal was recently included in the Majlis-e-Shura (top decision making body) of the JMB. During the drives, the elite crime busters also recovered grenade bodies and explosives from their processions.
Further details about the arrest could not be known initially.

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Cox's Bazar Airport set for expansion of runway

Cox’s Bazar, 26 October : The Bangladesh government has moved to expand the runway of Cox’s Bazar airport, aiming to upgrade it to international standards and offer foreign holidaymakers a hassle-free trip to the world’s longest unbroken sea beach.
“We have taken steps to expand the runway at Cox’s Bazar airport and develop other facilities,” GM Quader, the civil aviation and tourism minister, told The Daily Star. Airliners and tour operators welcomed the move but said the government should also develop other tourism-related infrastructure and recreation facilities to lure overseas tourists. Officials of the ministry however said the government had planned to develop an exclusive tourism zone for foreign tourists, refurbish the golf course to international standards and establish a cricket stadium in the beach town.
In line with the move to upgrade the airport, its runway will be expanded from 6,775 feet to 9,000 feet long and the width from 125 feet to 200 feet. Various navigational instruments will be installed, with the total cost estimated at Tk 302 crore.

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