Railways to set up 'Tagore museum' on 150th anniversary
Kolkata, 30 Decem­ber : The Railways will set up a museum on poet Rabindranath Tagore at Howrah as part of celebrations on the Nobel laureate's 150th birth anniversary.
'The Rabindranath Tagore Museum will come up close to the railway museum at Howrah,' Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee said here Wednesday. Banerjee said the museum will exhibit the writings of Tagore related to the railways. 'We will also organise a series of events to honour Tagore and spread his message from one state to another,' she said.
Tagore, born on May 7, 1861, got the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 - the first Asian to get the coveted award. Tagore, who enriched Bengali culture and literature as a poet, novelist, musician, and playwright from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, is still a household name in this part of the world with the popularity of his works still undiminished.

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Gunbattle with Maoists continues in troubled Jangalmahal
Midnapore, Kolkata, 30 Decem­ber : Security forces and the Maoists were locked in a fierce gun battle since 6 pm in two villages under Salbani police limits in troubled West Midnapore district today.
On an information that a large number of armed Maoists had gathered in Kishijora and Koradana villages, the security forces took positions in the area, district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam told Bengal Newz. Sensing trouble, the rebels fired at them and the force retaliated leading to a fierce encounter. The battle is continuing till the last report reached at 8 pm, Nigam said. The security forces have not suffered any casualty so far. Any casualty on the other side is also not known.

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Bangladesh to tighten security on New Year's eve in Dhaka

Dhaka, 30 Decem­ber : Over 12,000 Bangladeshi police and anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) will be deployed in capital Dhaka on 31 December night to maintain law and order, according to local media Wednesday.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) authorities will deploy around 10,000 police personnel, including its men of plain cloth wing Detective Branch (DB) and Traffic Division, from 06:00pm(BDST). on 31 December in Dhaka, AKM Shahidul Haque, Commissioner of DMP, was quoted as saying by the national news agency BSS.
He said excepting regular deployment of 7,000 police personnel, additional 3,000 police and 2,000 RAB members will also be deployed at different strategic points to avert any untoward incident.

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Bangladesh government buying 'power' from India
Dhaka, 30 Decem­ber : The Bangladesh government on Wednesday approved a proposal to import power from India. The tariff will be agreed upon once a Memorandum of Understanding is reached between the two countries.
The cabinet at a meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina approved the Memorandum of Understanding between Bangladesh and Indian governments on cooperation in power sector, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters at a briefing. "The government has decided to import power from India. After the approval of the MoU (by India) we will be able to procure power at an agreed price," Azad said.

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13 th Finance Commission report to be reflected in Budget

PTI, New Delhi, 30 Decem­ber : Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, which submitted its report to President Pratibha Patil earlier in the day, will be reflected in the Budget 2010-11.
"There is a system. (The report) will be tabled in Parliament as per the system," Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Delhi. After that, the report will be reflected in the Budget, he said. The report of the 13th Finance Commission, headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar, assumes importance since reforms in the direct and indirect taxes areas are likely to be in place in the next couple of years in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Direct Taxes Code.
Kelkar presented the report to Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The report will be given by the President to the finance ministry, which will take it up with the Cabinet. Cabinet will then adopt the report and is expected to table it in the Budget session of Parliament.

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4 hurt in another Chittagong ship-breaking mishap
Chittagong, 30 Decem­ber : At least four workers were injured after a dismantled iron sheet fell on them at a Sitakunda ship breaking yard on Wednesday, just days after four workers were killed in a blast at a nearby yard, heightening safety concerns about the industry.
Sitakunda police chief Monirul Islam said the accident took place at around 2 pm(BDST) on the premises of Unique Traders, a ship breaking yard owned by SM Al Mamun, son of a local parliament member Abul Kashem Master.

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Andaman govt re-schedules "Island Tourism Festival"

Port Blair, 30 Decem­ber : The Andaman and Nicobar administration has rescheduled the carnival of these far-flung islands following requests from different sections of islanders.
''The Island Tourism Festival will be held from 6 January to 15 January, 2010. It was rescheduled on the special request from the general public as well as few associations who appealed the administration to extend the Island Tourism Festival upto the 'Pongal' which falls on 14 January.'' A large section of population may be able to enjoy the festival, an official release of Andaman and Nicobar administration said today. Meanwhile, the Directorate of Sports, Art and Culture, A and N administration is all set to provide cultural inputs to the long awaited festival. Artists from different cultural centres of Mainland India are expected to perform folk and classical dances and martial arts programmes during the ITF.
Apart from the daily cultural event, the contingents comprising visiting and local artistes would perform at various remote scattered islands, it is learnt.

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Suspected 'PCPA' activists torch trucks in West Midnapur
Jhargram, 30 Decem­ber : Suspected People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) activists set ablaze three trucks on a highway near in West Midnapur district today, police said.
A group of unidentified persons, suspected to be members of PCPA's armed wing Sidhu Kanu Gana Militia, torched the Jharkhand-bound trucks carrying iron rods and potatoes on the national highway at Mohanpur, about 98 km from here, in the district, they said. No arrest has been made so far in the case, police said.

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Now, "Kamtapur" state demanded in West Bengal

PTI, Kolkata, 30 Decem­ber : After Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's demand of carving out a Gorkhaland state from West Bengal, a similar demand has been made by a political party seeking a separate Kamtapur state, with a threat of agitation if no response was received within 20 days.
A seven-member delegation of the Kamtapur Progressive Party headed by office secretary Darshan Chandra Singha submitted a memorandum to Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen on its demand for a Kamtapur state comprising entire North Bengal and Lower Assam, yesterday. Confirming receipt of the memorandum, the Home Secretary said "I will discuss their demands with officials of different departments if any of them can be conceded at all."
The KPP secretary later told reporters that the demand was for 'a full-fledged' Kamtapur state and recognition of the Kamtapuri language 'for sons of the soil' of North Bengal and Lower Assam under Article (3) of the Constitution. န Photo : Aritra Roy

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Clips removed from railway track, Train have narrow escape
Jhargram, Kolkata, 30 Decem­ber : Passengers of the New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express had a narrow escape in the wee hours on Wednesday as suspected Maoists removed the connectors between two tracks on a 400 metre stretch near Gidni station near Jhargram just before the train was to cross the area.
Patrolling railway men detected a group of people removing the pandoral clips, connectors between two tracks, and trying to bend the line near Gidni at around 1.15 am, a South Eastern Railway Spokesman said. They immediately informed railway authorities at Gidni station following which movement of trains was stopped. Local police, RPF and railway officials rushed to the spot to undertake restoration work, the spokesman said.
Thirteen UP and DN trains, including Gitanjali Express, Mumbai Mail, Azad Hind Express were detained at several points on the Howrah-Tatanagar section. Train movement was restored after six hours, the spokesman said.

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Silchar's SAFE expreses concern overTipaimukh dam

Silchar, 30 Decem­ber : Soci­ety for Act­iv­ist for Forest and Envir­on­ment (SAFE), based at Silchar, organ­ized a sem­inar today on “Down­stream res­ol­u­tion on Tipaimukh Dam” at the dis­trict lib­rary aud­it­or­ium here in which rep­res­ent­at­ives of more than 11 organ­iz­a­tions par­ti­cip­ated and artic­u­lated their views on the issue.

These organ­iz­a­tions liv­ing on the Barak river down­stream of the pro­posed Tipaimukh Dam after hav­ing gone through a series of dis­cus­sions have come out with the obser­va­tion on the dis­astrous implic­a­tions asso­ci­ated with it. Dur­ing the dis­cus­sion, it was poin­ted out that in the event of the dam tak­ing shape, the entire eco sys­tem, eco­nomy, iden­tity and life, crit­ic­ally linked to the river Barak, will be ser­i­ously jeop­ard­ized dis­rupt­ing the cul­ture, eco­nomy and live­li­hood of the people liv­ing along the up and down streams.
Besides, the dam will impact the sed­i­ment which is vital for the long run sus­tain­ab­il­ity of the riv­er­ine eco­sys­tem and live­li­hood. Another cause of alarm expressed by the speak­ers is the high seis­mic zone area, on which the dam is planned to be built, which will be dan­ger­ous for the down stream people because if the dam bursts dur­ing earth­quake, it will endanger lives of thou­sands of people.

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