Kolkata, 29 December : The Metro Railway of Kolkata, the country's oldest, today became the 17th independent zone of the Indian Railways with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing that a Rs 10,000 crore project has been taken up for its expansion and infrastructure development."The making of Kolkata Metro as an independent zone was notified by the Railway Board yesterday. This will make the railway an open line like the other zones. This will raise the status of the Metro workers on part with those of the zonal railways. It has also put workers unions in a position to negotiate on matters pertaining to the Metro," Banerjee said while laying a foundation stone conferring the independent status of the Metro.
Stating that making Kolkata Metro an independent zone had nothing to do with politics, she said it had been done aiming at capacity building and developing infrastructure.
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No one is asking how letter was leaked-Somnath Chatterjee
Burdwan, 29 December : Former Indian Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee said today nobody was questioning how Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram's letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, asking the state government to disarm CPI(M) cadres, was leaked."No one is asking how the Home Minister's letter was leaked, yet a reply is being sought from the chief minister," Chatterjee said. "Some words have been used in the letter which I have never heard in the course of my long political career," he said apparently referring to use of 'harmad vahini' in the letter. "State government does not function under the Centre. So such language should not be used. The country will be ruined if Centre-State relations are based on politics," he said at a programme here.
In a federal structure, the state and Centre should have a harmonious relation, he said. န Photo : Dipankar Chatterjee
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"ISRO" scientist K S Dasgupta new director of "IIST"
PTI, Thiruvananthapuram, 29 December : ISRO scientist K S Dasgupta today assumed charge as Director of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) here.
He succeeds B N Suresh, founder director of IIST. Dasgupta, an expert in image processing and satellite communications, had been the Deputy Director, Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, a press release here said.
PTI, Thiruvananthapuram, 29 December : ISRO scientist K S Dasgupta today assumed charge as Director of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) here.
He succeeds B N Suresh, founder director of IIST. Dasgupta, an expert in image processing and satellite communications, had been the Deputy Director, Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, a press release here said.
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Tripura rights commission urge release of Dr Binayak sen
Agartala, 29 December : Tripura Human Rights Organisation today urged the Central and Chhattisgarh governments to immediately withdraw sedition cases against rights activist Dr Binayak Sen and release him from jail."Sen has been implicated in a false case to suppress the human rights movement and protest against state and non-state sponsored terrorism," the organisation's general secretary Purushuttam Roy Barman told reporters here.
"Sen was arrested by the Chhattisgarh government without any definite evidence. We are hopeful that all charges will be quashed by the higher judiciary," he said. န Photo : PTI
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Brinda Karat lashes out at Central gov'ment over JPC issue
Siliguri, 29 December : CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat has slammed the central government for not presenting a reasonable argument against constituting a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) over graft charges in the multi-million dollar 2G spectrum allocation scam.
"It's very unfortunate that the Government should have made this a prestige issue because they have not been able to give any logic or any reasonable argument why they are against the JPC," said Karat on the sidelines of a rally here on Wednesday.
Siliguri, 29 December : CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat has slammed the central government for not presenting a reasonable argument against constituting a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) over graft charges in the multi-million dollar 2G spectrum allocation scam.
"It's very unfortunate that the Government should have made this a prestige issue because they have not been able to give any logic or any reasonable argument why they are against the JPC," said Karat on the sidelines of a rally here on Wednesday.
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Be more careful in transaction with Iran : Bangladesh Bank
Dhaka, 29 December : Bangladesh Bank has asked the commercial banks to be more cautious about transactions with Iran.
Bangladesh and Iran both are members of the eight-member Asian Clearing Union (ACU) and they settle export and import transactions through ACU payment system. After the US sanctions on Iran, the central bank cautioned the banks to warn their clients who have trade with Iran to be more careful as there are settlement problems, said a Bangladesh Bank official.
Dhaka, 29 December : Bangladesh Bank has asked the commercial banks to be more cautious about transactions with Iran.
Bangladesh and Iran both are members of the eight-member Asian Clearing Union (ACU) and they settle export and import transactions through ACU payment system. After the US sanctions on Iran, the central bank cautioned the banks to warn their clients who have trade with Iran to be more careful as there are settlement problems, said a Bangladesh Bank official.
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Tripura documentary 'Raibik Path' gets National recognition
IANS, Agartala, 29 December : Tripura's first documentary film -"150 Raibik Path" made on the life and ideals of Nobel laureate Rabindranth Tagore has been conferred national recognition by a screening committee, an official release said Wednesday.The screening committee was headed by renowned film-maker Shyam Benegal. "A screening committee under the chairmanship of Shyam Benegal recently picked '150 Raibik Path' and recommended it for national screening by Doordarshan," a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release here said. The release said: "To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore in a befitting manner, a national committee headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a National Implementation Committee (NIC) led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee were constituted. In pursuance of NIC, the screening committee selected 9 Films and documentaries on Rabindranath Tagore including '150 Raibik Path'."
The film was made by young Tripura journalist Sitangshu Ranjan De. "Through this film I have tried to show that Tagore is relevant even today through creation of a collage of various facets of Tagore," De told IANS. He said: "In the course of this 90-minute film, I have tried to answer many questions on ideals of Tagore through a collection of paintings, pictures, interviews, snippets from other documentaries and movies." "The film is also a tribute to the great poet who had visited Tripura seven times between 1899 and 1926," De said.
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