Kolkata, March 30 : Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Wednesday lodged a complaint against former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly for maintaining links with CPI(M) despite being an Election Commission (EC) "icon" in West Bengal.
The complaint has been lodged with the West Bengal Chief Electoral Office."Trinamool lodged a complaint that Sourav Ganguly has political affiliation with the CPI(M), and it is against election ethics as he has become the EC's icon. Trinamool leaders have also submitted a CD where comments of CPI(M) minister Ashok Bhattacharya and Gangully are recorded," Additional Chief Electoral Officer N.K. Sahana said.
"We have gone through the CD and apprised the Election Commission in New Delhi of the matter. The decision regarding the issue will be taken Thursday," he added.
To promote voting rights and create awareness among the people in the state, the EC selected percussionist Bikram Ghosh and Sourav Ganguly to become its "icons". An advertisement featuring them urging people to vote will be aired soon.
When asked whether Sourav, being an EC icon, could campaign for any party, Sahana said: "Before selecting him as the EC's icon, he verbally assured that he will not campaign for any political party.
But we cannot stop him form campaigning for any party if he wishes to do so. "If Sourav participates in election campaign, we can not stop him for expressing his political views publicly. In that case, we have to stop publishing the promo displaying Sourav as EC's icon," Sahana said.
The complaint was lodged after the CPI(M) leader and state Urban Development Minister recently claimed that Ganguly would be campaigning for him in his constituency Siliguri. န File Photos
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Vested property to be returned to affected people : Minister
UNB, Dhaka, March 30 : The vested property will be returned to the affected people soon for the interest of nation, said Land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira on Wednesday.“The government is going to pass an act aiming at returning the vested properties to the affected people,” he said at a discussion at the National Press Club in the capital.
MJF project of Caritas organized discussion with a view to motivating the government to amend the Vested Property Act for distributing the lands to the indigenous people.
Chaired by regional director of Caritas in Mymensigh Theofil Nakrek, the discussion was addressed, among others, by State Minister for Cultural Affairs Advocate Promod Mankin, Manusher Jonno Foundation executive director Shaheen Anam and Prof. Mizbah Kamal.
Land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira said as per the election manifesto, the government is working to address the problems of poor, deprived and indigenous people gradually. He urged all to work sincerely for implementing the policies and decisions taken by the government. န Photo : UNB
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Special security arrangement' for Maoist-hit districts in WB
Kolkata, 30 March : The Election Commission has made extensive arrangements for the 14 Assembly constituencies in three Maoists affected districts of West Bengal which will go to the polls on 10 May."Special security plan has been made for the 14 Maoist affected Assembly constituencies of West-Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts," Additional Chief Electoral Officer N K Sahana said.
"Enough Central Para Military force will be deployed in the area and they will start domination seven days before the polling," he said. "Along with route marches and flag marches, several confidence building measures will be taken up to ensure that people can vote freely and safely," Sahana added.
On the security of polling officials, he said they would be kept in the discharge centre on the night before the polling day and they would be sent in groups to the polling stations early morning under full security cover. န File Photos : Arpan Mukherjee
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Bangladesh govt plans to made "rickshaw-free" Dhaka city
Dhaka, 30 March : Bangladesh home minister has said that all city roads will be made rickshaw-free gradually. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of parliamentarians of Dhaka at her ministry on Wednesday, Shahara Khatun said they decided to uphold the decision to withdraw all rickshaws from the city roads gradually.
She said they also decided to publicise the decision to ban rickshaw on the capital city road after informing the people's representatives of the areas concerned. Expressing her sorrow over Tuesday's violence by rickshaw-pullers, the home minister said, "Everyone (present in the meeting) was asked to be alert against such incidents in future."
Rickshaw-pullers and owners went on the rampage during their demonstrations against a government decision that made these three-wheelers out of bounds on many city streets. Traffic in Dhaka's Muktangan, Purana Paltan, Kakrail, Mouchak and Moghbazar came to a halt from around 10:00am to 1pm(BDST) during the demonstration staged by Bangladesh Rickshaw-Van Owners and Workers Protest Council. Seven people were also injured in the clashes. န File Photo
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