Kolkata, 6 April : Catching up with the cyber campaign trend in the Assembly polls this time, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee has launched a website called www.buddhadebbhattacharjee.net, on which he will address the queries of the public. Anyone can log on to the website and pose a question which will be answered by the chief minister.CPI(M) sources said the questioner can get a first hand information about the chief minister's initiatives for the overall development in the state.
With the click of a mouse, one can get a view of Bhattacharjee's life, access videoclips of his speeches at various rallies and meetings and also browse through other related images.
Some of the important letters written by the chief minister to the Prime Minister and some other dignitaries can be accessed through the site as well.
The net surfers can get an idea of Bhattacharjee as a poet, dramatist, literary critic as well. န Web Screen-Shot
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GDP growth to be 6.3 pc in BD : Asian Development Bank 
Dhaka, 6 April : Bangladesh may achieve 6.3 percent GDP growth in the current fiscal year, says the Asian Development Bank.
In its outlook for 2011 released on Wednesday, the lending agency said the projected growth would be 6.3 percent and inflation at 8 percent for the current fiscal, while it would be 6.7 percent and 8.5 percent for the next fiscal.
It said a stable political environment is needed to have a sustainable growth in the country. "This is true for any country that political stability is necessary to have a sustainable development process," said M Zahid Hossain, a senior country specialist of ADB, in his presentation.
"The strong rebound in exports will support higher growth, offsetting the effects on domestic demand of the sharp slowdown in remittance growth," he said. Improvement in power supply and a rise in business confidence are likely to boost activities, he added.
Rise in global commodity prices, depreciation of Taka, and power tariff in February and expected rise in fuel and CNG prices would likely to contribute to the supply-side pressure, the economist said. န Photo : Focus Bangla
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Chhattisgarh Government opposes Dr Binayak Sen’s bail New Delhi, 6 April : Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday opposed the petition of rights activist Dr Binayak Sen in the Supreme Court seeking bail and stay on his life term for his alleged links with Maoists saying he was involved in providing safe hideouts and logistic support to hardcoreMaoists.
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Bangladesh plan to import gas from Myanmar and Malaysia 
Kolkata, 6 April : Bangladesh is planning to import natural gas from Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia as new scientific calculations have shown that the country has limited gas reserve, Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner said Wednesday.
"New scientific calculations have shown that there is limited gas reserve. We are planning to import gas from Malaysia and Indonesia. We are in talks with the Myanmarese government for importing gas," Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata Mustafizur Rahman said in an interactive session organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI).
Asked whether Bangladesh was willing to export its natural gas to India, he said: "If the reserve of gas is sufficient, then we can think about exporting gas." Rahman said Bangladesh was looking forward to full implementation of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement to correct trade imbalance with India.
"When SAFTA will be implemented fully, then exportable items from Bangladesh to India will be increased. We expect India to be more generous in expanding trade relation with us," he said.
During 2009-10, Bangladesh's exports to India were $276.58 million and imports from India were $3,202.1 million.
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Congress to field candidates against Trinamool ally SUCI 
Kolkata, 6 April : Congress today decided to take on Trinamool Congress ally SUCI in two seats at South 24 Parganas district for refusing to withdraw nominees against it in 29 other constituencies for the West Bengal assembly elections.
"We have decided to field candidates against SUCI nominees in Joynagar and Kultali that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee left for the SUCI as it has put up candidates against us in 29 other seats," state Congress spokesman Om Prakash Mishra told Bengal Newz.
He said that while former MP Manoranjan Haldar would contest from Joynagar, district Congress leader Sujit Patwari would file nomination from the Kultali seat.
The SUCI will contest 31 assembly seats, among them West Midnapore's Sabang and Birbhum's Nalhati.
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Deputy Election Commissioner B Zutsi to visit West Bengal Kolkata, 6 April : Deputy Election Commissioner Binod Zutsi, who is in charge of West Bengal, will arrive here to monitor preparations in districts where Assembly elections for the first and second phases are scheduled for 18 and 23 April respectively.
"Zutshi will arrive on 10 April and go to north Bengal and visit Darjeeling, Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri and have meetings with district magistrates and superintendents of police," state Additonal Chief Electoral Officer N K Sahana told reporters here today.
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PCPA leader Chhatradhar to contest Vote as 'Independent' 
Jhargram, 6 April : PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato, who is in judicial custody for about one and a half years, will contest the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections from Jhargram seat in West Midnapore district as an Independent candidate.
Permission for contesting the election from jail was granted by Jhargram Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sheikh Mohammed Rejja today on a written application by Mahato. The magistrate directed the jail administration to help the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) former spokesman in his effort to contest the election.
Chhatradhar's counsel Kaushik Sinha said his client would contest the election as an Independent candidate from Jhargram seat.
Mahato (47) was arrested on 26 September, 2009 from Lalgarh area under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and several sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Jhargram goes to poll on 10 May. န File Photo
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Calcutta HC allows microphone use in 6 north Bengal Dists Kolkata, 6 April : The Calcutta High Court today passed an interim order allowing the use of microphones from 9 April between 10 am and 8 pm for electioneering in six districts going to West Bengal assembly polls.
A division bench of Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice A K Roy passed the interim order in response to a petition filed yesterday by Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy seeking permission to use loudspeakers during poll campaign from 9 April a day after completion of the Higher Secondary examination.
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Fresh dispute stalls Indo-Bangla border survey in Meghalay 
PTI, Shillong, 6 April : A joint survey of the disputed India-Bangladesh border along the Meghalaya stretch, that resumed on Tuesday after three months, was stalled yet again following differences between officials from the two sides.
Though survey officials of both sides had decided to resume the exercise yesterday at the disputed tracts of Muktapur and Pyrdiwah bordering Bangladesh's Sylhet district, differences surfaced on the mandate of the survey, officials said.
An official told PTI the Bangladeshi side were refusing to recognize 'adverse possession lands' (APLs) held by India like those tracts in Muktapur and Pyrdiwah, and they pressed for a survey of the border pillars instead.
Discussions were on between the survey officials of both sides, but no headway has been achieved, the source said. န File Photo
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Hoax call creates security scare in Shillong secretariat PTI, Shillong, 6 April : An anonymous phone call about an abandoned bag lying inside the complex, threw security agencies into a tizzy at the high security Meghalaya secretariat today.
SP (city) M Kharkrang said bomb squad and security officials rushed to the secretariat after the call, which also intimated about a letter, and sanitised the entire complex but only found the letter written in Khasi, not the bag.
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ULFA threat had no impact on turnout in 1st phase : Gogoi Guwahati, 6 April : The ULFA threat on Congress had no impact on the voter turnout in the first phase of polling in Assam and peace parleys with the group will continue without its elusive 'military chief' Paresh Baruah, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said.
"Paresh Baruah-led anti-talk faction's threat to Congress workers and leaders had no impact on the voter turnout in the first phase of polling on Monday," Gogoi told reporters here.
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Sourav opts out of controversial Election Commission' video
Kolkata, 6 April : The Election Commission on Tuesday formally announced that the video planned by the state election office with former India captain Sourav Ganguly will not be aired.The cricket icon had shot the video, with the Eden Gardens in the background, to urge people to vote without fear. The reason, cited by the EC's director general of information, education and communication Akshay Raut, was that Sourav himself wanted to pull out from the campaign due to the controversy over his involvement with the poll video.
The Trinamool Congress had filed a complaint with the EC not to use the Sourav video because he was allegedly close to some CPI(M) ministers.
The state election office had sent the Trinamool's complaint and a CD sent by the party to the EC, which kept the decision pending. Some officials said on Tuesday that Sourav's voluntarily opting out of the video was the best possible way to avoid embarrassment for both sides Sourav's and the EC's.
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India's first bamboo park in Tripura IANS, Agartala, 6 April : India's first bamboo park and second rubber industrial park are being set up in the northeastern state of Tripura to promote exports and to bring about a natural revolution in the elastic polymer industry, officials said here Wednesday.
The bamboo park, a joint venture between the Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) and the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) limited, is being set up at a cost of Rs.25 crore. With a project cost of Rs.23 crore, the rubber park, also a joint venture between the TIDC and the Rubber Board, is the second of its kind in the country after the one at Kerala's Irapuram. Both the projects are being set up at the northeast India's biggest industrial zone located at western Tripura's Bodhjungnagar, some 25 km north of Tripura capital Agartala. 'An export promotion industrial park (EPIP) and a food park are also being set up in Bodhjungnagar at a cost of Rs.10 crore and Rs.7 crore respectively,' TIDC chairman Pabitra Kar told reporters.
IL&FS, one of India's leading infrastructure development and finance companies promoted by various banks and financial institutions, is the project management agency of the rubber park, where at least 20 rubber-based industrial projects would be set up within the next three years.
Tripura is the second largest rubber producer in the country after Kerala, with 55,340 hectares of land so far brought under cultivation.
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Garo militants gun down five poor labourers in MeghalayaPTI, Shillong, 6 April : Five labourers were gunned down by suspected Garo militants in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district early today.
Around nine armed Garo National Liberation Army militants barged into the Gokha coal depot, about 10 km from Baghmara, the district headquarter town, and opened indiscriminate fire from AK 47 rifles at around 1.45 am, police said. The bodies were taken to Tura, the district headquarter town of neighbouring West Garo Hills district.
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WikiLeaks disclosures one sided, distorted: CM Buddhadeb 
Kolkata, 6 April : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday termed as 'one-sided' and 'distorted' the recent WikiLeaks cables which claimed that he was in favour of liberalisation and economic reforms.
A media report, quoting cables released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, said that the Left-Front leader in a conversation with US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in 2007 had said that he was in favour of economic liberalisation.
'It surprises me that my conscious reiteration of the publicly stated policies of our government and our party has been one-sidedly represented by the author of the cable. 'Hence, it is obviously a distorted version of our discussion,' said a statement by Bhattacharjee, a senior politburo member of the CPI(M).
'It is well known that while we are opposed to neo liberal globalisation and liberalisation, we cannot insulate ourselves from its impact. Therefore we 'engage' with this process to protect the working people from its anti-poor consequences. It is apparent that the author of the cable has misrepresented this,' the statement added.
The leaked cables made front page news in a vernacular daily of the state, which also claimed that Bhattacharjee was eager to have Dow Chemicals invest in the state. The company had taken over Union Carbide, which was responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. န File Photo : Shankar Mondal
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The saga of Power and Energy sector in Bangladesh 
Shafiqul Alam, Financial Express, Dhaka, 6 April : With the advent of summer, power supply situation has become precarious, although the government has been working to improve the situation for the last two years.
Things are getting even worse. In the prevalence of frequent loadshedding, the government has revised power tariff. There would be a further review of tariff this year as well. It is becoming double jeopardy-higher tariff in presence of load shedding. Due to the lack of investment, gap between demand and supply of gas has been increasing at an alarming rate.
Low gas pressure in the household is a normal scenario. CNG stations are kept shut down for four hours everyday. Though new gas connection has been suspended, electricity generation capacity has not been reached its optimum. We are heavily dependent on natural gas but we are a bit reluctant too to search new gas reservoir to keep pace with the growing demand.
Despite conducting many seismic surveys during the last decade, we have not been able to find reliable sources to explore. More than 80 per cent electricity, the figure which is more than any other country, is generated from gas.
The reason is very simple - cheap gas. Generation cost of electricity by diesel per unit is approximately Tk 15.00 against Tk 9.00-10.00 by furnace oil, whereas the cost is only Tk 1.00-2.00 per unit by gas. The gas price was never adjusted with other fuels as everyone considered that the country is flooded by gas. That's why most of the industries, including fertilizer industries rely on gas.
No gas metering system for household use has made many people so casual that they even use gas burner to dry their clothes...... READ MORE န File Photo : Reuters
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