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The West Bengal government did not implement the PMMSY central scheme for fisheries for two years and has spent only Rs 58.51 crore of the sanctioned amount, Union Minister for Fisheries Rajiv Ranjan Singh informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) was launched by the Union Ministry of Fisheries to bring about ecologically healthy, economically viable and socially inclusive development of the fisheries sector of India. For two years after the scheme was launched in 2020-21, the West Bengal government did not cooperate with the Central government in implementing it, the minister said. In 2022-23, the West Bengal government accepted it and sent proposals of Rs 221 crore. Of this, Rs 114 crore proposals were approved by the Central government. "Out of the sanctioned amount, just Rs 58.51 crore has been spent by the West Bengal government so far," Singh said. The minister said it is very difficult to implement any programme if a state government
Nearly 14 lakh SIR enumeration forms have so far been identified as "uncollectable" in West Bengal, the Election Commission said on Tuesday. These forms are "uncollectable" since the voters were either absentee, duplicate, dead or permanently shifted, an official said. The figure was 10.33 lakh on Monday. "As of Tuesday noon, the number stood at 13.92 lakh... We expect this figure to continue rising daily as more updates roll in," he said. Booth Level Officers (BLOs), tasked with collecting data from households across the state, have been actively engaged in distributing the forms and gathering necessary details. More than 80,600 BLOs, along with around 8,000 supervisors, 3,000 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and 294 Electoral Registration Officers, have been engaged for the revision exercise in West Bengal, officials said. So far, three BLOs have died in the state amid the ongoing SIR.
The West Bengal government announced that 16,36,522 more houses would be allocated to beneficiaries under the 'Banglar Bari' housing scheme by the middle of January next year. Announcing this after a cabinet meeting on Monday, senior minister Chandrima Bhattacharya accused the central government of depriving the state of funding for the scheme. "To date, 12 lakh houses have already been handed over under the 'Banglar Bari' scheme despite the Centre depriving the state government. We will hand over 16,36,522 houses to those who deserve to get them by mid-January," she said. Meanwhile, the Cabinet gave its nod to a significant expansion of industrial infrastructure under the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited (WBIDC) to boost employment opportunities, Bhattacharya said. "New plots will be allocated for seven new industrial parks across the state. They will be set up in Coochbehar (2 plots), Kalyani (1), Uluberia (1), Bishnupur (1) and Falta (2)," the minister ...
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose will lead a team of security personnel, who would carry out a search operation at the Raj Bhavan on Monday in the wake of allegations by a TMC MP that arms and ammunition were stacked within its premises, an official said. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee had on Saturday accused Bose of "sheltering BJP criminals" inside the Raj Bhavan and "arming them with bombs and guns". "The entire Raj Bhavan will be searched by a joint team of the Kolkata Police and central forces deputed here on Monday to find out whether there are arms and ammunition stacked inside. The Governor will be leading the search operation," the official told PTI. Members of the civil society and journalists will be allowed to accompany Bose during the exercise, he said. The TMC MP had made the allegations on Saturday, hours after Bose said that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was essential to "clean up the election process". Bose on Sunday said he so
Leading hotel chain Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) and Kolkata's Ambuja Neotia Group are exploring the possibility of expanding their strategic partnership beyond management contracts into joint investments in hospitality projects, senior executives from both companies said on Friday. The development marks a deepening of their existing relationship, with IHCL currently managing six of Ambuja Neotia's properties and another 7-8 in the pipeline across various locations. In July, IHCL had announced the signing of an additional 15 hotels with the group, slated for development over the next three years. IHCL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Puneet Chhatwal said the company is looking at joint investment opportunities with Ambuja Neotia Group. He noted that while the group's preference has traditionally been West Bengal, it is now showing readiness to explore projects in neighbouring regions. He added that IHCL has several projects available for collaboration if the grou
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is on a three-day administrative tour of north Bengal, shifted her place of stay from the Kanyashree bungalow to Uttarkanya due to mobile connectivity issues, a senior official said on Wednesday. "It is reported that there were network issues at the Kanyashree bungalow, which made it difficult for her to stay updated on the developments in Nepal. As a result, the CM shifted to Uttarkanya on Tuesday night to monitor the situation more closely," the official told PTI. Later, the Trinamool Congress posted a photo of the party supremo sitting in 'Uttarkanya' and monitoring the situation in the riot-hit neighbouring nation. Uttarkanya is a building in Siliguri which houses the temporary state secretariat for the North Bengal Development Department of West Bengal "The unfolding situation in our neighbouring country, Nepal, is a matter of deep concern. Placing the interests of the state above all else, our compassionate Chief Minister, remai
The Md Yunus government in Bangladesh may have chosen to honour the commitment of culinary tradition and issue a notification to export hilsa to India ahead of the festive season, but fish importers in West Bengal aren't sure whether the move will broaden smiles of the average middle class waiting to savour the delight of Padmar Ilish' this Durga Puja. Fish traders on this side of the international border attribute dual factors of lower quantity of export from Bangladesh compared to previous years, as well as higher cost of imports, as reasons behind the high prices of 'rupali shosyo', which means 'silver crop'. Putting apprehensions of an export freeze on hilsa to rest, the Bangladesh government's notice on Monday stated that it has approved in-principle the conditional export of 1200 metric tonnes of hilsa to India this year, in keeping with its traditional Durga Puja gift to Bengalis in India. For this, the Md Yunus government has invited applications from interested exporters i
With the Election Commission planning to add nearly 14,000 new polling booths amid prospective Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of rolls in West Bengal, the BJP faces a shortage of Booth Level Agents (BLAs), exposing a critical organisational gap that could weaken its 2026 poll challenge, while the TMC, with no such issues, exudes confidence. For the Trinamool Congress, the expansion of polling stations from the existing 80,000 to an estimated 94,000, spread across 294 assembly seats, is less a burden than an opportunity to tighten its grip at the grassroots. In contrast, the BJP functionaries acknowledge they are planning to cover only about 70 per cent of booths with BLAs during the SIR exercise, well short of what is needed to ensure an effective presence statewide. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP could deploy polling agents in around 50,000-55,000 of West Bengal's existing 80,681 booths. The target now stands at 65,000-70,000, but insiders admit the party may struggle to ge
Stating that the decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls lies solely with the Election Commission, West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal on Friday said training of booth-level officers (BLOs) and supervisors will ensure preparedness if the process is initiated. He said training of the BLOs was an ongoing process, and a similar session would be held in Kolkata on Saturday and in the other districts in the following days. "The EC has decided to train the officers. Earlier, there was no such training. The poll panel has an institute, IIIDEM, where people have been trained to make them understand the work, their statutory functions," Agarwal said. According to sources, the CEO held a virtual conference with the BLOs on Friday. The IAS officer said the training would help if the SIR of electoral rolls was initiated in Bengal. "If SIR takes place, the training will equip BLOs to carry out their responsibilities effectively. However
The West Bengal Cold Storage Association (WBCSA) on Friday raised the alarm over a sharp drop in wholesale potato prices, warning of severe financial losses for farmers and cold storage operators, and calling for urgent state intervention to prevent a deeper rural economic crisis. WBCSA president Sunil Kumar Rana said the widening gap between wholesale and retail prices is putting immense pressure on farmers, who hold nearly 80 per cent of the potato stock stored this year. "The entire ecosystem of potato cultivation and storage is at risk," he told reporters. This year, cold storages in West Bengal are holding a record 70.85 lakh metric tonnes of potatoes, including an additional 10 lakh tonnes of early variety, due to last season's ban on inter-state movement. Most storage units are now operating at full capacity. Association vice-president Subhajit Saha said wholesale price of the Jyoti variety, which was trading at Rs 15 per kg, the state-declared minimum support price (MSP), .
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to place before it all records regarding litigations before the Delhi HC over the deportation of a few persons found to be illegally residing in the national capital. The court also verbally asked the central government's lawyer to "ascertain" whether there is any truth in the allegation that Bengali-speaking people were being questioned over their nationality in different places in the country after the West Bengal government's counsel raised the issue. However, no order was issued by the court on this matter. A division bench, presided by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, took up two habeas corpus petitions, alleging illegal detention of some people from West Bengal. The court directed the Centre to file an affidavit with regard to the petitioners' averment that they were already deported and that the issue was being litigated before the Delhi High Court. A habeas corpus petition is a legal remedy seeking direction to produce
Several landslides triggered by incessant rains for the last few days occurred along National Highway 10, disrupting traffic movement on the road that connects Sikkim with West Bengal, officials said on Tuesday. Roadblocks have been reported along the 52-km highway stretch, which connects Sevoke in West Bengal with Rangpo in Sikkim, causing inconvenience to travellers, they said. The roadblocks were reported from 29 Mile, Kali Jhora, Seti Jhora, Selfie Dara, Birik Dara, Likhuveer, Melli and Bhalu Khola in West Bengal's Kalimpong district, they said. Officials of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) said operations related to the clearing of debris and restoration of the road are underway. Heavy machinery has been deployed to clear roadblocks due to multiple landslides, they said. "One-way traffic movement has started in some areas. Traffic jams are inevitable as landslides continue in some areas regularly. The debris will be cleared soon
Days after halting the installation of prepaid smart meters in homes across the state, West Bengal Power Minister Arup Biswas on Wednesday said the gadgets already installed would be treated as normal ones, and consumers would have to pay their electricity bills every three months. Biswas claimed that the decision to install the meters for domestic power consumers was a directive from the central government. He thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for suspending the programme after widespread public protests. "The installation of prepaid smart meters for domestic power consumers was forcefully imposed. I would like to thank the Chief Minister for halting the programme," he said. "All the smart meters that have already been installed will now be treated as normal meters, and consumers will have to pay bills once every three months," he added. On Monday, Banerjee halted the installation of the meters in homes after facing stiff resistance and mass protests in several districts ove
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal on Thursday to lay the foundation stone for a gas distribution project and address a rally in Alipurduar. This will be his first trip to the state after the success of 'Operation Sindoor' earlier this month and a year ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. During the visit, Modi will lay the foundation stone for an Rs 1,010-crore City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts and later address a public rally in Alipurduar, BJP leaders said. State BJP president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar told PTI that both the government events and the rally would be held in adjoining areas of the north Bengal districts. "The prime minister will first attend the government programme and then address the public meeting. In the evening, he will leave for Patna," Majumdar said. The visit comes amid heightened political activity in Bengal, with the BJP seeking to regroup ahead of the 2026 polls, and the ruling ...
School teachers, who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order last month, continued their demonstration outside the West Bengal Education department headquarters in Salt Lake, for the third day on Saturday. Around 1,000 teachers continued their sit-in outside the Bikash Bhavan throughout Friday night-Saturday morning peacefully as police personnel kept watch from a distance. The teachers, who had cleared the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) examination but lost their jobs after a Supreme Court order last month, are demanding that the state government take legal steps to reinstate them in their services. The Supreme Court had invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-aided schools and termed the entire selection process "vitiated and tainted". Several protesters claimed that many members of the forum continued a sit-in outside the Bikash Bhavan throughout the night. "We have urged thousands of teachers, civil society members and others to ..
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose was on Thursday morning discharged from a hospital where he underwent an intervention procedure, officials at the medical establishment said. Bose was discharged from the Kolkata-based private hospital nearly three weeks after he was admitted there on April 22 with shoulder pain. "Bose was admitted to the hospital with a complaint of shoulder pain after his hectic work during his field visit. On detailed examination, he was found to have mild coronary artery disease," the hospital said in a statement. "He (Bose) underwent an intervention procedure. He has been cooperative and responded well to the treatment. He was discharged from the hospital today. Now his oxygen saturation is at 100 per cent, and his blood pressure and blood glucose level are normal," it stated. The West Bengal governor has been advised to slow down his pace of work until the next reassessment, the statement added. On April 21, Bose was rushed to Kolkata's Eastern Command ..