Howrah, 5 March : At least eight houses were torched and some people injured in a clash between two groups at Chalkkasi village in Howrah district of West Bengal on Thursday, police said.
There was simmering tension in the area ever since a scuffle broke out between members of a religious procession and another group one and half months back, local people said.
As an altercation broke out between two persons this morning, it soon snowballed into an clash between two sides. At least eight houses were torched by the rampaging mob and some people injured, police said.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
East-West Metro work to start in March
Kolkata, 5 February : Work on the much-awaited and much-debated East-West Metro is slated to begin in March at the Salt Lake end of the project.
The terminal Metro station at Salt Lake will be at the IT hub-Nabadiganta township. There will be a depot at Central Park as well.
This year, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) has set a target of finishing work that would involve a total expenditure of Rs 253 crore, which is 5.4% of the total project cost of Rs 4,676 crore.
However, transport experts maintained that the opposite should have happened. Construction should have begun at the Howrah Maidan end. Even before its completion, trains could have been run between Howrah Maidan and Mahakaran (Writers' Buildings). Demand on this stretch is much higher than on the elevated stretch between the IT hub and Salt Lake stadium.
A senior transport department official admitted that construction in Salt Lake is thought to be a hassle-free affair as 99% of the work would be executed on government land. Besides, an elevated portion can be showcased easily. Underground construction at the Howrah end, particularly under the Hooghly bed, would be arduous and technology dependent. About 8 km of the East-West Metro will be underground, while 5.7 km is on elevated tracks.
KMRC has already selected the general consultant (GC) a consortium of companies like Consulting Engineering Services and Yachio. The GC will work on the technical nitty-gritty of the project.
In central Kolkata, there were technical problems over land acquisition for the Mahakaran station, which will be near the state secretariat on Brabourne Road. KMRC is looking at options on how the station can be built without razing houses, said an official.
The current alignment of the East-West Metro touches Sector V, Sector II, Central Park, Sector-I, Salt Lake stadium, Sealdah, Bowbazar, Writers' Buildings (Mahakaran), Howrah station, Kadamtala and Dasnagar. The route will intersect with the present Metro alignment at Central station.
The terminal Metro station at Salt Lake will be at the IT hub-Nabadiganta township. There will be a depot at Central Park as well.
This year, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) has set a target of finishing work that would involve a total expenditure of Rs 253 crore, which is 5.4% of the total project cost of Rs 4,676 crore. However, transport experts maintained that the opposite should have happened. Construction should have begun at the Howrah Maidan end. Even before its completion, trains could have been run between Howrah Maidan and Mahakaran (Writers' Buildings). Demand on this stretch is much higher than on the elevated stretch between the IT hub and Salt Lake stadium.
A senior transport department official admitted that construction in Salt Lake is thought to be a hassle-free affair as 99% of the work would be executed on government land. Besides, an elevated portion can be showcased easily. Underground construction at the Howrah end, particularly under the Hooghly bed, would be arduous and technology dependent. About 8 km of the East-West Metro will be underground, while 5.7 km is on elevated tracks.
KMRC has already selected the general consultant (GC) a consortium of companies like Consulting Engineering Services and Yachio. The GC will work on the technical nitty-gritty of the project.
In central Kolkata, there were technical problems over land acquisition for the Mahakaran station, which will be near the state secretariat on Brabourne Road. KMRC is looking at options on how the station can be built without razing houses, said an official.
The current alignment of the East-West Metro touches Sector V, Sector II, Central Park, Sector-I, Salt Lake stadium, Sealdah, Bowbazar, Writers' Buildings (Mahakaran), Howrah station, Kadamtala and Dasnagar. The route will intersect with the present Metro alignment at Central station.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Howrah slum under hills of filth to be razed
HMC has failed to find an alternative site for the Belgachia Dumping Ground
Howrah, 14 January : The garbage mounds stand nearly six storeys high and are getting bigger every day. Under its shadow, hundreds of families scavenge and live, unaware of the deadly danger looming overhead. If the worst does happen and the hills of filth cave in, not only these people, but hundreds more in nearby areas including children in schools and kindergartens will be in danger.
Armed with a Kolkata High Court order, Howrah Municipal Corporation is all set to evict squatters from the Belgachia dumping ground on Wednesday and clear space so that garbage can be spread more evenly and not piled on vertically.
HMC has failed to find an alternative site for the Belgachia dumping ground that has far outstretched its limit. More than 30% of the dumpsite has been encroached, say HMC sources. The 100-year-old dumping ground has an area of 500 bigha, of which around 150 bigha has human settlements.
Environmentalist Subash Datta had filed a public interest litigation in 2001 in the green bench of Kolkata High Court, saying the dumping ground had reached saturation point and it was causing pollution in the vicinity. The green bench then directed HMC and the state government to find land for a new garbage dumping ground. The civic body sought time for hunting the new site. After repeated failures, the court fined HMC Rs 20,000 in 2006 and asked the corporation to speed up things.
Meanwhile, the garbage mound kept getting bigger at the rate of 1000 tonnes a day. On 5 December, 2008 the green bench ordered HMC to clear the encroached portion and utilize 150 bigha on temporary basis, setting 15 January as the deadline. That's just 24 hours away.
"We have conducted a survey and found 200 houses and 25 illegal shops lined up along two sides of the dumping ground. This encroachment has to be cleared in compliance with the court order. We issued a notice in this regard on 8 January," said HMC commissioner Amar Bandopadhyay.
Scavengers started making the dumpyard their home almost at the same time as it was commissioned as a dumping ground a century ago. Currently 25% of the settlers are working as scavengers for HMC. The district administration had called an all-party meeting on Monday for a peaceful eviction process. The squatters are known to be CPM loyalists for years, and CPM representatives have agreed to comply with the court order. But representatives of Congress and Trinamool Congress from among the squatters have thrown a spanner by demanding rehabilitation packages. The district administration fears violence on Wednesday when the eviction begins at 9 in morning.
"There is no question of rehabilitating the squatters as they have been living there illegally. We have asked the squatters to vacate the place by Tuesday. We will have to use force if they do not go on their own," Howrah district magistrate Khalil Ahmed told Bengal News. The district administration have been capture the eviction procedure on video Today to nail down people who try to obstruct the drive.
Howrah, 14 January : The garbage mounds stand nearly six storeys high and are getting bigger every day. Under its shadow, hundreds of families scavenge and live, unaware of the deadly danger looming overhead. If the worst does happen and the hills of filth cave in, not only these people, but hundreds more in nearby areas including children in schools and kindergartens will be in danger.
Armed with a Kolkata High Court order, Howrah Municipal Corporation is all set to evict squatters from the Belgachia dumping ground on Wednesday and clear space so that garbage can be spread more evenly and not piled on vertically.HMC has failed to find an alternative site for the Belgachia dumping ground that has far outstretched its limit. More than 30% of the dumpsite has been encroached, say HMC sources. The 100-year-old dumping ground has an area of 500 bigha, of which around 150 bigha has human settlements.
Environmentalist Subash Datta had filed a public interest litigation in 2001 in the green bench of Kolkata High Court, saying the dumping ground had reached saturation point and it was causing pollution in the vicinity. The green bench then directed HMC and the state government to find land for a new garbage dumping ground. The civic body sought time for hunting the new site. After repeated failures, the court fined HMC Rs 20,000 in 2006 and asked the corporation to speed up things.
Meanwhile, the garbage mound kept getting bigger at the rate of 1000 tonnes a day. On 5 December, 2008 the green bench ordered HMC to clear the encroached portion and utilize 150 bigha on temporary basis, setting 15 January as the deadline. That's just 24 hours away.
"We have conducted a survey and found 200 houses and 25 illegal shops lined up along two sides of the dumping ground. This encroachment has to be cleared in compliance with the court order. We issued a notice in this regard on 8 January," said HMC commissioner Amar Bandopadhyay.
Scavengers started making the dumpyard their home almost at the same time as it was commissioned as a dumping ground a century ago. Currently 25% of the settlers are working as scavengers for HMC. The district administration had called an all-party meeting on Monday for a peaceful eviction process. The squatters are known to be CPM loyalists for years, and CPM representatives have agreed to comply with the court order. But representatives of Congress and Trinamool Congress from among the squatters have thrown a spanner by demanding rehabilitation packages. The district administration fears violence on Wednesday when the eviction begins at 9 in morning.
"There is no question of rehabilitating the squatters as they have been living there illegally. We have asked the squatters to vacate the place by Tuesday. We will have to use force if they do not go on their own," Howrah district magistrate Khalil Ahmed told Bengal News. The district administration have been capture the eviction procedure on video Today to nail down people who try to obstruct the drive.
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