The Election Commission (EC) is exploring a proposal to launch a portal where the logical discrepancies category voters can upload their documents required for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal before appearing at hearing centres. The portal may help the commission complete the SIR before February 7. The national poll body has decided to call around 95 lakh electors for hearings, as BLOs at times fail to clear doubts on the discrepancies. Once voters are served with notices to explain the anomalies in their enumeration forms, they will have to log in to the proposed portal by keying in their EPIC numbers.
Fire at Gangasagar mela; No casualties reported
A fire broke out at the Gangasagar Mela premises in South 24 Parganas district early on Friday. Several temporary shelters near the bathing ghat No.2 on Sagardwip island were gutted though no casualties or injuries have been reported so far. The blaze occurred a day after CM Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the annual pilgrimage fair. The fire broke out in a temporary hut and rapidly spread to adjacent structures, many of which were constructed using ‘hogla’ (straw), a highly flammable material. The close proximity of the makeshift shelters further contributed to the swift spread of the flames, according to the state fire department sources.
Rs 10K to Class XI students for buying smartphones
Education minister Bratya Basu on Thursday said that the department has begun disbursing funds under the Taruner Swapna, a Bengal government scheme under which each student of government and aided schools studying in class XI will receive `10,000 to purchase tablets or smartphones for educational use. Number of beneficiary students under the scheme is around 8.4 lakh. Earlier in many cases, the education department used to receive complaints indicating that several hundreds of students in Bengal did not receive Rs 10,000 each under the scheme as their bank account details were manipulated to siphon off the money.
Subhendu Maiti
Our correspondent in West Bengal
subhendu.maiti@newindianexpress.com