Rahul to visit city during Durga Puja
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will be in Kolkata during the Durga Puja in mid-October. The visit gains significance as he had recently removed Adhir Ranjan Choudhury from the West Bengal Pradesh Congress president post and reinstated Somendra Nath Mitra in his place.
The Congress president is expected to visit a few pandals in the city and meet the people. In a recent meeting with top state Congress leaders, Rahul had asked them to strengthen the organisational structure of the party in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.
City gets first flood forecast system
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in association with the Asian Development Bank, has launched the country’s first flood forecasting and early warning system which will provide real-time data on inundation, temperature, rainfall intensity and air quality. The data will be of help in preparedness of civic agencies for monsoon season.
Though underground drainage system has been improved over the past few years, some parts of the city are prone to flooding during heavy rainfall spells. Being close to the sea, the city is also prone to cyclones originating from the Bay of Bengal. Given its location to the coastal area, West Bengal gets copious amount of rain in monsoon season. The city has a regional meteorological centre office at Alipur.
Bridge demolition goes slow
A massive jaw-cutter machine is demolishing the Majerhat Bridge, a section of which collapsed on September 4 that claimed three lives. The demolition drive began after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the entire bridge will be demolished and replaced with a new one. Embedded tram lines covered by layers of bitumen, electric wires and lack of a proper map of the bridge are delaying the demolition work. Traffic has been diverted to pass from under the bridge. Authorities are taking care that the Tolly nullah is not polluted during the demolition.
Dengue returns to haunt City of Joy
Dengue is back in the city with a bang. Three more deaths have taken the toll to 11 this post-monsoon season. The deaths were reported from northern and western parts of the city. More than 40 dengue deaths were reported from across West Bengal last year with a substantial number of them from Kolkata. The state government had to face flak of the opposition parties after doctors mentioned ‘’unknown fever’’ in
autopsy reports to allegedly underreport the dengue deaths. The KMC had already issued warning to the health department and had asked it to take necessary steps to check its spread. KMC officials had claimed they had taken preventive steps such as fogging, cleaning stagnant water and generating public awareness.
Aishik Chanda
Our correspondent in West Bengal chanda.aishik@gmail.com