KMC to certify 50,000 street-food vendors
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will certify over 50,000 street-food vendors across the city after conducting a workshop to train them for a month in July. These vendors sell all kind of food, ranging from phuchkas, kathi rolls, kebabs to ghugni, chow mein, momo and mughlai paratha. After training and testing, the food vendors will then be graded from ‘A’ (very good) to ‘D’ (bad). The move has been initiated afterthe supply of stale meat to city-based eateries came to fore and led to the arrest of 10 people.
City second most polluted metro in country
Kolkata has been ranked as the second-most polluted metropolis in the city, next only to Delhi. According to a recently released report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Particulate Matter 2.5 levels in the city is alarming and is a major cause of air pollution. It is also the major cause for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases—which are mostly reported from highly polluted urban areas. While permissible PM 2.5 limits are 60 microgram/m3, the levels go up to 300 microgram/m3 and come down to 70 microgram/m3 during monsoon. An estimated 70 per cent of the residents of the eastern metropolis suffer from respiratory diseases.
Elderly woman found dead
A decomposed body of a 71-year-old woman was found in a house in Lake Avenue road in the city. Curiously, none of the eight family members of Kalpana Das was initially aware of her demise. Das used to live alone on the first floor of her Lake Avenue house. Her husband had passed away six years ago. Her relatives found something amiss after a foul stench came out from the floor. The police have sent the body for post-mortem. The septuagenarian’s death has puzzled the residents living in the vicinity.
Bus fares hiked by I1
City bus owners ended their strike after the West Bengal government hiked the rates of bus travel by Rs 1. After the hike, the minimum bus fare has gone up to Rs 7 for big buses and Rs 8 for mini-buses. The state government said it had no option but to hike the bus fares due to the rise in petrol price. However, it is unlikely that the bus fares will be reduced even if petrol prices are reduced in the coming days.
Aishik Chanda
Our correspondent in West Bengal
chanda.aishik @gmail.com