Kolkata diary
Playing safe for a cause
Rabindra Sarobar will remain shut between November 2 afternoon and the next morning to keep away Chhath rituals from the water body. The National Green Tribunal has banned any kind of puja celebrations on the 192-acre water body campus in November 2017. Despite the order, thousands of devotees performed rituals at the Sarobar last year. The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), the custodian of the water body, said it would not allow a repeat this year. ‘’It is difficult to segregate who is going in for a walk and who is going in for a ritual. This is why the decision of closing the Sarobar campus was taken,’’ said an official.
Engineering institute gets funds for new hostel
The Union human resource and development ministry has granted `260 crore to the IIEST, Shibpur for building a new hostel and an academic complex in the absence of which several students refuse to stay at the institute. Ahead of Durga Puja, the ministry informed the institute about releasing the grant and asked it to send the detailed project report. The ministry will sanction the grant from the corpus of `592 crore that was sanctioned in 2014 when the IIEST began its journey. IIEST authorities had met HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on June 12 to seek funds to build the new hostel. They also sought funds for developing a new academic complex as more students had to be admitted this year with the introduction of quota for financially weak candidates from the general category.
Experts want bridge demolished
A consultant company and an engineer, who were appointed by the West Bengal government to study the state of Tallah bridge, have recommended demolition of the bridge because of its ‘’rotten’’ condition. Engineers who have inspected the 57-year-old bridge said that the bridge could collapse at any time. The bridge engineers also asked the government to stop all vehicular movement on the bridge within two months. Currently, heavy vehicles such as buses or trucks are not being allowed on the bridge that connects Kolkata with a large part of its northern outskirts.
Streamlining recruitment of teachers
The Bengal government has decided to do away with waiting lists of candidates appearing for schoolteacher recruitment and list only those selected. Right now, there is a waiting list of four teachers for every 10 candidates. The decision was taken because often waitlisted candidates felt their recruitment was guaranteed, said a school education department official. The government has decided to keep the verification of documents of selected candidates as the last step before issuing appointment letters. This will reduce the time taken to recruit teachers. In the existing system, documents of all candidates who crack the written test are verified before holding interviews, making the process a long drawn one.
pranab mondal
Our correspondent in West Bengal
pranabm@newindianexpress.com