Restriction at ghats
Every Durga Puja committee can have only three people at ghat and committees will have to inform the police the date and the ghat they want to use for immersion, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation announced. The details of immersion will help the civic body make proper arrangement at the ghats, said an official of the municipal corporation. It is still not clear if there is any bar on the number of people who can accompany the idol till the immersion ghat.
Flights to Bangladesh resumes on Oct 28
Flight services between Kolkata and Bangladesh will resume on October 28 and many airlines have already planned their schedules, said officials at the Kolkata’s NSC airport. One of the most popular international routes from Kolkata, commercial flights to Dhaka had been stalled because of the Covid pandemic. Kolkata shares warm ties with the neighbouring country given their shared culture. Only a few evacuation flights had operated a few months ago. ‘’An air travel bubble will be established between India and Bangladesh with effect from October 28 and will remain valid till January 31 next year or till the resumption of scheduled international flights, whichever is earlier,’’ said an official. Carriers of both countries will be permitted to operate services under the agreement.
Classes restart slowly at RKM colleges
Two colleges run by Ramakrishna Mission started classes on digital platforms for first-year UG students this month and a third will start in November even as the state-aided colleges are yet to take a decision amid Covid pandemic. Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur and Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara started classes online. A notice on the website of Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur says the first-year undergraduate classes will commence on November 9. At present, the two colleges are mailing study materials to the students.
Reaching out to the underprivileged
Eight hundred underprivileged families living South 24-Pargana district got new clothes on Durga Puja from the St Xavier’s College’s Alumni Association. Other than clothes and masks, a set of mosquito nets were also distributed keeping in mind the threat from vector-borne diseases. The recipients were residents of Kharimutha, Mollar Chowk and Pukurberia villages. “Many residents have had their homes ravaged by the cyclone. They are still struggling to make ends meet in absence of regular income,’’ said a member of the alumni.