Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 19 (ANI): The Special Task Force, West Bengal detained two miscreants for their alleged involvement with the banned terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), said the officials on Friday.

Kolkata Feb 25 PTI Many students from Bengal studying in professional colleges in Ukraine are stuck in the war-hit country and have sought the assistance of the central and state governments for their safe return The total number of students from the state studying in higher education institutes in the east European country is however not yet known and is being assessed a state government official said Arkoprobho Baidya and Brijesh Ghosh from Raidighi and Barasat in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts respectively have taken shelter in the basement of Kyiv Medical College where they are first year students The two along with other students from the state and elsewhere in India said they were asked to move in there on Thursday when sounds of bombing began to be heard intermittently in nearby areas We are very worried We have been asked to stay here We were told by the Indian embassy that they were trying to ensure our safe passage We go out when there is a lull to buy essentials for which we have to pay very high rates they said Both are in contact with their families as the internet connection is working in their place Dipak Sarkar and Bibhas Haldar two computer science students of an engineering institute at Kharkiv town in northeast Ukraine said as shelling increased they along with more than 100 other Indian students were shifted to the Indian embassy and housed in an underground bunker Our plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is please facilitate our early evacuation and return to our country the two students who hail from Kalna in Purba Bardhaman district said The embassy has not given any update about the possible day of their safe passage the two said Twins Rumki and Jhumki Bandopadhyay from Durgapur freshmen at a medical college are stranded in Kharkiv for the past two days Images sent by them have upset their family members back home We only want our daughters to return They had gone there only in December and were settling well But things turned bad since Thursday their mother said fighting to hold back her tears Arkoprobhos father Palash Baidya said he and wife could not sleep at night due to anxiety They have sought financial help from the central and state governments for the safe return of their only child and requested for all initiatives to facilitate it Bidya said he took great pains to get his soon admitted in Ukraine Medical College with his modest income Puspak Sarnakar of Sonarpur a fifth year student of Ternopil State Medical University in Ukraine said though he had booked an air ticket for February 26 it will be cancelled in all probability Ukraine has closed its airspace to civilian flights after Russia began military action in the country It cited a high risk to flight safety due to the use of weapons and military equipment The border with Poland and other east European countries is 500-600 km from this place Ternopil The transport system has virtually collapsed and the few passenger vehicles plying on the road are demanding very high fares which is beyond the students financial means Puspak said Russia mounted air strikes on Ukraine its neighbour on February 24 causing human casualties and damage to properties West Bengal government announced the opening of a control room which will function for 12 hours every day to help the stranded students and their families PTI SUS KK KK KK

North 24 Parganas (West Bengal) [India], February 19 (ANI): In a tale that speaks of communal harmony in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas, a Hindu family has been for the last 50 years acting as caretakers of the Amanati Masjid in Barasat here.

Kolkata Dec 16 PTI The seven-year-old boy who is the first person of West Bengal to have tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and his family members were discharged from a hospital in Malda district on Thursday after they tested negative for the virus a health department official saidThe boy recently returned to West Bengal from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad He had left for a relatives place at Kaliachak in Malda district from Kolkata airport He was admitted to the Malda Medical College and Hospital along with his sister and parentsThe seven-year-old child and all those who came in touch with him were found negative today As per norm the child and his sister parents and grandmother have been discharged from the hospital They will be kept in home quarantine for another week he saidEarlier in the day a middle-aged man who was found infected with COVID-19 in West Bengal after returning from Bangladesh tested negative for the Omicron variant of coronavirusThe patient contracted the Delta strain of coronavirus the official saidThe man a resident of Barasat in North 24 Parganas district was found positive for the disease on December 10 and his sample was sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether he had contracted the new Omicron variant which has been classified as a highly transmissible virus of concernHe is likely to be discharged from Beleghata ID and BG Hospital tomorrow the official saidEarlier a woman who was also found infected with COVID-19 here after coming from the UK had tested negative for the Omicron strainMeanwhile the coronavirus death toll in West Bengal rose to 19645 after 12 more people succumbed to the disease on Thursday the health department saidThe tally also went up by 660 to be at 1625375 it addedSince Wednesday 662 recoveries have been reported in the state taking the total number of cured people to 1598224 the department addedThe number of active cases currently is 7506In the last 24 hours 37115 samples have been tested pushing the total number of such clinical examinations in the state to 20888936Over 270 lakh of Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered in West Bengal on Thursday an official said PTI SCH NN NN

Kolkata Oct 28 PTI The police are keeping a close watch on movements in Kolkata South 24 Parganas North 24 Parganas and Hooghly places that have largely attributed to the spike in COVID-19 cases post Durga puja -- and have arrested people in parts of the state for violating health protocols At least 72 people have been arrested in South 24 Parganas for not wearing masks -- 30 in Narendrapur and 42 in Sonarpur a police officer said The state government has earmarked 24 containment zones in Sonarpur and Narendrapur shutting down marketplaces and non-essential shops for three days to curb the spread of the disease At Chandannagar in Hooghly district 16 wards have been declared as micro-containment zones and people without masks on roads were asked to do sit-ups in public the officer said In Barasat North 24 Parganas some locals were detained for flouting COVID norms In the city too the police distributed masks and warned people of consequences for violating the protocols the officer added Bengal currently has 129 containment zones 43 of which are in South 24 Parganas district West Bengal is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases since the culmination of Durga Puja The state reported 976 new cases on Wednesday pushing the tally to 1589042 In a letter to the West Bengal government on October 22 Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the state has reported 20936 infections and 343 fatalities in the last 30 days accounting for 34 per cent of the countrys new cases and 47 per cent of fresh deaths PTI SUS RMS RMS

Nadia (West Bengal) [India], August 27(ANI): Border Security Force apprehended a Bangladeshi woman on Friday for trying to cross the International boundary illegally from Nadia district of West Bengal.