Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 13 (ANI): After Suvendu Adhikari said that the Bengal University bill replacing Governor as Chancellor should be sent to President, state Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya slammed him saying 'he doesn't know law'.

Kolkata Apr 23 PTI Trinamool Congress on Saturday said there is lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath and a fact finding team of the party will visit Prayagraj scene of the killing of five members of a family on Sunday A five-member fact finding team will visit Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh tomorrow Sunday where five members of a family were brutally murdered and later their house was set on fire a statement by Trinamool Congress stated The TMC delegation comprises Dola Sen Mamata Bala Thakur Saket Gokhale Uma Soren and Lalitesh Tripathi The TMC had sent a fact-finding team to Jahangirpuri area in Delhi which was rocked by communal violence recently Its decision to send the fact-finding team to Jahangirpuri and Prayagraj comes days after BJP sent similar teams to Bogtui in Birbhum district where nine people were burnt alive and Hanshkhali in Nadia district where a minor girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped Earlier in the day senior TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya wondered at a press conference why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are silent over the gruesome murder in Prayagraj This is the benefit of double engine government same party in power at Centre and State she slammed Alleging that there is lawlessness and goondaraj in Uttar Pradesh under BJP Bhattacharya who is a minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet said everyone is unsafe there The guilty is not arrested and fact finding teams of other parties are stopped from going to the site under BJP rule But we dont stop anyone from going to any place they want in our state Bengal Here lies the difference she said and ridiculed BJP for demanding imposition of Presidents Rule after the Bogtui violence We have seen how leaders of some parties visited one incident site in West Bengal and demanded imposition of Article 356 We have seen the BJP top leadership losing no time in sending fact finding teams Why is no fact finding team seen in Prayagraj now Bhattacharya said according to the recent records of NCRB NHRC and global bodies Uttar Pradesh tops the list in the number of attacks on women and children Earlier this month four members of a family were found murdered in Nawabganj area of UP One after another violent incidents are taking place in UP where lawlessness prevails But our BJP leaders havent found time to condemn these things What will the prime minister and union home minister say about these incidents in UP she said The TMC leader said in West Bengal the Mamata Banerjee government takes immediate action after any violent incident investigates and extends all help for it Echoing Bhattacharya another senior TMC leader Sashi Panja tweeted Lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh is a growing problem Clearly it remains unchecked by the BJP4UP government From women to children EVERYONE IS UNSAFE under Yogis watch DoubleEngineDisaster BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the Yogi Adityanath government is already working to put the culprits behind bars No complicity of the BJP members or supporters has been found in the incident unlike in Bogtui or earlier incidents in Bengal where TMC was the main accused And if the TMC wants to send factfinding teams to Prayagraj who is preventing them They are such a big all India party he mocked Five members of a family including a two-year-old girl child were found killed at Khevrajpur village in Prayagraj district on Friday night Police found the male head of the house his wife daughter daughter-in-law and grand daughter dead on early Saturday morning While Samajwadi Party attacked the BJP government saying Uttar Pradesh is immersed in crime BSP chief Mayawati demanded a thorough probe into the incident PTI SUS PNT KK KK KK

Kolkata March 30 PTI Hitting out at the Centre over the surging fuel prices the ruling TMC in West Bengal took out a rally in the city on Wednesday demanding that anti-people decisions be immediately rolled backThe rally which commenced in south Kolkatas Golpark area concluded in Rashbehari covering a distance of around 2 kmCarrying posters and placards that had Rollback fuel and LPG price hike written on them TMC activists shouted slogans against the BJP government at the CentreSeveral TMC leaders held empty cylinders and petrol cans in hand during the protestThe Centre has done nothing to control price rise of essential commodities Rather oil prices are increasing every day which then have a cascading effect on the price of other essentials How will common people survive The BJP must answer senior TMC leader and minister Chandrima Bhattacharya saidThe TMC leadership has dubbed the hike in fuel prices as a return gift to the people of this country from the BJP government after winning assembly polls in four states PTI PNT RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 24 PTI Opposition BJP MLAs staged a walkout in the Assembly on Thursday after the speaker refused to grant time for a discussion on the recent Birbhum killingsAs soon as the members assembled Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari along with other saffron party MLAs rushed to the well of the House demanding a discussion on the violence in Birbhum that claimed eight left eight dead including two childrenThe saffron party legislators held placards that had Manush mara sarkar aar nei dorkar we do not want this government which kills people written on themAs speaker Biman Banerjee turned down the demand the BJP MLAs staged a walkoutReplying to a debate on the budgetary grant of Rs 17602 crore for her department minister of state for health and family welfare Chandrima Bhattacharya said opposition members were keener on creating a ruckus than participating in the discussion on governance-related mattersShe pointed out that the Left Front government during 2010-2011 had allocated just Rs 3584 crore for the health department and the grant under the TMC rule swelled to Rs 17602 croreBhattacharya also said that the Mamata Banerjee government had to incur huge expenditure for managing the situation that arose out of COVID-19 pandemicShe noted that the government set up oxygen plants in 27 hospitals and administered COVID-19 vaccines -- including the first second and booster doses -- to 139 crore peopleShe rued that the opposition failed to see these achievements of the TMC government and preferred to criticise the dispensation over other mattersThe minister further stated that the TMC government spent Rs 4092 crore for its health scheme -- Swasthya Sathi which offers cover for secondary and tertiary careShe claimed that the Centres Ayushman Bharat health scheme was a copy of Swasthya SathiBhattacharya maintained that the number of nursing training schools nursing colleges and multi-super speciality hospitals has also risen in the state over the past decadeThe budget for the health department was passed by a voice vote during the day PTI DC RMS RMS

Kolkata Feb 26 PTI The West Bengal government on Saturday sent a list of 199 people from the state who are stuck in war-hit Ukraine Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saidFew students will be landing shortly in Mumbai and New Delhi and the state government is in touch with their families and arranging for their safe return to their home towns Banerjee saidSo far request for 199 persons from West Bengal stranded at Ukraine sent to Ministry of External Affairs GOI requesting their early safe return Resident Commissioner Office West Bengal at New Delhi is coordinating the CM posted on her official Twitter handleThe state government will provide the travel expenses of the students who are returning from the strife-torn nationFew students will be landing shortly in Mumbai and Delhi My Govt is in touch with their families and also arranging their return to their home towns safely by providing them free air tickets and then from Airport to individual housesOur government has set up a dedicated Control Room at Nabanna for helping the students people from Bengal stranded at Ukraine the CM tweetedA special assistance team has been deployed at Dumdum airport for coordinating the entire process Banerjee saidThe West Bengal government said on Friday that a control room was being set up at the state secretariat from 9 am to 9 pm every day to help the students and others from the state currently stuck in war-ravaged UkraineMeanwhile around thousand members and supporters of the womens wing of Trinamool Congress on Saturday walked on the streets of Kolkata demanding a quick and safe evacuation of Indians currently stranded in UkraineThe processionists led by Mahila Trinamool Congress leaders Mala Roy MP minister Chandrima Bhattacharya minister Shashi Panja walked from Hazra More crossing to Mayo Road covering a distance of about three kmThe participants of the silent rally marched past holding a placard in Bengali that read Dear Modi Please ensure the safe return of all our countrys people stuck in battle-ravaged UkraineWe want the safe and quick return of every Indian currently stuck in Ukraine We are worried about their safety Women and Child Development minister Chandrima Bhattacharya saidBJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the Narendra Modi government in Delhi has already started the evacuation process of the stranded Indians in UkraineWe are however happy that the Trinamool Congress has woken up to their plight he added PTI SUS MM MM

Kolkata Feb 19 PTI Senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee on Saturday was appointed as the national vice president of the party taking the total number of members holding the post in the camp to fourThe development came a day after Abhishek Banerjee was brought back as TMCs national general secretary by party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who constituted her new team of office bearers majorly packing it with old-timers loyal to herChatterjee who is the Bengal industry minister will also continue to serve as the state secretary-general of the party a post he has held for more than two decadesPartha Chatterjee has been appointed as the national vice president He will discharge his responsibilities as the state secretary-generaltoo a senior TMC leader saidThe TMC boss had on Friday reappointed Yashwant Sinha as its national vice-presidentTwo other senior leaders -- Subrata Bakshi and Chandrima Bhattacharya were also given the vice-presidents postAbhisheks return as TMC national general secretary the de-facto number two in the party has sent out a message that Mamata Banerjee has reposed her faith in her nephew as her heir apparent amid a growing rift between the old guard and next-generation leaders PTI PNT RMS RMS

Kolkata Feb 18 PTI TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday formed a new officer bearers committee reappointing her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the partys national general secretary and veteran leader Yashwant Sinha as its vice-presidentSenior TMC leaders Subrata Bakshi and Chandrima Bhattacharya too have also been given the post of the partys national vice-presidentsAmong others TMC minister Aroop Biswas has been made the treasurer and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim in-charge of coordinationBanerjee had last week dissolved the erstwhile national office bearers committee and the portfolios that came with it amid a growing internal strife between the old guard and the young leaders She then formed a 20-member working committee packed with party veterans PTI PNT RMS RMS

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 12 (ANI): Voting begins in all four municipal corporations Siliguri, Bidhannagar, Chandannagar, and Asansol on Saturday with COVID-19 protocols in place.

New Delhi Dec 30 PTI Many states have demanded that the GST compensation cess regime be extended for another five years and the share of the Union government in the centrally-sponsored schemes be raised as the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their revenues The GST compensation to states for revenue shortfall resulting from subsuming of local taxes such as VAT in the uniform national tax Goods and Services Tax GST will end in June next year There has been a loss of revenue to the states due to the GST tax system the Centre has not made arrangements to compensate the loss of revenue of about Rs 5000 crore to the state in the coming year so the GST compensation grant should be continued for the next five years after June 2022 Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said Many states have asked for this We have also asked to extend GST compensation If it is not extended the finances of many states will be in a bad shape Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said after pre-Budget consultation of finance ministers of states with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here Pointing out that Chhattisgarh has received less share of central taxes by Rs 13089 crore in the Union Budget of the last three years Baghel demanded the share of central taxes should be given to the state completely in the coming year He also demanded that Rs 4140 crore deposited with the Centre at the rate of Rs 294 per tonne on coal mining from coal block companies should be transferred to Chhattisgarh soon Rajasthan Education Minister Subhash Garg said extension of compensation cess window till 2026-27 is a valid demand of states and the Centre should consider it He also demanded reduction in import duty on gold and silver from 10 per cent to 4 per cent Our most significant demand is that the Centres share in centrally-sponsored scheme has gradually reduced and states share has increased Earlier share would be 90-10 and now it is 50-50 or 60-40 our request is that it should go back to 90-10 Garg said Rajasthan also requested that all irrigation and water work projects should be brought under the Centres ambit and declared central schemes West Bengal also pitched for extension of GST compensation for another five years citing two years of difficult time due to COVID-19 COVID crisis was not anticipated when this was fixed said West Bengal Urban Development Municipal Affairs Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya She also said that states have also asked for raising the Union governments share in the Centre-sponsored schemes With regarding to state borrowing she said that additional borrowing window should be without any restriction Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P Thiaga Rajan said he has demanded extension of GST compensation cess regime for at least two years because of COVID-19 He also made a case for raising share of Government of India in the centrally-sponsored schemes PTI DP MR MR