The tribals of a small tribal village in an interior area of Jhargram district in West Bengal face an acute water crisis, but they said that there seems to be no solution in the near future

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 8 (ANI): Trinamool Congress General Sectary Kunal Ghosh on Sunday said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's three-day program in West Midnapore and Jhargram has been rescheduled due to the prediction of cyclone 'Asani'.

Kolkata Apr 26 PTI The Ministry of Home Affairs MHA on Tuesday alerted the police of West Bengal and its adjoining three states - Bihar Jharkhand and Odisha - on possible rise in Maoist activities in this region in the next fortnight an official saidDuring a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council held at the state secretariat senior MHA officials referred to intelligence inputs regarding a possibility of a sudden surge in the activists of the Maoists and issued an alert for the police of the four statesThe police of West Bengal Bihar Jharkhand and Odisha have been asked to be on high alert regarding a possible Maoist attack within the next 15 days There are central intelligence inputs in this connection during the said period a bureaucrat in the state secretariat said Some areas of these states were affected by Maoist activitiesBesides senior officials of the MHA chief secretaries and home secretaries of the four states were present at the meetingMaoist posters recently surfaced in West Bengals Jangal Mahal the adjoining forested region of Paschim Medinipur Jhargram Bankura and Purulia districts State DGP Manoj Malviya had toured the area and evaluated the security arrangements thereAt the meeting Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi gave details of the prevailing security arrangements in the once Maoist stronghold of Jangal Mahal the official saidHe Dwivedi also expressed the states dislike of the Centre withdrawing central armed forces from Jangal Mahal without informing or taking consent of the government he saidDiscussions were held on erecting barbed wire fencing along the international borders of the four states the official said PTI SCH NN NN

Kolkata Apr 25 PTI Heat wave conditions prevailed over some districts of south Bengal on Monday with the Met office predicting no improvement in the situation till April 28The weatherman said that dry north-westerly wind was sweeping the regionBankura registered the highest day temperature in the state at 439 degree Celsius followed by Purulia at 423 degree CelsiusKolkata recorded 395 degree Celsius marginally less than Sundays 396 which was by far the citys highest this seasonDum Dum on the northern outskirts of the metropolis was hotter at 409 degree CelsiusFewer people were seen on the streets of Kolkata owing to the heat and humidity despite Monday being the first working day of the weekOther districts in the state that have come under the grip of heat wave include Jhargram Howrah Paschim Bardhaman Paschim Medinipur Birbhum and North 24 Parganas district the weather office added PTI AMR RMS RMS

Kolkata Apr 22 PTI The West Bengal government in its bid to simplify administrative operations is planning to trifurcate South 24 Parganas creating new districts of Baruipur Sundarbans and Diamond Harbour a top official said on FridayWork was being undertaken on war footing to complete formalities necessary to split South 24 Parganas the largest district in the state into three parts the official saidWe are planning to create three new districts -- Baruipur Diamond Harbour and Sundarban -- by the end of the year Once the proposal gets Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees nod South 24 Parganas -- currently stretching from the city to the coastal villages along Bay of Bengal -- will cease to exist he told PTICurrently Diamond Harbour Baruipur and Sundarbans are police districtsExplaining the rationale behind the division the bureaucrat said geographical location of different blocks of South 24 Parganas often caused problems to people who had to travel miles after miles to get administrative work doneThe split was being planned in a certain way to ensure that the new districts get to have one sub-divisional court each he statedBaruipur spanning around 2500 sq km is likely to have 11 blocksWith 11 blocks Baruipur will be the biggest of the three proposed districts Suggestion to make Gosaba a part of Baruipur has been made he saidSundarbans was likely to have eight blocks four in the entire Kakdwip sub-division and an equal number in Diamond Harbour sub-division he saidThe Diamond Harbour district was expected to constitute the entire Alipore Sadar area and a part of the current Diamond Harbour sub-division the official elaboratedKakdwip has been proposed as the district headquarters of Sundarban and Tongtala of Baruipur We are yet to decide on a zilla head office for Diamond Harbour he saidAsked if the creation of the three proposed districts would in any way affect the configuration of assembly segments in South 24 Parganas the official said that Baruipur was likely to have 11 assembly constituencies Diamond Harbour nine and Sundarban sixAll paperwork is ready for the division Lack of adequate IPS and IAS officers was one reason why the process was getting delayed As of now we are waiting for her Mamata Banerjee to sanction the proposal and make an announcement the bureaucrat maintainedLast week the state government had written to the Centre asking it to increase allotment of IAS and IPS officers in the stateThe Mamata Banerjee government had in the past eight years created three new districts -- Alipurduar in June 2014 Kalimpong February 2017 and Jhargram in April 2017It also split Bardhaman into two districtsCurrently West Bengal has 23 districtsNotably prior to March 1980 24 Parganas was the largest district in the country It was then bifurcated into North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 30 PTI Heat wave conditions are likely to prevail at one or two places in some districts of south Bengal over the next two days the Met department said here on WednesdayBankura recorded the maximum day temperature on Wednesday at 40 degree CelsiusThe weatherman said that one or two places in the districts of Jhargram Purulia Paschim Medinipur and Bankura will be experiencing heat waveKolkata during the day recorded the maximum temperature at 339 degree Celsius and a minimum of 268 degree Celsius it said The Met department also warned of heavy rain on Sunday at one or two places in Alipurduar and Coochbehar districts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal PTI AMR RMS RMS

Kolkata Feb 27 PTI West Bengals COVID-19 death toll rose to 21175 as three more persons succumbed to the disease on Sunday while 215 new infections pushed the total caseload to 2015018 a health department bulletin said Of the three deaths one each was reported from Kolkata Jhargram and Birbhum it said North 24 Parganas district recorded the highest number of new cases with 43 followed by 39 in Kolkata according to the data The positivity rate was 078 per cent while the COVID-19 recovery rate is 9885 per cent it said West Bengal currently has 1944 active COVID-19 cases while a total of 1991899 patients have recovered from the disease including 220 on Sunday The state had recorded 236 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths on Saturday A total of 24194632 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in West Bengal so far the bulletin said PTI AMR RG RG

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 27 (ANI): After alleging widespread violence in the West Bengal civic polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday wrote to the State Election Commission demanding re-polling in all the booths across 108 municipalities, in presence of Central forces (CAPFs).

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 27 (ANI): The Bengal BJP unit has called for a 12-hour bandh in West Bengal on Monday to protest against the alleged widespread rigging and attacks on opposition party members during the civic polls in the state on Sunday.

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 27 (ANI): West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has 'called upon' State Election Commissioner Saurab Das on Monday to brief him on the civic poll 'violence and lawlessness'.