Kolkata Apr 24 PTI West Bengal on Sunday reported 41 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 2018012 the Health Department saidThe toll remained at 21201 as no new deaths were reported it saidIn the last 24 hours 32 patients recovered taking the total recoveries to 1996556There are 255 active cases in the state at present Only 28 patients are undergoing treatment at hospitals while the rest are in home isolationThe new cases were detected after testing 8903 samples PTI SUS SOM SOM

Kolkata Apr 24 PTI Visva-Bharati was open to a CBI inquiry into the death of a student on its campus as it wants the truth to come out vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty said on SundayThe family of the class 12 student of Visva-Bharati-run Patha Bhavan school whose body was found hanging in his hostel room on Thursday has demanded a CBI investigation alleging it was a murder and the varsity authorities were trying to hush it upIf the parents of the boy demand investigation by the CBI or CID we dont have any reservations A young boy died and we dont know what went on in his mind in the last minutes He is our child I am with his family and my sympathies are with them the vice-chancellor saidWe want the truth to come out he addedThe 17-year-old boy a native of Siuri in Birbhum district purportedly had several wounds on his body when it was found leading to suspicion in his family about the deathChakraborty said he wanted to speak to the parents of the boy soon after the body was foundBut they were accompanied by protesters wielding bamboo poles It was not advisable to meet the parents in such a circumstance he saidThe central varsity is yet to hold an internal investigation into the death he saidBut I have already started a process in which teachers are reaching out to his hostel mates and others to know what was going in his mind recently he saidChakraborty has been under fire from various quarters including the TMC and BJP for not meeting the parents of the boyTension was palpable on the campus on Sunday even as police personnel in large numbers were kept on standbyProtests rocked the campus over the last three days as the boys family demanded to meet the vice-chancellor over the death The agitators most of which were students of the varsity had broke open the lock of the main gate of the vice-chancellors residenceThe boys family has lodged a complaint at the Santiniketan police station alleging murder PTI SUS SOM SOM

Kolkata Apr 23 PTI Tension prevailed amid protests and police deployment at Visva-Bharati in Bengals Birbhum district on Saturday two days after a student was found hanging in a hostel room with his parents claiming that he was murdered and that the university was trying to hush up the matterThe deceased was a Class 12 student of Patha Bhavana a school run by the institutionProtests have rocked the university campus over the past two days as the boys parents along with other students demanded an audience with vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabory seeking to know more about the 17-year-olds demiseSome of the agitators had broken open the lock of the main gate outside the VCs residenceA team of police officers has been deployed outside the VCs residence to avoid any gathering there a university official saidThe boys parents have filed a complaint at Santiniketan police station alleging that their child was murdered and the Visva-Bharati authorities was trying to suppress the caseGovernor Jagdeep Dhankhar had earlier tweeted that the VC sent him SOS seeking urgent police protection in view of the agitationHe had asked Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi to take immediate action in this regardVC Vishwa Bharati msg sent to CS for intervention WBPolice Dhankhar wroteAmid allegations by a section of protesters that he was not responsive to the agony of the boys family Chakraborty had earlier said that he did everything to ensure that the parents face no difficultyI had rushed the boy to Pearson Memorial Hospital from his hostel room and instructed the Visva-Bharati employees to ensure his parents did not face any difficulty I could not talk to them immediately due to the tense situation he told reporters on SaturdayBJP national secretary Anupam Hazra said in a Facebook post that the VC should have met the parents of the studentThis is what we expect from a teacher this is what is least expected from a teacher Hazra saidAn infuriated Chakrabarty responded to the post saying Hazra a former MP of Bolpur and ex-faculty of the institute should have checked facts before making sweeping comments PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata Apr 23 PTI The TMC on Saturday appointed former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora as the partys Assam unit presidentBora an ex-minister of Assam Minister quit the Congress and joined the TMC a week ago in the presence of the partys national general secretary Abhishek BanerjeeThe party in a tweet said We are pleased to share that our Honble Chairperson Smt Mamata Banerjee has appointed Shri Ripun Bora Ex-MP Rajya Sabha as the state president of the Assam unit Bora as a joint candidate of opposition parties in Assam had unsuccessfully contested the recent Rajya Sabha election PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 31 PTI Trinamool Congress on Thursday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Agnimitra Paul BJPs candidate for the by-poll to the Asansol Lok Sabha seat for her alleged comment blow lands on us we will retaliate during the ongoing election campaign A purported video went viral on Wednesday where Paul was heard shouting to her party supporters during a meeting in Asansol I am telling you if a blow lands on us we will retaliate in equal measure Justifying her alleged comments she told reporters later if someone punches us we cannot reciprocate by namaskar polite greeting we cannot hug that person Our response will be to land a counter punch on the assaulter Earlier a purported video footage of the Pandabeswar Trinamool Congress MLA Narendranath Chakraborty created a storm where he was heard telling party workers to intimidate committed BJP supporters so that they do not go to booths on the day of polling The EC had on Wednesday barred Chakraborty from campaigning for the Asansol by-elections for violating the model code of conduct by allegedly issuing such open threats to BJP voters and supporters at a party meeting Attaching the video and the press meet footage of Agnimitra Paul an actress and BJP leader TMC state General Secretary Kunal Ghosh said in a mail to the CEOs office from her conduct it is evident that Paul has decided to repeatedly promote violence in a desperate bid to win her seat Her speeches not only emboldened memberssupporters of BJP to use violence against opponents but has also eventually terrorise the entire electorate the letter said The ruling party advocated immediate action including but not limited to criminal proceedings against Paul The other steps it suggested included taking necessary steps to ensure BJP and Agnimitra Paul are refrained from repeating such violations during the pendency of the ensuing election Referring to the TMC complaint BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told PTI When the state police becomes mere stooges of the ruling party and the opposition is subjected to brutal violence by TMC the peoples representatives feel helpless and insecure Bhattacharya said it has to be kept in mind in what circumstances a peoples representative and a candidate from the opposition has made such a comment to boost the morale of party members and supporters Does the TMC understand the language of civility and culture Paul who is the BJP MLA from Asansol South assembly seat and is contesting the Asansol Lok Sabha seat against Bollywood hero of yesteryears Shatrughan Sinha nominated by TMC for the seat which was vacated by Babul Supriyo after he left BJP to join TMC Supriyo is contesting on a TMC ticket from Ballygunge assembly seat where by-poll was necessitated after the untimely death of TMC heavyweight Subrata Mukherjee By-polls to the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency and the Ballygunge assembly seat will be held on April 12 and votes will be counted on April 16 PTI SUS JRC JRC

Kolkata Mar 31 PTI The West Bengal government on Thursday appointed Prof Koushiki Dasgupta as the vice-chairman academic of the State Council of Higher Education with effect from April 1 according to a notificationDasgupta is the Vidyasagar Chair Professor of Vidyasagar UniversityWest Bengal State Council of Higher Education WBSCHE is a statutory body for planning and coordination of higher educationDasgupta succeeds Prof Mamata Roy whose tenure expires on Thursday the notification said She is being appointed to the post for one year PTI SUS NN NN

Kolkata Mar 31 PTI An estimated 745 lakh candidates will appear for the class 12 examinations conducted by the West Bengal board which will begin on April 2 an official said on ThursdayIn a departure from tradition the students will write the exams in their respective schools and not in other institutes affiliated to the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education WBCHSEWBCHSE conducts the Uchcha Madhyamik Pariksha popularly known as the higher secondary HS examination for class 12 studentsExaminees will write the papers at home centres own schools as certain covid protocols are to be followed in making seating arrangements for the candidates and for that more school buildings are required compared to other years WBCHSE President Chiranjib Bhattacharya told a press conferenceThe HS exams could not be held last year due to the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and results were declared after the board worked out an evaluation method based on marks obtained by a student in previous examsIn 2020 the HS exams had commenced before the pandemic struck and had to be scrapped midway forcing the WBCHSE to devise a mechanism to award marks for the cancelled testsThis years offline exams were initially scheduled to be held from April 2 to April 20 However as certain dates of JEE Main clashed with the schedule some of them were changed and the examinations will now continue up to April 27 PTI SUS NN NN

Kolkata Mar 31 PTI Members of CPIM womens wing and 10 other Left organisations on Thursday took out separate rallies in various of city to protest the alleged deterioration of the law and order situation in West Bengal under the TMC ruleWomen agitators were seen engaging in altercations with the police as they were stopped from going past the barricade set up near administrative buildings in south KolkataWe protest the murder of student leader Anis Khan in Amta in the last week of February and the massacre of nine people including women and children at Bogtui in Rampurhat There had also been incidents of gangrape in Basirhat and MaldaLaw and order has virtually collapsed in West Bengal and the Mamata Banerjee government is busy covering up every incident We the women of the state have hit the street to voice our protests one of the agitators told reportersIn another part of the city several Left groups including students organisation AISA embarked on a rally from Shyambazar five-point crossing to College StreetFrom Amta to Bogtui people are getting killed and there is no justice anywhere We want justice a female protester underlined Khans father has alleged that he was pushed off the roof of their under-construction home by four men one of them in police uniform Houses were attacked and set on fire in Birbhums Bogtui village after the murder of a panchayat official there and eight people including children burnt to deathAnother woman succumbed to her injuries in the hospital days laterA state government-formed SIT is probing Khans murder while the CBI is looking into the Bogtui killings PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 28 PTI Demanding that interviews for recruitment in schools be arranged for them ten women candidates who claimed to have cleared school service commission exam held a demonstration outside the main gate of West Bengal Assembly on Monday before being taken away by the policeShortly after the House was adjourned in the afternoon following an ugly fracas among the MLAs the ten candidates were seen huddling before the Assembly gate seeking immediate recruitment Police personnel guarding the prohibited zone initially tried to chase them away but as the protesters refused to budge women officers had to lift them and take them to the police vanWe qualified in SSC exams years ago but are yet to get a call for interview one of the protesters saidA police officer said that the women were released later in the day PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 26 PTI Passengers of Howrah-bound Falaknama Express had a narrow escape on Saturday as the coupling between two bogies snapped near Bella station in Bengals Paschim Medinipur districtA SER official said no injury or casualty was reported in the incident as the motorman halted the train at 310 pm as soon as he realised that the coupling between compartments 22 and 23 had come offIt took railway staff around 30 minutes to fix the problem after which the train which had originated in Secunderabad left for Howrah stationAs the entire episode was over in half an hour movement of trains in the Howrah-Kharagpur section did not get affected the SER official said PTI SUS RMS RMS