Heena Sharma Blog

  The community Durga Puja committees in Kolkata will ensure that all those who are involved in the rituals and other related works are vaccinated in the next three months, an official said on Wednesday. The puja committees will also make certain that people visiting the pandals wear masks covering the nose and maintain social distancing, Forum for Durgotsab official Partha Ghosh told PTI.   "From our members and locals frequenting the pandals to artisans, priests, dhakis and electricians -- everyone will have to get COVID vaccines in the next three months," he said. "We expect everyone to get both doses but for dhakis (traditional drummers) coming from villages two-three days before the puja, we will ensure they get at least one dose," Ghosh added. Forum for Durgotsab, an umbrella organisation of 550 community Durga Pujas in Kolkata and neighbouring areas, also published guidelines to ensure that the festivities are held following COVID-safety protocols.

As Covid-19 cases spike across parts of the country, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai collectively account for about two thirds of India’s cases. Health infrastructure has been sorely tested and has led to a clash between private healthcare providers and the state and central establishment. What are hospitals bracing for in the months to come and where have fault lines shown up? Watch this interview with Shobana Kamineni, execu-tive vice-chairperson at the Apollo Hospitals Group and former president of CII, who says India would be lucky if it finishes at 1 crore cases of Covid-19 nationwide. The recovery rate in West Bengal has gone downhill since the last two weeks, while the rate of infection has been increasing — and all these when the city is facing an acute shortage of beds in both gov-ernment and private hospitals. In the last two weeks, from 30 June to 14 July, Bengal’s discharge/recovery rate has fallen from 66.48 per cent to 60 per cent. In Kolkata, it has nosedived from 64

Drinking water and electricity have been restored in most parts of Kolkata, a week after a cyclonic storm tore through the state, decimating houses, uprooting trees and snapping power cables. According to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) sources, the restoration work is on at a war footing and they are hopeful that all the roads will be cleared of uprooted trees by Wednesday. Large areas of the city continue to remain without power as electric poles and communication lines had been blown away by gusting winds. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to update him on the situation "as expected under Constitution" and said that need of the hour is to engage in relief on the ground. Read More

Telecom service-providers were able to restore connectivity to only 80-85 per cent capacity level in areas of West Bengal hit by super cyclone Amphan . This is due to erratic power supply, continued fibre cuts and obstruction by people protesting against disruption in electricity and water supply, industry body COAI said on Monday. Earlier in the day, the Department of Telecom had asked the companies to bring the connectivity level to 95 per cent by Monday evening. "The overall telecom network has been restored to about 85 per cent level. The main reasons are erratic power supply, fibre cuts and problems in reaching places because roads are blocked by fallen trees and also obstruction by agitated people," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told PTI.   Read More

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Monday an advance interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for cyclone-hit West Bengal. In a video message after reviewing the situation with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district, Modi also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the families of each of those killed during the devastation caused by cyclone Amphan, and Rs 50,000 for the injured. Read More

The met office says Cyclone Amphan could intensify into a Severe Cyclonic Storm within 12 hours over central parts of South Bay of Bengal. Well, the cyclone comes at a time when the country is already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic . The NDRF said that it was ready to undertake massive evacuation of 1.1 million people likely to be hit by it. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed officials to prepare a plan for relocating people living in vulnerable areas to safer places along with an early restoration of water supply and power infrastructure. The state has set a zero casualty target. Read More

As of Tuesday noon, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country has reached 10,453, and fatalities 358, while 119,682 people have died and confirmed infections have reached 1,924,927, globally, according to Worldometer. Even before a formal announcement of the nationwide lockdown extension, 11 states and Union Territories had already announced extension of the lockdown till April 30. These were Delhi, Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Pudduchery and Mizoram. And, considering the current scenario of mounting cases in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also officially announced the extension of the 21-day nationwide lockdown, till May 3, in a televised address to the nation at 10 am. Read More

Road and rail blockades were reported from several parts of West Bengal on Wednesday as trade union activists along with Left and Congress supporters picketed in support of the 24-hour general strike against the Centre's "anti-people" policies. The strikers took out rallies in parts of the state and blocked roads and railway tracks in North 24 Parganas district. But police removed them to ensure movement of vehicles without hitch. In Kolkata, government buses were plying normally but the number of private buses was less in the early hours. Metro services were normal in the city and auto-rickshaws and taxis were also seen on the roads. Heavy police deployment was seen in several areas of the city, including in Tollygunge, Behala, Esplanade and Jadavpur. In some areas of north Bengal, the Trinamool Congress took out rallies opposing the strike and urged people to maintain normalcy. Read More

The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) board has decided to advance the WBJEE 2020 by 10 weeks. The 2020 WBJEE exam, which was earlier scheduled to be held on April 19 next year, will now likely to be conducted on February 2, 2020. WBJEE board chairman confirmed the plan to The Times of India and said the proposal had been forwarded to state education minister Partha Chatterjee for approval. If approved, the next year will probably be the first time that the WBJEE will held before board examinations. Traditionally, the board has been holding the engineering entrance examination in April - the time by most Class-XI board examinantions are over. The decision was taken to increase enrolment of students in engineering colleges across the state. Like in most states in India, a large number of engineering seats are finding no takers in West Bengal. Though the dip is largely due to declining job opportunities, some believe, the reason behind engineering seats remaining

West Bengal HS Result: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has declared the HS 2019 or WBCHSE Class 12 results at 10 am today. The result can be downloaded from its official website wbchse.nic.in and wbresults.nic.in. The West Bengal Class 12 exams were conducted from 26 February to 13 March. More than 800,000 students had appeared for the exams this year. The WBCHSE will announce West Bengal HS Result at a press conference in Kolkata. In 2018, WBCHSE had declared the results on 8 June. West Bengal HS Result: Pass percentage 86% students passed WBCHSE Class 12 Board exams. Sanjukta Bose tops among girls, secures 2nd spot with 99.2% . Steps to check result WBCHSE 12th result 2019 Step 1: Log on to official website wbresults.nic.in Step 2: Click on the link 'West Bengal Council of Higher Education Examination-2018' at the top of the page Step 3: Enter asked details Step 4: Download the result, once it appears on the screen. Rea

Reacting to election trends, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said the BJP was nowhere in the "semi-final" ahead of the "final match" in 2019 and people were always the "man of the match" in a democracy. "People voted against BJP. This is the people's verdict and victory of the people of this country. Victory of democracy and victory against injustice, atrocities, destruction of institutions, misuse of agencies, no work for poor people, farmers, youth, Dalits, C, ST, OBC, minorities and general caste," she said in a series of tweets. The Trinamool Congress chief, who is currently in Delhi and holding meetings with opposition leaders, also said the trends indicated the outcome of the 2019 general elections . "Semifinal proves that BJP is nowhere in all the states. This is a real democratic indication of 2019 final match. Ultimately, people are always the 'man of the match' of democracy. My congrats

Train services were disrupted for a few minutes at some stations in West Bengal during a 12-hour bandh called by the BJP Wednesday to protest the killing of two students in a clash in North Dinajpur district, Railway officials said. No untoward incident was, however, reported during the blockades put up by bandh supporters at the stations, a police official said. Transport services were normal in the city though bus drivers were seen wearing helmets. Bandh supporters had squatted on the tracks at Barasat, Krishnagar and some stations in Sealdah division for 5-10 minutes in the morning, but the blockade has been lifted, an Eastern Railway spokesman said. ALSO READ: Ten years after Tata Motors exit, Singur in West Bengal still a wasteland The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called the bandh to protest against the death of two students in a clash with the police on October 20 during a demonstration over recruitment of teachers at Daribhita High School in Islampur

Voting for the West Bengal Panchayat polls 2018 began at 7 am on Monday and will continue until 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17. Catch the latest developments here Elections News : The single-phase West Bengal panchayat election is underway amid tight security. Several reports of clashes have emerged from various districts in which dozens of people have been injured. Further, violence broke out in North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Coochbehar, and South 24 Parganas districts, killing three people and injuring at least 21. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) have blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of violence during the ongoing West Bengal Panchayat election. Union Minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo on Monday demanded President's rule in the state, while CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury urged the state election commission (SEC) to act in a way to restore faith in the election process.   Amid the violenc