Mamata doesn't know to behave

Mamata Banerjee's unending tantrums
The Hindu
Monday, Aug 08, 2005
  

There is nothing Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee likes more than a good tantrum, and there is no saying who or what will provoke her. Some years ago she boycotted the Lok Sabha, apparently displeased with Speaker Shivraj Patil. On another occasion, with Speaker P.A. Sangma presiding, she threw her shawl at the chair. Last week Ms. Banerjee set a new low in parliamentary decorum: she flung a sheaf of papers at the Speaker's podium and then announced her `resignation' from the House. The theatrics were supposedly on account of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's rejection of an adjournment motion she had sought to move on the issue of influx of Bangladeshi nationals. Alleging discrimination by Mr. Chatterjee, a livid Ms. Banerjee directed her ire at Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, forcing him to adjourn the House. Disruptions have long been a hallmark of the lower House. It is one thing for legislators to interrupt proceedings or even troop into the `well' of the House, a phenomenon so common that it has ceased to surprise. It is quite another for a party chief repeatedly and hysterically to work to undermine the authority of the Speaker. As a habitual offender, Ms. Banerjee certainly deserved the strictest punishment. However, Speaker Chatterjee showed grace as well as shrewdness in rejecting her `offer' of resignation; he also seemed in no hurry to admit the flood of privilege motions seeking to censure Ms. Banerjee on her `wild behaviour,' presumably on the reasoning that it is her normal state of political being.

With her public image at an all-career low, the Trinamool chief still needed to be shown her place, which the Speaker did. In a strongly worded statement, he rejected Ms. Banerjee's "grossly defamatory insinuation" that he was "prompted by political consideration" in disallowing her motion on the Bangladeshi immigration issue. As the Speaker pointed out, an adjournment motion on the same question produced a "full and comprehensive" discussion as recently as July 26; in fact, accommodating the Mamata demand would have meant violating the House rules. It was irresponsible of her to have absented herself from a discussion which she claimed was of crucial significance to her State. However, there is more than character trait on display here. Ms. Banerjee's career is going nowhere. The rabble-rousing `Mamatadi', who once had a considerable popular base, is today a marginal force in West Bengal politics. Thanks to the split in her party, the Left Front has scored vital breakthroughs in urban areas that were once Trinamool Congress citadels. Mamata's ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is in a crisis that bodes ill for its future. The constituents of the National Democratic Alliance are restive. She cannot go back to the Congress and she is not sure of the BJP. Will `Mamata' become a new Bengali synonym for frustration born of own-goal-scoring?

City where only corruption and misrule is prevalent

Southern discomfort as autos flout norms

A STAFF REPORTER 03.11.2011

An auto carrying more than four passengers in Palbazar, Jadavpur (Sanat Kumar Sinha), and (below) a Metro report on September 6 that highlighted the auto menace in the added areas Old habits die hard. The southern fringes may be under Calcutta police jurisdiction now, but autorickshaw drivers continue to break rules with abandon, thanks to lax policing. If commuters thought the change in police jurisdiction would tame the lawless autos, they couldn’t be further from the truth. Most auto drivers are still carrying five passengers and breaking up the route into smaller sections to maximise profit illegally. “They still carry five passengers and drive as recklessly as they used to before Calcutta police took over. The auto drivers also do not agree to travel the full route,” said a Kasba resident who depends on autos for his daily commute to office. “The drivers pick up the fifth passenger a little ahead of the stand and carry him through the stretch where policemen are not usually posted,” he added. The four-passenger limit in an auto had been set several years ago but the auto drivers on the fringes used to ignore it as there were few policemen around, said a commuter. He added that the changeover to Calcutta police jurisdiction from September 1 had raised hopes that the rules would finally be followed, as the city police have more manpower than their South 24-Parganas counterparts. Auto fares in Kasba, Jadavpur, Behala, Thakurpukur and adjoining areas had been hiked immediately after the policing changeover, the reason being that the autos could no longer carry five passengers because of the “stricter policing”. Passengers said they didn’t mind the extra fare as long as the rules were being followed. But that is hardly the case. “The autos on the Taratala-Thakurpukur 3A bus stand route or the Sakherbazar-Tollygunge Metro route have increased the fare by Rs 2. But they still carry extra passengers,” said Sakherbazar resident Debayan Basu. All the auto routes in the areas that were inducted under the Calcutta police saw a fare hike because of the same reason. The practice of breaking up the route into several small parts to earn a little extra is still rampant. “This, too, hasn’t changed. No auto on the Taratala-Thakurpukur route will go the entire route from Taratala in the evening. They invariably break up the journey into three parts,” said Basu. “The autos first go to the Behala tram depot. The same auto will then pick up passengers till Sakherbazar or Behala Chowrasta. From Chowrasta, they again pick Thakurpukur-bound passengers. But if you ask the driver to go to Thakurpukur from Taratala, he will refuse,” Basu added. Because of these break journeys, a passenger who travels from Taratala to Thakurpukur has to shell out at least Rs 2 more than the regular fare. The police are in a fix as they do not have any way to prosecute an auto for charging extra. “It is difficult for us to prosecute any auto driver for charging a premium, as it is the auto unions, not the government, that decide the fares,” said a senior traffic officer. “If we have to penalise an auto driver for charging more, there has to be a parameter against which we compare it with. We cannot consider the union’s fare as the parameter since it has no government approval. So, prosecuting a driver for charging extra fare is impossible.” What the police can do is fine a driver Rs 3,000 if he is caught carrying more than four passengers or if he refuses to go the length for which his auto has a permit, the officer said. “The auto’s permit can also be revoked if the driver refuses to carry a passenger on the route for which it has a permit.”

Nonsense petty politicians run India

Political Smear On Trees

Local Trinamool MLA Defends Paint Job, Says It Makes Trees Look ‘Brighter’

Suman Chakraborti | TNN 

Kolkata: Even trees have not been spared the political smear campaign in Bengal where fights over walls are common in the run-up to elections. Scores of trees along VIP Road have been painted in the colours of the national flag — which also happens to be the colour scheme of the Trinamool Congress party flag. 
    It’s the brainchild of Trinamool MLA Sujit Bose, who apparently wanted to display his love for the party. “The trees lookbrighter now,” he reasoned. 
    Locals say Trinamool workers went around with paint tins and brushes just before the Pujas, painting tree trunks on the Ultadanga-Lake Town stretch. It’s almost a turfmarking exercise, just as walls would be whitewashed and marked ‘all wall TMC’ or ‘all wall CPM’ before polls. During the 2011 assembly election, even lampposts were painted in party colours. But laying political claim to trees is taking it a stretch too far. 
    Environment activists are appalled. They point out that harmful chemicals in the paint could be harming the trees. The MLA, however, said he had done no wrong, insisting he had no political motive in mind when the ‘project’ started. 
    “It was my initiative. After all, the tricolour is the colour of our national flag and the trees are looking brighter. I don’t see anything wrong in this. We take care of the trees as well. There was no intention to make a political statement through this move. People have actually come forward and commended the effort. However, if people say that it is incorrect to colour trees, I shall not do so in the future,” said Bose. 
    Local residents that TOI talked to were unequivocally against colouring the trees. “We don’t want ‘bright’ trees. We prefer them to look natural, even if the MLA may think it to be drab. No one here supports this but since politicians are involved, we thought it was best not to speak out,” said one of them, requesting not to be named. 
    Conservationists are fuming. “It is absolutely wrong to paint trees this way. The chemicals could affect the trees. Why weren’t the forest department and the local civic body intimidated before this was done,” asked Shyamal Ghosh, secretary of the People’s Green Society, an NGO. It isn’t known if the paint was lead-free. 
    “People must respect the environment and keep them as they are meant to be. Trees should never be used in this manner,” said environment activist Subhas Datta. 
    Eco activist Banani Kakkar pointed out that the idea of colouring trees seems to be spreading. “Why go to the VIP Road? Some trees are being painted in front of a nursing home in the heart of the city. I have spoken to Kolkata Municipal Corporation about this. Trees can’t be used to make a statement. It seems that some misguided marketing brain believes that the city's properties can be used in this manner for the gain of a political party,” she said. 
    Activist Ravi Menon fears that the painted trees have already been affected by the paint. “The chemicals could easily harm the trees. We have been fighting against senseless acts like this,” he said.

How city road Blocked by ruling politicians

Want To Invest In India? West Bengal? Think again.....

Revelry shuts key roads, chokes city

Major city roads like SN Banerjee Rd, Amherst St Closed For Third Evening, Traffic Detour Triggers Jams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Kolkata: It’s a tradition of chaos and inconvenience that’s ritually observed every Kali Puja week in two pockets of central and north Kolkata. Two of the city’s busiest thoroughfares — SN Banerjee Road and Amherst Street, which serve as links between the eastwest and north-south — remain shut for three evenings in a row to host cultural programmes that are graced by local politicians. They are made out of bounds for traffic during the peak hours, forcing vehicles to take a detour, causing major congestions and harassment to commuters. Police play the mute spectators even as thousands are made to suffer. 
    On Diwali, SN Banerjee Road — perhaps the most congestionprone road in the city — came to a standstill at 8 pm for the third day in a row. Howrah- and Esplanadebound vehicles were made to turn right to Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road from the Wellesly crossing and then diverted to Ganesh Chandra Avenue. The result was a predictable chaos in central Kolkata, with ripple effects halting traffic along Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Lenin Sarani, Ganesh Chandra Avenue and Chittaranjan Avenue. 

    Up north, Amherst Street was shut down in the evening. The road, which is hosting a dozen Kali Pujas, including the one supported by MP Somen Mitra, is the arterial link between northern and southern parts of the city. On Wednesday, vehicles were made to take Sukia Street and Bidhan Sarani, choking both thoroughfares. With the organizers enjoying strong political patronage, there was none to protest the inconvenience. 
    “It’s been happening for the last two decades and we can’t change it overnight” — was the police’s argument. Leaders patronizing the pujas, in fact, merrily endorsed the blockade. MLA Swarnakamal Saha who is the chief organizer of a big puja on SN Banerjee Road, said the road has to be shut down to avoid accidents during the festival. “Thousands come to see the puja and the cultural programmes. We can’t help but ask the police to divert traffic,” said Saha. 
    Police endorsed the argument. “Traffic could be made to flow along a single lane in the evening. But with thousands spilling on to the road, it could cause accidents. Also, since the road has traditionally been shut down during the Kali Puja week, we can’t change it on our own,” said Dilip Banerjee, DC (Traffic). 
    Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, however, agreed that commuters suffered due to the blockade. “Traffic diversion is bound to cause jams which are very inconvenient, especially during the festive season. But this is not within my purview. I will try and address the issue with the help of the police,” said Chatterjee. 
    The statement, though, came as little consolation for those who were held up for hours inside crowded buses on Kali Puja. Many preferred to get off and walked a kilometre to Esplanade, before catching another bus to their destination. At SN Banerjee Road, traffic crawled from the morning as vendors selling Diwali gift items spilled on to the road, narrowing down the thoroughfare. It got worse in the evening as a huge crowd of revellers descended on the road. All hell broke loose for the third consecutive day as traffic movement was barred at 8 pm “It’s not only inconvenient but risky as well. We have to squeeze in, competing for space with other vehicles turning right from Wellesly. Passengers, of course, are the worst hit,” said Sanjoy Mondol, a bus driver. 
    Rajib Ray was on his way to Howrah to meet an ailing relative on Wednesday afternoon. The bus he was travelling in came to a halt on SN Banerjee Road at 2.10 pm. It remained there for the next 25 minutes and then crawled for about a 100 yards before coming to a stop at the traffic signal. “I avoided travelling along this road in the evening due to the blockade. But it seems no better in the afternoon either. Why can’t our politicians be a little more sympathetic towards us?” Ray asked. 
    On Amherst Street, all Sealdah-bound vehicles were diverted towards Sukia Street and APC Road from the Vivekananda Road crossing. “I had no idea that the road would be shut. Now which way should I go?” wondered Saikat Das, headed for Thakurpukur in his car. 
    The puja organizers were nonchalant. “Amherst Street has always been a place to visit during Kali Puja. Unless the road is shut to traffic, revellers can’t visit the pandals. The congestion is inevitable but I guess commuters should bear it during the festive season,” said Piyal Chaudhury, secretary of the Amherst Street Sadharan Sri Sri Kali Puja Committee.