1. Mamata Promises Employees New Year Hike
The Bengal government has accepted the “first part” of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission and they are likely to be implemented from January 2020, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Friday.
The commission has recommended a hike of 2.57 times in basic salary. The proposals will cover nearly 8 lakh employees of the state government and state-aided institutes like schools, panchayats and civic bodies.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Salt Lake Crater-Filled Roads Worry Puja Committees
The crater-ridden roads of Salt Lake have led several Durga Puja committees to complain to the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
With barely three weeks left for Puja, several organisers have either approached councillors or raised their concern with officials at the Poura Bhavan, the civic body headquarters, in Salt Lake about the state of roads.
An official of the corporation said Sabyasachi Dutta’s resignation from the post of mayor and the subsequent impasse in selecting his successor had affected the civic body’s road-repair programme.
(Source: The Telegraph)
Also Read: 14,926 Deaths in Road Accidents Due to Potholes Unacceptable: SC
3. CBI Visit Futile, Notice Emailed to Rajeev Kumar
A team of CBI officers went to former Calcutta police commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s residence on Park Street on Friday in the evening hours before he was served with a notice through email to appear before the central agency on Saturday morning in connection with the Saradha probe.
The move came after Calcutta High Court removed the “blanket protection” against arrest and gave the CBI a free hand to proceed with the investigations.
(Source: The Telegraph)
Also Read: Calcutta HC Removes Rajeev Kumar’s Protection From Arrest
4. CBI Picks Up ‘Look East’ Signals
Central probe agencies indicated on Friday that they would now turn their attention to Bengal, reopening the eastern flank after the recent thrust on Congress leaders such as P Chidambaram and DK Shivakumar.
Sources in the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate said the probe agencies had dusted the files on several prominent Trinamul Congress figures in connection with the Saradha and Narada cases.
“We have been asked to ‘Look East’ now. Our next big operation will soon be in Bengal where several Trinamul leaders are facing charges,” a CBI officer told The Telegraph.
(Source: The Telegraph)
Also Read: Why is DK Shivakumar's Arrest So Important & What Happens Next?
5. Demanding Jobs, Students & Youth Wings of CPM Begin Two-Day March From Bengal’s Singur
The students’ and youth wings of CPM — Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) — on Thursday began a two-day march to the state secretariat, Nabanna, from Singur in Hooghly district, demanding jobs for youth.
Thousands of SFI and DYFI members started the march from Singur in Hooghly district, the venue of abandoned Tata Nano car plant, holding party flags and raising slogans against the state government. The members stopped after 19 km at Dankuni on Thursday and will resume the procession from Howrah railway station to Nabanna on Friday morning.
(Source: The Indian Express)
Also Read: Left Out: The Rapid Decline of India’s Communist Parties Continues