Bengal spent Rs 15000 cr on development related expenditure
Kolkata: West Bengal has spent Rs 15,000 crore on development related expenditure so far, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday. “We have already incurred development expenditure of Rs 15,000 crore and it will increase as three more months are yet to go for the fiscal,” Banerjee told reporters here. “Besides financial problems left behind by the previous government, that regime was unable to spend so much money for development,” Banerjee claimed after an appraisal meeting with Cabinet ministers and secretaries. She claimed that appraisal meetings were only held in Bengal. Banerjee has held 3-4 such meeting and 54 block level ones to ascertain hurdles and solutions for ongoing projects. Bengal has achieved 32 per cent growth in tax collection. (PTI)
Former BSP-MLA receives extortion calls
Deoria (UP): A former BSP legislator today claimed to have received a “threat call” demanding Rs 25-lakh and sought immediate probe into it. “I have received threat calls on my mobile phone on December 15, 16 and 17 in which the caller demanded Rs 25-lakh,” former BSP MLA Suresh Tiwari said. He alleged that though he has informed the police his complaint was not taken seriously. Superintendent of Police, Ravishankar Chhavi, however, said that the matter has come to his knowledge and it was being probed. (PTI)
Judgement in Chandrasekharan murder case on Jan 22
Kozhikode: A special court here, hearing the case relating to the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan, will pronounce its judgement on January 22 next year. The trial in the case, which began on February 11, was completed before R Narayana Pisharadi, Judge, Special Additional District and Sessions Court, today. The Kerala High Court had earlier instructed the prosecution to complete the trial of the case by December 31. Presently there are 36 accused in the case whereas in the initial stage of the trial it was 76. The court had stayed the trial of 15 accused at a later stage. From the list of accused, 22 were acquitted for lack of evidence. Two accused are still absconding while one died during the trial of the case. Chandrasekharan, who quit the CPI(M) a few years ago, had floated the RMP. He was murdered by a seven-member gang at Vallikkad near Onchiyam in Kozhikode district on May 4 last year. (PTI)
Adarsh scam probe report, ATR tabled in Maharashtra Assembly
Nagpur: Maharashtra Government on Friday tabled in the Assembly the much-awaited report of an inquiry commission on the Adarsh housing scam in which names of top politicians and bureaucrats of the state had figured. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan tabled the finding of the two-member judicial commission along with an action taken report (ATR). The report, for which the State Government had given a word to the Bombay High Court, was presented on the last day of the winter session of Maharashtra Legislature here. The panel, which gave its finding in two parts, submitted its final report to the State Government in April this year. The commission, headed by retired High Court Judge Justice J A Patil, was formed in January 2011. Its mandate was to look into several aspects including ownership of the land in south Mumbai where the 31-storey building of Adarsh housing society stands, whether it was reserved for families of Kargil war heroes, and whether rules were flouted while granting permissions for the construction. The commission’s interim report has said that land belonged to the state government and not the Defence Ministry, nor was it reserved for war widows. (PTI)