Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today rejected 18,000 km of road projects under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) proposed by the West Bengal government. He made the announcement at a high-level meeting attended among others by West Bengal rural development secretary Saurav Das. The state government delegation had sought Central approval for the projects in different parts of the state. The roads connect at least 6,000 habitations and were declared as “connected by the erstwhile Left regime”.

KOLKATA, 11 APRIL: Tremors felt in several districts of the state due to an earthquake, measuring 8.5 on the Richer scale, that hit off the western coast of northern Sumatra, triggered panic in the city and caused people to evacuate their workplaces and houses and come out on the streets. As office windows and doors started rattling, and several news channels flashed visuals of cracks in various buildings, people in the office areas of Park Street, Dharamtalla, Sector V in Salt Lake and BBD Bag, left their work and rushed out of their offices. “I was calling a customer when my chair shook.

KOLKATA, 23 FEB: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written to the Prime Minister asking him for a national iron ore policy, state industry and commerce minister Partha Chatterjee said today. Back on 9 January, JWS Steel chairman Sajjan Jindal said that problems sourcing iron ore were holding up the company's proposed 10-million tons steel plant at Salboni in West Midnapore, reported IANS. Uncertainty of iron ore supply was putting off investors, Mr Jindal also said.

The World Bank will provide a financial assistance of Rs 1,250 crore for minor irrigation schemes in West Bengal to help the state raise farm sector output, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today. He also noted that not much work was done in West Bengal for undertaking minor irrigation projects and the state's foodgrain production has suffered due to this.

KOLKATA, 13 FEB: The state public health engineering (PHE) department has invited experts from across the world to tour the four districts affected by arsenic seeking suggestions for the use of modern technology to tackle the problem. Apart from visiting the four districts ~ North 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad and South 24-Parganas ~ experts will also visit the three districts partially-affected by arsenic ~ Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore.

NAYACHAR, 6 JAN: The state government seems to have earned the confidence of Nayachar residents allowing it to set up a 1,980 MW thermal power plant. The project has been stalled after the Centre delayed the environmental clearance saying it would affect the livelihoods of nearly 5,000 fishermen and their families living on Nayachar Island in the Hooghly River near Haldia in East Midnapore. Universal Crescent Power Private Limited, led by NRI industrialist Prasoon Mukherjee, will set up the plant with an investment of Rs 12,000 crore.

Nandigram: Five years after a movement that catapulted it into spotlight at the national level and spelt the beginning of the end of the 34-year Left rule, Nandigram is still counting the losses of the bloody anti-land acquisition movement. Development is at a standstill and many of those who had been at the forefront of the movement and lost their family members say they were used as cannon fodder against the mighty Left, which was defeated by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in May last year.

Jyotip Mahato, 56, has cultivated his 12 bighas in of Kuldiha village, West Midnapore, for the first time in two years. Paddy and potato have grown and his small mudhouse bustles once again with the sound of grain being husked by women of the village. Jyotip returned home only a couple of months ago, having fled in 2009 when joint forces had raided the village for Maoists. “The Maoists fled into the forest through this village. The forces raided our village and I fled. Since then, I became a ‘Maoist’ in police records with several cases slapped against me,” says Jyotip.