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”.

PURULIA, 13 MARCH: Uncertainty looms over the 1320-MW Adra thermal power project, announced in 2010 by then railway minister Mamata Banerjee, even as the country prepares for another railway budget tomorrow. Miss Banerjee, in her Budget speech, announced setting up of this thermal power project at Adra, which would entail an expenditure of Rs 8000 crore. In the month of October, 2010, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Indian Railways and the National Thermal Power Corporation in the presence of Miss Banerjee during her visit to Anara, Purulia.

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.

The spectre of infant deaths continued to haunt government hospitals in West Bengal, with 19 cases reported in Malda and Bankura over the past two days. While nine infants died in the Malda Medical College and Hospital, 10 children were reported dead in the Bankura Sammilani Medical College and Hospital.

The babies who died in the Bankura hospital were “suffering from pneumonia and birth asphyxia, while some had low birth weight,” superintendent Panchanan Kundu said.

BANKURA/PURULIA, 24 JAN: Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today granted Rs 2,000 crore for providing safe drinking water to the people of Bankura district. “The Centre has approved Rs 1,000 crore for the first phase implementation of the project,” the minister said here today. Mr Ramesh held a meeting with Bankura district administrative official today. He urged the officials to lay more stress on the flagship MGNREGA project to address the crisis in the Maoist-hit blocks.

PURULIA, 4 DEC: Around 1,500 students of several primary and upper primary schools in Ayodhya hills have been studying in classrooms that do not have either electricity or proper drinking water facilities for many years now due to lack of funds.

. 20,000-cr project was put on a backburner after demand for steel got affected due to recession in 2008
After three years of shilly-shallying, a business group looks set to give wide-eyed villagers in Salboni in West Bengal their first factory and the state its largest industrial project in years.

Oil and gas major ONGC and two other companies have taken preliminary interest in developing solar projects at Purulia district in West Bengal. The total capacity of such project(s) may range up to 900 MW.

Purulia, Nov. 6: A Maoist couple in Purulia today became the first to surrender after Mamata Banerjee announced a revised rehabilitation package in August.
Some rebel sources suggested that the two might have been persuaded to give themselves up by police who had “picked them up” a couple of months ago.
Balarampur residents Durjodhan Rajwar, 32, alias Sujan, and wife Akri Sahis, 20, alias Lata, surrendered before Purulia police chief Sunil Chowdhury.

KOLKATA, 28 SEPT: The state public health engineering department will supply piped water to the arid districts of Purulia and Bankura from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) by undertaking a Rs 2,600 crore project which would be funded by Japan International Coorporation Agency (JICA).
State PHE minister Mr Subrata Mukherjee announced this while releasing a “Vision 2020” document which promises that the department will ensure supply of at least 70 litres of water per head to the entire rural population by the end of the decade.