PHOTO : Rainy day. Peasant women busy in planting paddy saplings in a field in Alipurduar.

Yellow signal on Mansai in Cooch Behar 

COOCH BEHAR, July 7: Following incessant downpour for the last two days the water levels of all the major rivers flowing through Cooch Behar district are on the rise. Water level of Mansai crossed danger mark in Mathabhanga this morning. Yellow signal was imposed on Mansai along the unprotected areas beginning from Mathabhanga upto Indo-Bangladesh border at 11-30 a.m. today. Yellow signal was also posted on Jaldhaka river in Jalpaiguri district. The water levels of other rivers in Cooch Behar are still below the danger mark. But the situation may turn worse if the rain continues. 

District Flood Control Room sources said that Cooch Behar recorded 181 mm rainfall in the past 24 hours. It is 1303.30 mm in this season. The rainfall in Tufanganj and Mathabhanga during the past 24 hours was recorded as 134.40 mm and 145.80 mm. Total rainfall in this season in Tufanganj and Mathabhanga are 1390.40 mm and 1214.40 mm. [] 

Man gets 7-yr RI for fatal beating 

COOCH BEHAR, July 7: Additional District and Sessions Judge, First Fast Track Court, Cooch Behar, Mr Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay, ordered seven years rigorous imprisonment to a man today. 

It was learnt that the accused Bibhuti Bhusan Barman had beat a local ration dealer, Kulin Shilsarma (45) with a heavy wooden stick in front of a paan shop at 75-Nijtaraf village in Mekhliganj on 6 January morning in 2005. Shilsarma got serious injury on his head. He was shifted to Mekhliganj sub-divisional hospital in a bloody condition and later transferred to a private nursing home in Siliguri. He died there on 9 January. During inquiry police learnt that Barman asked for some rice from Shilsarma free of cost about one week ago. He got rice from the ration dealer on earlier occasions too. This time, Shilsarma refused to give the rice free of cost. An angry Barman attacked him in front of the paan shop when he found Shilsarma arrived there to buy paan on the morning of the day of the incident. 

Following the incident, the son of the ration dealer, Mr Chiranjit Shilsarma lodged a complaint against Bibhuti Bhusan Barman at Mekhliganj police station on 6 January 2005. Police started a case into the incident and arrested the accused. The investigating officer was Mr Sadhan Chandra Sarkar. Later, the case was shifted from Mekhliganj to Cooch Behar. Mr Shibendra Nath Roy was the panel government pleader in this case. Fifteen witnesses were examined in the court. 

Additional District and Sessions Judge, First Fast Track Court, Cooch Behar, Mr Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay, convicted the accused under Section 304 IPC yesterday. He sentenced the accused seven years rigorous imprisonment. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on the accused. He will have to suffer an additional three months rigorous imprisonment if he fails to submit the fined amount, according to Mr Roy. [] 

A mega jute mill coming up in Cooch Behar 

COOCH BEHAR, July 7: A large sized jute mill is coming up at Chakchaka Industrial Growth Centre in Cooch Behar. Export oriented jute yarn for carpets will be produced here. The Rs 30-crore project will be the biggest in entire North Bengal. The authorities already started setting up tools and machineries. State industries minister Mr Nirupam Sen is expected to inaugurate the new unit in the last week of August. He may enquire about the progress of work during his visit to Cooch Behar tomorrow, sources said. 

Construction for the new unit named Kamakshi Jute Industries Limited (KJIL) was started about one-and-half years ago on a 15-acre land at Chakchaka Industrial Growth Centre complex. General secretary of Cooch Behar District Merchants Chamber of Commerce (CDMCC), Mr Rajendra Kumar Baid said that the state industries minister had instructed the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to pave the way for setting up the unit and he also arranged land within 24-hours. Mr Jatan Kumar Baid is the entrepreneur of the jute mill and he is also the managing director of KJIL. 

At the first phase the unit will engage itself in manufacturing yarn from 40-ton raw jute fibre daily. This yarn will be useful for knitting carpets. The finished yarn will be exported to countries abroad. About 2,000 persons will be employed in the unit at the first phase. The jute growers of Cooch Behar district and adjoining areas will be benefited from this mill because they will be able to get good price for their produces, Mr Baid said. 

After completion of the first phase, a second unit will come up where jute yarn will be mixed with cotton for producing cloths. In that unit about 3,000 workers will be needed. 

Mr Baid said that the entrepreneur of the jute mill is associated with Information Technology Sector and so he is eager to set up an IT industrial unit in Cooch Behar. Before that Broad Band service should be available here to pave the way for that unit, Mr Baid said. The CDMCC general secretary demanded launching of the proposed 132-KV power sub-station and reintroduction of the air service at Cooch Behar Airport as early as possible for the sake of rapid industrialisation. The district administration should take an initiative so that small entrepreneurs can get bank loans on easy terms, he opined. []