COOCH BEHAR, Aug. 11: In a bid to create indirect employment opportunities for the unemployed youths the BSNL came out with a novel plan in Cooch Behar district. Telecom District Manager, Cooch Behar, Mr MK Seth said that they provided record number of PCOs in Dinhata sub-division during the last one week to the unemployed youths. It is a record in the whole country achieved by any telecom district, he claimed. He appreciated the efforts of Mr SK Guha, SDO (Telecom), Dinhata and his team for achieving the record by providing 120 PCOs. 

BSNL sources said that speech quality of BSNL PCOs is better than that of any private operator. A BSNL PCO needs no additional expenditure for power because power is being given from the concerned telephone exchange through the telephone line. There is no congestion in landline PCO since it has sufficient trunk and STD lines. 

The TDM, Mr Seth said that about 3,000 PCO connections would be given to unemployed youths by the end of this month. He mentioned that 10,000 Life Time mobile connections have been sold by BSNL in Cooch Behar district. He claimed that BSNL’s Life Time mobile scheme is very low price option and it is the cheapest mobile service in the world. One can get Life Time mobile connection at Rs 699 only, he added. [] 

RSP’s allegation over malaria 

COOCH BEHAR, Aug. 11: Kolkata was declared as a malaria zone and measures are being taken to improve the situation there. But, though Dooars is known as malaria prone area and numerous people die here every year in malaria, no preventive measures were taken to eradicate the problem. This allegation came from no opposition leader but a senior leader of the RSP. The RSP is a partner of the ruling Left Front in this state. 

The senior RSP leader and the Alipurduar MLA Mr Nirmal Das said that the state government should take initiative to erase out the malaria problem from the Dooars. He made his opinions known to the state health minister Dr Surya Kanta Misra and the principal secretary of health Mr Kalyan Bagchi during a meeting over malaria situation in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts that was held this week at Cooch Behar Circuit House. 

Mr Das said that he told the health minister that DDT spraying and other efforts proved failed to control malaria. He asked the minister to deploy retired and experienced paramedical staff because a large number of blood samples that were collected are lying unexamined. He also demanded increase of health personnel to control the menace. Isolation wards should be there in the hospitals for the malaria patients to prevent spreading of the disease, he opined. Special preventive measures should be taken to stop the dreaded disease that already claimed more than 111 lives in Alipurduar sub-division in Jalpaiguri district this year, he added. 

The Alipurduar MLA said that the government should engage specialists to control the alarming situation. It should make appeal to the WHO for assistance and guidance to get rid of malaria, he opined. The infrastructure of the health department also needs to be refurbished, he said. []