Kolkata News

Barisha Club has been focusing on the migrant crisis in India for its Durga Puja theme for some time now; last year, too, the event organisers had chosen a similar theme, displaying the goddess as a working-class migrant woman carrying her children in tow.

Trinamool supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who solidified her post days ago after winning the Bhabanipur by-election with a record vote margin, is expectedly among the star campaigners featured in the TMC list.

Amongt the four West Bengal seats on which bypolls are being held, Dinhata in north Bengal is expected to see the most-fierce contest between the BJP and TMC. The BJP won 7 of the region’s 8 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and 30 of the 54 assembly seats.

Sabyasachi Dutta’s homecoming to the Trinamool Congress on Thursday was a low-key affair compared to the return of the five turncoat legislators who have headed back to the TMC since June this year.

Sabyasachi Dutta, who unsuccessfully bid for the Bidhannagar seat in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls on a BJP ticket, was inducted into the TMC in presence of state cabinet ministers Partha Chatterjee and Firhad Hakim in Kolkata.

Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata have always found a way to highlight current socio-economic and political issues such as the farmers' protest this year.

Mahalaya marks the end of ‘Pitri Pakshya’, or the 16-day lunar day period when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors (Pitrs) by offering food, money, and other gifts as a sign of reverence.

A pandal in Kolkata's Baguiati area has set up a Durga idol dressed in a gold saree, while another idol has been installed with eyes made of 10-11 grams of gold.

Durga Puja will be celebrated in a muted manner for the second consecutive year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Calcutta high court has banned the entry of visitors inside Durga puja pandals once again this year to check the spread of the viral disease.

In 2020, when the corona pandemic was raging, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated more than 80 puja pandals including 69 virtual inaugurations

The Calcutta high court has banned entry of visitors to puja pandals this year as well, but the TMC-led state government has relaxed night curfew timings by allowing movement between 11pm and 5am for 10 days.

Trinamool Congress leaders said Mamata Banerjee wants the swearing-in formalities to be completed before the Durga Puja festival, which is a week away.

The Sundarbans is the world’s largest mangrove delta spread across India and Bangladesh. The Indian part of the delta covers 102 islands including 54 inhabited ones

The petition has been filed by Bhaskarananda Halder through Advocate Srikanta Dutta.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of Calcutta high court asked CBI officials to appear before the speaker and file a report on their conversation at Tuesday’s hearing.

The announcement by Chatterjee comes hours after Dhankhar withdrew Bengal assembly speaker Biman Banerjee’s power to administer the oath of office to the members of the state legislature.

A team led by Kolkata’s joint police commissioner will visit around 18 of the biggest Durga puja pandals on Monday. Many of these pujas are patronised by ruling Trinamool Congress leaders and ministers

"I will not show V because I am not winning alone. We are contesting from three seats. So I will show three fingers," Banerjee, who gets to retain her chief minister post after the resounding victory from the Bhabanipur assembly seat said.

The bypoll result at Bhabanipur assembly constituency is crucial for both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, and would decide if Mamata Banerjee would be able to retain her chief ministerial chair. 

Priyanka Tibrewal from the BJP and Srijib Biswas of the CPI(M) are in the fray in the Bhabanipur by-election to the traditional seat of Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata Banerjee has to be elected to the West Bengal assembly by winning the Bhabanipur by-poll before November 5 to retain the chair of the chief minister. 

According to the Kolkata-based Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Alipurduar, Malda and Birbhum will see light to moderate showers for 2-3 hours, beginning 3am.

The police have been receiving information over the past few days that truck-loads of adulterated kala jeera were being smuggled into Kolkata from the districts. The trucks enter the city early in the morning and unload the material at Posta market, the city’s main wholesale market.

The weather department has warned of thundershowers with lightning at most places over all the districts from October 2 to 4.