The Indian Express                11.05.2013

HC questions municipal secy over civic bypoll

The Calcutta High Court today questioned the Municipal Affairs Secretary as to why the by-election to ward number 1 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation was not yet held.

The seat fell vacant after Ela Saha, councilor of the ward no 1, died in December 2011.

B P Gopalika, secretary of the Municipal Affairs Department, appeared in court today in compliance with the order passed two weeks ago in connection with a PIL.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra wanted to know why the bye-election was not held in the last two-and-a-half years.

A counsel of the state election commission said it requested the state government and Kolkata Municipal Commission to hold the poll in several letters but the state government never sent any reply.

The Chief Justice told Gopalika to inform the court about the date of the poll or else the court would pass an order on Monday.

Land use maps for 129 blocks go online

The state government today released land use maps for 129 blocks in six districts of the state. The maps are available on the government portal "Banglar Bhumi", Finance Minister Amit Mitra said.

"The land use maps will include zones. Entrepreneurs can see which land is agricultural and which land is barren. Accordingly, they can send their proposals," said Mitra. The portal will answer all land-related queries of the people, particularly entrepreneurs, he added.

Over two years, the Trinamool Congress government prepared land use maps for 129 blocks of a total of 341 blocks in the state. The zonations have been done on select categories like agricultural land, forest land, barren land and wetland. The land use map will provide details on the type of the land and single crop, double crop and multi-crop lands can be identified.

"The basic idea behind marking zones is that industrial and other big projects of the state government and the Centre will be located in the appropriate zones without disturbing food security in the state. The farmers will feel secure. So, no game can be played over the issue of land acquisition. We have seen how games were played over Nandigram and Singur. Now everything is so transparent, that even if anybody wants, he cannot play the game over land," said Mitra at Writers' Buildings.

The Hindu                11.05.2013

Local body polls in June, says Revenue Minister

Raghuveera says panchayat elections will be conducted on non-party basis.

Elections to local bodies at all the three levels in Andhra Pradesh will be held between June and August, Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said here on Friday. He indicated that notification for the Panchayat bodies will be issued in the first week of June and elections will be conducted in the same month.

While the panchayat elections will be conducted on non-party basis, Municipal elections and Zilla Parishad elections will see political parties locking horns on party symbols, the Minister said. “The government proposes to notify elections for all municipalities and corporations in July, while Zilla Parishad elections will be held in August,” he added.

The government proposes to maintain status quo in the modality of local body elections and a final decision on whether to hold direct or indirect elections to the posts of Mayors, chairpersons will be taken shortly, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy told The Hindu.

The Revenue Minister along with Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy, who had come to Kanuru panchayat on city outskirts, to lay foundation for black-top roads in the village, opined that the party’s victory in Karnataka will go a long way in influencing the voters in Andhra Pradesh too in the coming Assembly elections.

“Modi-impact was not visible in the recent Karnataka elections and people are wise enough to take the right decision at the right time,” they said indicating Congress will do a hat-trick of victories in Andhra Pradesh.

They opined that advancing elections in the State or the Centre was not a possibility at all as the Congress party does not believe in it.

Asked about the number of candidates aspiring for the Chief Minister’s post after 2014 elections, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said making the final choice was in the domain of the party high command. He also denied that there was any dissidence in the party.