In brief

Transferring files for Mamata cost Rs 11 lakh
NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s prolonged absence from her ministry has cost the exchequer more than Rs 11 lakh over a one-year period. The expenses for travel of five officials — Officer on Special Duty to Railway Minister Gautam Sanyal,Private Secretary Santanu Basu,Executive Director (Public Grievance) J K Saha,Additional PS S Ashok and APS Ratan Mukherjee — between Delhi and Kolkata to meet Mamata for clearing files have cost the Railways Rs 11,23,550. While the airfares of Saha and Mukherjee could not be furnished by the Railways,the total cost incurred for air travel by the other three officials to

Farmer’s death: Dist admn told to file report
Kolkata: Concerned over the suicide of a farmer in the drought-hit Burdwan district,state finance minister Asim Dasgupta has asked the district administration to submit a report on the incident immediately. Dasgupta,who is monitoring the situation in 11 districts declared drought-hit recently,on Sunday said the report would be forwarded to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The suicide by 45-year-old Yunus Sheikh,first reported case of farmer suicide this year,incidentally took place when the chief minister was on a visit to the district.

Youths held for making hoax calls
Kolkata: Two youths were arrested from Hooghly district for allegedly making hoax calls about a bomb being planted in a flight. Srikant Paramanik (30) and Shyamal Paramanik (19) were arrested from Arambagh for making two calls from a mobile phone to Chandigarh airport claiming that bombs were planted in a private aircraft on August 18. No bombs were found after a search operation. PTI Kolkata and back was Rs 8,73,946 from July 1,2009 to June 30,2010. Besides, Railways had to shell out Rs 2,49,604 as TA/DA to five officials for travelling to Kolkata,stated an RTI reply sought by activist S C Agrawal.