Kolkata confidential

Still burning
LAST WEEK,when the government gave away the compensation money to the kin of Stephen Court fire victims,it chose Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti to hand over the cheques. But a senior police officer said the government had first selected Fire and Emergency Service Minister Pratim Chatterjee but later it had to do away with the plan considering that the consequences could be disastrous as the families of the victims blame the minister for the tragedy. Since the victims will never spare the minister and chances were high that a law and order problem could take place,the minister had to make way for the police commissioner.

In deep trouble
IN RECENT days,Kolkata giants — Mohun Bagan and East Bengal — are repeatedly finishing on the wrong side of the scorelines. Last week,East Bengal got a 4-0 drubbing from Lebanon’s Al Nejmeh in an AFC Cup match. The very next day,Bagan also ended up losing to Dempo SC in an I-League encounter by the same margin. With the power centre of Indian football shifting to Goa as Dempo and Churchill Brothers are in commanding positions,Dempo coach Armando Colaco had this to say: “Kolkata clubs change their coaches at the drop of a hat. They must realise that stability is the key to success.” The fans too have accepted the fact so when Bagan lost to Dempo,they congratulated the Goan club rather than venting their ire on Bagan players. “For both Bagan and East Bengal,winning the Kolkata derby has become the holy grail. They can’t look beyond and that’s the plight of Bengal football,” lamented former Indian footballer Subrata Bhattacharya. “The club officials must be hauled up for killing the golden goose,” he added.

Reading the lips of govt
THE people of West Bengal have learnt the art of reading between the lines of what the bureaucrats and ministers say before a bandh. Last week,when a conglomerate of 13 political parties led by the Left Front called a nationwide bandh,the effect of it was most striking in Bengal with almost all government offices and a majority of private enterprises remaining shut. The common man didn’t venture out as they knew beforehand that the bandh would be complete. And they had all reasons to believe it. Read what the state transport minister had said on the eve of the bandh: “Buses and trams will run only if drivers and conductors report to work.” Those working in Bengal’s IT sector at Salt Lake City left for their offices before 6 am because the Bidhnagar administration had declared that it would arrange 20 police patrol vans to see that “officegoers are not harrassed and stopped on their way to offices” — which meant that they would face harassment.