City Briefs

Price rise: Left Front announces more protests

KOLKATA: Left Front chairman Biman Bose on Sunday launched a strong attack on the UPA government at the Centre on the price rise issue and accused the state government of colluding with it. An emergency Left Front State Committee meeting was convened on Sunday to discuss the probable steps to be taken by it against the increase in petroleum prices. Announcing a series of programmes, Bose said they would launch a radical movement if the UPA failed to roll back the hike in the next few weeks. The Left Front will organise protest meetings and awareness campaigns between July 4 and July 10 across the state. He said all district committees have been instructed to coordinate the movement and on July 11, a 'dharna-cum-demonstration' will be held at all central government offices in both Kolkata and the districts. "We will continue our protests till the hike is withdrawn. The Chief Minister should have demanded full exemption of the hiked amount but instead chose to forgo 4 per cent on LPG cylinders," Bose said.

No need for more engg colleges: Partha

Kolkata: State Industries and Commerce Minister Partha Chatterjee on Sunday questioned the necessity of opening new engineering colleges saying, "Last year, 5,500 seats remained vacant in the self-financing engineering colleges." "Our government believes in giving quality education. We will not compromise on this," he said. Chatterjee's statement comes even as the state government has taken a decision to allow students to get admission in private engineering institutes on the basis of their Class XII marks.

Plane lands on closed runway

Kolkata: A Thai Air-Asia flight with 140 passengers on board landed safely at Kolkata airport on Sunday despite its pilot choosing a closed runway violating air traffic instruction. The labourers working at the primary runway ran to the safety when they noticed the fast approaching flight, No was hurt in the incident.

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