The Calcutta City Network

After motorcycles and bullet-proof vehicles, Calcutta Police has set its sights on a helicopter.
The proposal for the city police to take to the skies has been cleared by the state government. If a chopper does join its ranks, Calcutta Police will be the first police force in the country to have a helicopter.
“We have a list of things for the next two years and a helicopter figures on it. It will cost around Rs 10-15 crore. Talks are already on,” joint commissioner of police (administration) Kuldiep Singh told Metro.
Police will use the helicopter to handle major disasters or terrorist strikes. “During floods or other natural calamities we will be able to conduct an aerial survey and trace affected areas. We will also be able to monitor relief and rescue operations,” explained Singh.
In charge of modernising Calcutta Police, he visited London last month to train with Scotland Yard and took a fancy to their use of a helicopter. “They zero in on criminals fleeing in vehicles on a helicopter. After my return I proposed it at a meeting of senior officers and everyone agreed.”
The chopper, Singh said, would be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and serve as an airborne police control room. “In case of a terrorist attack we can keep an eye on an area and movements there. We can even keep tabs on political meetings and pass on messages to officers on the roads.” Snipers and rapid fire pistols will also be added to the Calcutta Police arsenal, mainly as a measure against terrorism.
As part of the megacity scheme, the Centre has been releasing funds to Calcutta Police over the past two years. Every year, the state also contributes 25 per cent of the total grant sanctioned by the Centre. Till May this year, Calcutta Police has received Rs 18 crore from the Centre. The money was spent on bullet-proof vehicles, jackets and helmets, and sophisticated arms.
“We will get Rs 22 crore from the Centre. We have to use it within a certain period or return it,” explained Singh.

The Chief Minister Of Calcutta, is being tormented by the citizens of Calcutta.
The Telegraph gave the citizens a chance to speak out by SMSing.
This is what they had to say:

CM sir, how would you feel if we paint the wall of your house with graffiti?
Saurav Agarwal(student), BK Pal Avenue

A retrograde and selfish step from a so-called progressive CM with an eye on his own political support base, ignoring the welfare of the people who voted him to power.

Rina Das (language teacher) Alipore

A clean city has clean walls. Defacement of walls
will make our Calcutta look so dirty.

Sanjay Agarwal (CA) Bhowanipore

It's unbelieveable that an educated person like the chief minister can take such a drastic step that will act against the interests of the citizens of Bengal. We have just spent a huge amount in getting our complex painted. We cannot allow anybody to spoil it.

Rahul Mukherjee (hospitality consultant), Chetla

My wall is my property. It enhances the beauty of a little residence. I cannot allow anybody to deface it.

Dr S.K. Mukherjee, Mankitala

Its shameful that such an issue should ever be debeated. I feel ashamed of living in a city led by such politicians.

Mimli Kulshreshtha (CA) Gurusaday Road.

The forgien investors may not like the dirty walls of the city.

Pialy Roy (school teacher) Agarpara

A very unwise desicion. Not expected from a person like Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Sudeshna Paul (IT sector) Rashbehari Avenue

It would give out such a wrong messege to the people visiting Calcutta. They might think that political parties call the shots and people have no say over their persoal properties.

Arpana Sen (school teacher) Rashbehari Avenue

Political graffiti should not be allowed on the streets of Calcutta at any cost.

Shriya Palchoudhuri (student) Salt Lake

The chief minister better have a good defence , because
the citizen look ready to charge against his desicion.

Sahil Ahmad Zaroo, the fourth guest at Rahul Mahajan’s party on Thursday night, has denied he had brought the drugs that were believed to be behind Rahul’s illness and the death of his father Pramod’s secretary Bibek Moitra.
The 21-year-old son of a wealthy Srinagar carpet merchant, arrested in Srinagar today, said the “white powder” was already with Rahul when he reached the house.

“When I entered Rahul’s room there was some white powder on the
table. I also tasted a little of it and immediately fell
unconscious,”

he told a newspaper reporter at the office of a TV channel from where he was taken into custody.

“Trish (Trishay) took me out (of the place). I came to Srinagar on Friday on a
Jet Airways flight in keeping with my schedule. I wasn’t the supplier of the
drugs that caused the tragedy.”
The three other boys with him — Trishay,
Karan and Rahul — told police that it was Sahil who bought the “white
powder”
from a dealer in Vasant Vihar for Rs 15,000 after Bibek asked him to
get some
cocaine.

Bibek, they said, had given Sahil the money, and Karan had accompanied him when he went out to buy the stuff.
But Sahil, who sat his graduation exams from Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College this year, said this version was “wrong and false” and that he was a victim of an “accident”.
“I was present at the wrong place at the wrong time. I did not directly know Rahul Mahajan, but I knew his secretary Bibek,” he said sitting beside his lawyer Aslam Goni.
“There was no conspiracy…. I was also in a bad condition and was puking all day and even didn’t know who was driving me where.
“You just go to meet someone and an accident happens. I will fully cooperate with the investigation as I have nothing to hide.”
Sahil seemed anxious after he was told that the post-mortem on Moitra had found traces of poison but no narcotics.
“What are they (the doctors) trying to say? That I am the one who has poisoned him?” he said.
From the TV channel’s office, the young man was taken to the office of the district police chief. He would be handed over tomorrow to a Delhi police team, which arrived in Srinagar today.
Sahil’s family lives in the upscale Nageen locality of Srinagar. His father Gulam Hassan Zaroo has a carpet shop in Mumbai’s Nariman Point.
The youth’s college mates in Mumbai said he was “confident and debonair”, always loaded with cash and generous to friends.
The manager of a posh pub in Juhu remembered him as a friendly young man who drank a lot.
“He was a friendly guy,” agreed a classmate. “But he used to hang around more with aspiring models and actors. He was very keen to join films.”
Sahil used to spend a lot of time in the posh Bandra suburb, home to many Bollywood people, the classmate said. He was also a regular at one of the hottest nightclubs of south Mumbai, Velocity. Bibek was a partner in the club.
A staff member of Velocity was said to be very close to Bibek. Police are looking into Bibek’s life outside the political sphere and his social contacts.
“We don’t know about Bibek, but yes, Sahil would often mention Velocity. He loved being seen in places that had a glam quotient,” the classmate said.
The college authorities refused to speak to journalists.