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Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, principal correspondent, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, has been covering politics, socio-economic and cultural affairs for over 10 years. He takes special interest in monitoring developments related to Maoist insurgency and religious extremism.

Articles by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Amit Shah targets Mamata Banerjee on CAA, Covid-19

The TMC hit back and accused the BJP of focusing on politics instead of battling Covid-19.

Union home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah addressing ‘West Bengal Jan-Samvad Rally’ through video conferencing in New Delhi on Tuesday.(ANI Photo)
Updated on Jun 10, 2020 06:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Mumbai | By

‘Hungry only for votes’: TMC attacks BJP after Amit Shah’s virtual rally

The TMC accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of presenting false data on funds spent by the Centre on various schemes and targeted him for reviving the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien said Union Home Minister Amit Shah raised the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act with an eye on Bengal’s Assembly elections next year.(HT FILE PHOTO)
Updated on Jun 09, 2020 08:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By

Amit Shah takes on Mamata Banerjee on virtual turf, seeks change in West Bengal

Shah accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of indulging in violence, corruption, extortion, infiltration, terror and politics of appeasement.

Home Minister Amit Shah addresses 'West Bengal Jan-Samvad Rally’ via video-conferencing, in New Delhi on Tuesday.(ANI Photo)
Updated on Jun 09, 2020 03:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by: Amit Chaturvedi

‘Take a minute’: Mamata Banerjee’s nephew jabs Shah ahead of Bengal address

This is the first time that the Trinamool Congress brought forth the issue of the recent tensions along the international borders with China.

TMC has continually targeted the Centre over alleged lack of planning before announcing the lockdown.(Samir Jana / Hindustan Times File Photo)
Updated on Jun 09, 2020 01:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by: Shankhyaneel Sarkar

West Bengal’s Covid-19 deaths cross 400-mark but fatality rate improves

Bengal’s death rate due to Covid-19 is still higher than the national average. India’s death rate stood at 2.8% as of Monday morning, with 7,200 deaths reported against 256,611 persons testing positive for the disease.

A security guard thermal screening people at South City Mall in Kolkata after it opened to the public on Monday, June 8, 2020.(Samir Jana / HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 09, 2020 12:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Anubha Rohatgi

Bibliophiles help sellers at Kolkata’s iconic book market by buying damaged books

The College Street area in north Kolkata, popularly known as Boi-para or the book locality, is home to some of the most prestigious educational institutes and happens to be a storehouse of books, with nearly 1,000 small to large publishers and booksellers operating in the locality.

Wet damp books lying on the street to dry in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan at College Street in Kolkata.(SAMIR JANA/HT PHOTO.)
Updated on Jun 09, 2020 12:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

Unspent funds, incomplete work mark gram panchayats in rural Bengal: Mahua Moitra

Moitra has said that the local self governing bodies in rural Bengal were not taking up necessary infrastructure work that needed funds over Rs 3.5 lakh in an attempt to avoid mandatory administrative scrutiny.

According to an officer of the Nadia district administration, more than 90% of the panchayats within Moitra’s constituency were run by her own party, the Trinamool Congress.(HT PHOTO.)
Updated on Jun 07, 2020 11:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

Ahead of state polls, Mamata warns TMC against corruption in relief work

Mamata Banerjee also instructed TMC leaders to intensify political campaign on social media highlighting her government’s successes in the past nine years.

All of the TMC’s opponents in Bengal – the BJP, the Left and the Congress – have targeted the Mamata Banerjee government and her party for corruption in providing government relief due to Covid-19 and Cyclone Amphan.(Samir Jana/HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 06, 2020 02:11 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya| Edited by: Meenakshi Ray

Bengal tally doubles in 12 days, crosses 7k-mark

As on Friday, the state reported 7,303 cases, with 366 persons dead and 2,912 persons discharged from hospitals after recovery.

Reaching 3,667 cases took more than two months, with the state’s first case being reported on March 17.(Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 05, 2020 11:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By

Mamata sharpens attack on BJP, asks party to prepare for the 2021 elections

Mamata was upset with the BJP’s launch of 2021 election campaign titled ‘No more Mamata’

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has asked TMC to get battle ready to counter BJP’s poll campaign.(PTI Photo)
Updated on Jun 05, 2020 10:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Abhinav Sahay

Bengal rolls out red carpet for central team for cyclone damage assessment

The Bengal government’s attitude towards the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) to assess the cyclone damage is in contrast to its stand when two such teams landed in April to take stock of the state’s Covid-19 management.

Cyclone Amphan left a trail devastation across south Bengal last month.(HT PHOTO)
Published on Jun 04, 2020 02:50 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Koklkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya| Edited by Sabir Hussain

Mamata seeks Rs 10,000 cash transfer from Centre to each migrant worker

Banerjee’s demand came a day after her government claimed to have transferred Rs 20,000 to the bank account of each of those whose homes got destroyed by the cyclone Amphan.

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.(PTI)
Updated on Jun 03, 2020 12:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sparshita Saxena

Bengal BJP enters poll mode, Amit Shah to kick-start virtual meetings on June 8

Monday’s announcements came barely four days after the party released a 9-point charge-sheet against Mamata Banerjee’s nine-year rule and called for toppling the state government in 2021.

Amit Shah will be the main speaker in the first such meeting, scheduled at 11 am on June 8. This event is slated to be aired live on social media.(PTI PHOTO.)
Updated on Jun 01, 2020 10:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

Amid spike in Covid-19 cases, Bengal’s testing matches up to national level

Bengal on May 31, reported 371 new Covid-19 cases, mostly from the different districts where migrant workers recently returned.

Bengal’s testing per million population has also risen to 2,264 as on May 31. The national average has been around 2,500 tests per million over the past week.(SAMIR JANA/HT PHOTO.)
Updated on May 31, 2020 11:50 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

In Amphan’s trail of destruction, Sunderbans turn red, yellow

The lawmakers have never witnessed this unnatural phenomenon before, even after the cyclone Aila that devastated large parts in and around the Sunderbans in 2009.

The effect, an MLA said, is less on mangroves and more on the other trees, such as mango, banyan, jambul, neem, and jackfruit. Leaves of almost all trees on the land are turning yellow or red.(HT Photo)
Published on May 30, 2020 10:13 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By

Amid lockdown, this Kolkata hospital is conducting dialysis at 50 only

The hospital in central Kolkata, named Kolkata Swasthya Sankalp, has been a low-cost dialysis centre essentially for the poor and used to charge ₹350 per dialysis. This is nearly one third of the cost of dialysis at government-hospitals.

A small hospital in Kolkata is conducting dialysis for patients with kidney ailments at <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>50 only amid the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.(HT PHOTO.)
Updated on May 30, 2020 09:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

Lockdown 5: Mamata allows pvt offices to work with 100% staff from June 8; says nothing on local train

Mamata has allowed reopening of religious places from June 1 with some restrictions.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also criticised railways for not leaving middle berths in Shramik trains empty(PTI Photo)
Updated on May 29, 2020 10:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Abhinav Sahay

Cyclone Amphan: A trail of death, misery and destruction

The government had, two days before, sounded an alarm about an approaching super cyclone and evacuated roughly 360,000 people from the delta.

A man stands next to a house damaged in Cyclone Amphan in Sunderbans region’s Sagar island.(by special arrangement)
Updated on May 28, 2020 09:33 PM IST
Sunderbans/Kolkata/New Delhi | ByJoydeep Thakur, Dhrubo Jyoti and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

BJP launches 2021 assembly poll campaign in Bengal, calls it ‘Aar Noi Mamata’

The Mamata Banerjee government is facing a three-fold challenge – combating the outbreak of Covid-19, dealing with the huge influx of migrant workers returning to the state and restoring normal life and infrastructure in the cyclone-hit areas.

The party on Wednesday released a 57-second video clip calling for the removal of the TMC regime and launched a Twitter hashtag named #AarNoiMamata.(TWITTER.)
Updated on May 27, 2020 05:02 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By

Returning migrants cause surge of Covid-19 cases in rural Bengal

According to a senior official of the West Bengal health department, 76 people tested positive for Covid-19 in rural areas of Howrah district; 67 in the rural areas of Malda; 46 in Hooghly district and 30 in Uttar Dinajpur over the past three days.

The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has spread to Bengal’s rural areas with nearly 200 migrant workers who recently returned from other states testing positive for the infection, and the numbers likely to rise as more arrive.(Pramod Thakur/ Hindustan Times)
Updated on May 27, 2020 02:51 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By

Bengal Guv tells Mamata not to inflate figures on losses due to cyclone Amphan

Dhankhar’s tweets came after CM Banerjee said that the estimated loss due to the cyclone was Rs 1 lakh crore. She has said that 1 crore people have been rendered homeless due to the cyclone.

In advice to the chief minister, the governor wrote, “Share real loss @PMOIndia: Inflating figures is counter-productive.”(HT file photo)
Updated on May 25, 2020 08:11 AM IST

Bengal records biggest single-day spike of 208 new Covid-19 cases, state tally at 3,667

The spike comes as a major concern for the state, as the cyclone-hit districts are also the ones most-affected by Covid-19.

Kolkata, North 24-Parganas and Howrah that account for 2,934 of the total 3,667 cases in the state have also been badly hit by the cyclone. These districts have most of the containment zones in the state.(SAMIR JANA/HT PHOTO.)
Updated on May 24, 2020 11:08 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

Decade after Cyclone Aila, saline water will continue to haunt farms in Sunderbans

Of the 102 islands in Sunderbans, 52 are inhabited by 4.5 million people and the rest are tiger territories.

A visit to the cyclone-hit areas of the Sunderbans region in the districts of North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas revealed that area after area was inundated, with crops on the field ruined and fishes in the ponds dead.(PTI PHOTO.)
Updated on May 24, 2020 12:27 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Sunderbans | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya and Joydeep Thakur

Bengal parties spar over cyclone relief

Snigdhendu.Bhattacharya@htlive.com Kolkata: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s West Bengal unit chief, Dilip Ghosh, was on Saturday prevented from visiting a cyclone-hit area even as chief minister Mamata Banerjee underlined it was not the time to do politics and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders echoed her.

HT Image
Updated on May 24, 2020 02:58 AM IST

Sunderbans left unfit for farming

HT Image
Published on May 23, 2020 11:44 PM IST
BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya and Joydeep Thakur

Cyclone-ravaged Bengal records highest Covid-19 tests at 9,009 on Saturday

After testing about 8,500 tests for a few days, Bengal’s testing took a hit due to the cyclone Amphan. On March 19 and 20, it tested 8,712 and 8,722 samples, respectively

Bengal’s low testing rate – one of the poorest among the major states in testing per million population – had triggered a massive controversy in April but the state, from the first week of May, started improving the number of tests. (Photo by Samir Jana / Hindustan Times)
Published on May 23, 2020 10:18 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By

Ravaged areas dread more damage with turn of tide

HT Image
Published on May 22, 2020 11:23 PM IST
ByJoydeep Thakur and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

For Bengal’s migrant workers back from other states, Cyclone Amphan is a nightmare

At Karanjali area in South 24-Parganas, dozens of migrant workers returned from Maharashtra on Friday morning, only to know that their home and their ponds had been devastated.

More than 5,000 migrant workers had returned to the Kakdwip and Canning sub-divisions of South 24-Parganas district just before Cyclone Amphan hit Bengal. (Image used for representation).(PTI PHOTO.)
Updated on May 23, 2020 01:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | BySnigdhendu Bhattacharya and Joydeep Thakur | Edited by Sohini Sarkar

Cyclone Amphan: Ravaged Bengal districts await further damage

After the cyclone, the coastal villages in the two Bengal districts are bracing for the impact of spring tide as river embankments lay breached.

The river waters gushed into villages through breached embankments destroying farms, houses and fishing ponds.(PTI Photo/Representative use)
Updated on May 22, 2020 10:40 PM IST
Hindustan Times, North and South 24-Parganas | ByJoydeep Thakur and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya | Edited by Abhinav Sahay
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