I am a special correspondent with Hindustan Times, Kolkata. Currently, I am reporting on the administrative and political scenarios in West Bengal. I have spent around 21 years in reporting in areas like politics, state administration and state finance.
Articles by Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Mamata Banerjee’s ‘unsafe’ house up for security upgrade, will get 2 watch towers
The public works department floated a tender earlier this month to erect two towers overlooking the single-storey house. According to the tender document, the project will cost ₹74.02 lakh.
Updated on Oct 23, 2018 09:32 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Durga puja pandals in Kolkata celebrate Supreme Court verdict on section 377
Even a few years ago, involving a transgender person in such a solemn act would have been quite unthinkable.
Updated on Oct 15, 2018 01:03 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Mamata Banerjee to invite Kerala CM, Left leaders to anti-BJP rally in January
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “CPI(M) is still trying to conspire against me. But I feel that all Leftists are not bad. So, I have decided to invite the Kerala chief minister.”
Updated on Oct 06, 2018 09:11 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Medicines worth Rs 5 cr gutted in Kolkata hospital fire, CM orders enquiries
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee ordered two enquiries to be conducted simultaneously by the public works department (PWD) and fire services department
Updated on Oct 03, 2018 11:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Mamata govt hiding Centre’s figures on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, alleges BJP leader
BJP alleges that Union home ministry has told Mamata Banerjee goverment that there are 1.5 illegal Bangladeshis in state but it has not taken any action
Updated on Oct 01, 2018 03:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
NRC not possible in Bengal, says Union minister; praises Mamata Banerjee for lowest atrocities on Dalits
Senior BJP leaders including president Amit Shah, national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh have all spoken in favour of NRC in Bengal.
Updated on Sep 27, 2018 07:23 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
TMC digital drive to project Mamata as the nation’s anti-BJP face
The campaign would be conducted in Hindi, Urdu, English and Bengali.
Updated on Sep 21, 2018 04:33 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri, Kolkata
Exchange of seeds by farmers along Indo-Bangla border in Bengal fuels wheat blast
In July 2017, the state government on the advice of the Centre banned wheat cultivation for a year within an area of 5 km from the border in these districts to control crop damage. Earlier this week, the ban was extended for another year but a shortage of manpower to enforce it still dogs the government.
Published on Sep 09, 2018 06:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Kolkata LGBTQ activists recall India’s first gay pride walk in 1999
From the 15 participants, the walk has now grown into a highly-publicised gathering of thousands of people that is now known as the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk (KRPF).
Published on Sep 06, 2018 05:55 PM IST
Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Ten for one: How Mamata Banerjee wants Trinamool to rebut BJP ‘falsehoods’
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in her speech on the foundation day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, said “never believe what the BJP says on Facebook and Twitter, they are constantly trying to spread lies.”
Updated on Aug 28, 2018 07:17 PM IST
Kolkata, Hindustan Times | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
TMC to leverage SC verdict in rural polls in Lok Sabha campaign
The TMC won 96.2% of the 825 seats at the zilla parishad level, 87.6% seats of the panchayat samiti and 78.4% of the gram panchayat level.
Published on Aug 24, 2018 06:15 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
CBI seeks nod to quiz 4 IPS officers in Saradha case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wants to interrogate three serving and one retired IPS officer in Bengal in connection with the Rs 2,460 Saradha Group chit fund scam
Updated on Aug 22, 2018 11:31 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
40 deaths in 2 months force Bengal govt to frame guidelines for fishing trawlers
The administration will be strict about the use of life jackets for all aboard fishing trawlers and non-mechanised boats that go out in the coastal waters of Bengal.
Published on Aug 16, 2018 02:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri, Kolkata
Why Somnath Chatterjee’s body was draped in flag of India’s oldest football club and not CPM’s
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who died on Monday, was draped in the flag of Mohun Bagan, India’s oldest football club of which he was a member for about half a century.
Updated on Aug 14, 2018 09:29 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Trinamool Congress to take out statewide rallies against Assam NRC
Trinamool Congress would, however, keep Kolkata out of the agitation map in view of BJP’s national president Amit Shah’s rally in the city on the same day.
Published on Aug 10, 2018 10:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Wise after canopy collapse at Modi’s Midnapore meeting, BJP brings decorator from Jharkhand to build Amit Shah’s dais in Kolkata
In a rerun of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public rally in Midnapore on July 16, Trinamool Congress swamps rally venue in Kolkata with posters of Mamata Banerjee, party flags.
Published on Aug 10, 2018 10:30 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri, Kolkata
Bengal BJP to target small NGOs, social organisations in run-up to LS polls
Pockets with sizeable tribal and Hindi-speaking population to be the focus areas for the drive.
Published on Aug 09, 2018 11:36 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri, Kolkata
‘Try touching anyone,’ Mamata Banerjee warns BJP over citizen list demand in Bengal
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said his party was in favour of granting citizenship to Hindus from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had migrated to India due to oppression.
Updated on Aug 03, 2018 09:24 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
To protest NRC exercise, Matua community blocks roads, rail tracks in West Bengal
The Matuas are a community of five million migrants from Bangladesh who settled in the North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Cooch Behar, Birbhum and Burdwan districts.
Updated on Aug 01, 2018 02:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
TMC, Congress, Left unite in Bengal assembly to condemn NRC
Trinamool’s proposal to send an all-party resolution to the Centre, condemning the list and demanding its withdrawal, was supported by Congress and Left legislators.
Published on Jul 31, 2018 09:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri, Kolkata
West Bengal govt to pay compensation within 24 hours for death, injury
The compensation will be Rs 5 lakh in case of deaths and Rs 1 lakh for severe injuries.
Updated on Jul 30, 2018 03:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Surrender ration cards: Mamata Banerjee govt’s appeal echoes Modi’s LPG call
State food minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick said this campaign does not mean that the state government will cancel ration cards or deny them to people who can afford to purchase food items at market price.
Updated on Jul 29, 2018 02:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Federal Front constituents must sink differences to take on BJP: Omar after meeting Mamata
Constituent parties of the proposed ‘Federal Front’ must sink their differences to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said after a meeting with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
Updated on Jul 27, 2018 08:11 PM IST
HT Correspondent, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Answerable only to people, says Mamata Banerjee as Bengal Lokayukta bill keeps CM’s office out of ambit
The state assembly on Thursday passed the West Bengal Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2018, that kept the office the chief minister out of the Lokayukta’s jurisdiction.
Updated on Jul 26, 2018 09:52 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
West Bengal plans to bring back Kolkata’s iconic double-decker buses
The Left Front government phased out double-decker buses in the nineties when Jyoti Basu was the chief minister. The government said the cost of maintenance of the aging fleet was very high compared to the revenue the vehicles generated.
Updated on Jul 25, 2018 08:52 PM IST
Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Mamata to embark on nationwide tour to garner support for TMC’s anti-BJP rally
The list of leaders Mamata Banerjee would like to meet include Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati and K Chandrasekhar Rao, a member of her cabinet said.
Published on Jul 22, 2018 05:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Mamata raises pitch for anti-BJP front, says TMC will bring Opposition together at rally next year
Mamata Banerjee said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will not manage to win more than 150 seats in the 2019 polls.
Updated on Jul 21, 2018 10:09 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Bengal Congress warns Sibal, Singhvi, against representing TMC leaders
Congress leaders in West Bengal have objected to party colleagues and senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal’s move to defend Trinamool Congress leaders in the multi-crore Saradha ponzi scam and the Narada sting operation
Updated on Jul 18, 2018 11:31 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya and Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Atrocities of “govt of syndicates” to end in a few months: Modi targets TMC in Bengal
Modi’s address during a farmer’ rally became a virtual war cry for the Lok Sabha elections in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aiming to win at least 22 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.
Updated on Jul 16, 2018 11:16 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Midnapore | Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri and Koushik Dutta
War of posters erupts in West Bengal’s Midnapore ahead of PM Modi’s rally
While the Trinamool Congress had a head start in covering Midnapore with the party’s posters and festoons, BJP workers have strung festoons with pictures of Prime Minister, BJP president Amit Shah and the party’s Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh.
Published on Jul 15, 2018 04:16 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Midnapore/Kolkata | Koushik Dutta and Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri