Live Updates: West Bengal will have more districts from existing 23, says CM Mamata Banerjee

Cops rescued a youth, Nazibul Mondal from North 24 Parganas, from Basanti Highway while he was being forcibly taken to Digha by accused, Md Zahidul Islam and Monirul Mondal, in an app cab. The cops had intervened as the two were fighting with the driver over fare.

The Mayor and Commissioner are looking into this matter. Several houses in Bowbazar have been evacuated after cracks develop in buildings amid metro-rail construction.

The toll at Balibhasa plaza has been revised, which will be effective from May 12. The toll of 26 plazas — except the one at Balibhasa on National Highway 6 — were increased by 15% on April 1.Now, car and light motor vehicles will have to shell out Rs 80 for single trip and Rs 125 for a round trip.

For light commercial vehicles, single trip would cost Rs 135 and round trip Rs 200. For buses and trucks (double axles), the toll will be Rs 280 for single and Rs 415 for a round trip.

The city has fared better over the last few days compared to previous years when it comes flushing out of rain water, but Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is preparing itself for any eventuality during the ensuing monsoon. It is working on a plan to revamp the city's sewerage and drainage system, kicking off with parts of south Kolkata that are prone to waterlogging.

While it will take several months for the completion of the project, the KMC sewerage and drainage wing has taken up multiple pre-monsoon measures to minimise flooding. In the first phase of the revamp plan, underground trunk sewers will be desilted in New Alipore, Chetla, Tollygunge Circular Road, Anwar Shah Road, Lake Gardens, Jodhpur Park and Golf Green. READ MORE

Two years of pandemic-induced staying at home, conversing only in the vernacular, has noticeably affected several students' proficiency in English, both spoken and written, several teachers have reported, with many of them exploring remedial measures to bring students up to speed. Teachers from multiple schools in the city said they had noticed an inclination among students to converse in the vernacular and fumbling in spoken English on returning to offline classes. READ MORE

The city received intermittent spells of rain on Wednesday under the impact of clouds that broke away from cyclone Asani. The showers could continue on Thursday as more clouds from the system, which disintegrated into a depression off the coast of Visakhapatnam on Wednesday night, float into south Bengal. But the rain could lessen from Friday as the system is likely to die out before it hits land. Kolkata received 9.2mm rain on Wednesday.

A Bangladeshi container vessel which capsized in Kolkata port on March 24 has caused a loss of over Rs 18 crore to the facility as the ship is yet to be salvaged, officials said on Wednesday. The loss is likely to mount further as the berth where the accident had occurred has been lying non-operational since then and the owner has abandoned the vessel after it capsized, compounding the problem.

The vessel MV MarineTrust-01 which was loaded with 165 containers partly capsized at berth no. 5 of Netaji Subhas Dock of the Kolkata port, now renamed Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (SMP). As the cargo ship tilted to one side, some of the containers went into the water.

At least five houses in central Kolkata's Bowbazar were evacuated late on Wednesday after major cracks appeared on the structures, likely to have been caused by metro railway construction in the area, police said. A large team of Kolkata Police's disaster management team accompanied by senior police officers and metro rail officials visited the spot at Durga Pithuri Lane, they said.

West Bengal reported 25 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, officials said. The positivity rate dipped to 0.27 per cent from 0.68 per cent on Tuesday. The new cases were detected after testing 9,303 samples, they said.

There are 395 active cases in the state at present, which was 22 less than Tuesday's count as more people recovered in the last 24 hours. The state reported 47 new recoveries.

West Bengal has so far reported 20,18,671 Covid-19 cases. The death toll remained at 21,203 with no new fatalities.