Kumartuli or Kumortuli is located in the northern part of the city of Kolkata . The locality is a traditional habitat of the potters for nearly three hundred years. The potters or the artisans or the artists settled here during the restructuring of the Kolkata colonial region by the British East India Company . Earning a livelihood by making earthen pots and utensils first they gradually shifted to the making of the idols of Gods and Goddesses for various festivals round the year. With increasing demand and quality of their creations over time the artisans became famous and Kumartuli came to be known as the hub of idol makers supplying thousands of idols, particularly of Goddess Durga , to whole of the state of West Bengal and to NRIs of around 90 countries across the globe. At least three months before Durga Puja , the biggest festival of West Bengal and one of the biggest across Eastern India, more than five hundred workshops come alive with hyper activity day and night. Fir...
The recent Khetri-Sonapur Traveler bus accident on National Highway-27 that killed 7 people has put the menace of road accidents in Assam as well as in India in sharp focus. Bad roads came to the fore as the main reason. And indeed, it was the immediate reason. In fact, a series of accidents had taken place in the stretch between Guwahati and Nagaon in recent months involving high fatalities, and the highway remained full of potholes , craters and unrepaired still. This agitated the local people who decided to hold protests on the highway day and night that led to temporary closure of the Toll Tax gates which seem to be numerous despite the statutory regulations about their spacing. The State Government announced compensation and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was asked to undertake repairs within a week. The menace of road accidents in Assam has been rising steadily since the last three years with the figure of total road accidents crossing 9000 in 2024 and in...