The East Godavari District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) led by Rajamahendravaram Member of Parliament D. Purandeswari on Tuesday decided to ask the Centre to probe into the poor quality of pipelines laid across the district under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JLM). 

The DISHA committee on Tuesday met for the first time in the current financial year and reviewed the implementation of the Centrally-sponsored prorgrammes and discussed key issues associated with the Central government. The committee comprises MP, MLAs and District Collector. 

Speaking to the media after the committee meeting, Ms. Purandeswari said: “MLAs of the respective assembly constituencies have complained about irregularities in the pipelines laid across the district under the Jal Jeevan Mission. We have decided to ask the Centre to probe into the matter.”

Market for organic products

Ms. Purandeswari also stated that the committee has decided to appeal to the Centre to connect any one of the markets in the district to eNAM (National Agriculture Market), exclusively dedicated for marketing of organic products in the East Godavari district.

The committee has further proposed to appeal the centre for the increase in the man-days of work under the NREGA. The respective officials have been given a target to increase the number of Farmers’ Producers Organisations (FPO). Currently, there are 10 FPOs in the East Godavari district. 

The issues discussed in the meeting would be sent to the respective Ministries at the Centre. MLC Somu Veerraju, Rajanagaram MLA Battula Balarama Krishna and other MLAs were present.

The court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate at Alipore on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) remanded the four accused in the South Calcutta Law College rape case to 14 days of judicial custody till July 22. 

The four accused include ex-student and non-teaching staff Monojit Mishra (31), current students Pramit Mukhopadhyay (20) and Zaib Ahmed (19), and the security guard allegedly on duty during the crime, Pinaki Banerjee (55). 

They were charged with gang rape, wrongful confinement, kidnapping, causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapon etc. 

The survivor, in her police complaint dated June 26, had accused Mr Mishra of sexually and physically assaulting her in the guard’s room and the washroom within the college premises on June 25 evening, while Mr Ahmed and Mr Mukhopadhyay allegedly guarded the crime scene and filmed the act. 

She had also accused the security guard of vacating his room on the accused’s instructions and not helping the survivor despite being present. 

During the court proceedings on Tuesday (July 8, 2025), the lawyer representing Mr Mishra alleged that the accused was being pressured by the police to sign blank papers and questioned why the investigating officer did not obtain the survivor’s call data records. 

On the other hand, the public prosecutor said in open court that none of the culprits behind “the heinous crime” will be spared. He added that while medico-legal tests are complete, some of the forensic reports pertaining to biological samples are yet to be received. 

The lawyer representing Mr. Banerjee, the accused security personnel, questioned the role of and the action taken against the higher authorities of the college. 

Last week, the four accused had been taken back to the premises of the South Calcutta Law College to reconstruct the crime.  

Amid speculation over rift in the party, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday met newly appointed West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattachrya at the party office in Salt Lake and vowed unity ahead of 2026 Assembly polls.

Speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Ghosh said he will follow the party’s instruction like any other worker. “He [Samik Bhattacharya] is a senior leader. I have a lot of respect for him. All the old BJP workers are with him,” the former State BJP president said.

The meeting assumes significance as Mr. Ghosh was absent at several party events, including the public meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. It triggered speculations that Mr. Ghosh, the most “successful” BJP president in the State under whose leadership the BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, might join the TMC.

On Tuesday, Mr. Ghosh said he had given a slogan ‘Unishe Half, Ekushey Saaf (Half in 2019 and clean in 2021)’. “Though we could win almost half of the seats in 2019, we could not defeat TMC in 2021. We hope under the leadership of Mr. Bhattacharya, we will defeat TMC in 2026,” he said.

No misunderstanding

Mr. Bhattacharya who had described Mr. Ghosh as the “heart and soul” of the BJP, specified that not a single BJP worker should be left out in the fight against the Trinamool Congress in 2026. “There are no leaders in our party. We all are followers of the symbol of the BJP. There can be misunderstanding for the time being but there they are not out of the party,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.