West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee received yet ano-ther feather in her cap: She has found place in the list of 50 most influential people in the world of finance. The list which was published by the Bloomb-erg Markets magazine does not include name of any other Indian leader. Ms Banerjee has been placed in 21st position. In April, she was ranked am-ong the 100 most influential personalities of the world by the Time magazine.
In the Bloomberg Markets magazine list, she has been placed in the group of policy makers. “Her Trinamul Congress party, part of the ruling coalition, has stalled PM Dr Manmohan Singh’s economic reform agenda by opposing foreign retailers,” says the magazine. This was clearly a reference to the decision of UPA-2 to postpone the implementation of its decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail after Ms Banerjee opposed it. Among her achieveme-nts, the magazine lists her landslide to the “end of 34 years of communist rule.” The international magazine said the selection was made on the ability of the leader to move markets or shape ideas and his or her power to influence the price of a security or the structure of a deal. Hailing it as a great honour, Trinamul Congress MP Derek O’ Brien said: “This is an acknowledgement of Didi’s success in bringing the issues of common man on the global state.”
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Flash floods sweep away bus, 2 killed
ANIL GIRI
Asansol, Sept. 6
In a freak accident, a packed passenger bus was swept away by powerful flash floods of a swollen river in Bankura district, leaving two people dead and many missing. The mishap occurred at around 1.30 pm when a bus, going from Jhargram in West Midnapore district to Durgapur in Burdwan district, while crossing a culvert near Phulukushmar village in Barikul police station area got caught in a flash flood.
The driver apparently lost control and the bus first turned turtle and was then swept away for nearly 300 metre downstream. He was later arrested by the administration.
According to the superintendent of police (SP), Bankura, Mukesh Kumar, the incident took place on the Bankura-Barikul State Highway 9 over the Bhairavbanki River whose water level rose due to heavy rains along with the release of water from the Kanshabati river.
“The bus driver took risk of crossing the culvert despite other vehicles standing at both the ends after seeing the water level rise. The engine of the bus stopped in the middle of the culvert and soon was swept away 300 metre downstream by the flash flood,” Mr Kumar added.