Kolkata, April 27: West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra has urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley not to shift the headquarters of National Insurance Company from the city as a part of proposed merger of public sector general insurance companies.
In a communication to Jaitley, he also said any move to shift the insurance company's head office from the city will "strike a blow" to the emerging financial ecosystem in West Bengal and will "hurt the interest" of people of Bengal and eastern India at large.
"After the announcement in this year's Union Budget of the merger of the three public sector insurance companies, I am apprehensive that the headquarters of the National Insurance Company Ltd might now be shifted away from Kolkata," he said in a letter.
Mitra mentioned the insurance company with a turnover of Rs 16,472 crore and assets worth Rs 32,397 crore is the oldest general insurance company in India, located in Kolkata since its inception.
According to him, the insurance company is building its head office in the newly developed financial hub in New Town, Kolkata. About 24 banks and financial institutions have taken spaces in this hub for building their offices and State Bank of India has built its largest training centre in the hub.
"In this positive atmosphere of financial services, any move to shift the National Insurance Company Ltd headquarters from Kolkata will definitely strike a blow to this new financial ecosystem. I therefore, urge you not to move the National Insurance Company's headquarters from Kolkata," he said.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
