Amid a desperate attempt by the powers that be to inject a ‘feel-better’ impression to upset the corona gloom in the society — by effecting a controlled relaxation of the lockdown — there has been a steep elevation in Bengal’s number of corona cases over the past few days, Health Department reports suggest.
While Kolkata and Howrah were the more affected places till recently the “graphic worm” has started climbing up in the districts too.
Coochbehar in North Bengal which had reported no cases till the last week has suddenly found at least 59 infected patients most of whom are migrant workers travelling in from Rajasthan and Delhi, sources said.
Coochbehar District Magistrate P Kandian said the “patients were asymptomatic and perhaps were on the path of self-recovery. Still we have sent them to the Chang Hospital in Siliguri.”
Darjeeling district too has shown a rise in the number of cases reporting 4 infections till Saturday night, sources said. Down south Brigham which had a better performance till the middle half of lockdown 4.0 has suddenly seen a spurt in the number of cases mostly among the migrant workers. The district has seen 44 new cases which are in addition to the 54 cases which were found earlier, sources said.
The neighbouring district of Banker had 26 new cases till Saturday evening while East Birdman has seen 74 cases, sources said. Forty out of the 74 cases have been witnessed in the past 3-4 days, sources said adding the number of cases was rising in the adjoining district of Murshidabad too where 45 out of 55 migrant workers were tested positive.
The report of the sudden spurt in the number of cases comes in the backdrop of at least two people’s representatives getting the infection. While an MLA from South Kolkata has been attacked by the corona virus and is in a critical condition, Bengal Minister Sujit Bose two has contracted the disease along with his wife. Both have been in home isolation.
With the number of cases in Bengal crossing the 9,500 mark the 624-year-old Maahesh Rath Yatra committee in Seerampore sub-division of Hooghly district has decided to cancel the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath this time round.
“Seerampore and neighbouring areas have witnessed quite a few number of cases and we do not want to take any chances,” said an official of India’s second oldest and biggest Rath Yatra (after Puri). “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already appealed to the people not to organize mass festivals involving large congregation of people. We will follow that decision,” said the official.
Rath Yatra involves the grand procession of the Lord visiting his aunt’s place in company with his sister Subhadra and brother Balram. “Instead of Lord Jagannath this time there will be a symbolic Yatra of a Narayan Shila (a sacred stone symbolising Lord Naryan or Vishnu),” he maintained.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties including the BJP and the Left have come down heavily on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for suddenly opening the entire State particularly at a time when the number of cases have started peaking.
“The doctors and experts all over the world have warned that cases in India might peak in the month of June and July in which case the Government should have been cautious enough in lifting the ban on mass movement. But the Chief Minister has taken a decision which aims at earning revenue putting at stake the lives of crores of people of the State,” said State Legislature Party Leader Sujan Chakrabarty.
“The imposition of the lockdown was hasty and its lifting is even hastier,” said Congress MLA and State Opposition Leader Abdul Mannan.
CPI(M)’s Md Salim said “first of all Prime Minister Modi and Mamata Banerjee should open Parliament and Assembly House and then they should ask the people to open up.”
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh also condemned the State Government for lifting the lockdown “all too suddenly particularly at a time when the people are scared and the infection is spreading very fast in the community. The Government should have waited for sometime more before lifting the ban.”
Bengal’s public and private offices open up on June 8 while the temples start opening from June 1. This at a time when the private transport operators have refused to ply their buses without getting the fares increased. The Chief Minister has refused to heed their request of an upward revision of fares. The bus operators demanded a three-fold increase from Rs 7 to Rs 21 for the first two kms of travel.
