West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Wednesday that the Centre should consider the deployment of paramilitary forces in the state to enforce the ongoing nationwide lockdown to combat Covid-19. Dhankhar also said that police and administrative officials who have ignored protocol should be relieved of their duties.
“Lockdown protocol has to be thoroughly implemented to ward off #coronavirus,” the governor tweeted. “Police and administration @MamataOfficial failing to effect 100% #SocialDistancing or curbing religious congregations be shown door. Lockdown must succeed-examine central para forces requisitioning!”
The West Bengal Police, as well as the Kolkata Police, have been taking measures to enforce social distancing as people venture out of their homes to buy essential supplies, the Hindustan Times reported. Drones are being used across the state to trace crowds and identify violators.
“Over the past few days, as many as 1,174 markets have been relocated to spacious areas nearby so that social distancing is maintained in markets, while the area of 963 markets has been expanded,” an unidentified officer of the West Bengal Police told the newspaper. “There still are 256 markets that remain crowded. The administration is looking for suitable alternative places nearby.”
The ruling Trinamool Congress criticised Dhankhar, but added that it would prefer to ignore him. Trinamool Congress Spokesperson Snehasish Chakraborty claimed that while the Mamata Banerjee-led government was preoccupied with managing the coronavirus situation in the state, the governor was behaving like a Bharatiya Janata Party worker. “The governor has no other work but to try and disturb the state government,” he alleged.
Dhankhar has been at loggerheads with the Banerjee-led government on several matters ever since he took over as governor last July.
Banerjee said on April 8 that Covid-19 does not discriminate on the basis of caste or religion. The chief minister made the comments while refusing to divulge information on those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi last month, which has triggered a spike in the number of cases in the country.
“Don’t ask communal questions,” Banerjee told a reporter that day. “Bengal is not a place for communal activities. This is no time for communal politics, disease doesn’t discriminate on basis of caste or religion.”
BJP’s Information Technology cell chief Amit Malviya alleged that Banerjee was pandering to her vote bank. On April 7, he had claimed that the state administration had not divulged the complete figures related to the pandemic. He also alleged that hospitals in West Bengal had been pressured to under-report coronavirus figures.
West Bengal had till Wednesday morning reported 213 coronavirus cases, including seven deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
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