State not in loop, says Mamata
Within 24 hours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a 21-day curfew-like total lockdown across India to tackle Covid-19 pandemic, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the Centre of not informing her government before imposing it.
Warning the Centre of her government’s powers to grant relaxations during the lockdown, she allowed the farmers, vegetable vendors, labourers and home delivery boys in the state on Wednesday afternoon to work with “passes” for their free movements.
The Trinamul Congress supremo also demanded that the Centre give a special package, worth `1,500 crore to West Bengal and similar ones to other states to meet the crisis. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar slammed her attack on the Centre.
At the state secretariat: Nabanna, she said, “The lockdown was enforced according to the National Disaster Act which never happened earlier. The state government was not informed while imposing this Act. So we also could not give our opinions about the state of affairs. We have to abide by it since the Central government has done it. While doing so, the state also has some authority on relaxations and exceptions. It depends on the situation in which cases we will impose relaxations or not.”
Banerjee added, “We will again give some relaxations if we find nothing available to households. In that case relaxations can be granted. It will be decided on March 31 when we will review the situation. Daily monitoring and review are underway. We may grant more relaxations on March 31 if there will be any improvement in the situation. We are not divulging everything right now because it depends on how the disease is spreading daily.”
Her stand, however, in sharp contrast to initiatives by two icons from the city who came forward to help her government for the quarantine of the Covid-19 patients. While BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has offered the famous cricket stadium: Eden Gardens, industrialist Harsh Neotia offered a palatial resort: Ffort Raichak, run by his group, at Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas for the purpose.
Lambasting Banerjee, the Governor in the evening stated that the preparations have been in place after the PM’s call on March 24 for a total lockdown.
He said, “Concerns of all have been taken care of. I appeal all concerned to disable their political antennas for this crisis period and take respite from political mileage. We all need to be in one mission mode and avoid either side or any side any blame game.”