Mamata, TMC ministers flouted shutdown norms, encouraged others: Bengal BJP

Pinning blame on the ruling dispensation for the rise in COVID-19 cases in West Bengal, the state BJP on Thursday alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee along with other TMC ministers has flouted the lockdown norms, thereby encouraging others to follow suit.

Pinning blame on the ruling dispensation for the rise in COVID-19 cases in West Bengal, the state BJP on Thursday alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee along with other TMC ministers has flouted the lockdown norms, thereby encouraging others to follow suit. State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said Banerjee and her ministers had been violating the rules over the past three months, which, in a way, contributed to the spike in cases.

"Where exactly was the lockdown implemented in Bengal in the past three months? Did the chief minister and her ministers honour the lockdown norms?" Ghosh told reporters. Although the government had earmarked containment zones, the chief minister disregarded the restrictions, and people, too, took the liberty and violated the norms, he claimed.

"Now, the daily infection rate has surpassed the 1,000-mark; soon it shall cross the 2,000-mark and the 3,000-mark," the state BJP president said. Ghosh also said he has his asked his party workers to stop all programmes in view of the pandemic.

The West Bengal government on Thursday imposed a fresh spell of lockdown for seven days in all containment zones to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Banerjee had on Wednesday said the lockdown will be in place for a week, following which the situation will be reviewed.

She had also directed the police to firmly deal with those violating the norms. Iterating that compensation in the aftermath of cyclone 'Amphan' was not evenly disbursed, the BJP MP said he has written to the chief minisyer for the third time on Thursday, raising several issues of concern, including migrant crisis and irregular relief distribution to those hit by the calamity.

Many who were actually affected due to the cyclone did not receive any compensation, he said, adding that a probe should be initiated in the matter. Slamming the TMC government over its preparations to deal with the COVID-19 situation, Ghosh said that the ruling dispensations claim that it had surplus beds available for the coronavirus patients is nothing but a sham.

He also rubbished the state's assertion that the Centre did provide any aid to provide succour to the Amphan-affected, saying that a sum of around Rs 2,500 crore was given to West Bengal for rescue and rehabilitation work. Asked about the sharp rise in diesel and petrol rates, he said the price revision formula was drawn up by the Congress government in the past, and it goes up or comes down depending on international trends.

Defending the Centre's decision to privatise the railways, he also said the move will protect the interests of the employees..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)