Even as active COVID-19 cases rose to 2173 in West Bengal on Tuesday, with 110 cases and 8 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that life in West Bengal will be returning to normal.
Red zones will be divided into three parts:
Red Zone A: Will have no relaxation
Red Zone B: Will have some relaxation
Red Zone C: Will have some relaxation outside containment zones.
In Kolkata, 13 bus services are being permitted, and only 20 passengers will be allowed. Jewellery, electrical goods, paint stores and some small eateries with take away service will also be allowed.
A total of nine trains have been scheduled to arrive in West Bengal. 100 more trains in a phase wise manner will be brought to the state.
“Many buses are coming to West Bengal. More than 90 thousand people have come through bus and more than a lakh have come to the state. There are some issues reported, as authorities from the departing state are not informing us. We have no information,” said Mamata Banerjee.
Government backed handloom and curio shops like Tant hut, Biswa Bangla hut and tanti workers will reopen their outlets. They have been given orders for the next three years, to have clothes for the purpose of disaster management.
Developmental work that was stopped in villages, such as road construction, PWD, irrigation and horticulture will also resume.
Sweet shops and home delivery of food and essential items were permitted from the initial part of the lockdown. In recent weeks, delivery of non-essential items were also permitted, apart from containment zones.
With reports of clashes among two groups and also with police intervention necessitated in several places amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Mamata has lashed out at the BJP for indulging in politics during this time.
“I am saying don’t take law in your hands. I have said yesterday this is not the time for politics. They will think that they will spread riots do not do that. Bengal has a limit of patience, do not test it. How can they put it on social media? I am seeing everything,” warned Mamata.
She alleged that the opposition BJP was intensifying sensitive issues to gain mileage by hitting out at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led government ahead of the 2021 Assembly Elections in West Bengal.
