Lockdown Dates Changed in Bengal for the Fifth Time, Oppn Say Move to Facilitate TMCP Foundation Day

The West Bengal government on Wednesday pared down the number of state-wide complete lockdown by one day, making it the fifth change to the shutdown schedule this month.

The lockdown on August 28 (Friday) has been done away with keeping in mind the interest of banking and business operations, a state government order said.

The decision drew the ire of the opposition parties, which alleged that it was taken to facilitate a function marking the foundation day programme of Trinamool Chatra Parishad, the student wing of the ruling TMC.

TMC denied the charge as "completely baseless".

According to the state government order signed by chief secretary Rajiva Sinha, the decision to withdraw the

complete lockdown on August 28 was taken after several communications were received citing difficulties to conduct business and banking operations because of two days' lockdown on Thursday (August 27) and Friday (August 28) in the last week of the month followed by another the following Monday (August 31).

Complete lockdowns were slated to be held on the three dates as per the earlier decision of the government.

"The state government has considered the requests for the relaxation of the lockdown as would be necessary and essential. Therefore, in partial modification, the lockdown on Friday (August 28) as noted earlier is hereby withdrawn," it stated.

State-wide complete lockdowns will now be observed on four days for the rest of this month instead of five days as announced earlier.

The dates of the complete lockdown will now be August 20, 21, 27 and 31, it said.

Earlier this month complete lockdowns were observed on August 5 and 8.

The change in the total lockdown evoked sharp reactions from the opposition parties. They criticised the TMC regime alleging that it was completely clueless as it had failed to manage the COVID-19 crisis.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, "The state government has not only failed, but is also clueless about the way forward."

"The state government could change the dates but it didn't yield to our request to do so on August 5 the day of bhoomi pujan for the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. It changed the lockdown dates to facilitate TMCP foundation day," he charged.

CPI(M) legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government has turned the lockdown into a "farce".

"Is celebration of TMC Chatra Parishads's foundation day more important than the lives of the common people?" he asked.

The TMC in its turn dubbed the allegation that the day was changed for TMCP's foundation day as "completely baseless".

"We observed the July 21 Martyrs' Day this year virtually due to the pandemic. The decision to change the complete lockdown dates was taken due to difficulty in conducting business and banking operations," TMC leader and spokesperson Sougato Roy said.

West Bengal has till Tuesday reported 1,01,390 coronavirus cases and the toll has touched in 2149.