Lockdown today; state govt cancels complete shutdown on Sat to help NEET examinees

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced the withdrawal of the statewide complete lockdown on September 12 giving priority to the interest of students appearing for NEET.

The state government had earlier announced the statewide complete lockdown on both the days — September 11 and 12 respectively. With the all-India level examination scheduled to be held on September 13, the government received several requests from students to lift the lockdown on September 12 so that they do not face any trouble in reaching their examination centres. Giving priority to their appeal, Banerjee on Thursday announced to lift the lockdown on September 12. However, the complete lockdown on September 11, that is Friday, will be imposed as announced earlier.

In a tweet, Banerjee stated: "Government of West Bengal had initially announced a statewide lockdown on September 11 and 12. Considering the NEET 2020 examination scheduled on 13th, we have received numerous requests from the student community on lifting lockdown norms on 12th, helping ease their travel to examination centres."

Wishing all the "very best" to the examinees, she further maintained: "Keeping their interest in mind, while keeping the statewide lockdown as it is on September 11, it has been decided to cancel the lockdown on 12th, so that the students can attend the examination on 13th without any apprehensions or concerns."

As many as 77,061 candidates will be appearing in NEET from Bengal. There are a total of 189 examination centres in the state.

The state comprises nine zones including Kolkata. Kolkata Zone comprises North, Central and South Kolkata along with parts of South 24-Parganas. Out of 77,061 candidates, around 30,000 examinees will be appearing for NEET at 66 examination centres situated in Kolkata Zone. The remaining 123 centres are situated in the remaining eight zones in the state where around 30,000 students will appear for the examination.

With maximum students appearing for NEET in the Kolkata Zone, Bengal Chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) made arrangements for accommodation at its guest house.

The students have expressed their gratitude to the Chief Minister for her decision to lift the statewide lockdown on September 12 as many of them need to travel long distances to reach their examination centres. At the same time, it will be helpful for those who cannot even afford to hire vehicles to reach their examination centres as they can avail public transport with the withdrawal of the lockdown. Kolkata Metro will run special services for NEET examinees on September 13.

Dr Shantanu Sen, state secretary of IMA, tweeted: "Mamata Banerjee ji fought first for the interest of nearly 40 lacs students of the country. But as Narendra Modi ji and BJP government is hardly bothered about the health of the people, they didn't take any step to postpone NEET. The Chief Minister of West Bengal is always concerned, so she withdrew lockdown."

Incidentally, at least 26 per cent candidates who had registered for JEE-Mains could not appear for the exam last week amid strict Covid precautions. According to statistics available with the Ministry of Education, out of 8.58 lakh applicants, 6.35 lakh appeared for the engineering test from September 1 to 6.

The 11th statewide complete lockdown will be imposed on Friday with the police taking all necessary measures to ensure that no one violates the protocols.