Diamond Harbour LS constituency: 'No political rally allowed till Feb 28'

Kolkata: As Bengal prepares to combat the surge in Covid cases where the state witnessed a spike of around 1000 per cent, Trinamool Congress Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, on Saturday, announced a slew of measures to curb the rise in cases in his Lok Sabha constituency that includes complete ban on any political rally or programme by any political party for the next two months and making double masks compulsory for both buyer and seller at market place.

Asked about holding of elections in four municipal corporations on January 22 or the Ganga Sagar Mela Banerjee said that "personally" he believes that any sort of political or religious programme should not be held in the next two months and the fight against Covid should be topmost priority.

"The matter of municipal elections is pending with the Calcutta High Court, so I cannot comment on it. The High Court has also given guidelines regarding Ganga Sagar Mela and it will be held in adherence to such guidelines," Banerjee said.

Banerjee who is also the national general-secretary of Trinamool Congress (TMC) held a review meeting in presence of all public representatives, and concerned administrative officials at the administrative building at Alipore to chalk out a plan on dealing with the sudden rise in Covid cases.

"No political party will be holding any political rally or programme under Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency till February 28. The use of double masks will be mandatory for both buyers and sellers in market places. There will be awareness through miking, IVR system and distribution of leaflets in the next seven days regarding wearing of double masks and if it is found that even after this such norms are flouted, strong action will be taken as per law," Banerjee stated.

The Diamond Harbour MP said that there should not be any big religious functions or Pujas held in the next two months and small functions within residences

could be allowed.

There will be control rooms in each ward and each Gram Panchayat area where a pool of doctors will be available for counselling immediately after receiving calls related to Covid symptoms. "Wherever there will be a higher case load, interventions will be made through 'Doctor on Wheels'. The facility will be made available in the next 4- 5 days and doctors will reach out directly to patients for assistance," Banerjee informed.

The district administration was advised to lay emphasis on self-test kit for Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT). Such kits have been acknowledged by World Health Organisation and results of such tests are 99 per cent effective. If people go for self-testing then results are available in 10-15 minutes and steps can be taken accordingly.

Trained team of SHG women and Asha workers will go door-to-door for such tests in the next 5-7 days.

Banerjee has also made it clear that home isolation will not be allowed in areas where positivity rate will be higher.

"In places like Maheshtala, Thakurpukur, the positivity rate is high so whenever there will be positive case detection the affected persons will be mandatorily sent to isolation centres. This will prevent the elderly and the children to get exposed," he added.

Banerjee reiterated that he would hold another review meeting on January 20 to check how far the decisions taken in Saturday's meeting has been implemented.

When asked whether he would instruct the other TMC leaders across the district to follow the Diamond Harbour model, Banerjee said: "I am not in a position to give any instructions in areas which are beyond my parliamentary constituency but if they think that the steps will be beneficial in keeping Covid in check, then they are free to follow suit."