Police are expected to be on the streets Thursday to enforce the lockdown
Calcutta:
Bengal’s first bi-weekly 24-hour lockdown begins on Thursday, a day after the state recorded the highest number of new cases at 2,291 and the highest number of deaths at 39 in the space of 24 hours. From all indications, the lockdown will be implemented more rigorously than in the recent past. Everything will be closed except essential services. Banks, which have already been told to remain closed on weekends, will also be closed on Thursday.
That’s not all. Several municipalities in the state – from Siliguri and Cooch Behar in the north to Bongaon and Barrackpore in South Bengal – have announced their own lockdowns, most until July 31. In Baranagar, just north of Kolkata, where a 9 p.m. lockdown from 11 a.m. to 6 a.m. began on Wednesday, the closure will continue until further notice. Offenders will be liable to prosecution.
Since Wednesday morning, the police had been in public places to announce the lockdown. Police are expected to be on the streets on Thursday to enforce it. Saturday will see the next lockdown, July 29, the third. The August lockdown dates will be announced later.
The twice-weekly lockdown decision may be based on a study by scientists at IISc Bangalore that indicates that a lockdown of one or two days a week with full compliance with adequate social distancing from others days is effective in reducing the spread.
Five days ago, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said lockdowns were unlikely in the future, certainly not complete. Interior Minister Alapan Bandopadhyay announced the lockdowns twice a week on Monday. But municipality-specific lockdowns indicate the government is banking on the closures to stop the growing number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths.
In North 24 Parganas, which has the highest number of Covid cases and deaths after Kolkata, lockdowns were announced in the town of Barasat from July 25 to 31.
The chairman of the municipal board of directors Sunil Mukherjee has confirmed that he himself recovered from COVID-19 before resuming his duties. He had urged residents not to cause panic but to follow lockdown standards. Even members of the left-wing opposition and the BJP have accepted the lockdown.
Baranagar, also at North 24 Parganas, is already locked down indefinitely. Barrackpore, Naihati, Gobordanga, Bongaon and Madhyamgram are also closed 24 hours a day from Thursday to July 31. An ongoing lockdown in the municipal areas of Ashoknagar and Habra ends Sunday and will likely be extended until the 31st.
35 neighborhoods in the city of Burdwan, seat of the Burdwan East district, are closed for one week from today. Asansol in West Burdwan is on a 7pm lockdown until further notice from 1pm to 8am.
In North Bengal, an ongoing lockdown that ends Wednesday is extended for another seven days in Siliguri in Darjeeling district and in the town of Jalpaiguri. In Cooch Behar District, Cooch Behar Town and Dinhata are entering a 7-day, 9-hour lockdown from 10 a.m. to 7 a.m.
