The COVID-19 vaccination centres have almost run dry in Kolkata over the past few days, but political activity has witnessed a spike, with major political parties taking out rallies and staging protests in the State.
The BJP on Monday evening brought out ‘torch rallies’ from the party headquarters in central Kolkata. Hundreds of its supporters got into a scuffle with the police and many were detained. The Trinamool Congress leadership also brought out rallies on the occasion of Quit India movement, in Kolkata and other parts of the State.
Three months after the Assembly polls, the rallies and counter rallies are not only raising the political temperature but also the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Chairman of the Board of Administrators of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Firhad Hakim said the Centre was sending vaccines to the State as if they were beggars. “We have got got 40 lakh doses, of which we used 27 lakhs today. There are reports that no consignment is due before August 11,” he stated.
On August 6, the KMC issued a press note saying that there would be no vaccination at 102 Covishied community vaccination centres and 50 mega vaccination centres. Another note on August 8 said Covishield vaccination centres would remain closed from August 10 till further orders because of lack of vaccination from the Union government.
Mamata’s plea to PM
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the State needed 14 crore doses of vaccines to cover all people in eligible categories, but it received only 2.68 crore vaccines.
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also wrote to the Prime Minister to increase the supply of vaccines.
While the number of new infections in the State have dropped to 557 as on August 9 and the active infection in the State is about 10,312, the danger of spike in the cases is still there. Metro services have resumed in the city and about two lakh people were ferried. With the festival season approaching, vaccinating as many people as the State can be the best protection, experts warn.
