West Bengal saw a record spike in the number of Covid-19 cases for third day in a row on Sunday with 449 people testing positive. Thirteen people died of the novel coronavirus in the state.
This comes even as most government and private offices, shopping malls and restaurants in the state will reopen from Monday and so will government offices with 70% of the workforce.
The state government, meanwhile, announced that migrant workers arriving in the state who don’t have ration cards will get coupons for ration for two months.
Highest single-day spike, 3 days in a row
With 449 new Covid-19 cases, the number of active cases in the state rose to 4,488.
The total number of cases reported from the state rose to 8,187.
According to the state government bulletin, 13 more people died on Sunday from the disease. While the state government projected the death toll at 324, the union health ministry put the death toll at 396.
This is because of a dispute over the deaths of 72 coronavirus positive patients last month which the state government had categorised as deaths due to co-morbid conditions.
Shopping malls, restaurants to re-open from today
Keeping in line with “Unlock-1” across the country, shops, shopping malls, restaurants, private and government offices across the city will open on Monday.
Anandabazar Patrika reported that while government offices will reopen with 70% staff, they will have to maintain social distancing rules.
The government has mandated that in all its offices, employees will have to wear masks. Entrances of offices will have hand sanitisers. The offices will be regularly sanitised too.
The report said that the government is arranging for health check-ups if any employees suddenly feels unwell.
Malls and restaurants too trying to take as much precautions as they can.
A general manager of a Kolkata shopping malls told The Indian Express, “We are ensuring that all precautions are taken to minimise contacts. Hand sanitisers will be offered to visitors, while they will also undergo thermal screening. Masks are mandatory. Each shop owner has also been asked to take all certain precautions.”
Rations coupons for migrant workers
Many migrant workers arriving from other states to West Bengal will be provided ration coupons to get ration for two months.
The Telegraph reported that on June 3, chief minister Mamata Banerjee directed officials to distribute rations to all migrant workers, and issue coupons to those who did not have ration cards.
The government said this was to provide relief to workers who had lost their jobs because of the pandemic and the lockdown.
Clear our dues, Bengal tells Centre
The Trinamool Congress on Sunday appealed to the Narendra Modi government to clear its dues to West Bengal, claiming it owed Rs 53,000 crore to the state under different heads.
PTI reported TMC as saying that the money saved by suspending the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund for two years be given directly to migrant workers in their bank accounts.
TMC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, Derek O’Brien said the Centre’s past dues to the state was a whopping Rs 53,000 cr: Rs 36,000 crore on account of centrally-supported schemes, Rs 11,000 crore as devolution of funds, Rs 3,000 crore on unpaid subsidies for food, and Rs 3,000 crore from April-May GST dues.
“The total damage due to (cyclone) Amphan is estimated to be Rs 1,02,000 crore. The Centre gave Rs 1,000 crore only. What about the balance one lakh one thousand crore?” O’Brien was quoted by PTI as saying.
“The state has spent Rs 1,200 crore on fighting the coronavirus epidemic. The Centre has given Rs 144 crore under the National Health Mission and Rs 250 crore under the SDRF. What about the remaining Rs 806 crore?,” he asked.
Alleging that the economic package announced recently by the Centre was “empty” and the reforms “hollow”, he said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s assertion that the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limit has been raised from 3 per cent to 5 per cent was “incorrect”.
“It is incorrect. FRBM unconditional raised from 3% to 3.5%, an increase of just 0.5%. For the other 1.5% certain conditions have to be met. In the present circumstances, it looks near-impossible for any state to fulfil these conditions,” he said.
He also said that no assistance has been provided to the unorganised sector in the package announced by the Centre.
He urged the government to transfer the money saved through the discontinuation of the MPLADS funds to the bank accounts of migrant workers.
(With inputs from PTI)