Bengal on Thursday entered into its second phase of lockdown only with a stricter application while large posses police personnel descended on the streets with a sense of purpose far more intense than what was seen in the first phase.
The lockdown started in all the containment zones from Thursday evening in large parts of the State, Home Department sources said.
While North 24 Parganas has largest number of containment zones at 94 there are 25 such zones in Kolkata. South 24 Parganas has 54 and Howrah has 56 containment zones, officials said.
While East and West Midnapopre have 21 and 23 such zones respectively Coochbehar, Jhargram and West Burdwan districts have none. However there are 25 and 21 such zones in Nadia and East Burdwan whereas Purulia, Bankura and Birbhum have 13, 9 and 9 extended containment zones each.
In North Bengal, Alipurduar and Kalimpong have 4 and 3 containment zones respectively while three police stations comprising almost the entire Malda city have been put under lockdown. Dalkhola in North Dinajpur which stands at the junction of Bihar and Bengal have been put under full lockdown. Murshidabad too has 4 such containmnent zones.
The decision to impose a seven-day second phase lockdown was taken by Chief Minister following a sharp spike in the number of cases whence she went on record on Thursday saying the “the poorer people living in slums are following the rules more seriously than the rich and the middle class which is evident from the data base” showing only 13 out of 255 cases coming from the slums.
The police on Thursday evening were seen imposing the lockdown with far more intensity and purpose not only putting up barricades in designated areas but also pulling up and sending commuters back home for not wearing masks. In parts of Malda the cops were seen resorting to mild lathi-charges to discipline the citizens.
All the shops, government offices and other institutions save essential services were closed in the containment zones police said.
During the lockdown local authorities will try and arrange home delivery of essential commodities for the residents of these areas, a senior official said.
Informing that containment zones and buffer zones have been amalgamated into forming extended containment zones an order issued by Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Alapan Bandyopadhyay earlier had said, “these broader containment zones may be subjected to strict lockdown and all offices, government and private, all non-essential activities, congregations, transportations and all marketing, industrial and trading activities be closed.”
Any extension of the lockdown beyond seven days will depend upon the progress made in the given areas, the Chief Minister had earlier said.
The Calcutta High Court too was shut down till Monday following an order from the Chief Justice. Three buildings of the Court will be sanitized during these four days, sources said.
Meanwhile a second TMC MLA have been diagnosed with corona. The MLA from Kumarganj in North Dinajpur district had been sent on home quarantine, sources said. Earlier a senior TMC Legislator and a close confidante of the Chief Minister, Tamanash Ghosh had died of corona last month.