With corona pandemic beginning to engulf Bengal as never before the State Government on Wednesday decided to postpone the highly prestigious Kolkata International Film Festival scheduled to commence on January 7. The Fest was to end on January 14.
“After assessing the present covid situation in the State and taking into consideration the possibility of further contamination of covid among the cine lovers and the citizens and also owing to the fact that a number of cine personalities attached to the film festival committee and many others have been affected by covid, the State Government, upon careful consideration of the safety of the citizens have decided to temporarily postpone the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival scheduled to be held from January 7-14,” a media statement said,adding the next date of the Festival would be announced later.
Fest committee chairman Raj Chakrabarty who was himself down with corona along with committee member and actor Parambrata said “we donot want the people and the cine lovers many of who are seniorcitizens to get infected at a time when pandemic situation is alarmingin Bengal and Kolkata… hence this decision was taken.”
No decision had yet been taken on other events involving massgatherings. The Government is also likely to inform the Calcutta HighCourt --- on Thursday --- where a suit is pending regarding theholding of Ganga Sagar Mela whether the Fare would be allowed to beorganized.
That the situation was grim in Bengal with Capital Kolkata witnessinga near 1,100 fold rise in corona cases in the past one week or so.“While on December 28 the number of infections was 382 it had leapt upto 4,759 on Tuesday,” a senior Health Ministry official said addingthe situation was not as intense during the peak periods of first andsecond wave.
In October 2020 when the first wave of the pandemic had peaked thetotal number of daily infected cases in Kolkata was 910 whereas on May3, 2021 when the second wave peaked the number of infected patientswas 3990. “And we have not even peaked now … the peak is expected inthe third or fourth week of January … just imagine what the number ofinfections would be then,” the official said amid reports that atleast 200 police personnel including senior IPS officers and more than500 medical staff including doctors nurses were down with the disease.
According to sources the eastern zonal director of National Instituteof Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) had contacted the disease. Anumber of CBI officials too had been infected, sources said.
Meanwhile, considering the abnormal spurt in infections the StateElection Commission has written to the DMs and SPs of four districtswhere civic elections were scheduled to be held on January 22 tostrictly ensure the corona protocol.
“Already the attendance in mass gatherings has been reduced to 200from earlier 500,” SEC sources said adding “the Commission is keepinga strict vigil on the situation.”
Elsewhere troubled by reduction in the number of local trains thedaily commuters had resorted to train blockade at Bongaon in North 24Parganas. The blockade which started at 2 AM on Wednesday wascontinuing for the past 18 hours, sources said.