Even as corona scare gripped Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday extended the corona leave— that many called CL —in all schools and colleges till April 15 besides announcing Rs 200 crore fund to tackle any future outbreak that the State still had fortunately managed to evade.
In sync with the Government decision the State Election Commission postponed the civic elections “perhaps till the first week of June.” The Kolkata Municipal Corporation too followed suit closing down all the KMC owned theatres and entertainment halls.
The Chief Minister who had on Sunday announced a corona-propelled holiday till March 31 on Monday extended it by another 15 days “considering the gravity of the situation and the havoc it is creating in many European countries.”
All board and university examinations save the Higher Secondary (Class XII) exams which has already started a couple of days ago have been postponed till further notice.
“We are creating a Rs 200 crore fund to tackle this crisis,” Ms Banerjee said citing how “around 3.24 lakh people have been screened in Bengal and we are keeping a close watch on 5,590 of them.”
Till now there have been no positive cases in the state, she added saying the State was acting as per World Health Organisation and Central Government guidelines. Border management — including the one with Bangladesh and other States — was being done with utmost sincerity she said.
“Bengal has border not only with Bangladesh which is taken care of by the Border forces but also other States and the North East… and even China is two hours from Bengal so we are extremely cautious about this and want to take no chances,” she said.
On municipal elections she said “we know that political process is necessary and elections are a priority but at this point safety of human life is more important so we from the Government requested the SEC to see whether the polls can be postponed,” Banerjee said reminding that “Bengal is a densely populated area with a large population… So it is better to take precautionary measures before hand.”
By late afternoon State Election Commissioner Sourav Das who chaired an all-party meeting announced postponement of elections though he would not give any date. “We have met all the parties and everyone has agreed that there is a need to postpone the elections,” he said. When asked to provide a tentative date for the polls he said “we shall review the situation after March 31.”
Inside sources however said that the polls may not be held before first week June considering the ruling Trinamool Congress’ sensitivityto the month of Ramzan which falls during April-May. “It is not that polls have not been held during Ramzan on earlier occasions but this Government has preferred not to hold elections during that period considering Muslim sentiments,” an official said adding “polls are most likely to get pushed back till the first week of June.”