Hundreds walk from Cooch Behar to nearby Assam for a jab

The reason for this is that in Tufanganj, like in most other places of Bengal, queues for vaccination are long

Residents of Tufanganj subdivision of Cooch Behar queue up at a vaccination camp in Chagalia under Dhubri district of Assam on Wednesday. : Picture by Main Uddin Chisti

Main Uddin Chisti   |   TT  |  Cooch Behar   |  01.10.21: Hundreds from Tufanganj subdivision of Cooch Behar district are walking across the interstate border to enter Assam to get the Covid-19 vaccine at camps set up by the state government of the neighbouring state in areas close to the border.

The reason for this is that in Tufanganj, like in most other places of Bengal, queues for vaccination are long.

Also, on a number of occasions, residents had to return home disappointed as the stock of vaccines at a specific centre had exhausted.

“I have tried thrice to get vaccinated at a camp that is running near my village and in every case, as soon as I was about to enter the camp, I was told that not a single dose of vaccine is left and I need to come again on some other day. With such being the situation, I found an alternative and walked into a camp in nearby Assam. In all, it took me an hour to get the first dose,” said Aiyub Ali, a resident of Madhya Balabhut village of Tufanganj.

Ali, who is a migrant worker by occupation, said many others like him want to return to their workplaces as the number of Covid cases has considerably declined now.

He  said many like him are going to the vaccination camps set up in Chagalia, a locality under Dhubri district of Assam located just after Baxirhat, the interstate border.

According to the health staff posted at the camps in Chagalia, over 1,000 residents of Bengal have been vaccinated at the camps during the past couple of days.

“We are just checking the identity proofs of people such as the Aadhaar card and providing the vaccine. It does not matter whether the person is from Bengal or Assam,” said Gangabala Roy, a health worker who has been deputed at a camp in Chagalia.

On Wednesday, around 400  residents hailing from areas such as Balakuti, Baxirhat, Bhanukumari and Saldanga, all under Tufanganj subdivision in Cooch Behar, were seen standing in queues at the camps in Assam.

“Back in our place, one has to go and stand in the queue for the vaccine at midnight or by dawn to get jabbed. There is an unprecedented rush and for senior citizens like us, it is very inconvenient. Here in Assam, the queues are small and also there are more counters for the vaccine,” said Nirbala Barman, an elderly woman from Jorai More of Baxirhat who was found standing in a queue at Chagalia in Assam.

According to the data available with the central government, of the total population of Assam which is around 3.50 crore, around 2.39 crore people have already been vaccinated and among them, around 55 lakhs have received the second dose.

On the other hand, in Bengal, where the total population is around 10 crores, around 5.72 crores have been vaccinated, and among them, 1.65 crores have received the second dose.

A senior official of the Cooch Behar district health department said the pressure in Assam is much less as its population is one-third of Bengal. “We are trying to vaccinate the maximum possible number of people every day depending on the stock of vaccine we have with us. These days, close to five lakh people are getting jabbed every day in our state. Even so, if some people near the interstate border find it convenient to walk to the neighbouring camp of Assam to get vaccinated, it is their choice,” said the official.