Centre team finally begins field study in Siliguri... Before the team set out, members held a meeting with the Darjeeling district CMOH Dr Pralay Acharya and others to assess how the health dept was working to deal with Covid-19

SNS, 23 April 2020, Siliguri: Seventy-two hours after arriving in Siliguri, the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT)finally started making field visits today to assess the Covid-19 siluation.Team members said they were getting cooperation from the state government.

Before the team set out today, members held a meeting with the  Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health Dr Pralay Acharya, deputy chief medical officer of health II and Dr Tulsi Pramanik at the guest house of the Siliguri Frontier Headquarters of the SSB at Ranidanga on the outskirts of the town.

The team members sought to know how the health department was working to deal with Covid-19, the status of quarantine facilities, and the number of persons admitted there.The five-member team led by Vineet Joshi, the additional secretary, Ministry of Human Resource and Development first went to an apartment near the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) where a nurse and a boarder of the apartment tested positive for Covid- 19.Later her husband and mother were also found infected and are undergoing treatment at Dr Chang's Covid- 19 hospital at Matigara. Her 22-month-old girl has also tested positive. Mr Joshi inquired with Matigara BDO Runu Roy and police personnel on the status of the apartment, number of occupants, and how essential commodities were being supplied to them.

Around 2040 people live in 512 blocks in the apartments there. Police officers said, security guards at the apartment

would collect goods from the gate. Later, the team went to a 'shelterhome' at Banimandir Railway HS School under Ward 1 in Siliguri where 68 migrants, including women and children, have been kept since the lockdown. The central team members interacted with the inmates there about the distribution of food and toilet and other facilities. A migrant worker, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the quality of food being served. Later, Mr Joshi told media persons that they were drawing up plans to visit places by discussing the same with state govemment officials.

"We were able to make some movement today. We are getting cooperation from today" he said. The visit of two groups of IMCTs in Bengal earlier ran into controversy, while later the state government promised all cooperation after the Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote a strongly-worded letter on 21 April and claimed that the state government was not cooperating the IMCTs. Asked about observations based on the visits, Mr Joshi said, "We are still trying to grasp the situation.So it is too earty to make any comment." The bureaucrat said they will also visit Kalimpong.The team drove through various areas on the outskirts of the town today, and it was led by an SSB pilot. " The team members spotted some persons playing cricket on the riverbed by ignoring the lockdown and they clicked pictures," sources said.

Suspected Covid- 19 patient dies: A 65-year-old resident of Siliguri and a retired government employee, who was suffering from severe acute respiratory infection, died at Desun Hospital in Siliguri that is treating suspected Covid- 19 patients. Family members said she was referred to the nursing home by NBMCH doctors yesterday and died after some hours.The health department, however, said that Covid-19 tests on the woman's throat swab samples yielded negative results. In a separate incident, some persons ransacked the hospital, alleging lack of proper treatment facilities.

Bista hits back at Tamang

Darjeeling MP Raju Bista has hit back on Morcha leader Binoy Tamang, who yesterday said that members of the IMCT must first be quarantined before they visit the Hills, as they have come from Delhi, a place hit by Covid- 19.

"I don't know under what capacity is Mr Tamang saying that he won't allow a Central Government appointed team of experts to visit Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills. Has he been elected by the people? Does he carry any constitutional post? Is he a governmment employee?' Mr Bista said in a release yesterday.

"These officers are experts and specialists who have vast knowledge on disaster management and mitigation.They are coming to our hills to examine the response, and to see how we can improve on and strengthen our health and social response system. They are not here on a picnic. They are not here to carry a thermometer and check temperature in the streets. They are here with a specific mandate to take necessary steps to save lives," he said.

"Mr Tamang will do well to stop politicizing issues that are beyond the realm of his understanding." Mr Bista added. 

Mayor for more testing labs

Mayor Asok Bhattacharya has demanded more Covid testing laboratories and more tests in north Bengal. In a letter to chief secretary Rajiva Sinha, he also said people would not like 'unnecessary' tussle between the Centre and state government over the IMCT visit.

UP woman gives birth: A woman from Uttar Pradesh and stranded in Siliguri during the lockdown has given birth to a baby girl recently.With initiatives of the administration Anjali Prasnland her family hailing from Aurangibad, are staying at a shelter home at Banimandir Railway HS School since the kickdown. "She was expecting then she was brought here. Proper care was taken of her.She gave birth to a baby girl recently at the Siliguri District Hospital." an official said.