Cooch Behar grapples with Covid, migrants

MANAS RBANNERJEE, SNS, SILIGURI, 31 MAY 2020: After remaining in the green zone for quite sometime earlier, Cooch Behar district is now grappling with rising cases of Covid-19 cases among migrant workers who have returned from several places of the country.

The cases are rising at an alarming rate, as the district reported 88 Covid patients in the last two days.

"After Covid cases in 32 migrants workers on Friday, the district administration has detected 56 more,"sources said.

"The number of infected persons is increasing following the in flux of a huge number of migrant workers from hotspot states. A total of 22 migrants, who were quarantined in the Industrial Training Institute in Cooch Behar, have tested positive. The number is set to go up as tests on several swab samples are pending. The district magistrate is keeping in touch with top officials of Nabanna for setting up a Covid Hospital in Cooch Behar to tackle the situation." North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh said over the phone today.

The district administration is facing another problem as it wants to send more patients to the Siliguri Covid hospital, which has already taken 32 patients from Cooch Behar. The 100-bed hospital in Siliguri presently has 56 patients with more coming in from nearby areas, while it will be tough for the hospital to take in more from Cooch Behar, sources said.

"If more patients are taken in from Cooch behar alone, there will be no place for other Covid patients from Siliguri, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and even from Alipurduar." the sources added

Notably, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista today wrote to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and said:"Health care facilities in Siliguri city are already overburdened since the Covid-19 facilities set up are being forced to cater to six districts of North Bengal. This has stressed the existing medical facilities in Siliguri almost to the point of collapsing."

Mr Bista also said he has spoken to Darjeeling district magistrate to know about the situation and the virtual 'Mismanagement" of heal th facilities.

Notably, since morning today, a section of Hill people expressed concern over the alleged detection of a Covid patient from Panighatta area under Mirik.

While a purported copy of the report issued by the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital showed that the man had tested positive for Covid 19, the Darjeeling district administration claimed that it was actually a case of Cooch Behar and that they NBMCH may have mistakenly referred to the case as that of Mirik.

Back in CoochBehar.40000 of the total 1.10 lakh migrant workers have returned, while hundreds are set to return in three trains tonight.

"'To tackle the situation, we have increased the number of quarantine centres for isolation of migrants workers based on their travel history. Our district was Coronavirus-free but the Centre sent infected migrant workers back in an unplanned manner and created new problems in the region." Mr Ghosh claimed.

Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, recently branded Shramik Special Trains as the "Corona Express," following rapid detection of Covid cases among migrants in the state.

"l am hugely disappointed and disheartened to see Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calling the Shramik Special Trains as'Corona Express.' I don't know if it is deliberate or not, but in doing so, she has labelled the citizens of West Bengal who are earning their livelihood in other states, and coming back home as a'virus'," Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, meanwhile, said.

"These migrant workers wouldn't have to go elsewhere if 34 years of CPIM and over nine years of TMC Government's misrule and misgovernance had not broken the economic backbone of West Bengal, which has resulted in its 4.7 Lakh crore debt burden on our people." Mr Bista added

"Mamata Banerjee came to power protesting investments in West Bengal," Mr Bista further said, adding."Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should apologize to the people of our state, especially those who are finally coming back home."