Amidst governments all around the country shutting down the states, West Bengal Government has announced that it will relax some of the Covid-19 restrictions on January 8, 2022.

According to the new relaxation, beauty parlours and salons in West Bengal will be permitted to function with a capacity of 50 per cent till 10 pm.

The government is yet to announced the date from which the order can be applied. However, it has been made clear that salons and beauty parlours will be needed to sanitised regularly.

According to the official order, owners of the salon and beauty parlours will have to make sure that their staff, as well as their customers are fully vaccinated and all the health protocols are being followed by them.

The cases in West Bengal have shot up dramatically in the past few days. According to reports, West Bengal has reported 82,427 fresh cases between December 25, 2021, and January 7, 2022. During this period, the overall death count mounted to 157. According to a bulletin issued by state Health Department, the number of fresh infections was 18,213 with a positivity rate of 26.31 per cent. Official reports said that 69,158 new samples were tested on Friday, December 7, 2022.

Kolkata’s daily case count is mounting higher than any other district in West Bengal. In the state capital, the positivity rate on Friday went up to 53.1 per cent with 7,484 new cases. On Friday, December 7, 2022, the cases went up to 3,71,142.

North 24 Paraganas has also recorded 3,118 fresh cases and 18 deaths.

Read Also: Covid 19 updates: India reports 1,41,986 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours, Omicron tally stands at 3,071 | Check state-wise list

One of the gravest reasons for this surge in Covid-19 cases is unregulated gatherings, said the doctors. Since Christmas and New Year, there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of fresh cases in Kolkata. The doctors also believe that if this situation keeps becoming worse, the healthcare system is likely to collapse.

The last time that there was such a hike cases was during the second wave of Covid-19. On May 5, 2021, the state had crossed the 18,000 mark.

The post West Bengal relaxes Covid-19 curbs for salons, beauty parlours, check details here appeared first on APN News.

Bengal Government on Tuesday slammed Governor Jagdeep Dhankar over his unprecedented move to post a letter on Twitter criticizing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her handling of the post-poll violence in the state. In a series of tweets, the state home department said the unusual step of going public in this manner abruptly and unilaterally has shocked the Government of West Bengal all the more because the contents are fabricated.

The communication format is violative of all established norms. The letter has been written to Chief Minister and released to public media through tweets simultaneously, which disrupts the sanctity of such communications, one of the tweets read.

The state government said while the post-poll violence in the State was somewhat unabated when the Election Commission of India was in charge of the law and order machinery, after the swearing-in, the State Cabinet has reigned in the situation, restored normalcy, and established full command over anti-law elements. State police have been firmly directed to bring to book all anti-socials and the Government remains committed to maintaining the basic fabric of society and upholding law and order, the state government said.

In his letter, Dhankar said, “I am constrained to observe your continued silence and inaction over post-poll retributive bloodshed, violation of human rights, outrageous assault on the dignity of women, wanton destruction of property, the perpetuation of untold miseries on political opponents – worst since Independence – and it augurs ill for democracy.”

The letter also said “Such ‘punitive’ decimation of human rights and dignity shames democracy. In spite of your attention having been drawn to the enormity of situation, huge exodus of people in search of cover for life and destruction of property worth crores, there has only been stunning silence at your end and you did not deem it necessary to even deliberate this grave human tragedy in any of the cabinet meetings so far.”

The post Bengal Government slams Governor Jagdeep Dhankar over letter release on Twitter, calls it shocking, fabricated content appeared first on APN News.

One probably thought the response of the West Bengal government to the Covid-19 pandemic may figure as a key issue in the state assembly election due in 2021. The Narendra Modi government had also sent senior Central bureaucrats in May this year to monitor the situation in the state.

But, according to BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh, coronavirus is gone. While addressing a rally, Ghosh claimed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is using coronavirus as an excuse and imposing a lockdown across the state for the sole purpose of preventing the opposition party from holding rallies. A majority of the people present in the rally weren’t wearing masks and social distancing was completely neglected. Ghosh’s statement regarding the virus’ farewell comes at a time when India is hitting record spikes in coronavirus cases.

Earlier, BJP president JP Nadda called the Trinamool Congress government anti-Hindu. Nadda supported his argument by pointing to alleged minority appeasement and portrayed Hindus as the victims of such politics. He opposed the lockdown implemented by CM Banerjee on August 5. He alleged when whole India was celebrating Ayodhya’s bhumipujan, the West Bengal CM deliberately halted the public from taking part in the celebrations by not lifting the lockdown. He added that the same government had no problem lifting the lockdown for Eid al-Adha. Nadda claimed BJP’s vote percentage is constantly growing and in the elections they aim to oust the Trinamool Congress regime.

Read Also: After Uddhav Thackeray, Kangana Ranaut has things to say about Sonia Gandhi

PM Modi in his latest comments on the Covid crisis directed everyone to strictly follow the rules and precautions. He mentioned mandatory use of masks and asked the public to maintain social distancing. Ghosh seems to have overlooked the PM’s directions; the current tally in West Bengal has gone up to 1,93,175 infected cases with 3,771 deaths with the fatality rate at 2%.

The post Bengal BJP chief says Corona is gone, Mamata will go too in 2021 appeared first on APN News.

The Centre on Wednesday slammed the West Bengal government over its poor response to handling the Covid-19 pandemic which the MHA said is “characterised by a very low rate of testing in proportion to the population, and a very high rate of mortality at 13.2% for the state”, by far the highest for any state. the MHA said in a letter to the Bengal that is  a reflection of poor surveillance, detection and testing in the state.

There is a need to increase random testing in crowded clusters. On surveillance and contact tracing, the MHA said that the state has not furnished any data regarding the number of households and individuals contacted and surveyed.

The observation by the Union home secretary was based on the reports of two Inter-Ministerial Central Teams deputed to West Bengal last month. The teams toured seven districts of the state and have communicated their observations.

Earlier, Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said the state government’s “unilateral action” of stopping vehicles carrying essential goods from crossing over to Bangladesh would have larger implications for the Indian government with regard to its legally binding global commitment.

The post MHA slams West Bengal Government over covid. appeared first on APN News.

A tussle on issue of taking back migrants seems to be brewing across the nation. The West Bengal government refused to accept migrants from Maharashtra, even as the state government was awaiting its consent to send 2,400 workers on two trains from Thane to Shalimar station in Howrah. Meanwhile, concerned about a backlash, the Uttar Pradesh government climbed down from its earlier reluctance to evacuate its migrants from Mumbai, Thane and Pune.

The UP government has now agreed to follow the Centre’s guidelines which say that passengers should be medically screened for symptoms and permission should be taken from the destination state.

The Bihar government has withdrawn its blanket approval for migrants from Maharashtra and said it will decide on a case-to-case basis. The Karnataka government remains firm on its stand of not evacuating its migrants from Maharashtra.

On the other hand, Odisha has joined Rajasthan and West Bengal in giving blanket approval on the evacuation of its migrants from Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the rush of applications continued at police stations, and the resultant chaos added to the anguish of migrants, many of whom are running out of money and food.

The post States refuse migrants from Maharashtra. appeared first on APN News.

The Supreme Court said that it will decide on the discretionary power of State to give such grants and sought state government’s reply within six weeks.

The Supreme Court today (Friday, October 12) refused to stay the decision of the West Bengal government to grant Rs.28 crore to 28,000 Durga puja committees across the state.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta was hearing a petition filed by advocate Sourav Dutta, challenging the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to give Rs 28 crore to puja committees in the state for Durga Puja celebrations on the ground that it was against secularism which was part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The case is an appeal against an order passed by the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday.

While refusing to stay the grant to Durga Puja committees, the Supreme Court, however, said that it will decide on the discretionary power of State to give such grants and issued notice to the state government seeking its reply within six weeks.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, defending Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to grant Rs.10,000 each to 28,000 Durga Puja committees, said the money has not been directly paid to puja committees and has been given through the state police.

On September 10, Banerjee had declared that Rs.10,000 would be given to each of the 28,000 puja committees across the state – 3,000 in the city and 25,000 in the districts – costing the government Rs 28 crore.

The Calcutta High Court had on October 10 refused to interfere with the state government’s decision to grant the amount to puja committees in the state.

The petition assails the decision of the state government to grant a total of Rs. 28 crore to Puja organizers as being against the principles of secularism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India. It says there is no public purpose involved in organizing Durga Puja, which is a religious programme. Further, it argues that the use of taxpayers’ money for repair/construction of any religious place offends the spirit and object of Article 27 of the Constitution.

The post SC refuses to stay West Bengal govt grant to Durga Puja Committees appeared first on APN News.