Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced that Covid vaccines will be given free of cost to all people of West Bengal as soon as stocks are sent by the Centre after the first Cabinet meeting of the third Trinamul Congress-led state government at Nabanna state secretariat. Reiterating that Covid management is her government’s priority, Miss Banerjee asserted that she is not in favour of imposing a complete lockdown as it hampers the livelihood of the common people.

“Instead of announcing a lockdown we have imposed restrictions as poor people and daily wage earners suffer a lot due to complete closure. Local trains have been suspended while timings of markets and attendance in offices have been restricted. Follow the Covid protocols and the restrictions very strictly,” said Miss Banerjee while addressing a Press conference after the Cabinet meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar.

She further said that RTPCR tests should be conducted for any person who comes from outside the state, even for those people who land here by special flights,  followed by a 14-day quarantining if detected positive.

“We require vaccines for 10 crore of the population. We asked Centre for one crore but received only one lakh, which is negligible. We immediately need three to four lakh vaccines in order to enable private hospitals to resume inoculation process. We have decided that one crore vaccines would be given to private hospitals,” said Miss Banerjee.

Prior to the elections, Miss Banerjee had assured that vaccines will be given free of cost to the people of the state and she had written to the Centre in this regard. Slamming the Centre over vaccine shortage, Miss Banerjee said that if the Centre thinks that they have given away vaccines to other countries then they should arrange vaccines from outside India.

“The Centre has enough money and by spending Rs 30,000 crore, the Centre can give vaccines to all but why they are not doing so I don’t know,” she said.

“If 65 per cent vaccines have gone away from India then arrangement has to be made to contact countries where there is availability. It is for the Centre to think as to from where they would get the vaccines. One is the requirement of medical oxygen and next is vaccines and for both we require a clear policy,” she said, adding that she had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that GST should be waived off for equipment and drugs related to Covid treatment.

“The Union finance minister yesterday said that GST has been waived off but I have heard that it is being taken in some cases,” she said. Miss Banerjee announced an English-medium school in every block and emphasised that Eid gatherings should be restricted to 50 people. The Cabinet further set up a committee headed by chief secretary and comprising home secretary, finance secretary, health secretary and industry secretary to ensure that commitments of the government are being met.

“There can be no development without development of the people,” she said, adding that the Cabinet will next meet on 17 May. Contending that peace prevails in the state, Banerjee affirmed that her government will act against anyone circulating fake videos over post-post violence.

“Those who are circulating fake videos could not accept their defeat. They are talking about genocide but I could not see any such incident anywhere. There was only one case at Sitalkuchi. Just because they have RSS units in 30 countries they are sending fake news about West Bengal. It is completely peaceful here.

“If they (BJP) had minimum courtesy then despite the landslide victory, they could not have sent the Central team within 24 hours of oath taking. Law and order is a state subject. Why is the central team visiting houses of BJP workers? Why did they not visit the houses of TMC workers or SUCI workers or workers of other parties? We offered compensation to victims of post-poll violence but was any such effort taken in Tripura or Hathras?” questioned Miss Banerjee.