1. Didi Writes to PM for Rs 25,000 Cr
Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urging him to grant at least Rs 25,000 crore to Bengal without any delay and clear all dues as the finances of the state government were in a “dire situation with practically no revenue flows after the closure of almost all business”.
“Therefore, I earnestly urge you to sanction a grant of a minimum of Rs 25,000 crore for the state of West Bengal and release the funds still due to us from GoI (government of India), as per my earlier letter to you,” read the letter by the Bengal chief minister.
Mamata said Bengal was yet to get Rs 11,000 crore under the devolution of central taxes. Moreover, the chief minister mentioned that a sum of Rs 36,000 from the Centre under various schemes was pending.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. 4 More COVID-19 Cases In North
Four persons, including a child, who are family members of the Kalimpong woman who had died from COVID-19, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday.
Around 48 persons, including the deceased woman’s family members, were put in quarantine in Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong.
Five of the 48 were later shifted to the isolation ward at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri and their swab samples were sent to the NICED in Calcutta for confirmatory tests.
“Four persons, who are family members of the woman from Kalimpong, have tested positive,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at Nabanna on Wednesday evening.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. 98 Traced In Bengal, 40 Of Them Foreigners; 54 Quarantined
The state government has quarantined 54 people and traced 44 others, who participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month and then came to Bengal.
The quarantine facility in New Town received the first set of 54 people on Wednesday and 42 more – from Asansol and West Midnapore – should be arriving here on Thursday, senior state officials said.
Seven more have been identified in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar as having participated in the Delhi congregation. Two of them had been traced, officials said, adding that efforts are on to trace the other five.
The number of people who have already been quarantined or traced (98) is now 25 more than the figure of 73 received by the Bengal government from the Centre.
(Source: The Times Of India)
4. Govt Revises COVID-19 Toll In Bengal; Fight May Be Entering Critical Phase, Say Experts
Two persons who had tested positive for COVID-19 died in Bengal on Wednesday. While one was undergoing treatment at a city hospital, the other was in a nursing home in Belgharia.
Authorities at Peerless Hospital, where the 66-year-old Nayabad patient died on Wednesday, said the patient had developed COVID-19 pneumonitis. He had been admitted over a week ago with severe respiratory distress and was put on oxygen support. He was on anti-retrovirals. He slipped into ventilation support a few days ago and died at 3.40pm.
(Source: The Times Of India)
5. Kolkata Kitchens Stare At Mustard Oil Crisis As Worker Exodus Hits Production
Mustard oil that is so essential to Bengali cuisine could disappear from kitchens for a while. Most grocery stores in the city have exhausted their stocks and have failed to replenish them from the wholesale market at Burrabazar.
While other varieties of edible oil like soya bean and rice bran are available, a shortage in supply of mustard oil is looming on the horizon. A Posta wholesale market source said the deficit wasn’t huge and can be managed if stocks rolled in. But if they continue to be delayed, a crisis is imminent. “Small consignments are arriving to the city, but they are not enough to meet the demand,” he added.
Although there is no problem of goods vehicles movement across the nation, oil mills in Rajasthan and Haryana, where mustard oil is produced in large quantities, have been unable to function due to the exodus of migrant labourers from these states.
(Source: The Times Of India)
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