Nadia dist admin plans to take action against TMC MLA


Biswabrata Goswami

Statesman News Service

KRISHNAGAR, 24 APRIL: The Nadia district administration is planning to take action against the Trinamul Congress MLA from Chapra, Rukbanur Rahman who voluntarily distributed relief materials to the residents living under containment zone at Charatala after deliberately violating the WHO Outbreak Communication Guidelines.

Vibhu Goel, district magistrate of Nadia said, “I have asked the superintendent police to take action against Rahman as he intentionally violated norms prepared for the containment zone and distributed relief materials to the residents of Charatala”.

“After being informed about his entry into the high risk zone, I personally talked with him. He tried to submit an excuse that he had delivered drinking water from outside the barricade to the residents. But I have information that he pushed aside the police man posted there for guarding and sneaked into the area after crossing the earmarked border”, Goel told The Statesman.

Goel also said, “When we are fighting altogether against the dreaded novel coronavirus and are trying to curb the spread of the disease in the suspected areas where at least a person has been found tested positive, this type of attitude and behavior from a ruling party legislative member should not be expected”.

Rahman had gone to Charatala yesterday to distribute relief materials among the residents as the latter had demanded the district administration for supplying adequate drinking water, medicines and other essential things.

The state government has recently issued guidelines on definition and procedures to be followed in the containment zone besides listing out the roles and responsibilities of various departments to contain the further spread of the Covid-19 across the state.

As per the new guidelines issued by the state government, the area around the house of the Covid-19 patient can be declared as a ‘Containment Zone’ and stringent measures will be put in place to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The activities include banning the movement of people, delivery of all essentials to the doorstep of citizens. The area will continue to remain as a containment zone until no COVID-19 positive case is reported for the next 28-days from the same area.

Charatal village, a minority dominated area in Chapra block in Nadia, where an ex-BSF jawan was tested positive for Covid-19, was declared as a containment zone by the district administration on 19 April.

The district administration had already sealed off the village hours after the test report of the ex-jawan was found positive a few days ago.

An official team including district magistrate and superintendent of police had paid a visit at Charatala and faced resistance from women and senior citizens. They claimed that their area has been sealed off for the last few days while no food grains or essential things were supplied by the administration.

When asked, Goel said, “My SDO, BDO and other officials have kept close vigil on this area and they are providing all types of help to the residents. A co-operative society is supplying essential things at subsidized rates to the residents. The essential things include vegetables, grocery items, milk and medicines. In the last two days, they have sold things to the tune of Rs 27000”.