{"id":6897,"date":"2020-07-17T13:06:01","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T13:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/?p=6897"},"modified":"2020-07-17T13:06:01","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T13:06:01","slug":"mamata-banerjee-centre-not-helping-west-bengal-in-covid-battle-with-eye-on-next-years-polls-kolkata-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/?p=6897","title":{"rendered":"Mamata Banerjee: Centre not helping West Bengal in Covid battle with eye on next year\u2019s polls | Kolkata News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>KOLKATA: <a href=\"http:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/Mamata-Banerjee\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"within_article-topic_link|topic_http:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/Mamata-Banerjee\" frmappuse=\"1\">Mamata Banerjee<\/a> on Thursday accused the BJP-led Centre of not helping the <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/Bengal-government\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"within_article-topic_link|topic_Bengal-government\" frmappuse=\"1\">Bengal government<\/a> and leaving it to fend for itself only because there was an assembly poll in the state next year. The <a href=\"http:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/bharatiya-janata-party\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"within_article-topic_link|topic_http:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/bharatiya-janata-party\" frmappuse=\"1\">BJP<\/a> wanted to show the state in a poor light for electoral gains, the West Bengal CM added. <br \/>\u201cWhat have you done for us? We expected 10,000 ventilators, free <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/personal-protective-equipment\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"within_article-topic_link|topic_personal-protective-equipment\" frmappuse=\"1\">personal protective equipment<\/a> and gloves from the government of India. We have got nothing. I am saying this with a lot of pain,\u201d Banerjee said at <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/Nabanna\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"within_article-topic_link|topic_Nabanna\" frmappuse=\"1\">Nabanna<\/a> on Thursday in one of her sharpest attacks on the Centre till date in the pandemic season. <br \/>\u201cWe are approaching monsoon and soon there may be a dengue outbreak. The state government has its limitations,\u201d she said, adding that she did not expect the Centre to indulge in politics when the entire country was struggling to beat back the virus\u2019s spread. <br \/>Banerjee laid out the route map for the state\u2019s Covid-control plan, focusing on a combination of improving health-sector logistics and containment strategies. Government offices will go back to working with a 50% workforce, down from the current 70%, till July 31. Banerjee also hinted at changes in these plans, if necessary, after that. <br \/>\u201cBut we will involve people and strive to improve awareness to win the battle,\u201d she said, reminding everyone that Bengal \u2014 unlike many other states \u2014 had not invoked the <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/Essential-Services-Maintenance-Act\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"within_article-topic_link|topic_Essential-Services-Maintenance-Act\" frmappuse=\"1\">Essential Services Maintenance Act<\/a>. \u201cWe believe in doing it with love,\u201d she added. <br \/>Banerjee also appealed to all private-sector offices as well to implement work-from-home policies \u201cwherever possible\u201d. <br \/>The government on Thursday bolstered the current hospital-bed numbers in Kolkata to address the rising number of patients. Kolkata\u2019s Covid numbers also included people coming here for treatment, Banerjee said, explaining the need to add to the number of beds here. \u201cThere will soon be an extra 3,500-4,000 Covid beds. Private hospitals like Woodlands, AMRI and Desun have added beds. We have taken over Islamia Hospital and will convert R Ahmed Dental College into a Covid hospital,\u201d she added. <br \/>The state government has also acquired 20 beds each at two private hospitals \u2014 Desun and Charnock \u2014 for Covid patients. \u201cWe are getting the 20 beds ready. We should be able to hand it over to the government by Monday,\u201d an official of Charnock Hospital said. <br \/>Banerjee also stressed the importance of listening to doctor\u2019s advice and staying home in case of asymptomatic patients and those with very mild symptoms. \u201cWe must listen to doctors if they say that a patient will be better off at home,\u201d the CM said. <br \/>One problem the government is facing in setting up safe homes for people needing quarantine is the NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) mentality. \u201cThere is a reluctance in people to allow safe homes in their neighbourhoods,\u201d Banerjee said, adding: \u201cWe have not managed to get a single community centre for a safe house.\u201d <br \/>Cremation of Covid victims\u2019 bodies presented a similar problem, the CM said. \u201cCovid victims\u2019 bodies are not being allowed at crematoria. There\u2019s just one furnace at Dhapa, where these bodies are now being cremated, and we need at least two-three more. It takes four months to build one. So where do we cremate bodies?\u201d she asked, appealing for greater empathy from citizens. <\/div>\n<p><a href=\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/kolkata\/mamata-centre-not-helping-bengal-in-covid-battle-with-eye-on-next-yrs-polls\/articleshow\/77009215.cms\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the BJP-led Centre of not helping the Bengal government and leaving it to fend for itself only because there was an assembly poll in the state next year. The BJP wanted to show the state in a poor light for electoral gains, the West [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kolkata"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/1594991162_photo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}