Covid-19 in West Bengal: Border vigil beefed up, movement restricted

KOLKATA: Movement of people via all nine international land checkposts in West Bengal was restricted from March 15 midnight in the wake of the evolving situation concerning the spread of novel coronavirus in the country. The Union home ministry guidelines allowed entry of Indian citizens from Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, and permitted exit of citizens of these three countries through the checkposts. Monitoring was also heightened at 78 inter-state checkpoints across West Bengal.
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“People from Nepal and Bhutan will be allowed to go to their respective countries only through Jaigaon and Panitanki checkposts,” said Srikumar Bandyopadhyay, inspector general of SSB (Siliguri frontier). “Movement will be restricted at all the land checkposts, except Gede,” said Vibhu Goyel, district magistrate of Nadia.

Movement through the checkposts came down to a trickle on Sunday. The Petrapol border looked empty with trucks lined up away from the border checkposts. Shyamali Paribahan, which used to run at least six buses every day between Kolkata and Dhaka, has been operating just one bus between Kolkata and Petrapole for the past three days. “There were 30 passengers from Kolkata on Saturday. The number came down to 18 on Sunday,” said Pranab Ghosh, of Shyamali Paribahan.
“March is a crucial month for India-Bangladesh trade, which has tanked following the emerging situation,” said Kartik Chakraborty, secretary of Customs Clearing Agents’ Association. There were nearly 1,000 people, mostly Bangladeshis, at the Gede checkpost, Nadia, on Sunday morning.
A total of 78 checkposts were put up across Bengal to man inter-state movements. The highest number of checkpoints were allocated in districts like Purulia, Birbhum and Uttar Dinajpur. “We may increase number of checkposts depending on the traffic,” said Gyanwant Singh, ADG (law and order) West Bengal.
At the medical camps, people were being screened into four grades — A, B, C and D — depending on their symptoms. Persons falling under grade A classification, with symptoms like fever, cough and difficulty in breathing and with history of travelling to any foreign country in past 14 days are being immediately shifted to hospitals.District Magistrate Rajarshi Mitra said, “We have set up a screening camp at Madhupur at Indo-Bangla border.”
Vigil was also stepped up at the checkposts in north Bengal. “The vigil from both the central and state governments is praiseworthy. Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars receives people from adjoining countries, which puts locals at risk of contracting Covid-19,” said Raju Bista, MP, Darjeeling.
(Contributed by Sudipta Das, Sanjib Chakraborty, Asish Poddar, Pinakpriya Bhattacharya, Roshan Gupta, Subhro Maitra, Subhojyoti Kanjilal)