This has been done to contain the rapid spread of Covid-19 infection. (File)

Opposition CPM and BJP on Wednesday raised questions on the West Bengal government’s need to impose lockdown in containment zones in the state when it was already supposed to be in place in such areas as per the Centre’s directive.

On June 29, the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued fresh guidelines, which stated that lockdown in containment zones would continue till July 31. In these areas, only essential activities will be allowed with strict perimeter control to ensure that there is no movement of people in or out of these zones.

Questioning the Mamata Banerjee government on strict enforcement of lockdown in containment zones, CPM MLA Sujan Chakraborty said, “Containment zone is a place where lockdown is supposed to be imposed. So does this mean that there was no restriction at all in the containment zones of Bengal? If that is not the case, then why is the state government advocating the need to impose lockdown in containment zones again?”

On Wednesday, the state government released a list of containment zones across the state where lockdown norms will be enforced strictly for the next seven days, starting from 5 pm on Thursday. This has been done to contain the rapid spread of Covid-19 infection.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha also targeted the administration over the lockdown announcement. “The state government has a tendency to work in an unplanned manner. When strict lockdown was in force, the government allowed sweet shops and tea stalls to function. Now, again an unplanned lockdown has been imposed from Thursday due to which only the common man will suffer,” said Sinha.