JOIN USCOVID-19 outbreak: West Bengal's safety lies in CM Mamata Banerjee's success
On March 26, 2020, a video surfaced on social media that showed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, clad as usual in a white saree and face covered with a handkerchief, teaching roadside vendors the basics of social distancing. With a piece of brick in hand, she drew circles in front of the vendors, erased the wrong ones, and made them aware that customers keeping a safe distance from each other is of paramount importance in the present situation. As the video went viral, she was applauded by a majority of people in the state, with some comparing her act to a mother protecting her child.
Almost everyone is now aware of what the novel coronavirus is and how the disease COVID-19 affects human beings. A sense of urgency has crept in. Citizens are now rallying behind the Central Government and their respective state governments to stop this menace. In such a scenario, the people of West Bengal are vociferously supporting Mamata Banerjee. Her determined efforts until now have only helped to further instil a sense of belief among the masses. Her approach in the hour of crisis depicts a change in the persona of the person who is mostly known as a streetfighter. The Mamata Banerjee of the early '90s and the first decade of 2000 was known as a rebel who was always at loggerheads with the administration. In 2020, while fighting the COVID-19 outbreak, she has matured into an able, calm and composed administrator, a mass leader promising to lead in the right direction.
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She is armed with a host of plans and measures. She announced that her government would set up a Rs 200 crore fund to tackle the outbreak. She has decided to set up a nodal COVID-19 hospital in each of the state's 22 districts. She conducted surprise visits to hospitals along with police commissioner Anuj Sharma and other top officials, interacted with doctors and assured them of all possible assistance from the state government. When a controversy erupted in Bengal regarding clashes between police and the public, she expressed her anger at the former. Her decisions to distribute free rice, convert Kolkata Medical College into an isolation and treatment centre, set up 27 shelters for the homeless and beggars and provide protection and accommodation for doctors and nurses have strengthened the state's fight against the pandemic.
There is much room for improvement in the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the state. According to multiple reports, doctors and other medical staff mainly in North Bengal and Howrah said that they were provided with raincoats instead of proper PPE and highlighted the lack of sanitisation facilities.
As per the 2011 census, West Bengal's population was over 91 million, with a population density among the highest in the country. Nine years later, the numbers may have changed, but the state has likely remained a densely populated region. COVID-19 is a fast-spreading contagious disease, and it becomes an uphill task to stop an outbreak in a thickly inhabited area. West Bengal, which shares a border with three countries (Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh), has to remain extra cautious to thwart the pandemic.
Mamata's decisions can be and should be criticised to highlight drawbacks. But there is no denying the fact that she is Bengal's biggest hope in the face of the looming threats. She has to be smart and logical, for the state's fate lies in her hands. If West Bengal is to survive, its Chief Minister has to succeed.
It is time for Mamata Banerjee the administrator to rise to the occasion.