# Kolkata

Saturday’s state lockdown withdrawn in view of NEET

Earlier, the state government had said that there would be state-wide complete lockdowns on 7, 11 and 12 September.

Statesman News Service | Kolkata | September 11, 2020 12:55 pm

Saturday’s state lockdown withdrawn in view of NEET

The state-wide complete lockdown on 12 September has been withdrawn in view of the NEET examination scheduled to be held on Sunday.

However, the complete lockdown on 11 September will remain in place and as such, all activities will remain closed tomorrow. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today announced on Twitter that the decision to withdraw the complete lockdown on 12th was taken after getting numerous requests from the student community on lifting the lockdown norms, and will allow students to appear for the examination without any “apprehensions and concerns”.

The state government was opposed to conducting the examination amidst the Covid outbreak but the Supreme Court gave approval to the National Testing Authority’s (NTA) decision to go ahead with the entrance test.

Earlier, the state government had said that there would be state-wide complete lockdowns on 7, 11 and 12 September. As such, it is possible that tomorrow’s complete lockdown would be the last for the month.

“Considering the NEET 2020 examination scheduled on 13th, we have received numerous requests from the student community on lifting lockdown norms on 12th, helping ease their travel to examination centres,” Miss Banerjee tweeted.

“Keeping their interest in mind, while keeping the statewide lockdown as it is on Sept 11th, it has been decided to cancel the lockdown on 12th, so that the students can attend the examination on 13th without any apprehensions or concerns. I wish them all the very best,” her tweet read.

A notification on withdrawal of the lockdown was issued by state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha. It said the 31 August order has been partially modified whereby the lockdown on 12 September has been withdrawn and lockdown on 11 September will be observed as notified earlier.

All government and private offices as well as commercial establishments will remain shut tomorrow.