In the wake of recent incidents of flooding, a ministerial team will meet Union irrigation minister and Niti Aayog in Delhi with a charter of four demands while chief minister Mamata Banerjee today said that a special vaccination drive will be taken up in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas with the district registering the highest number of Covid cases.
While addressing the administrative review meeting at Nabanna, Miss Banerjee reportedly expressed her displeasure at the manner in which allotted funds were being spent by some departments and has directed ministers to seek her permission before going ahead with any huge expenditure.
“We have started our vaccination drive in the congested urban areas and till now we have vaccinated 80 per cent of the people in Howrah and 75 per cent in Kolkata. Once we complete vaccinating the people living in the congested urban areas, we will begin vaccinating people in the rural areas. After completing 50 per cent vaccination in the rural parts, we will start local train services.
In the wake of apprehension of the third Covid wave affecting the children, we are not in favour of resuming local train services at the moment,” she said at a press conference after the meeting. Deliberating on the charter of demands, Miss Banerjee said Ghatal Master Plan, Sunderbans and Digha Master Plans and regular dredging so as to prevent frequent flooding in DVC areas would be placed by the ministerial team.
“We have taken up a Rs 3,000 crore Lower Damodar Basin project to improve irrigation facilities and flood protection measures in the area, but we want regular dredging of DVC following which 2,000 cusecs of additional water can be retained. The Centre should come up with a policy to prevent DVC from releasing water that floods the adjoining areas,” she said.
This apart, erosion of river banks in Murshidabad and Malda will also be taken up by the ministerial team. “Our government runs so many schemes in West Bengal. No other state runs such a huge number of schemes like us,” added Miss Banerjee.