Ahead of the projected third wave of Covid-19, the urban development & municipal affairs department has laid focus on 100 per cent Covid vaccination for people living in areas under the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC).

Minister of State (independent charge) for the department, Chandrima Bhattacharya, today said they have discussed scaling up the vaccination process. She added that the civic body had expedited the vaccination drive, but that more was needed to be done.

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“Our focus is to prevent Covid infections. We have discussed widespread vaccination. The corporation has sped up the vaccination efficiently, but more coverage should be ensured. We have asked the corporation to take the vaccination to 100 per cent and that is our target. At the same time, urban primary health centres (UPHC) will be strengthened,” Ms Bhattacharya said after meeting members of the board of administrators (BoA) of the SMC led by Chairman Gautam Deb here today.

Ms Bhattacharya, who is also the minister of state for health & family welfare said she had asked the corporation to identify bedridden persons and vaccinate them by visiting their residences. “Bedridden, immobile persons cannot stand in queues. The BoA will conduct a survey by visiting homes to identify such persons, and they will be vaccinated by vaccinating teams at their homes,” she said.

According to health department officials, 8,08,098 people in the Darjeeling district had received their first dose, while 2,97,300 people had received both doses as of 26 August. “I have asked them to provide better services to the mother and child at UPHCs and maintain data of the immunisation. Primary health centres in rural areas maintain records, and similarly the UPHCs will follow this,” Ms Bhattacharya said.

Meanwhile, she went hammer and tongs against the previous Left Front-run civic board for its alleged miserable performance during its tenure. Ms Bhattacharya said she found there was no development of the town as per expectations.

“They failed to reach out to the poorer section of society, they deprived them of their rights. However, the present BoA is working properly just within a few months it assumed office,” she said. She went on to add, “The then board did not take any initiative to provide Banglar Bari to the people during 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19. The land was not identified for the ‘Shelter for Homeless’ scheme.” ‘Banglar Bari’ is a housing project for the poor.

Hitting back, former Siliguri mayor and senior CPI-M leader Asok Bhattacharya, on the other hand, said he challenges Ms Bhattacharya to a debate with him on the development of the town.

“I challenge both Ms Bhattacharya and Mr Deb together to take part in an open debate with me on the development work carried out for the town during the Left Front government and after that. She took charge of the urban development & municipal affairs department just a few months ago. The subject of the department is complex and she needs to understand more of those. She should not have made such comments.

Can she talk about one new project announced for Siliguri in the past few months? I am in favour of giving her some more time to understand the subject,” Mr Bhattacharya, the former urban development & municipal affairs minister, said.

Amid demand from opposition parties to hold civic body elections pending for more than a year, Ms Bhattacharya said the polls will be held “on time.”