The Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday wrote to Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan demanding an investigation by central agencies into the Kolkata vaccine scam. In the letter, Nandigram MLA Adhikari alleged that the Kolkata vaccine fraud would not have taken place without the complicity of senior police officers and top civic authorities.
He also questioned the pilferage of covid vaccines from government stock. “The big question is were these shots really Covishield vaccines as claimed by the accused?,” he wrote. “If these were not Covid vaccines, then an immediate investigation needs to be done as to what was being administered at such a large scale,” he added.
The fake vaccine drive mastermind Debanjan Deb was earlier arrested for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and organising a Covid-19 vaccination camp in the city’s Kasba area, where actor and Trinamul Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty had also got her inoculation. The BJP then demanded a CBI probe into the matter.
The BJP’s general secretary Sayantan Basu said, “Probe is under way but the matter requires a CBI inquiry as it involves officials. We also want the Centreto look into it.” In his letter, Suvendu Adhikari also pointed out West Bengal’s ‘failure to catch up with other states,’ in terms of vaccination.
He said, “Bengal is failing to catch up with other states, largely due to the lack of enthusiasm from the state government.” The Leader of the Opposition claimed that a transparent investigation into the matter without the state government’s influence is extremely important to restore the credibility of the Covid vaccination process in West Bengal.
Yesterday the state BJP also raised question as investigation is under way how the plaque under the statue of Rabindranath Tagore, which contained names of several TMC leaders like ministers, MLAs with Debanjan Deb was broken and replaced, “It clearly indicated how the TMC is proactive to investigate the matter. Hence the CBI inquiry is necessary,”said Sayantan Basu.