Three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators were detained in Siliguri town and a few people were held in several districts for violating restrictions imposed on shops and commercial establishments as a 15-day partial lockdown began successfully in Bengal on Sunday. Streets across the state wore a deserted look.
Three newly-elected BJP lawmakers from north Bengal, Sankhar Ghosh from Siliguri, Sikha Chatterjee from Dabgram-Fulbari and Anandamoy Burman from Matigara-Naxalbari, were detained by the police when they started a sit-in demonstration at Hafdar Hashmi Chowk in Siliguri demanding better handling of healthcare facilities in the wake of a sharp spike in Coronavirus infections in the region.
“The three legislators were detained because there is a ban on political assembly. They were released later,” an officer from Siliguri police station said on condition of anonymity.
Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Gautam Deb, who has been made administrator of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation following his defeat at Dabgram-Fulbari, said, “The BJP MLAs acted irresponsibly only to be in the news.”
Police detained several people in other parts of Bengal for violating lockdown restrictions. Some people were arrested as well.
Although there is a ban on all modes of transport, including local trains, buses and Kolkata Metro, many people were caught driving personal vehicles.
{{/usCountry}}Although there is a ban on all modes of transport, including local trains, buses and Kolkata Metro, many people were caught driving personal vehicles.
{{/usCountry}}Some grocery stores were shut down by the authorities in Kolkata, East Burdwan, East Midnapore, North 24 Parganas (a district with high infection rate), Purulia and Hooghly districts as the owners were found to be operating beyond the stipulated time of 7 to 10 am.
Two employees of a gymnasium at Srirampore in Hooghly district were detained for letting a few members enter through the back door.
The Bengal government on Saturday said sweetmeat shops can operate from 10 am to 5 pm. Owners of four shops that opened before time were arrested at Dantan in East Midnapore.
At Park Circus in Kolkata, a milk van was detained for carrying some migrant labourers. The passengers told the police that they were trying to reach Howrah station to catch a Bihar-bound train. Flights and inter-state trains have been exempted from the lockdown.