A young voter in Jorasanko had issues like women’s safety and social harmony on her mind as she was gearing up to cast her vote on Thursday.
But over the past few days, one concern has tipped all other issues — a Covid-19 vaccine for her father and herself.
Sreya Seal with father Subhodeep Seal outside a polling booth at Amherst Street
Sreya Seal, in her 20s and an analyst at a multinational company, tried to register her name on the Co-WIN portal on Wednesday, like hundreds of other Calcuttans. The "No Vaccination Centre is available for booking" message flashed on her screen, like it did on the screens of hundreds of other Calcuttans.
“The Centre had claimed there was no vaccine shortage. But it is almost certain I won’t get one when the rollout for people over 18 years starts.... This uncertainty is killing us at a time when cases are rising,” Shreya told Metro outside a polling booth on Amherst Street.
She was not alone. Many voters on Thursday shared their sense of helplessness because of a lack of vaccines and their displeasure at the Centre’s handling of the Covid situation.
“It is infuriating that we were sending vaccines to other countries till a few days ago and now we don’t have them for our own people. It is shameful that we are staring at a shortage despite being the largest vaccine producer,” said Raktima Deb, a resident of Surah East Road who cast her vote at a booth in Beleghata.
Some senior members of her family are struggling to get the second Covid jab. “The lack of jobs in Bengal was set to determine my voting choice but now the mishandling of the Covid crisis did so,” said Raktima, a private sector employee who was accompanied by her siblings to the polling booth.
The uncertainty over vaccination is the biggest talking point in the city. Most private hospitals offering jabs are booked to the limit. They stopped offering slots for the first dose on Thursday and Friday and some even failed to confirm appointments for the second dose.
At government hospitals and health centres run by the civic body, people are queueing up in large numbers, often from very early hours, for the jab.
The mess has led many Calcuttans to believe that the Centre has let them down by passing the vaccine buck to the states at a time cases are surging alarmingly. The feeling was evident outside polling booths.
“A regime that does not deliver on promises and puts its own people at risk should not come to power in Bengal,” said Mohammed Rizwan Hussain, a trader in Rajabazar, who cast his vote at Victoria Institution.
Dipak Sengupta and wife Sabita outside Maharaja Manindra College in Shyambazar
At Shyambazar, Dipak Sengupta, 72, and his wife Sabita, 69, came out of a polling booth inside Maharaja Manindra College. Despite “trying hard”, the two are yet to get a single jab of a Covid vaccine.
Sengupta, who is hypertensive and suffers from spondylitis, cannot stand for long in a queue. “The least a country’s government can do is take care of its senior citizens,” he said.
Chanda Rani Biswas outside a polling booth in Shyambazar. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal, Bishwarup Dutta and Sanat Kr Sinha
Chanda Rani Biswas, 81, who came out minutes later from the same booth, had “waited in vain for over two hours for a second shot” in a queue at a private hospital in Salt Lake.
Dilip Kumar Dutta, 71, a voter at Calcutta Boys’ School in the Chowringhee constituency, was set to get his second jab on Friday but was far from happy. “Several of my friends have not yet received the first dose. People who have are scrambling for the second dose,” he said.
“In Bengal, politicians have flown in from Delhi and held rally after rally, which helped spread the virus. To keep up with the competition, politicians from Bengal have done the same. This lack of application of mind during a health crisis, by those who are supposed to provide leadership, is quite upsetting,” said Dutta.
Case count
Bengal on Thursday recorded 17,403 new infections, 89 deaths and 12,885 recoveries. The number of active cases has risen to 1.1 lakh.
Of the 89 deaths, 23 were reported from Calcutta and 21 from North 24-Parganas, the two worst-hit districts in the state. While Calcutta recorded 3,901 new infections, North 24-Parganas reported 3,912.