Along with the Covid-19 vaccine, politics too is being rolled out in Darjeeling hills ahead of the polls.
On Thursday, Anit Thapa, chairman of the board of administrators, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), and part of the Binay Tamamg faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, said he would go to Kalimpong on Saturday to be the “first person from the hills” to get vaccinated with Covishield.
Raju Bisa, Darjeeling BJP MP, was also quick to issue “a note of thanks” to the Centre for its “amazing coordination”.
The vaccination drive will touch every household and observers believe politicians in the hills are keen to be associated with the drive during this election season.
“I will travel to Kalimpong to be the first person to be administered with Covishield from GTA region,” said Thapa.
Thapa said he took this decision to build confidence among health workers and dispel vaccine related fears among people.
Health workers will be the first to get Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and manufactured at Serum Institute of India in Pune.
The GTA is involving senior officials in vaccination.
Surendra Gupta, principal secretary of GTA, will get vaccinated with Thapa at Kalimpong.
In Darjeeling, GTA secretary David Pradhan will be the first to get the jab. GTA health department executive director Samden Dukpa will get vaccinated in Kurseong.
Thapa’s decision to travel to Kalimpong is also being seen as symbolic. The first Covid-19 related death from the region had been reported from Kalimpong on March 30, 2020.
“Following the death of Sunita Devi Singh, the entire region had panicked. The GTA worked on a war-footing to contain the spread of the virus and together we were successful in containing the spread to an extent,” said Thapa, adding that the vaccination drive in the hills would be dedicated to Sunita.
Thapa was one of the most visible hill leaders to be on ground zero during the pandemic along with Kalimpong municipality chairman Rabi Pradhan.
“Many believe that Thapa’s image improved because of his proactive involvement during the pandemic. It seems that he is determined to be involved in the vaccination phase too and not let go the advantage,” said an observer.
But the BJP’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista was not to be left behind with fulsome praise for the BJP-led Centre. “Thanks to the amazing coordination of the Union health ministry, 123 vaccination facilities and 163 cold chain points have been developed in north Bengal,” said Bista, adding that 1,28,000 doses of vaccine had been allocated for north Bengal.
GTA health executive Dukpa said that vaccination drive would be carried out in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong hospitals in the hills. “On the first day, the vaccine will be administered to 100 people,” said Dukpa. Each will get 0.5ml of the vaccine, to be repeated after 28 days.
While Darjeeling district received 18,000 doses, Cooch Behar has received 18,500, Alipurduar 12,500, Jalpaiguri,16,500, Kalimpong 3500, Malda 22,000, North Dinajpur 17,000 and South Dinajpur 20,000.