The Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to lock down nine districts, including Calcutta, and several towns elsewhere in Bengal from Monday afternoon was aimed at restricting movements in areas where people from other states stay or residents go out of Bengal in search of jobs.

Sources said the lockdown in districts like North Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad,

Nadia, West Burdwan and Howrah clearly suggested that the government didn’t want people to move from one place to another.

“All migrant workers, who travel to various states for livelihood, are from these districts. Many of the migrant workers have come back in the past few days since the novel coronavirus was reported in states like Maharashtra and Kerala. It is clear that the Bengal government does not want such people to move around,” said a senior government official.

Moreover, the government will lock down all district towns and several other civic bodies across Bengal.

“By imposing the lockdown on all district towns, the government made it clear that it wanted to restrict movements, particularly in areas where people from other states often come and stay,” said another official.

The Telegraph

Citing examples of Howrah, Calcutta, Siliguri, Kharagpur, Haldia and all civic areas in North 24-Parganas, the official pointed out that the government’s target was to restrict movements in the areas with a large number of people from other states.

“The situation could turn critical if we still allow people from other states to enter the areas where their relatives stay. So, we have to be very careful in selecting the areas where the clampdown would be imposed,” the official said.

Sources in the government said since international flights had been suspended from Sunday, the state felt the novel coronavirus could be brought in here by the migrant workers of Bengal and people coming in from other states.

It was reported that migrant workers were not adhering to the government’s request to isolate themselves for 14 days after they returned. Similarly, people from neighbouring states were also visiting their acquaintance in some parts of Bengal.

“The Centre had suggested the lockdown of Calcutta, North 24-Parganas and 73 other districts across the country, where coronavirus cases were reported. But the Bengal government extended the lockdown to several other districts and towns considering that people from other states and migrant labourers could pose a threat,” said a top government official.

A section of officials, however, said the lockdown of selected towns might not be foolproof in many districts as many of the migrant labourers lived in rural areas.

“For example, several youths from the villages of northern part of Birbhum have come back from states like Maharashtra in the past few days. So, some other districts also needed to be shut down,” said an official.

A senior official said they would keep tabs on the state during the lockdown and if required, more areas could be brought under the restrictions in the next few days. “Usually, traffic is stalled in districts if major municipal areas are brought under the lockdown as the buses and other mode of transportations originate from towns. Still, if required, the state would not think twice to bring more areas under lockdown,” the official added.