Chief minister Mamata Banerjee extended the statewide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus to June 15 and announced a slew of measures to help the people of Bengal who have been battered by Cyclone Yaas amid a raging pandemic. Among the more important announcements made by her on Thursday was the state government’s decision to end the uncertainty over board exams, an issue that has kept students, their parents and teachers, on tenterhooks. She said that it has been decided to hold the examinations for classes XII and X in the last week of July and the second week of August, respectively.
The following are Thursday's key announcements:
Covid curbs to stay
Restrictions to prevent large scale mingling of people in a public space will remain in effect till June 15. The Bengal government had on April 30 imposed severe restrictions on the movement of people, vehicles and goods to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
“Restrictions will continue like before. We are not calling this a lockdown. Lockdown hampers the economy and we are determined to protect the people from further economic hardships,” said Mamata. “The restrictions imposed earlier have helped the situation ease in the last few days. All other restrictions will remain as they were. Only in the case of the jute industry have we relaxed the norms to allow 40 per cent of the workforce from the existing 30 per cent.”
Shopping malls, restaurants, bars, gyms, swimming pools will remain shut and people’s movement is not allowed from 9 pm onwards. Markets and grocery shops will remain open till 10 am.
Bengal had logged 16,225 new cases till Wednesday, indicating a fall in the number of fresh cases.
Board exams
Mamata announced that the state government had decided to hold board examinations for classes XII and X in the last week of July and the second week of August respectively. Around 20.5 lakh students are qualified to appear in this year’s Madhyamik and higher secondary exams.
“Students are in anguish over when the exams will be held. We want to end that. Keeping all restrictions around Covid in mind, we have decided on holding the exams,” she said. “The higher secondary exams will be held earlier since it will help the students enroll in colleges and participate in international and national competitions (entrance exams). The class X exam is internal. We are holding it later.”
The government has decided that the students of class X will only have to appear for the seven compulsory subjects, while marks of the 38-58 additional subjects will be based on grades/marks provided by the schools. For the higher secondary exams, the number of compulsory subjects is 15.
A detailed schedule for the exams will be announced later.
“The exams will be held in the home centre, at their (students') own school to minimise travel amid Covid,” Mamata said.
The education department has also decided to reduce the duration of the papers from 180 minutes to 90 minutes. “This will be of big advantage to the students, as they will get more options to answer the question paper. Earlier if they had to answer eight out of 10 questions, now they will have five questions to attempt,” Mamata said.
Cyclone Yaas
Central aid for the damage suffered in the aftermath of Yass will be at the top of the agenda when Mamata meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday at Kalaikunda in West Midnapore.
The chief minister said on Thursday the state had suffered damages worth Rs 15,000 crore, according to a preliminary assessment made by government officials.
“He will visit cyclone-affected areas of Odisha and then reach Kalaikunda. I expect a short meeting with him,” Mamata said.
After holding talks with departmental secretaries at the state administrative headquarters, Mamata said the government will launch a scheme, titled "Duare Traan (Relief at Doorstep) from June 3 to reach relief materials to the devastated areas.
“Our priority is to start relief and rehabilitation. Tarpaulin sheets, dry ration and drinking water should be arranged immediately. I have also asked the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to send teams to the affected villages,” Mamata said.
To facilitate the launch of Duare Traan, the state government will seek applications from those affected by the storm between June 3 and June 15. The applications will be verified from June 18 to June 30.
The state government has announced a Rs.1,000- crore relief package, while the Centre has promised Rs 400 crore as assistance.
Probe into bridge repairs
Mamata has also asked the irrigation department to start immediate work on rebuilding embankments that have been washed away.
“How could the entire embankment be washed away in Digha? Why is it taking so long to build embankments? We cannot afford to let so much money be washed away. This will be investigated,” she said.
The chief minister also asked irrigation department secretary Naveen Prakash to explain why bridges were washed away in some parts of South 24-Parganas, which were repaired after last year’s Amphan.
