Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced partial resumption of flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad from September 1. The 6 city flight ban was imposed since 6 July.

“Flight services from six cities were suspended. From September 1, flight services to Kolkata from the six cities may resume and can operate on three days. We cannot allow complete resumption of flight services as of now,” she said after a cabinet meeting.

The general coronavirus lockdown has been extended in Bengal till September 20, with total lockdown shceduled for 7, 11, and 12 September.

Banerjee also noted that the state governemnet has no issues with resuming metro services, if proper social distancing norms are maintained.

“We have no problem if Metro wants to resume services in and around Kolkata after maintaining physical distance (between passengers). Local train services may also start in a phased manner - one fourth at a time. We have no problem. Railway authorities can speak with us,” she said.

The state government, which was earlier planning to reopen schools on September 5 if the Covid-19 situation improved, said that schools and colleges would remain closed till September 20.