The Jharkhand government has requested its Bengal counterpart to allow interstate transportation and let people who are still caught in the lockdown reach their homes.
The Jharkhand government is also learnt to have raised the matter with the Centre to issue necessary directives in this regard.
Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdev Singh said: “There are reports that entry of special buses from Jharkhand is being denied by the Bengal government. These buses were meant to take back labourers of Jharkhand who are caught in different districts of Bengal. According to a directive of the central government, labourers, students and others who are stranded in other states can be taken back for which the state concerned has been authorised to make proper arrangements. There are several modes of transportation such as trains and buses. I have raised the issue with the Bengal government.”
Singh said the Bengal government has concerns about interstate bus movement.
“I don’t know what are the concerns of the Bengal government but so far they are undecided on the interstate movement. But I believe that the issue will be resolved within a couple of days. In other states also we faced the issue but it was quickly resolved,” said Singh.
A senior state official said the Bengal government is not even allowing entry of buses carrying people who are residents of Bengal.
On Friday, the Dumka district administration flagged off a few busses carrying 277 labourers of Bengal to their home state. But the buses were denied entry by the Bengal police at different check posts.
A total of 27 people from Calcutta who were part of a wedding faced similar situations. They had come to participate in a wedding in Giridih but got stuck in the lockdown. They were intercepted by the Dumka police and kept in quarantine when they tried to return to Calcutta.
After their quarantine period was over the Dumka administration issued a special movement pass for their bus but they were not allowed entry in Bengal on Friday.
Giridih and Jamtara district administrations too faced a similar situation.
Former JMM MLA from Bahragora Kunal Sarangi expressed concern over the attitude of the Bengal government.
“I don’t know what is wrong with the Bengal government because it is disrespecting the novel coronavirus warriors who are saving our lives. A Calcutta-based application scientist with QIAGEN, Ayan Dutta, came to Jharkhand along with his driver and an associate to train health professionals of Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur and for the installation and demonstration of automated viral RNA extraction system. They were given special permission by the National Health Mission, Jharkhand. After finishing work when they were returning to Calcutta where they were stopped by the Bengal police at Jhargram check post. The doctor called me for help around 1.30am on Monday. I arranged him food and lodging. In the morning I informed the Jharkhand chief secretary and requested him to take-up the matter,” said Sarangi.
Social activist and RTI expert Vishnu Rajgahdia said he too came to know about several such instances.
“The Bengal government should look into such cases. On Monday some people called me and said their buses were stopped by the Madhya Pradesh police. They were coming from Surat with valid permit from the Gujarat government but Madhya Pradesh police claimed that any permission issued by the Gujarat or other governments and not Madhya Pradesh has no validity,” he said.
