Calcutta, April 1: The detection of 17 fresh polio cases in the state since January has pushed the government into intensifying the pulse polio programme. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will issue a special appeal to people tomorrow to have their children immunised in the latest drive in the districts from April 6 to 8.

Director of health services Prabhakar Chatterjee will visit Murshidabad — there are about 1,200 polio cases in Suti alone — on April 5 and hold meetings with the district health officials engaged in the drive. “The chief minister has asked us to strictly monitor the progress of polio immunisation and achieve 100 per cent success,” he said.

Chatterjee said that apart from the health sub-centres in the rural belt, health workers will set up camps in villages and go door-to-door to administer the vaccine. “The camps’ performance and the door-to-door immunisation will be strictly monitored by a state-level team of experts, comprising a joint secretary, a deputy secretary and a joint director of health services,” he added.

Tribute to Krishanu

The Trinamul Congress has requested mayor Subrata Mukherjee to rename Naktala Road after Krishanu Dey. The former Indian footballer, who died on March 20, used to stay in Naktala. Partha Chatterjee, party MLA from Behala, has sent a proposal to the mayor.

Mamata Banerjee, who sent a floral tribute to Krishanu’s family from New Delhi, will organise a formal Trinamul tribute to the footballer on reaching Calcutta shortly.