Published 16:03 IST, June 7th 2020
'Systematic erosion of truth': Ground report unmasks Bengal's COVID-19 response
My visit to Bengal has been both eye-opening & heart-wrenching, as it shows how people have not been attended to & migrants are forced to quarantine in forests.
With more than 2 lakh cases of coronavirus, India is currently the fifth-worst affected country in the world and while the facts and figures from all the other states seem to be out in the open, the mystery surrounding Bengal's handling of coronavirus remained intact. With an aim to expose the reality of the state's COVID-19 response, I set off on this journey.
When coronavirus hit India, the analysis was very Delhi centric analysis and particularly states like Bengal were ignore from the national narrative. This motivated me to visit Bengal to uncover the unheard voices. I am of the opinion that you cannot get a real picture of Bengal by looking at Kolkata and it is important to visit the interiors of the state, we started our the journey from New Delhi on road to northern Bengal and Western Bengal. While most reports judge Bengal's coronavirus handling by looking at Kolkata, the reality lies in the villages which are not only ignored but also poorly handled. Let alone the lockdown, the people do not even follow basic social distancing norms and we rarely saw someone wearing a mask.
No lockdown, no social distancing
My visit to the state has been both eye-opening and heart-wrenching as it shows how people have not been attended to and the migrants are forced to quarantine in not only under-resourced buildings but even in forests. During my visit, I covered places including Uttar Dinajpur, Malda, Ratua, Anup Nagar, Adina among others. If I have to sum up the coronavirus handling of the state I would say there is a systematic erosion of truth and an attempt to hide figures. Bengal is a story of hidden facts where numbers are not out and voices of migrants are ignored.
As we enter Bengal, the civil volunteers greeted me. The first shocker is when you enter and you realize there is no lockdown as such, shops are open and people are walking around freely with no social distancing measures in place. There is no fear among people and coronavirus is not being taken very seriously. There is nothing like a lockdown.
Migrants mishandled
The condition of migrants in Bengal is soul-stirring as they are not provided with any facilities. Lodged in a building with no basic sanitation facilities, the migrants are not even aware of the precautions they should follow to save themselves from the deadly virus. In Jaitpur village where migrants were stationed in a separate building to quarantine, the condition was worrying. The migrants had been living there for seven days but the government did not care to get their medical done. "We are not getting food or water," a migrant said. The migrants have been stationed with no electricity, no medical checkup. Even worse, most of them had to pay for themselves and the expenses were not incurred by the state government.
People quarantined in jungle
In Ratua, people were quarantined in a jungle where they are exposed to several other health risks and diseases. I could see women living with toddlers in the absence of basic amenities and sanitation facilities. These migrants from different states have been stationed in a jungle and are forced to spend their nights in tents with no electricity. When asked what the government said in response to their queries, a migrant said "Nobody has come to see us, there is no food. We don't even know whom to contact."
Another migrant woman said, "We are not allowed to enter the village. Whoever comes from outside has to spend the quarantine period in these forests as there are no quarantine centres." She further added, "where do we go to speak to the government, we don't know where the government is."
Low level of awareness
Not only is there a lack of facilities but there is also a lack of awareness as people don't even know how to sanitize properly. In some areas when I tried to distribute sanitation products, people were not aware as to how to use them. Very clearly, the state government is not doing enough to help people in the fight against the pandemic. The people neither have resources nor knowledge to save themselves from the deadly virus. There is evident lack of trust among people for Mamata government and transparency is absolutely missing.
Systematic attempt to hide facts
In an attempt to keep people in dark, the government is not only avoiding testing but is also hiding actual figures. The tendency is to not let people know about the extent of spread of the virus in the state to keep things going. This is the major difference between Bengal and Bihar, while in Bihar people are at least aware of the numbers and know how many people are affected, Bengal lacks transparency as the accurate figures are not reported.
While a huge fuss is being made about the condition of migrants, the migrants, in fact, are not in anger as they would get work under MGNREGA. They are in fact doing better in their villages where there is now a possibility of a suitable labour job for them.
There are three pillars which made the situation of Bengal worrisome- the condition of quarantine centres which are not working efficiently, an absence of quarantine centres force migrants to spend the duration in the jungle and third if the lack of awareness. The picture clearly shows there is a systematic attempt to hide the actual situation of coronavirus in Bengal by keeping people in dark.
'Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions, and perspective appearing do not reflect the views of Republic TV/ Republic World/ ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd.
Updated 18:00 IST, June 7th 2020