PATNA: Bihar seems to be heading towards lockdown for a week or more amid huge surge in coronavirus cases. Almost all political parties, barring a few, expressed no objection if a lockdown is imposed in the state.
Bihar’s principal opposition party RJD backs stricter curbs, including weekend or weekly lockdown if needed to bring the pandemic under control. Attending the virtual all-party meet called by Governor Phagu Chauhan, Tejashwi Yadav suggested if the situation warrants, a weekly lockdown can be imposed to check the menacingly multiplying positive cases.
“But it should be done after a prior announcement to the people and not without warnings”, he opined. But the left party CPI-ML and the LJP went against the move to impose the lockdown and suggested taking all other steps to safegurad the lives of people.
State chief of BJP Dr Sanjay Jaiswal suggested a 2-day lockdown from Friday evening at 6 pm to Monday morning at 8am. Dr Jaiswal, who is a medical practitioner, said that a break of 62 hours will prove effective in breaking the transmissions chain of COVID-19 without causing much disruption to normal life in the state. He also suggested declaring summer vacation from April 18 to June 1 to all schools and colleges in view of the emerging Corona menace.
Congress leader Dr Madan Mohan Jha, who attended the all-party meet, said his party will support a lockdown, be it weekly or fortnightly. “But the state government should resort to lockdown without repeating the past mistakes in which thousands of people had suffered”, he said.
The leaders of HAM and the VIP also expressed their supports in decisions of the state government to check the pandemic rampaging even if the lockdown is also imposed. But when the media asked CM Nitish Kumar about the possibility of resorting to lockdown, he said that everything would be cleared on Sunday at the meeting of the state Crisis Management Group.
Meanwhile, reliable sources said that the state government will most probably impose lockdown either for a week or a fortnight. The possibility of imposing lockdown in all districts including Patna where the highest rate of positivity is reported every day is also being considered.