West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday in a letter urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange Covid-19 vaccines for state and central government employees. In the letter, she requested the Prime Minister for 20 lakh vaccine doses to cover the vaccination process of all employees engaged in the priority sectors without further delay.
"I request you to kindly arrange vaccines for these priority sector Central government employees working all over the country along with state Government employees without any further delay," Banerjee said in the letter, adding that the inoculation for frontline workers involving extensive interface with the public is of paramount importance.
Banerjee further said that the state government has taken several steps to complete the vaccination process of employees in frontline positions and electorally engaged employees across several sectors but minimally 20 lakh vaccine doses are still required to cover vaccination of all employees.
"The railway employees, the employees working in the airports and the ports etc. are working to keep essential activities uninterrupted. Similar is the position of employees of Banks, Insurance, Post & Telegraphs, Defence, Coal, etc. They have been forced to face people, to mingle with the public for discharge of their duties. In the process, they are running the risk of being affected by Covid 19. It is important that they are vaccinated without delay and irrespective of age groups," Banerjee's letter to boost the vaccination supply to the Prime Minister read.
Earlier, the West Bengal chief minister had alleged that the CMs meeting with the Prime Minister was 'super flop' and that she and her counterparts from other states were not allowed to speak, which was like insulting. She also said that the central government does not have 'proper plans' to handle the Covid situation of the country.
India so far has administered more than 18.70 crore vaccine doses, according to the health ministry data. West Bengal has given more than 1.27 crore vaccine doses to date, the data showed.
(With inputs from agencies)