Covid-19 Vaccination: Vaccine Van Held Up, Forced To Divert As Mamata’s Minister Blocks Highway Over Farm Laws

The event took placed despite a green corridor having been arranged by the police for its smooth and fast movement.

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Covid-19 vaccine: Even as the Centre and the state governments are making stiff efforts to ensure the conduct of a smooth and fair rollout of the vaccination drive beginning January 16, a historic event in India’s battle against Covid-19 pandemic, West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district however presents a sorry picture, where a vaccine van got held up due to blockade of TMC minister-led protest against farm laws. The special vehicle carrying COVID-19 vaccines , on its way to Bankura and Purulia to deliver the shots, got held up due to the obstruction of the national highway led by state minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury, protesting against the new farm laws. The event took placed despite a green corridor having been arranged by the police for its smooth and fast movement. BJP national general secretary and state incharge for West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya also shared a video in which Chowdhury can be seen protesting against the three agriculture reforms in Galsi. He alleged that when people started protesting after the road was blocked for a long time, the Chowdhury attacked people with a wooden stick. "What should we make of this political hypocrisy?"Vijayvargiya said. Purba Bardhaman's Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Mukhopadhyay said that the vaccine-carrying insulated van was diverted over a distance of five km through a village owing to the blockade of the national highway, connecting Kolkata and New Delhi, at the Galsi area. The delay in the movement of the vehicle was for the time taken to cover the five km distance through the village, he said. However, as per the sources cited by news agency PTI, the vehicle had to traverse village roads for a distance of 20 kms before it could be brought back to the national highway again. After leaving the state government's vaccine store in Kolkata, the vehicle delivered 31,500 vaccines at Purba Bardhaman district health office and was on its way to deliver the life-saving vaccines to Bankura and Purulia when its onward journey was stopped at around 10 am.