200 eminent personalities appeal to Mamata Banerjee to revoke lockdown
200 eminent personalities appeal to Mamata Banerjee to revoke lockdown
In an open letter, they said the ongoing Covid-19-imposed lockdown would destroy the livelihoods of many from the poor and backward classes and that it should have been used only as the last option to fight the pandemic.
advertisement
UPDATED: June 1, 2021 16:37 IST
Calling lockdowns unscientific and inhuman , they said in a populous country like India, the restrictions would only lead to unemployment and poverty. (Representational image: India Today/Suryagni Roy)
Two hundred eminent personalities from art, music, literature, politics and other fields of the civil society have appealed to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ease Covid-19 restrictions in the state. The signatories also include 60 doctors.
West Bengal Assembly elections 2021: Trinamul sets up cash coupon test for EC telegraphindia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraphindia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Prasun Chaudhuri | | Published 14.03.21, 12:47 AM
I head out for Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district, 44 kilometres northwest of Calcutta, one early March morning. Hooghly is the potato bowl of Bengal. As the car speeds down the Durgapur Expressway, I notice freshly harvested potatoes in pink sacks dotting bare fields. I don’t have to ask for directions to the village centred around a 14th century mosque; it is all too well known.
Furfura Sharif, according to one of several theories, derives its name from the Farsi word
farre farrah, meaning glory and happiness.
As my car veers off the expressway, I spot huge flex banners welcoming pilgrims to the upcoming Esaal-e-Sawab, an occasion where people congregate to pray for the deceased. The three-day-long gathering held every spring attracts over a million Muslim men from eastern India and Bangladesh. At the centre