Kolkata Apr 23 PTI West Bengal on Saturday registered a COVID-19 death after a gap of 19 days raising the toll to 21201 the health department said in its bulletinAt least 31 fresh cases were recorded which pushed the tally to 2017971 it saidThirty-five more people have recuperated from the disease since Friday taking the total number of recoveries to 1996524Bengal currently has 246 active cases down from 251 on FridayAs many as 24985 681samples have been tested in the state thus far including 9532 since Friday the bulletin added PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Apr 19 PTI West Bengal on Tuesday reported 23 new cases of the COVID-19 six more than the previous day which raised the tally to 1996374 the health department said in bulletin on TuesdayThe toll remained unchanged at 21200 with no fatality reported from any part of the stateAt least 38 more people recuperated from the disease taking the total number of recoveries to 2017846 the bulletin statedBengal currently has 272 active cases 18 less than Monday As many as 24946536 samples have been tested in the state thus far including 9023 since Monday the bulletin added PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Apr 18 PTI Clashes broke out on Monday between two groups of people in the southern part of the city leaving at least eight injured a police officer saidSix people have been arrested in connection with the brawl that took place near TMC MP Sougata Roys residence in Lake Gardens area he saidWe are looking for others involved in the incident A large number of police personnel have been deployed in the locality the officer saidAccording to police sources members of the two groups allegedly bore allegiance to the ruling TMCThe sources also said that the groups had been seeking control over the construction business in the localityRoy on his part said I have not seen such clashes in this area before I am a resident of this area for more than 60 years I had to call the officer-in-charge of Lake Gardens police station and seek his intervention PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 31 PTI With the COVID-19 situation having considerably improved in West Bengal the state government on Thursday announced that that all curbs related to the contagion would stand withdrawn from midnightThe withdrawal of the restrictions came almost two years after the pandemic struck in March 2020In a notification the government however stressed on the use of masks and hygiene maintenanceAccordingly it is hereby notified that restrictions as currently in force by aforesaid orders are hereby withdrawn However advisory in respect of health and hygiene protocols including wearing of masks at all times hand hygiene and sanitisation of public places shall continue to be strictly observed until further order it stated PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 30 PTI West Bengal on Wednesday reported 37 new cases of COVID-19 which took the tally to 2017315 the health department said in its bulletinThe toll remained unchanged at 21197 as no fresh fatality was reportedAt least 66 people recuperated from the disease since Tuesday raising the total number of recoveries to 1995482 the bulletin saidBengal currently has 636 active cases down from 665 the previous dayAs many as 24743637 samples have been examined in the state thus far including 14754 since Tuesday the bulletin said PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 28 PTI West Bengal on Monday reported 31 new cases of COVID-19 which pushed the tally to 2017233 the health department said in its bulletinThe toll remained unchanged at 20197 with no new fatality recorded the bulletin saidAt least 67 more recoveries were registered in the state raising the total number f people cured of the disease to 1995356The recovery rate stood at 9892 per centBengal currently has 680 active casesAs many as 24714560 samples have been examined in the state thus far including 9259 since Sunday the bulletin added PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 24 PTI West Bengal on Thursday recorded 59 new COVID-19 cases which pushed the tally to 2017035 the health department said in its bulletinThe toll remained unchanged at 21197 as no fresh death was reported the bulletin statedAt least 83 more people recuperated from the disease since Wednesday taking the total number of recoveries to 1995057Bengal currently has 781 active cases down from Wednesdays 805As many as 24659825 samples have been examined in the state thus far including 16429 in the last 24 hours PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Jan 28 PTI A man was arrested here for allegedly raping a hearing-and-speech-impaired woman in a moving car a police officer said on Friday She was kidnapped from the citys Pragati Maidan area late on Tuesday by the accused who then raped her according to the police complaint The woman a resident of Magrahat in South 24 Parganas district was returning home from work from the citys Science City area when she was abducted the complaint filed at Pragati Maidan Police Station said The accused allegedly raped her in the moving car and then dropped her near Ambedkar Sethu The next morning she told one of her friends about the incident following which the police was approached and a complaint lodged at Pragati Maidan Police Station the officer said A medical test has been conducted on the girl and the report is awaited he added PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Jan 28 PTI The Kolkata Municipal Corporation KMC will be suspending disbursement of pension for a section of retired employees from next month primarily due to severe financial crisis According to a notification issued by the KMC the civic body has decided to withhold pension of those who have superannuated last September and thereafter Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim however said he was not aware of any such notification and no such measure was being taken Payments of pension and other benefits to the retired employees who have superannuated in September 2021 and after that are not being released currently due to crisis of funds the notification maintained Sources in the KMC said that the decision was taken as the civic bodys revenue generation has been badly hit owing to the COVID-19 pandemic We had to take this decision as KMCs revenue generation has been hit hard due to the pandemic We will review the situation soon and take a further call on the matter in some time a top official of the civic body said Mayor Firhad Hakim however said that he wasnt aware of any such notice and an investigation would be carried out to find out who put up the notice Those supposed to get pension are getting them Some are in the process of getting it might take some time It is being investigated who gave this notice We have a burden on us but that doesnt mean that pension will be stopped Hakim said Incidentally Hakim on the day of taking oath as the city mayor had admitted that the civic body has a debt burden of around Rs 600 crore PTI SCH RMS RMS

Kolkata Jan 25 PTI The West Bengal government has spent Rs 74 crore from its State Disaster Response Fund to settle around 15000 claims of COVID-19 deaths out of the over 18500 applications it has received so far a minister said here on Tuesday At least 80 per cent of the claims have been cleared and more will be done soon he stated In accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines we are releasing the compensation amount as soon as we get clearance certificates from doctors state disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan told PTI According to the minister the department has received funds of Rs 100 crore from the state disaster management authority to pay compensation for such claimsSo far we have spent Rs 744 crore to settle around 15000 claims and it seems we may need more the minister saidOver 4500 claims were made from North 24 Parganas district around 1300 came from South 24 Parganas district and over 100 from Malda district an official of the department saidThe official also said that the number of such applications filed in Kolkata were comparatively less given the fact that the fatality rate in the city was highWest Bengal till January 20 reported 20230 COVID-19 deaths 5453 of which were in the metropolisA Kolkata Municipal Corporation KMC official said We have received around 2200 applications and compensation has been paid for more than 1500 he saidOn January 19 the Supreme Court directed state governments to intensify their efforts in reaching out to families of COVID-19 victims to pay them ex-gratia PTI SCH RMS RMS