West Bengal on Monday appointed four senior IAS officers as nodal officers for the “supervision and coordination” of different activities to control the spread of COVID-19 in the State.
Nodal officers for Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Howrah were appointed after an order from Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha.
State Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay has been appointed the nodal officer for Kolkata that has accounted for the highest number of COVID-19 cases and more than 500 deaths.
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Manoj Pant, another senior IAS officer, has been assigned the responsibility of North 24 Parganas, Naveen Prakash of South 24 Parganas district and Rajesh Pandey has been given the responsibility for Howrah. The development comes at a time when the State is implementing strict lockdown measures in over 430 containment zones from July 9.
New cases
The State recorded 1,435 new cases of COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 31,448. The number of active cases in the State has increased to 11,279. As many as 24 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 956.
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Of the 24 deaths, ten were reported from Kolkata and eight from North 24 Parganas. Deaths were also reported in Hooghly, Howrah, South 24 Parganas and Paschim Bardhaman district.
Meanwhile, a young bureaucrat posted in the State’s Hooghly district died of COVID-19 during the day. This was the first death in the State’s bureaucracy. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to twitter to express her grief over the death and hailed 34-year-old Debdatta Ray for her contribution to combating the pandemic.
“Grieved to hear about the untimely passing away of Debdatta Ray, who was posted as Deputy Magistrate & Deputy Collector in Chandannagar. A young WBCS (Exe) Officer, she was at the forefront fighting the pandemic & displayed outstanding devotion in discharge of her duties. I, on behalf of the Govt of West Bengal, salute her spirit & the sacrifice she’s made in service of the people of #Bengal. Spoke to her husband today & extended my deepest condolences. May the departed soul rest in peace & lord give her family strength to endure this loss,” the Chief Minister wrote twitter. She also sent a letter addressed to the bereaved family.