Asansol Municipal Corporation reacts to row over TMC leader administering COVID-19 vaccine

After a Trinamool Congress leader gave a woman the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination camp in West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district without prior training, Amarnath Chatterjee, Civic Administrator, Asansol Municipal Corporation said that the department will investigate the matter to find out what actually happened. Amarnath Chatterjee, "We will investigate the matter. She (Tabassum Ara) will be held responsible if she has done it (administered vaccine to anyone)."

Asansol Municipal Corporation on Tabassum Ara case

The tragedy occurred in Kulti's Sitarampur village on Satuday, July 3. Tabassum Ara, the former deputy mayor of the Asansol Municipal Corporation, stole the vaccine syringe from a health worker and gave it to Rubiya Mahato. Ara later claimed that she did not do anything wrong at the immunisation camp when questioned by reporters. She stated that she was working to boost immunisation awareness after a video of her administering the shot went viral.

She said, "I had no other intention, but to raise the awareness among the people. I have good knowledge about how to push insulin and this is quite similar to that."

The state Health Department has sought a thorough report on the occurrence from the district's chief medical officer. Health Department official said, "We have asked the CMOH to file a detailed report. He has been asked how a non-medical person was allowed to administer the jab. This is a punishable offence."

BJP leaders lash out at Mamata govt

Union minister Babul Supriyo, criticising the ruling TMC, said the state administration appeared to have no control over its administrators. Tagging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the BJP's Asansol MP tweeted, "TMC's Tabassum Ara, a member of the administrative body of AMC, has vaccinated people herself and risked hundreds of lives... Will her political colour shield her from stern punishment?"

Dilip Ghosh, the state BJP president, also criticised the TMC over the incident. He noted, "In a state where the chief minister knows everything -- from Engineering to Medicine -- it is in the fitness of things that her party members would also think in the same way. These acts show the real picture of the state."

This comes when the TMC-led West Bengal government is already grappling with the fallout from the suspected COVID-19 vaccination scam.

(with inputs from ANI/PTI)

Picture Credit: ANI/PTI