Kolkata: Taking an exemplary step towards the fight against COVID-19, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee emerges as the first among all her counterparts in the country to donate Rs 5 lakh in the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund. She has donated an equal amount to the West Bengal State Emergency Relief Fund for the same cause. Banerjee announced about the donation in both the relief funds through a tweet on Tuesday evening, stating: "I do not take any salary as an MLA or a Chief Minister and I have also foregone my MP Pension despite being a 7-time Member of the Parliament. I come from limited means. My primary source of income is from my creative pursuits, the royalties I generate from my music and books." The Chief Minister has written more than 100 books and the same were bestsellers at the International Kolkata Book Fair. She has also penned songs on various issues, the recent one being on COVID-19. She also mentioned in the tweet: "Out of my limited resources, I am contributing Rs 5 lakhs to the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund & another Rs 5 lakhs to the West Bengal State Emergency Relief Fund in an attempt to support our countrys efforts in fighting the COVID-19." This comes when she had been fighting relentlessly to ensure the safety of the people of her state. Besides taking administrative decisions to ensure necessary health facilities and arrangements to fight the disease, the Chief Minister is leaving no stone unturned to spread awareness about the precautionary measures that one should follow to avoid spreading of the virus. On Tuesday, Banerjee held a series of meetings at Nabanna with senior officials on various issues regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. In the afternoon, Banerjee went to the headquarters of Kolkata Police at Lalbazar and the headquarters of the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Bhawani Bhavan. Commissioner of Kolkata Police Anuj Sharma accompanied her. Banerjee took stock of the situation at Lalbazar and interacted with the rank and file of the city police. She urged them to take all necessary precautionary measures. She also visited the office of the Commissioner of Police. At Bhawani Bhavan, Banerjee was found directing the police personnel to use masks as it is a precautionary measure to check the spread of the disease. In a bid to create awareness, Banerjee is the only Chief Minister who is almost every day visiting various places including hospitals, market places and night shelters. An order has been issued where it has been mentioned that Cable TV connections should not be disconnected by the service providers for the next one month even if one fails to make payments for the subscription. According to senior doctors, who held a press conference at Nabanna on Tuesday, the situation of the state in terms of spreading of the disease is much better compared to others in the country and there is no report of any community transmission. 38 people have tested positive so far and the disease has claimed five lives in the state. The four include a 48-year-old woman from Salkia in Howrah, who has a history of visiting Dooars in North Bengal in the recent past and died at Howrah District Hospital on Monday night. "In a bid to win the battle people must stay at home and take precautionary measures following the governments guidelines," said Dr Sukumar Mukherjee. Meanwhile, the state government identified 73 persons who had attended the Nizamuddin event in Delhi and all will be undergoing swab tests on an immediate basis along with being put under mandatory 14 days quarantine.

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