Centre refutes denying permission to Mamata to visit Chicago
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Centre on Thursday said it did not deny permission to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to visit Chicago on 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekanandas historic speech.
"We did not receive any request for clearance regarding the visit of Ms Mamata Banerjee to Chicago for any event. Reports about the denial of permission are, therefore, not true," External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar said in response to media queries.
Banerjee had on Tuesday alleged that "evil forces" threatened the Ramakrishna Mission, forcing it to cancel her trip to Chicago.
"I think some evil forces had hatched a conspiracy. They did not want Ramakrishna Mission to organise the programme there. They also didn't want us, people of Bengal, to attend it. It pained me and saddened me a lot," Banerjee said while speaking at the Ramakrishna Mission's global headquarters Belur Math in Howrah district.
The Ramakrishna Mission had invited Banerjee to be the chief guest at the event which was to be held on August 26 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Banerjee had to call off her scheduled trip after the organisers wrote to her that the event had been cancelled due to "unforeseen difficulties" and "demise of a monk".
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
