The two Inter-ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) touring West Bengal to access the situation arising out of coronavirus have written three more letters to the state chief secretary alleging lack of cooperation and withholding information related to the pandemic.
Apurba Chandra, who heads the Kolkata team, wrote two letters to Rajiva Sinha while the third letter was sent by the north Bengal team. Reiterating their displeasure with the state government, they claimed that lockdown was not strictly followed in some parts of north Bengal. The Union government had sent the teams last week to review the state’s handling of the pandemic in Kolkata, the worst-affected city in the state, and nearby areas as well as in north Bengal.
Chandra said that the state government’s alleged stance that it cannot “waste” its officials to accompany IMCTs for field visits violated Home Ministry letter. “The IMCT has been in Kolkata since 10 am on 20.04.2020. Four letters have been written by the IMCT to the state government till today. No response has been received to any of the letters. A hard copy of the presentation which was made on 23.04.2020 has also not been made available,” read one of the letters.
“The Chief Secretary of West Bengal has been widely reported in the media of having stated in his daily press conference that the IMCT is free to visit anywhere and senior officers of the state government cannot waste their time accompanying the IMCT. The above stand is in violation of the order of the Ministry off Home Affairs as the state government is expected to provide logistics support and facilitate all field visits,” stated the letter.
After inspecting Dumurjala Stadium, a quarantine centre, last week the IMCT team had said people kept there were being taken for testing in cramped vans and thus violating social distancing norms.
Praising the state government for “strictly” enforcing the lockdown, the team observed that health professionals were not part of the surveillance team.
The teams said the state government was expected to provide accommodation, transportation, PPE kits and other facilities to them and asked if the state government would take responsibility for their safety and security. “Whether the BSF accompanying the IMCT on behalf of the government free to take action to ensure safety and security of the IMCT in absence of police support,” the letter asked.
The officials also raised the issue of whether the teams were barred from leaving its camp without informing the government. “Whether it is a fact that a DCP of Bengal police informed Bengal officers at BSF guest house on April 21 that the IMCT cannot leave the campus without the permission of the state government as the lockdown is in force and if it leaves it is only permitted to go to the airport,” the letter said, adding that no senior state official accompanied IMCT members during their visits.
