A file photo of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday objected to the proposed visit of inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) to at least seven cities in the state, as she demanded more clarity from the Centre as to the criteria employed in zeroing in on the areas. Earlier in the day, Kolkata, Howrah, Medinipur East, 24 Parganas North, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaigudi featured in the list of districts slated to be visited by the IMCTs to assess the coronavirus situation in the country.
Besides, the teams, constituted by the Union Home Ministry, will be visiting Indore, Mumbai, Pune and Jaipur, a government release said.
"We welcome all constructive support & suggestions, especially from the Central Govt in negating the #Covid19 crisis. However, the basis on which Centre is proposing to deploy IMCTs in select districts across India including few in WB under Disaster Mgmt Act 2005 is unclear (sic)," Mamata said in a tweet.
"I urge both Honb’le Prime Minister @NarendraModi Ji & Home Minister @AmitShah Ji to share the criterion used for this. Until then I am afraid, we would not be able to move ahead on this as without valid reasons this might not be consistent with the spirit of federalism (sic)," the CM added in another tweet.
Later in the day, news agency Asian News International (ANI) reported a letter written by Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which she claimed that the teams from Centre had already landed in the state even before the order deploying them was passed. Banerjee reportedly told the Prime Minister in the note that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah dialled her around 1 PM, several hours after the teams landed in the state.
"The order dated April 19, 2020, from Home Ministry addressed to Chief Secretary also reached just 30 minutes before the teams arrived. While I appreciate the pro-activeness shown by the Central government in sending their teams to West Bengal, the same was done without prior intimation and hence is a breach of established protocol," read the letter.
"... the central teams kept the state government in complete dark and had approached central forces like BSF, SSB for logistical support and had already moved in the field without any consultation with the state government," it said.
"... it has been stated in the referred letter that there have been a number of violations of lockdown measures and situation is specifically serious in some of the districts. These observations are devoid of any facts and do not lend any credibility to the claim," said the communication.
According to the data with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal has recorded 339 coronavirus cases, resulting in 12 deaths till date.
(updated with additional details at 8:41 PM)
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