Kolkata, Apr 20 () As West Bengal on Mondayreported 54 fresh coronavirus cases, the highest on a singleday, the Centre despatched a team to the state to assess the"serious" COVID-19 situation, provoking anger of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee, who made clear her unwillingness tocooperate with it.
She shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modiwhere she voiced her displeasure at the state governmenthaving been kept in dark about the visit in violation of theestablished protocol.
West Bengal has so far reported 330 cases, including12 deaths, and has been accused by the Centre of allowinggradual dilution of the lockdown regulations. Reacting tothe Centre's letter last week, Banerjee had said the Uniongovernment was only interested in "extra vigilance in somespecific areas".
The Union home ministry said on Monday morning theCOVID-19 situation is "especially serious" in Mumbai, Pune,Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata and a few other places in West Bengal,and that the violation of lockdown measures risk the spread ofthe novel coronavirus.
The places mentioned by the Ministry of Home Affairsinclude Kolkata, Howrah, East Medinipur, North 24 Parganas,Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
The central government has constituted six Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to make an on-spotassessment of the COVID-19 situation in these places and issuenecessary directions to the four states -- Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal -- for redress.
Two of these teams have landed in Kolkata.
The teams will submit their report to the centralgovernment in the larger interest of the general public, theministry said.
"The IMCTs will focus on compliance and implementationof the lockdown measures as per guidelines, the supply ofessential commodities, social distancing, the preparedness ofhealth infrastructure, the safety of health professionals andconditions of relief camps for labourers and poor people," ahome ministry spokesperson said.
A miffed Banerjee shot off a letter to Modicomplaining that she was informed by the Union Home MinisterAmit Shah late in the afternoon, whereas the central teamshave already landed in Bengal in the morning hours before thetelephonic conversation.
Calling it a breach of established protocol, Banerjeesaid, The central teams kept the state government in dark andhad approached BSF for logistic support and was moving in thefield without informing the state government.
Earlier in the afternoon, the feisty TMC leaderexpressed her displeasure in a series of tweets and sought toknow the rationale behind the formation of central teams tovisit the states.
She urged Prime Minister Modi and Union Home MinisterShah to share with her the criteria to be followed by them forthe assessment, without which her government "would not beable to move ahead".
"We welcome all constructive support & suggestions,especially from the Central Govt in negating the #Covid19crisis. However, the basis on which Centre is proposing todeploy IMCTs in select districts across India including few inWB under Disaster Mgmt Act 2005 is unclear, Banerjee tweeted.
"I urge both Honble Prime Minister @NarendraModi Ji &Home Minister @AmitShah Ji to share the criterion used forthis. Until then I am afraid, we would not be able to moveahead on this as without valid reasons this might not beconsistent with the spirit of federalism," she added.
Echoing Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Secretary RajivaSinha came down heavily on the Centre for sending the teams tothe state without following the "laid-down norms".
Later in the evening, the central teams were seenarriving at Nabanna, the state secretariat, to discuss thesituation with the chief secretary.
The development also set off a political duel inBengal with the BJP backing the Centre and the states rulingTMC and opposition CPI(M) accusing the Modi government ofviolating the federal structure.
The central government did the right thing by sendingits teams. They will surely find out how the lockdown normsare being violated and how the state government is trying tohide the real picture. The state government, in order to hidefigures and facts, is pushing the people towards a much moredangerous situation, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghoshsaid.
Senior TMC leader and Minister Partha Chatterjee saidthe Centre, instead of fighting the pandemic, is trying toscore political brownie points over the TMC government byblatantly violating the federal structure.
Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty sharedChatterjees view and said it is not the time for pettycentralstate politics and everybody has to work unitedly tofight the pandemic. SCH PNT SKSK SK