Ajay Bhalla, the Secretary of the Union Home Ministry, on the 21st of April, wrote a letter to Rajiv Sinha, the Chief Secretary of West Bengal (W.B.)
In the letter, Mr. Bhalla said the W.B., Government is not cooperating with the Central Government team, which went to assess the ground level situation due to the spread of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19.
Mr. Bhalla said the State Government is being a hurdle for the Central team to gather information regarding COVID-19, restraining them from interacting with health workers and touring the affected areas.
Ajay Bhalla addressed Rajiv Sinha in the letter and wrote, “In fact, they have been specifically restrained from making any visits, interacting with health professionals, and assessing the ground level situation.” He further added, “This amounts to obstructing the implementation of the orders issued by the central government under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and equally binding directions of the Hon”ble Supreme Court.”
The letter to the W.B., Government was written after Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of W.B., wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, complaining about the visit of the Central Government’s team in the State.
Ms. Banerjee wrote, “I am sure you will kindly agree that such unilateral action on the part of the central government is not desirable at all, especially when both the central and state governments are working together relentlessly round the clock to contain the COVID-19 crisis.”
An Inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) were formed by the Central Government to visit four states, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. While other states cooperated well and allowed the teams to inspect COVID-19 affected areas, the West Bengal Government raised several objections over the visit.
Stay tuned for further updates about COVID-19.
