The tug-of-war between the central team which is in West Bengal to assess the COVID-19 situation, and the state government continued, with both the parties taking potshots at each other.
On Saturday, the central team flagged non-cooperation on the part of the state government over providing logistical support and other relevant information. In a letter to Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) led by senior bureaucrat Apurba Chandra, also sought to know details about steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation to identify and quarantine those who returned from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin area.
Chandra said the team it is yet to receive a response from the state government to the letters it has written to Sinha since its arrival in the city on Monday.
"Four letters have been written to the state government till today. No response has been received till date... The chief secretary of West Bengal has been widely reported in the media to have stated that the IMCT is free to visit anywhere, and the state government cannot waste its time by accompanying them.
"The above stand is a violation of the order by the Union Home Ministry and the state government is expected to provide logistics support and facilitate all field visits," Chandra said in one of the two letters to Sinha on Saturday.
The central team, in one of the letters, also highlighted the absence of police escort for the IMCT, and asked whether the state government will take responsibility for the safety and security of the IMCT “if it ventures out on its own”.
Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress described the visiting central teams as "India's Most Callous Team", which, it said, has sought to spread the political virus "shamelessly".
"As expected, IMCT's visit to #Bengal has served no purpose. Visiting districts with no hotspots, asking #Bengal for audit committee, already been in place since early April," TMC leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O' Brien, said in a tweet.
"Their real aim is to spread the political virus. They are doing it shamelessly, Blatantly. Take your pick, IMCT = India's Most Callous Team IMCT = I Must Cause Trouble (in Bengal)," he tweeted.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier slammed the Centre for sending the teams to look into the state's preparedness for tackling the COVID-19 outbreak and alleged that faulty testing kits were dispatched to the state.
(With PTI inputs)
