MHA writes 3rd letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary regarding Covid lockdown violation

The Ministry of Home Affairs has written a letter to the West Bengal Chief Secretary regarding lockdown violation and incidents of violence against healthcare workers in districts like Howrah, Kolkata, Medinipur, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong. The letter was written by MHA on the 19th of April and addressed to Rajiv Sinha, C.S of West Bengal Government. This is the third such letter by MHA to the Bengal Government, amidst lockdown.

What the letter states:

"After analyzing the prevalence of such violations in major hotspot districts, it is clear to the Central Government that the situation is especially serious in Kolkata, Howrah, Medinipur East, 24 Parganas North, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Jalpaiguri districts in the State of West Bengal," says the letter from MHA. 

Addressing the above-quoted words, the letter states that the IMCTs will be arriving in Bengal to check and file reports on the present situation. It states, "the Central Government, in the exercise of the powers, conferred, inter alia, under Section 35(1), 35(2)(a), 35(2)(e) and 35(2)0 of the Disaster Management Act 2005, hereby constitutes 2 Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT), as per Annexure, which will visit Kolkata, Howrah, Medinipur East, 24 Parganas North and Kalimpong, make an on the spot assessment of the situation, issue necessary directions to the State Authorities for redressal of the situation, and submit their report to the Central Government in the larger interest of the general public."

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MHA had earlier written twice to Bengal Government, stating locations within the city of Kolkata where violation of lockdowns were noticed time and again. A second letter arrived a few days later, which mentioned the gathering of people for prayers in Murshidabad. This is the third such letter to Bengal Govt in a gap of two weeks.

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