Published 19:41 IST, April 20th 2020
Mamata Banerjee writes to PM Modi flagging protocol breach amid IMCTs' visit; read letter
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee flagged the breach of established protocol on the arrival of the Inter-Ministerial Central Teams in a letter written to PM Modi.
On Monday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee flagged the breach of "established protocol" in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to her, the Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) had arrived in Kolkata more than two hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intimation regarding their visit. Moreover, she contended that the Central teams had neither taken a briefing from the state government officials before their field visit nor had they sought logistics support from the West Bengal government.
Banerjee also refuted the MHA's statement that the lockdown had been violated and the situation was serious in some of the districts such as Kolkata, Howrah, Medinipur East, 24 Parganas North, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Jalpaiguri. She termed these observations are a "figment of imagination". Asserting that the state government had proactively enforced the lockdown, the West Bengal CM observed that such unilateral action on the part of the Centre was not desirable at a juncture when state governments and the Centre are working together to combat the novel coronavirus crisis. Currently, there are 339 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in West Bengal out of which 66 persons have recovered while 12 casualties have been reported.
Read Mamata Banerjee's letter to the PM here:
Centre constitutes Inter-Ministerial Central Teams
Earlier in the day, the MHA revealed that 6 Inter-Ministerial Central Teams had been constituted in the wake of lockdown violations such as the movement of vehicles in urban areas and violence on frontline workers. The situation in Indore, Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Howrah, Medinipur East, 24 Parganas North, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Jalpaiguri was described as "serious". The mandate of the Central teams is to make an on-spot assessment of the situation, issue necessary directions to the state authorities and submit their report to the Centre in the "larger interest of the general public". Moreover, the MHA added that the teams would concentrate on areas such as compliance of lockdown measures, the supply of essential commodities, the preparedness of health infrastructure, conditions of relief camps for migrant workers and the poor.
Updated 19:41 IST, April 20th 2020