WB govt not providing logistical support, relevant info on COVID-19: Central team

A central team on a visit to West Bengal to assess the COVID-19 situation on Saturday 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 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.