Central team in Kolkata starts field visits

The Inter-Ministerial Central

Team that have been sent to Kolkata to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state, began its field visits on Tuesday evening as it toured various parts of the city and took note of the ground level implementation of lockdown.

The team members drove through various parts of the city, including Rabindra Sadan, Lake Gardens, Jadavpur, Bhowanipore, Ballygunge, Hazra and Gariahat and wrapped up their visit late in the evening, official sources said.

Hours after they complained of non-cooperation from the Trianmool Congress government, they started their tour at 5 pm, nearly an hour after a stern letter from the union home ministry directed the state government to cooperate with the teams.

 

Apurba Chandra, an additional secretary in the defence ministry and the leader of the team, had alleged in the morning that they were told they "will not be going out" during the day.

Chandra was seen in one of the cars that toured the city.

While one central team is in the city, another one is in Jalpaiguri district. Members of that team, however, remained indoors and are likely to begin their tour on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Chandra went out briefly in the morning but returned to their base the BSF office - after traversing only around 500 metre.

Several TV channels showed policemen putting up Naka checking and blockades outside the BSF office and controlling vehicular movements.

"We have been deployed by the Centre and our order of deployment says the state government shall provide logistic support to us.... I have been in touch with the chief secretary and seeking his support since the time I landed here," Chandra had said earlier in the day.

"I met him on Monday. But on Tuesday, we were informed that there were some issues, so we will not be going out. The chief secretary is likely to visit us and we will again hold a meeting with him," he said.

Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said, "The central team told us that it wants to visit parts of the city. We agreed and state government officials are accompanying the team.