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

A central team that is 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 team, led by senior bureaucrat Apurba Chandra, also sought to know the details about steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation to identify and quarantine those who had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area.

Chandra said the team was yet to receive a response from the state government to the letters it had written to Sinha since its arrival in the city on April 20. “Four letters have been written to the state government till today. No response has been received till date…”

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The chief secretary has been widely reported in the media to have stated that the team was free to visit anywhere, and the state government could not waste its time by accompanying them, said Chandra.

“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.