Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today sought an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to why Central teams were sent to Bengal to examine violation and dilution of the Coronavirus lockdown without prior intimation to the state government.
In a letter to PM Modi, Banerjee complained that Union Home minister Amit Shah had spoken to her about the issue at 1 p.m. but the teams had landed at 10.10 a.m. Similarly, the MHA’s letter dated 19 April reached chief secretary 30 minutes before the teams arrived, she wrote saying that the pro-activeness is appreciable but without prior intimation it is breach of established protocol.
Banerjee wrote that the Centre has asked the state to arrange logistics but has kept the state in the dark. According to the established protocol, the team should first take briefing from the state government before going to the field, the letter read.
Again, the MHA’s letter stated that the lockdown was violated in some districts which Banerjee wrote “is devoid of facts” and “don’t lend any credibility to the claim”. Banerjee said that the Centre’s unilateral move is undesirable at this time when the Centre and states are working together to contain Covid-19.
Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, 54 people were detected Covid-19 positive and seven patients were discharged taking the number of active cases to 245. “We are yet again requesting people to stay indoors. Lockdown cannot be imposed by the police alone.
We expect a more disciplined behaviour from citizens. We are getting information that some people are giving lame excuses to go outside their houses,” said state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha at a press conference in the state secretariat today.
Tightening the lockdown norms, state government has decided to allow flower shops and sweet shops to operate from 8 a.m. till 12 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. Strict barricading would be done in the hotspots, said Sinha assuring that police and municipality would help people to get their essential commodities.
Movement of people in the hotspots would be restricted and efforts are on to barricade markets and allow five to 10 people at a time. In the evening, the fivemember Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) for Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore reached Nabanna state secretariat and held a meeting with Sinha.
Prior to this, Sinha accused the Centre of flouting the norms by sending teams to visit affected areas directly without prior briefing from the state government. “We were told and not asked about the visit. The Central teams immediately took help of SSB and BSF to reach the respective districts. It appears as if we are trying to hide something.
Unless we get a clear idea about the purpose of their visit, the teams will not be allowed to roam around the state,” he said.