After two days of war or words between the Center and the West Bengal government over the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team to Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and North Bengal districts, a temporary truce has been reached.
A late-night letter from West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha assured state’s cooperation to the IMCT. "This is to convey my highest assurances for implementation of the orders of the central government issued under the Disaster Management Act as well as directions of the Supreme Court,” Sinha wrote in his letter to the Union home secretary.
The top-most Bengal officer also denied any deliberate attempt to not cooperate with the central teams. He argued that since the teams had arrived without any prior notice, it took time to facilitate their visit to desired areas.
Sinha added that Apoorva Chandra, head of IMCT Kolkata, met him on the 20th and held an interaction about the lockdown measures taken by the state government. “I am also in touch with Vineet Joshi, head of IMCT Siliguri and have apprised him of steps taken,” he said.
The MHA welcomed the Bengal government's move. “We welcome the decision of the government. Chief secretary has assured that state government will help in ground-level assessment,” Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastav told ANI.
Earlier, the Union home secretary in a strongly worded letter had "directed" the chief secretary to facilitate the visit of the IMCTs. TMC questioned the logic behind sending the teams to North Bengal districts which have been Covid-19 free for the last fortnight and called the Centre’s action "adventure tourism.”
Comments
0 comment