TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, addressing reporters through video conferencing, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was informed about the team’s visit 3 hours after its arrival.
Kolkata| The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday tagged the visit of Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (ICMTs) to West Bengal to monitor some districts over coronavirus cases as “adventure tourism” and questioned why the teams were not sent to states with a higher number of coronavirus cases and hotspots.
TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, addressing reporters through video conferencing, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was informed about the team’s visit 3 hours after its arrival, which is unacceptable.
“The ICMT team is on adventure tourism. The CM was told about the team’s visit three hours after the team landed,” said Derek O’Brien.
He also questioned why the teams did not visit states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh having a higher number of coronavirus cases and hotspots compared to West Bengal. He further asked why these teams are being sent to West Bengal which doesn’t even appear in the top ten states in terms of infections.
“The Centre has to clarify. Why the chief minister was informed after the team had arrived? In a federal structure, you have to first inform the state government. The motive behind sending such teams is not yet clear. It needs to be clarified first,” O’Brien said.
The Union Home Ministry on Monday had said that “especially serious” situation is observed in Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata and a few other places in West Bengal. The government had formed six IMCTs for on-the-spot assessment and for issuing necessary directions to the four states- West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.
On Monday, while one team arrived at Kolkata, another reached the Jalpaiguri district.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the leader of the Trinamool Congress in Lok Sabha, said that he hoped good sense would prevail and the central government would henceforth discuss with the concerned state before taking such decisions.
“We have kept politics behind and want a joint fight against the pandemic. Do not take our graciousness for granted, we too can talk in the political language. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah should also leave politics behind and should not take Bengal’s pledge for a united fight in tackling the pandemic for granted,” O’Brien said adding, “What the central government has done by sending central teams is nothing but an insult to the people of the state.”
Sudip Bandyopadhyay further said, “We would urge the Centre not to dilute the joint fight against COVID-19. The state government has followed all the rules and norms set by ICMR and the Union government. But the Union government without informing the state government had sent teams to the state government. It is not acceptable. Such steps are not only against the basic tenants of federalism but also tantamount to diluting the joint fight against the COVID crisis.”
On the issue of centre sending teams to the state to asses the Covid-19 Situation, CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote a letter to PM Modi stressing on the “unilateral” and “undesirable” action taken by his government, keeping her government in the dark.
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