Visiting Central team reiterates: Indifference and data withheld

While two letters were written Apurba Chandra, who heads the Kolkata team, another by the noth Bengal team. They reiterated their allegation that lockdown was not strictly followed in some parts of north Bengal.

Chandra said the state government’s alleged stance that it cannot “waste” its officials to accompany IMCTs for field visits “was in complete violation to the Ministry of Home Affairs letter”.

“The IMCT has been in Kolkata since 10am on 20.04.2020. Four letters have been written by the IMCT to the state government till today. No response has been received to any of the letters. A hard copy of the presentation which was made on 23.04.2020 has also not been made available,” read one of the letters.

“The Chief Secretary of West Bengal has been widely reported in the media of having stated in his daily press conference that the IMCT is free to visit anywhere and senior officers of the state government cannot waste their time accompanying the IMCT. The above stand is in violation of the order of the Ministry off Home Affairs as the state government is expected to provide logistics support and facilitate all field visits,” stated the letter.

On Friday, the IMCT team had inspected Dumurjala Stadium, a quarantine centre, Sanjiban Hospital and other COVID-19 hotspots in Howrah. In its letter, the IMCT said people kept at the Dumurjala quarantine centre were being taken for testing in cramped vans and thus violating social distancing norms.

It lauded that the state government for “strictly” enforcing the lockdown. However, it observed that health professionals were not part of the surveillance team. It said it wanted to meet municipal and district administration officials, and a few residents in the area and sought a complete record of the surveillance.

Underlining that the state government was expected to provide accommodation, transportation, PPE kits and other facilities to them, IMCT members sought to know if the state government would take responsibility for their safety and security. “Whether the BSF accompanying the IMCT on behalf of the government free to take action to ensure safety and security of the IMCT in absence of police support,” the letter asked.

The IMCT also sought clarity if it was barred from leaving its camp without informing the state government.

“Whether it is a fact that a DCP of Bengal police informed Bengal officers at BSF guest house on April 21 that the IMCT cannot leave the campus without the permission of the state government as the lockdown is in force and if it leaves it is only permitted to go to the airport,” the letter read.

The letter said no senior state official accompanied IMCT members during their visits and their expectation was that doctors and officials shared relevant information with them.

The West Bengal government is yet to respond to the letters.