‘IMCT= India’s Most Callous Team’: TMC says central team spreading political virus in Bengal

Team Udayavani, Apr 25, 2020, 8:42 PM IST

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

Chandra said the team it is yet to receive a response from the state government to the letters it has written to Sinha since its arrival in the city on Monday. “Four letters have been written to the state government till today. No response has been received till date… The chief secretary of West Bengal has been widely reported in the media to have stated that the IMCT is free to visit anywhere, and the state government cannot waste its time by accompanying them.

“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.

The ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday described the two inter-ministerial central teams (IMCT) visiting West Bengal to assess the Covid-19 situation as “India’s Most Callous Team”, which, it said, has sought to spread the political virus “shamelessly”.

The central teams have been visiting hospitals and quarantine centres and meeting officials in Kolkata and Siliguri.

“As expected, IMCT’s visit to #Bengal has served no purpose. Visiting districts with no hotspots, asking #Bengal for audit committee, already been in place since early April,” TMCs leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said in a tweet.

“Their real aim is to spread the political virus. They are doing it shamelessly, Blatantly. Take your pick, IMCT = India’s Most Callous Team IMCT = I Must Cause Trouble (in Bengal),” he tweeted.

The two central teams have alleged non-cooperation from the West Bengal government.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier slammed the Centre for sending the teams to look into the state’s preparedness for tackling the Covid-19 outbreak and alleged that faulty testing kits were dispatched to the state.