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Business News/ News / India/  Bengal draws Centre’s flak for going easy on lockdown norms
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Bengal draws Centre’s flak for going easy on lockdown norms

Home secretary Bhalla says the state violated social distancing norms, leading to highest mortality rate
  • Kolkata saw rampant violation of lockdown norms which necessitates stricter clampdown
  • Migrant workers stranded in Rajasthan arrive at a railway station on the outskirts of Kolkata on Wednesday. (Reuters)Premium
    Migrant workers stranded in Rajasthan arrive at a railway station on the outskirts of Kolkata on Wednesday. (Reuters)

    NEW DELHI : Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Wednesday stepped up the heat on the West Bengal government for its alleged lack of cooperation and transparency in containing covid-19, and accused it of acting against India’s international interests.

    In a series of letters to state chief secretary Rajiv Sinha, Bhalla highlighted West Bengal’s poor implementation of containment measures, including gross violation of social distancing norms, which led to the state recording the country’s highest covid-19 mortality rate of 13.2%.

    Bhalla also accused the state government of creating hurdles in India’s outreach initiatives with its neighbours by preventing cross-border transportation of essentials.

    Allegations and counter allegations have been flowing thick and fast between the Centre and the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee-led state government and have intensified after two inter-ministerial central teams (IMCT) said the state was not cooperating with them to asses the situation across districts. TMC, in turn, alleged that the Centre was acting unilaterally and playing politics with the covid-19 crisis.

    The IMCT submitted an unflattering report on West Bengal to the Union home ministry on Monday, criticizing the state for poor surveillance, detection and testing of covid-19 cases.

    “Instances of overcrowding in bazaars, poor sanitisation, free movement of people in large numbers without masks…are grave violations of lockdown instructions and social distancing norms," Bhalla said in his letter, adding that lockdown violations were rampant in Kolkata and Howrah, with the situation requiring “stricter enforcement of lockdown measures by enhancing police presence".

    In his communication to Sinha, he said there were glaring gaps in surveillance and contact tracing of positive cases, along with the absence of data regarding the number of households and individuals contacted and surveyed for covid-19 symptoms.

    While Bhalla also asked the state to increase its provision of personal protection equipment (PPE) and N-95 masks in line with ICMR standards, as per the IMCT, West Bengal has not been cooperative in its effort to combat the spread of the pandemic.

    Bhalla also said that the state must not prevent movement of cargo for cross-border land trade under the treaties with neighbouring countries, and asked it to immediately open up transportation of essential goods along the borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. “The unilateral action on part of the West Bengal government to stop cross-border movement of essential goods…have larger implications for the Indian government with regard to its legally binding international commitments."

    The home secretary also slammed it for failing to submit its compliance report to the Union home ministry. “I am constrained to say that we have not received the compliance report from the state government of West Bengal. Further, it has been reported that goods traffic through border crossings between India and Bangladesh, falling in the state of West Bengal, has still not resumed."

    The state’s non-compliance had caused Bangladesh-bound trucks carrying essentials, and vice versa, to be stranded at the border check posts, he added. Trade and connectivity were the two key issues that had figured in a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina on 29 April.

    Elizabeth Roche and Anuja contributed to this story.

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    Published: 06 May 2020, 08:06 PM IST
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