<p>The full-blown confrontation is raging over sending central teams to West Bengal for on-the-spot assessment of COVID-19 situation with the Centre on Tuesday saying the state was preventing their work while Trinamool Congress upped the ante asking why "adventure tourists" are not being sent to states like BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.</p>.<p>A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shot off a terse letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trinamool Congress fielded its Parliamentary leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Lok Sabha) and Derek O'Brien (Rajya Sabha) in a digital press conference to question the BJP-ruled Centre while Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla shot off a letter to the West Bengal government saying it was on the wrong side of law.</p>.<p>Congress Treasurer and senior MP Ahmed Patel too questioned the Centre, saying the exercise should not be limited to "selective" states so that all affected states must benefit Centre's "constructive inputs" and urged that similar teams should be sent to Gujarat, "given the rising cases and lockdown violations in Gujarat, similar teams should be sent there too.</p>.<p>In his letter, Bhalla said the teams sent to Kolkata and Jalpaiguri have "not been provided requisite cooperation by the state and local authorities and "in fact, they have been specifically restrained from making any visits, interacting with health professionals and assessing the ground level situation".</p>.<p>This amounts to "obstructing the implementation" of the orders issued under Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the "equally binding direction" of the Supreme Court that the states should "faithfully comply" with the Centre's decisions on fighting COVID-19, he said. The Supreme Court had observed that the states will "faithfully comply" with the Centre's orders on COVID-19 and Bhalla said it must be treated as a "direction".</p>.<p>The MHA has sent six teams led by Additional Secretary level officers to 11 districts -- seven in Bengal, two in Maharashtra and one each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh -- citing that the situation in these places were "especially serious". Two teams each have already reached Bengal and Maharashtra and one each in Rajasthan and MP.</p>.<p>MHA Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said the central teams which went to the states other than Bengal were getting full cooperation from the state administrations. "But the feedback we have received from the two teams in Kolkata and Jalpaiguri is that the state and local administrations are not cooperating," she said responding to an online question during the daily COVID-19 press conference.</p>.<p>"Sad to note Centre is fighting a battle against some states. Is this the spirit of federalism? Is this enshrined in the Constitution? We really do need to know the basis on which the teams are sent to Bengal. What are the criteria for selecting these districts. In Kalimpong, the last case was reported on April 2. In Jalpaiguri, the last case was reported on April 4. Look at the number of cases and hotspots in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. Why no teams were sent to these states," O'Brien said.</p>.<p>Asked whether it has become a political fight, Bandyopadhyay said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told Prime Minister that the central team is welcome if they are obeying the spirit of cooperative federalism but what happened was the opposite.</p>.<p>"We have no problem if somebody is not included. But these actions suggests there is more to it," O'Brien said adding it was an "obvious observation" that the order was aimed at targeting the Opposition-ruled states as the districts chosen were under non-BJP government except for Madhya Pradesh's Indore.</p>.<p>"Anybody who have to come is welcome. But there is a process. Sending adventure tourists without informing authorities is not the way," he said.</p>.<p>O'Brien said, "you can do all the politics you want when the situation improves after Diwali or may be after winter. There’s no room for complacency. Long COVID-19 battle lies ahead...When we wore masks to Parliament you said it’s gimmicks. Onus is now on the Centre to make us understand why the teams have been sent in those seven districts. Just because not seeing home minister in public, is he pulling strings from the back?"</p>.<p>The Trinamool Congress-led government had raised the pitch over the Centre's decision on Monday itself with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shooting off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the order was "unclear" and the "unilateral action" was "not desirable". She had also tweeted that it would be difficult to cooperate as the orders were "unclear" on how these districts were chosen.</p>
<p>The full-blown confrontation is raging over sending central teams to West Bengal for on-the-spot assessment of COVID-19 situation with the Centre on Tuesday saying the state was preventing their work while Trinamool Congress upped the ante asking why "adventure tourists" are not being sent to states like BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.</p>.<p>A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shot off a terse letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trinamool Congress fielded its Parliamentary leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Lok Sabha) and Derek O'Brien (Rajya Sabha) in a digital press conference to question the BJP-ruled Centre while Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla shot off a letter to the West Bengal government saying it was on the wrong side of law.</p>.<p>Congress Treasurer and senior MP Ahmed Patel too questioned the Centre, saying the exercise should not be limited to "selective" states so that all affected states must benefit Centre's "constructive inputs" and urged that similar teams should be sent to Gujarat, "given the rising cases and lockdown violations in Gujarat, similar teams should be sent there too.</p>.<p>In his letter, Bhalla said the teams sent to Kolkata and Jalpaiguri have "not been provided requisite cooperation by the state and local authorities and "in fact, they have been specifically restrained from making any visits, interacting with health professionals and assessing the ground level situation".</p>.<p>This amounts to "obstructing the implementation" of the orders issued under Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the "equally binding direction" of the Supreme Court that the states should "faithfully comply" with the Centre's decisions on fighting COVID-19, he said. The Supreme Court had observed that the states will "faithfully comply" with the Centre's orders on COVID-19 and Bhalla said it must be treated as a "direction".</p>.<p>The MHA has sent six teams led by Additional Secretary level officers to 11 districts -- seven in Bengal, two in Maharashtra and one each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh -- citing that the situation in these places were "especially serious". Two teams each have already reached Bengal and Maharashtra and one each in Rajasthan and MP.</p>.<p>MHA Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said the central teams which went to the states other than Bengal were getting full cooperation from the state administrations. "But the feedback we have received from the two teams in Kolkata and Jalpaiguri is that the state and local administrations are not cooperating," she said responding to an online question during the daily COVID-19 press conference.</p>.<p>"Sad to note Centre is fighting a battle against some states. Is this the spirit of federalism? Is this enshrined in the Constitution? We really do need to know the basis on which the teams are sent to Bengal. What are the criteria for selecting these districts. In Kalimpong, the last case was reported on April 2. In Jalpaiguri, the last case was reported on April 4. Look at the number of cases and hotspots in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. Why no teams were sent to these states," O'Brien said.</p>.<p>Asked whether it has become a political fight, Bandyopadhyay said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told Prime Minister that the central team is welcome if they are obeying the spirit of cooperative federalism but what happened was the opposite.</p>.<p>"We have no problem if somebody is not included. But these actions suggests there is more to it," O'Brien said adding it was an "obvious observation" that the order was aimed at targeting the Opposition-ruled states as the districts chosen were under non-BJP government except for Madhya Pradesh's Indore.</p>.<p>"Anybody who have to come is welcome. But there is a process. Sending adventure tourists without informing authorities is not the way," he said.</p>.<p>O'Brien said, "you can do all the politics you want when the situation improves after Diwali or may be after winter. There’s no room for complacency. Long COVID-19 battle lies ahead...When we wore masks to Parliament you said it’s gimmicks. Onus is now on the Centre to make us understand why the teams have been sent in those seven districts. Just because not seeing home minister in public, is he pulling strings from the back?"</p>.<p>The Trinamool Congress-led government had raised the pitch over the Centre's decision on Monday itself with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shooting off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the order was "unclear" and the "unilateral action" was "not desirable". She had also tweeted that it would be difficult to cooperate as the orders were "unclear" on how these districts were chosen.</p>
