Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha wrote to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Tuesday assuring him of co-operating with two inter-ministerial central teams even as the visitors remained stationed at their respective guest houses — in Calcutta and Siliguri — through Wednesday.

The letter claimed the state did not get an opportunity to provide any logistical support as per the Centre’s order because the teams had arrived without prior discussions with Nabanna and gone to the BSF guesthouse in the city and SSB guesthouse in Siliguri from the airports in Calcutta and Bagdogra, respectively.

“It is not a fact that the IMCT has not been provided with any co-operation by the state government. In fact the teams had arrived without any prior consultation with us and, therefore, there was neither such opportunity to provide any logistic support as envisaged in the order dated 19th April, 2020 nor the team asked for any help,” read the letter.

Sources at Nabanna said Sinha had written in response to Bhalla’s letter that had reached the state secretariat on Tuesday. The Union home secretary wrote after the central teams had apparently conveyed to Delhi that the state was not cooperating with them.

The chief secretary mentioned in his letter that he had held two meetings with the team in Calcutta that was led by Apurva Chandra and they had visited different parts of the city to “make an on the spot assessment of the implementation of the lockdown measures”.

Although the chief secretary, in his letter, conveyed “highest assurance for the implementation of the orders of the central issued under Disaster Management Act, 2005”, it was apparent that the state government was still sulking over the arrival of the visitors from Delhi and was apprehensive of their intentions.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, after expressing her displeasure about the team’s arrival first in social media and then in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spoke publicly on the issue for the first time on Wednesday.

At a news conference at Nabanna, Mamata said: “They (the Centre) are making tall claims every day. They are sending people to Bengal to check law and order and the lockdown. (They are sending teams to) check whether people of Bengal are getting food or whether even having a bath.”

The divisional commissioner of Jalpaiguri, Ajit Bardhan, met central officials in Siliguri and briefed them on the ground situation in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong districts.

Jibe at officials

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Binay Tamang said the central team that had come to Siliguri should first stay in quarantine for 14 days and then go to the Darjeeling hills.