Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha on Tuesday said outsiders couldn’t guide the state government on the execution of the lockdown and wondered how central officials could see from “guesthouses and cars” what local authorities couldn’t.
Sinha was fielded by the Mamata Banerjee government to narrate the state’s side of the story at the end of daylong drama over the inter-ministerial central teams sent from New Delhi.
The teams were allegedly not accorded cooperation by the state government till the Union home secretary sent a stern letter to the Bengal administration.
Responding to questions on the letter from Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla, Sinha said the state was helping the teams already.
“There was never any stand against helping them. But our stand is that everybody is busy fighting Covid-19 now. At this time, a team from outside, coming to see, seeking information, asking questions… a team from outside cannot come and explain to us how we can get the lockdown executed here. That only we will do,” said Sinha, who met the central team for south Bengal at the BSF facility on Gurusaday Dutt Road in Calcutta on Tuesday afternoon.
Shortly before the visit, team leader Apurva Chandra, Union defence ministry’s additional secretary, had issued a statement expressing displeasure over the alleged lack of cooperation.
Responding to Chandra’s allegations, Sinha said the team had met him at Nabanna on Monday. On Tuesday, he went and met the team.
“Our government’s stand remains that in a set-up like this, it would have been good if the Centre had contacted us and sent this team. You are aware that the honourable chief minister has already written in protest to the honourable Prime Minister, she said ‘we cannot accept it’,” he said.
Sinha expressed doubts on the point of sending such teams. “What we are unable to see, how they will see from their cars or guesthouses?” he asked.
“They have come. Whatever they want by way of information, we will try and take time out of our busy schedules and try to give them information. But we cannot put our work on hold and roam around with the central teams,” he added. “We think no conflict between the Centre and the states is desirable. But for that, only the state cannot be blamed. Both sides must show that discipline. That is what we hope for.”
Asked about Bhalla’s letter, Sinha said — it was around 5.30pm, although the letter had been in the public domain for at least an hour prior to that — he was yet to get it.
“We are as it is doing everything according to the law and the guidance of the Supreme Court. But the central teams, the way they were sent, was not correct,” he said.
Asked how the letter, already in circulation on social media, was yet to reach him, Sinha did not respond and ended the news conference.
Asked how long the teams were likely to stay, Sinha said: “We did not invite them to come here and stay as our guests…. They came here on their own, they will leave on their own. But when I met them, they did not tell me that they were leaving today or tomorrow.”
Sinha said the state was not guiding the teams on where to go.
“The teams will decide…. They did not come for our agenda. They must have been told something by the Centre,” he said.
“We told them to take all precautions if they want to go to hotspots…. If the want to get out of their cars, they should find out if it’s safe. Those from outside, their safety and security are our responsibility. We did not suggest hotspots or cold spots,” he added.
Sinha said the south Bengal team had at least met him, while the north Bengal team went there directly.
“Our protocol necessitates any central team to meet the chief secretary first, he is the only person authorised to speak to any team or person from the Centre. That the south Bengal team did. I met them twice,” he added.
The five-member central team for north Bengal stayed back at the frontier headquarters of the Sashastra Seema Bal in Siliguri on Tuesday.
