Chief minister Mamata Banerjee conveyed to the Prime Minister her displeasure at the Centre sending two inter-ministerial teams to Bengal “without prior intimation” to assess purported lockdown violations, alleging a breach of protocol and suggesting that the unilateral step amounted to an affront to the federal structure.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister underscored that the Centre had not informed her government before despatching the teams and that the visitors had begun their tours of the hotspots without consultations with the state authorities.

The chief minister pointedly made a reference to a call from the Union home minister, saying he had contacted her at “about 1pm” to inform her of the visit of the teams, although the central officials had landed in Calcutta “at 10.10am… much before our telephonic conversation”.

Mamata wrote that the Union home ministry communiqué to the chief secretary, dated April 19, had reached Sinha just 30 minutes before the teams arrived.

“While I appreciate the pro-activeness shown by the central government in sending their teams to West Bengal, the same was done without prior intimation and hence is a breach of established protocol,” the chief minister wrote, steering clear of any political comments.

Earlier in the day, Mamata had made her displeasure known with two tweets in which she asked on what ground the Centre had sent the teams, which would visit select districts in Bengal.

The two teams arrived on Monday morning. One of them, led by Apurva Chandra, additional secretary, department of defence, is scheduled to tour Calcutta, Howrah, North 24-Parganas and East Midnapore.

The other, led by Vineet Joshi, additional secretary with the HRD ministry, is expected to visit Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong.

Mamata’s letter said the reason cited for sending the teams was incorrect and that her government was faithfully enforcing the lockdown measures.

“She (Mamata) sees a pattern in Delhi’s approach towards Bengal.... First, the BJP’s social media team discredited Bengal’s battle against the coronavirus by spreading fake news. Now, two central teams have come without consulting the state government,” a source close to Mamata said.

The Centre has formed six such teams, two each for Bengal and Maharashtra and one each for Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, citing lockdown violations also in Indore, Mumbai, Pune and Jaipur.

Before the two teams’ arrival in Bengal, the Union home ministry had in a communication to Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha expressed concern at alleged lockdown violations and violence against healthcare professionals in some districts.

After assessing the implementation of the lockdown guidelines as issued by the Centre, the teams will give the necessary directives to the state government to redress the situation and send a report to the Centre, the home ministry has said.

The teams will focus on issues such as the supply of essential commodities, maintenance of social distancing, preparedness of the health infrastructure, hospital facilities, safety of health professionals, availability of test kits, PPE and masks, and the conditions at the relief camps set up for the poor and migrant labourers.

“I would like to bring to your kind notice that today the Union Home Minister spoke to me over telephone at about 1pm regarding visit of Inter Ministerial Central Teams to my state,” Mamata’s letter said. “Unfortunately the teams had already landed at Kolkata Airport by AI Special cargo Flight 1701 at 10.10am i.e. much before our telephonic conversation.”

Nabanna sources said the chief minister had raised valid questions as protocol suggests that visiting central teams accept the logistical arrangements made by the state government.

“This is standard protocol and for this the state should have been informed much earlier to make the required arrangements for the teams,” a source said.

Mamata’s letter expressed dismay at the teams approaching central forces like the BSF and the SSB for logistical support and moving into the field without any consultations with the state administration.

“As an established procedure, it is expected that the central team should have first taken a briefing from the state government officials prior to going for the field visits,” the letter said.

The Union home ministry’s order on the teams’ visit to Bengal had said: “Whereas, the state government of West Bengal will provide logistic support to the IMCT (inter-ministerial central team), for their accommodation (lodging and boarding), transportation, PPEs and extend all cooperation for their visits to local areas, production of documents ecords as requested by IMCT etc.”

A senior official at Nabanna said the way the teams had started their field visits without informing the state government had convinced the Bengal top brass that they had “other intentions”.

The Bengal BJP welcomed the central teams’ arrival and launched a fresh attack on Mamata over her handling of the state’s fight against the coronavirus.

“The Centre has done the right thing by sending these teams as there are serious shortcomings in the way the Mamata Banerjee government is handling the pandemic,” BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said.

Mamata’s letter said the reasons cited for sending the teams were “devoid of any facts and do not lend any credibility to the claim”.

“For example, (among the) districts identified, Kalimpong reported the last incident of infection on 2nd April. Similarly, last incidents of infection reported in Jalpaiguri was on 4th April and Darjeeling on 16th April,” her letter said.

“It shows that (the) selection of districts and (the) observations made unilaterally are nothing but a figment of imagination and unfortunate.”

Mamata wrote that her government was proactively enforcing the lockdown measures as notified by the Centre and maintained close liaison with the Union ministries concerned.

During a news conference, Sinha iterated Mamata’s views and questioned the manner in which the teams had been despatched.

He said he had asked the team visiting Calcutta and Howrah to meet him at Nabanna so he could brief its members about the situation in the state.

The team met the chief secretary at Nabanna for about 40 minutes from 6pm. Neither Sinha nor the central team members were ready to comment on the meeting.

The second team, which had reached Bagdogra, was asked to talk to the chief secretary over the phone.

Union home ministry spokesperson Vasudha Gupta declined comment on Mamata’s letter.