Mamata takes exception to central teams, writes to PM Modi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the central teams have kept the State government in 'complete dark'.

"While I appreciate the proactiveness shown by the Central government in sending their teams to West Bengal, the same was done without prior information and hence is a breach of established protocol," states the letter.

The letter adds: "Central teams kept the State government in complete dark and had approached central forces like BSF and SSB for logistics support and had already moved in the field without any consultation with the State government. As an established procedure, it is expected that the central team should have first taken a briefing from the State government officials to go for the field visits."

With regards to violations of the national lockdown, Chief Minister Banerjee responded that "these observations are devoid of any facts and do not lend any credibility to the claim."

"It has been stated that there have been a number of violations of lockdown measures and the situation is specifically serious in some of the districts. These observations are devoid of any facts and do not lend any credibility to the claim," says the letter.

She adds: "The State government is proactively ensuring the lockdown measures as notified by the Government of India and is maintaining a close liaison with concerned central ministries."

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 339 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in West Bengal of which 66 patients have recovered and discharged and 12 have succumbed to the deadly virus.

( With inputs from ANI )