Coronavirus: TMC leaders slam visit of Central teams to West Bengal

Addressing media persons through a zoom conference, TMC MPs Derek O' Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay slammed the visit of Inter-Ministerial Central Teams to West Bengal and questioned why the teams were not sent to states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh having higher number of coronavirus cases and many more hotspots.

New Delhi: The TMC on Tuesday dubbed as "adventure tourism" the visit of Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (ICMTs) to West Bengal to monitor some districts over coronavirus cases and questioned why teams were not sent to states with much higher number of cases and hotspots.

Addressing reporters through a zoom conference, TMC MPs Derek O' Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was informed about the team's visit three hours after its arrival which was unacceptable.

"The ICMT team is on an adventure tourism. The CM was told about the team's visit three hours after the team landed," said O' Brien.

He also questioned why central teams did not visit states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh with higher number of coronavirus cases and many more hotspots.

Bandyopadhyay said that 425 tests are conducted everyday and from Tuesday the number of tests conducted daily would be increased to 600.

Both the leaders said that it was not a question of "state vs state" and appealed to the Centre to cooperate with the states.

They said once proper protocols are followed, then the state would be happy to coordinate with the government.

The Union Home Ministry had on Monday announced that six inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) will visit identified areas in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan within the next three days to make on-the-spot assessment of coronavirus situation and lockdown measures and recommend remedial measures in a report to the Centre.

PTI Report