The Centre on Tuesday wrote to the West Bengal Chief Secretary saying that the central teams to assess the COVID-19 situation were stopped from visiting the areas to make an on-spot assessment.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha saying: "It has been brought to the notice of this ministry that both IMCTs, at Kolkata and Jalpaiguri, respectively, have not been provided with requisite cooperation by state and local authorities."
The Home Ministry also said that the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) visiting Kolkata and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal were being stopped from visiting the areas to make an on-spot assessment of the Covid-19 situation.
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"Obstruction of central team in West Bengal amounts to obstructing lockdown implementation," the MHA said.
The central government has constituted six IMCTs to make an on-spot assessment of the COVID-19 situation in these places and issue necessary directions to the four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal -- for redress.
Banerjee had on Monday expressed her displeasure in a series of tweets and sought to know the rationale behind the formation of central teams to visit the states.
She urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to share with her the criteria to be followed by the teams for the assessment of the situation, without which her government "would not be able to move ahead".
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(With PTI inputs)
