The West Bengal government on Wednesday said it is cooperating with the central teams that arrived in the state "uninvited" to assess the COVID-19 situation, and it believes that team members will not be biased in their assessment.
The state government provided the inter-ministerial central teams (IMCT) visiting Kolkata and Jalpaiguri all the information they sought, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha told reporters.
"Neither we have invited them nor we have any specific agenda. They are doing whatever they have been told to do by the central government. They are free to contact anybody," he said.
Denying that the state government was non-cooperative with the teams, Sinha said, "Whether they are collecting negative stories or positive stories... we cannot help it."
The teams that reached the state on Monday alleged non-cooperation from the West Bengal government.
The chief secretary said what is expected of a government officer of the state or the Centre is neutrality and "we expect that the central team will also show its neutrality in its reports".
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Sinha said he held two meetings with the team visiting the city and have shared all information they sought.
"They decided to go around Kolkata and they went for that. But if they want to visit some areas outside the city, obviously they require some help," Sinha said.
The Jalpaiguri divisional commission met the team in North Bengal and provided them the information they wanted, he added.
"The divisional commissioner called me and said that the team did not want to go out today," Sinha said.
The team for Kolkata is led by Apurba Chandra, the additional secretary of the Ministry of Defence, while the one for Jalpaiguri is headed by Vineet Joshi, a senior official of HRD Ministry. Both are additional secretary rank officers in the central government.
Chandra later wrote to the chief secretary seeking logistical support from the state government and expressing the desire to visit hospitals, quarantine centres and hotspots.
According to Jalpaiguri administration officials, the team is likely to visit the district from Thursday.
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