New Delhi (Sputnik): India’s federal government earlier set up six inter-Ministerial teams to visit states for assessment of the situation, and to issue necessary direction to states during the lockdown, which was relaxed beginning Monday, 20 April. The team includes public health specialists and disaster management experts.
India’s West Bengal state has disallowed the visit of an inter-Ministerial team to the state, forcing the federal Home Ministry to invoke the Disaster Management Act and a recent ruling of the country’s apex court. The Supreme Court of India asked state governments to faithfully comply with directives and orders issued by the federal government in letter and spirit, in the interest of public safety.
Bhalla directed the state to comply with the order of the federal Home Ministry and make arrangements for the inter-Ministerial team to carry out its responsibilities.
West Bengal chief Mamata Banerjee has, according to reports, been on a collision course with the federal government, having written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, 20 April, that “such unilateral action on the part of the central government is not desirable at all.”
The federal government detailed six teams, two each for West Bengal and Maharashtra, as well as one each for Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan. The teams were mandated to assess the implementation of lockdown guidelines, the supply of essential commodities, social distancing, preparedness in the health infrastructure, the safety of health professionals and the conditions of relief camps for workers and the poor.
The formation of the teams followed reports of large-scale violations of lockdown guidelines in several states, including West Bengal, as the country entered the fourth week and the federal government announced a graded relaxation plan beginning Monday, 20 April.
Ever since India detected the first case of the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus on 30 January, the caseload has rapidly mounted across the country and, as of Tuesday, there were 18,985 active cases, while 3,259 patients were treated and discharged from hospitals and at least 603 people had lost their lives to the infection, according to federal health and family welfare ministries.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
