Centre indicts West Bengal govt over COVID-19, says 13.2% mortality highest in country

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a strongly worded letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha on Wednesday said that low rate of testing and high mortality rate of COVID-19 patients in the state show poor surveillance, detection and testing.

“The response to COVID-19 in the state of West Bengal is characterized by a low rate of testing in proportion to the population and very high mortality of 13.2% for the state, by far the highest for any state,” stated Bhalla in his letter. He also said that there is a need to increase random testing in crowded areas.

Bhalla stated that not only were the lockdown measures being violated in Kolkata and Howrah by “specific groups in specific localities” but also there have been media reports of “corona warriors” including police being attacked in such localities.

He said that such incidents have made stricter enforcement of lockdown measures with heavy police deployment necessary.

“Instances of problems faced due to ostracism and lack of quarantine facilities is also worrying,” stated Bhalla.

He also said that lockdown violations in the state such as large crowds in market places, people freely moving around without masks, bathing in rivers, serious laxity in enforcing lockdown in the containment zones are examples of “poor supervision and implementation of crowd control measures” by the district authorities.

“There remains gaps in the surveillance and contact tracing of positive cases. The state has not furnished any data regarding the number of households contacted and surveyed for signs of coronavirus symptoms,” stated Bhalla.

Before wrapping up its two-week trip, the IMCT also accused the state's TMC government of being "antagonistic" to the panel.

The extremely high mortality rate of 12.8 per cent is a clear indication of low testing and weak surveillance and tracking. This is the highest in the country," the team led by Apurva Chandra, an additional secretary rank officer in the Defence Ministry, said in a stinging indictment of the state government.

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"In his parting shot, the IAS officer said though the state government claimed "very high level" of daily surveillance of individuals in containment zones, no database was shown or results were made available to the team.

"Collating and evaluating a database of this magnitude requires a very robust system to be in place. However, no such evidence was available," he wrote in a letter to the state's chief secretary Rajiva Sinha.

The state, he said, needs to be transparent and consistent in reporting figures and not downplay the spread of the virus.

Since the day the teams arrived, TMC said they have been working with a malafide intention to malign the state and its efforts to tackle the pandemic, responding to the claims. The BJP has sent these teams with a motive to malign the people of the state, TMC Rajya Sabha MP and senior leader Santanu Sen said.

The two teams which arrived in Bengal on April 20, allegedly without prior intimation to the state government, were stationed in Kolkata and in Siliguri in North Bengal.

They had flagged alleged instances of non-cooperation by the state government in providing logistical support and relevant information during field visits.

A discrepancy has been brought out in the number of COVID-19 cases reported by the state in its medical bulletins and its communications with the Government of India, Chandra wrote in the letter.

The bulletin of April 30 showed active coronavirus cases as 572, discharged after treatment - 139 and expired due to COVID-19 - 33, making a total of 744. In a communication to union health secretary on the same day, total number of cases was indicated to be 931 leading to a discrepancy of 187 cases, the letter said.

Chandra said despite his insistence on meeting officials of the Home, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, and Food and Civil Supplies that did not materialise.

"....the IMCT could interact only with the principal secretary health through a video conference... There has been no response or interaction with any other department of the state government. In short, the state government has taken an antagonistic view to the IMCT and has not supported the IMCT in the performance of its duties," he wrote.

He said it was in "absolute contrast" to the experience of central teams on similar assignment to other states.

The team, however, appreciated the state government for raising the number of tests from 400 a day till April 20 to 2,410 on May 2.

Chandra said he will submit his report to the Ministry of Home Affairs and hoped the state government will take the suggestions in the right spirit.

(With Inputs from PTI)