The Ministry of Dwelling Affairs on Sunday despatched a staff of three officers to West Bengal to take inventory of the affect of Cyclone Yaas within the affected districts. The staff is led by a Joint Secretary from the MHA and can keep within the state for 3 days.
“The staff has already left for Kolkata. Over the following two days it should meet key officers within the state and go to affected districts the place it should meet the native folks,” a ministry official mentioned.
Whereas skipping a cyclone assessment assembly chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kalaikunda, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met him for 15 minutes and handed in an evaluation report during which she sought a aid package deal of Rs20,000 crore for folks in areas severely affected by the calamity.
Nonetheless, after surveying the injury in West Bengal and neighbouring Odisha, the PM introduced a aid package deal of Rs1,000 crore for these two states in addition to Jharkhand, which was additionally affected by the cyclone.
The event comes amid rising stress between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee authorities over the state’s former chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay skipping a assessment assembly referred to as by PM Narendra Modi on Might 28.
Since then, the Centre has issued a collection of orders and notices, which included one asking Bandopadhyay to report on central deputation a day earlier than his retirement and one other asking why motion shouldn’t be taken in opposition to him underneath the Catastrophe Administration Act for arriving on the PM’s assembly 15 minutes late after which leaving instantly.
Bandopadhyay, who selected retirement on Might 31 in opposition to a three-month extension of service authorized by the Centre, has already replied to the DM Act discover despatched to him. The Ministry of Dwelling Affairs is presently “learning” the reply and can take a choice on it in the end, sources mentioned.
In his reply, Bandyopadhyay informed the Central authorities that he was scheduled to go to the cyclone-affected areas and was following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s order. Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi, in the meantime, additionally wrote a letter to the Centre and defined why Bandyopadhyay reached 15 minutes late for the assembly and left instantly.
“The ministry is learning the reply. If wanted a authorized opinion can even be sought. Accordingly, motion can be initiated in the end,” an MHA official mentioned.
Sources mentioned the ministry has choices to take administrative motion— a bit troublesome on condition that Bandopadhyay has already retired— or statutory motion contemplating that the previous chief secretary has been accused of violating provisions of the Catastrophe Administration Act.