MHA slams West Bengal government for not allowing cargo movement through Indo-Bangla border

Image courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: The central government on Wednesday (May 6) accused the West Bengal government of not allowing movement of essential goods through the Indo-Bangladesh border and said that such acts violated the Constitution.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, stating that the state government has not resumed essential goods vehicles to cross over to Bangladesh. The top MHA official told the West Bengal government that it has failed to implement repeated directions of the Centre for free movement of cargo and this amounts to a violation of the Disaster Management Act.

The letter further said that directions were given on April 24 to allow cross land border of essential goods through all Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Bangladesh borders and send a compliance report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Bhalla said, "In this regard, I am constrained to say that we have not received the compliance report from the state government of West Bengal," adding that it has been reported that goods traffic through border crossings between India and Bangladesh, falling in West Bengal, has still not resumed.

As a result, he said, a large number of trucks carrying essential supplies, to Bangladesh, are stranded at different border crossing points.

Bhalla said, "The unilateral action on the part of the West Bengal government to stop the cross land border movement of essential goods would have larger implications for the Indian government with regard to its legally binding international commitments."

"This act of the state government of West Bengal amounts to violation of the orders issued by the MHA under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 as well as articles 253, 256 and 257 of the Constitution of India," he added.

A number of drivers of such vehicles, while returning from Bangladesh, have also not been allowed to cross the border into India, and are stranded in the neighbouring country, said Bhalla, while pointing out that in the new guidelines on lockdown measures, it has been clearly spelt out that no state or union territory shall stop the movement of cargo for cross-border land trade under treaties with neighbouring countries.

The West Bengal government was directed to allow cross land border transportation through all Indo-Bangladesh borders without any further delay and send the compliance report on the opening of cross land borders by Wednesday itself.

The union home secretary's fresh letter was one of the series of communications and the verbal duel between the Centre, West Bengal government and its ruling Trinamool Congress over the implementation of various central directives related to the lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, when the central government dispatched two Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to West Bengal to assess the COVID-19 situation and the lockdown implementation, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had accused the Centre of sending faulty testing kits to the state.