Kolkata: Attacking the Central teams visiting Bengal to assess the COVID-19 situation, the Trinamool Congress on Saturday described the two Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) as "Indias Most Callous Team" that came to the state with "real aim" of spreading "political virus shamelessly". Two separate teams for North and South Bengal are in the state for the past five days. They are visiting different hospitals, quarantine centres and sensitive zones to assess lockdown implementation norms. TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek OBrien said in a tweet: "IMCTs Bengal visit served no purpose. Visiting districts with no hotspots, asking for committee already in place." The Mamata Banerjee government has set up the committee to audit COVID-19 deaths on April 3. He further added in his tweet: "Real aim is to spread the political virus. Doing it shamelessly. Blatantly. Take your pick, IMCT = Indias Most Callous Team. IMCT= I Must Cause Trouble (in Bengal)". Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also slammed the visit of the Central teams to Bengal without consulting and giving prior information to the state government. Besides pointing out various issues in two letters to Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, the Central team for South Bengal headed by Additional Secretary of Defence Ministry Apurva Chandra expressed satisfaction stating that the "lockdown was strictly enforced" in Howrahs Salkia containment zone. They visited the place at 7 am on April 24. They also stated in the letter that admitted people at the Dumurjola quarantine centre expressed satisfaction with the food and other arrangements. The team in North Bengal also wrote to the Chief Secretary stating that "IMCT is thankful to you for extending support to visit a few places today... Nevertheless, the visit gave us some more idea about the ground situation." The Central team in South Bengal sought information on "testing, quarantining and contact tracing" of those who returned from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in Delhis Nizamuddin area. The Chief Secretary has already assured that all related information may be sent through e-mail, the Central team maintained that the state is yet to reply to four of their letters. 38 new positive COVID-19 cases surfaced in Bengal in the past 24 hours taking the total number to 423. Meanwhile, in a bid to speed up COVID-19 tests in Bengal, the state government has decided to run extra shifts in the state-run laboratories. It has been decided to engage RT-PCR trained laboratory technicians engaged in other projects at the COVID-19 testing labs. At the same time, the lab technicians conducting RT-PCR tests and willing to work in additional shifts may be permitted to do, for which they will get an incentive of Rs 5,000 per month. The steps have been taken to increase manpower to run multiple shifts in the COVID-19 test laboratories. The order of the state Health department mentions that the step has been taken for the next two months.

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