Mamata vs Centre again: Bengal calls fresh categorisation of 10 districts as Red Zones ‘erroneous’

New Delhi, May 01: The tussle between the central and West Bengal government continued unabated on Friday over coronavirus, after the state government wrote to the Union Health Ministry, calling the fresh categorisation of 10 districts as red zones 'erroneous'.

The Mamata Banerjee government claims that based on the Centre's parameters, only four districts of Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore, fall under red zone.

Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan on Friday in a letter written to Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories designated Red, Orange, and Green zones, as the total tally of Coronavirus cases reached 35,043 in the country.

The list shows the state of West Bengal has, 10 districts in the red zone, five in the orange zone, and eight in the green zone.

This is not the first time the governments have been involved in a feud over the pandemic.

Earlier, the state had objected to the visit by a central team to assess the ground situation, asking why states like UP and Gujarat, which had more cases, were not subject to the scrutiny.

The centre had alleged that Bengal government is not cooperating with the central teams visiting the state to assess the COVID-19 situation and are specifically restraining them from interacting with health workers and touring the affected areas.