Alapan has government’s full support, says West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday iterated the Bengal government’s “full support” for former state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay “on whatever was going on with him”, adding that “the case, the chapter was over now”.
Banerjee’s support to Bandyopadhyay came a day before the end of his three-day deadline to respond to a central government notice, asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him under the Disaster Management Act (2005) for “missing” PM Narendra Modi’s cyclone review meeting in Kalaikunda on May 28. The state government has insisted that there was no question of skipping the PM’s review meet as both Banerjee and Bandyopadhyay had a “brief interaction” with the PM and left for an inspection of cyclone-hit areas after “seeking his permission”.
Bengal chief secretary HK Dwivedi, too, is likely to respond to the Centre’s second letter asking his predecessor, Bandyopadhyay, to report to Delhi. The Centre, before sending the “show-cause” notice to Bandyopadhyay, had sent him two letters asking him to report to Delhi’s North Block. The letters came a few days after it gave him a three-month extension as the state’s chief secretary after a state government request, which said his services were needed because of the pandemic.
Alapan Bandyopadhyay chose to take retirement on Monday instead of reporting to Delhi and was made the CM’s chief adviser for three years the same day.
“I have already said that I will not speak on this any more. Now he has already retired. Whatever is going on with him… the government will give him full support,” CM Mamata Banerjee, flanked by Bandyopadhyay and H K Dwivedi, said on Wednesday.
Banerjee had earlier indicated that the Bengal government would respond to the Centre’s second letter that overruled her objections in releasing Bandyopadhyay.
The chief minister had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Bengal “cannot release and is not releasing its chief secretary at this critical hour”.