The release of the letter comes after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Central government of deploying the army at toll plazas in Palsit and Dankuni on National Highway 2 in West Bengal without informing her government.
"Army has been deployed at two toll plazas without informing the state government. This is a very serious situation worse than Emergency," she had said.
According to TOI, the letters were released shortly after the Army's officiating GoC of Bengal area, Major Gen Sunil Yadav, said at a press conference that the concerned departments of the West Bengal state government had been informed and necessary permissions taken one week ahead of the exercise.
The letters released by the Army corroborate Maj Gen Yadav's statements.
The ANI reports that the letters show that the Army was in touch with the West Bengal Police on the annual exercise to "gather statistical data about load carriers that could be made available to the army in case of a contingency."
"This is an exercise carried out for our operational purposes which will terminate to its logical end tonight. They are only collecting data of heavy vehicles, which is an annual exercise being carried out every year," Maj Gen Yadav said, according to ANI.