Seventy two persons died in West Bengal from the super cyclone Amphan that lashed in the southern part of the state causing devastation for hours on Wednesday evening.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that Rs 1,000 crore is being allocated for relief and rehabilitation work. She said that damage was maximum for four to five districts. Out of 72 deaths, 15 were reported from Kolkata. The state government announced a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh to the families of those who died.
“Shorbonash hoye gelo,” (it has been a terrible disaster) Banerjee had said on Wednesday evening, while supervising the rescue work from the state administrative headquarters Nabanna. She had said on Wednesday that the damages could be to the extent of Rs 1 lakh crore.
The wind speed of Cyclone Amphan was around 185 km/hour, with wind speed approximately at 125 km/hour in Kolkata. Trees were uprooted, electricity poles damaged all over the city. The Kolkata Airport was flooded, cars and buses parked in various areas were damaged with uprooted trees crashing on them. In the districts, thousands of acres of agricultural land and homes have been damaged.
A task force was formed by the state on Thursday to supervise the work of assessing the extent of damage and to give initial direction to the relief and rehabilitation work necessary. Banerjee appealed to people to lend their helping hand for the state to overcome this unprecedented crisis. She said that she would appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Bengal and to take a look at the devastation for himself. If the weather conditions improve, Banerjee might visit North and South 24 Parganas, particularly the Sunderbans area on Saturday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had called her and assured her of help, Banerjee said.
“We have taken it up as a challenge to handle the situation,” she said. “We have to spend money on the relief work judiciously. For me, the value of Re 1 is more than Rs 1,000,” she said.
She said that the state is yet to ascertain the extent of the damage. It will take time to prepare a detailed report, Banerjee said. Five departments – agriculture, fisheries, animal resources development, horticulture, food and food processing departments will simultaneously start working to find out the damages caused and submit reports within a week.
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