Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Odisha and West Bengal on Friday to assess the impact of Cyclone Yaas on the two coastal states.
He will first land in Odisha’s capital city Bhubaneswar, where he will hold a review meeting. The Prime Minister will then proceed for an aerial survey in the affected areas of Odisha’s Balasore and Bhadrak and also West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur, officials said. He will then participate in a review meeting in West Bengal.
The Prime Minister on Thursday chaired a meeting to review the impact of the cyclone. An official press release stated that during the meeting, it was discussed that around 106 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed with 46 teams each in West Bengal and Odisha that rescued more than 1,000 people and removed more than 2,500 trees/poles that had fallen and obstructed the roads. It further stated that power and telecom services have been restored in most of the affected areas.
The PM noted that the effective and proactive role played by the Central and state agencies in responding to the challenges thrown by the cyclone and advised the agencies to ensure that normal life is restored in the affected areas at the earliest and relief is appropriately disbursed to persons affected by the cyclone.
According to sources, the PM may accompany the Chief Minister to the affected areas of East Midnapore district. The Centre has already allocated Rs 400 crore to the state to deal with Cyclone Yass. Andhra Pradesh and Orissa have been given Rs 600 crore in advance. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has openly expressed her displeasure over the issue. It is expected that more allocations will be made after the PM reviews the situation.
Meanwhile, CM Mamata Banerjee said that there would be an investigation into why so many dams were broken. “Why did so many dams break?” she asked.
In Gosaba, several villages of Rangabelia gram panchayat were submerged due to breakage of Vidyadhari river dam. Hundreds of villagers are stranded. Due to rising water level in Gosabar Gomar river, river dams have collapsed in several places. The villagers were able to prevent the inflow of river water by dumping earthen sacks in the river dam adjacent to the Dayapur ferry.
Rajiv Banerjee was the Irrigation Minister of the state from 2011 to 2016 and then, Suvendu Adhikari took charge of the office. According to a source close to the matter, this could indirectly increase the pressure on two former state ministers, currently in the BJP, Adhikari and Rajiv Banerjee, because these two leaders were once the irrigation ministers of the state. Already Rajiv Banerjee is facing another probe in a forest appointment issue.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS