Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister conducted an aerial survey at Cyclone Yaas-affected areas and met with DM and SP of those areas.
Addressing the DMs and SPs at Hingalganj and Sagar, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee instructed that everyone should get sufficient relief material and also that no one should be denied of relief materials.
“Food, baby food, tarpaulin should be given in abundance as last time during Amphan despite giving relief in abundance we had to earn a bad name. Babies and pregnant women at isolated areas should be given special attention,” said Mamata Banerjee.
The Chief Minister also instructed that the 'Relief at Doorstep' scheme should be controlled by the administration so that the affected people are not deprived.
“40 thousand hectares of crops are destroyed. 1600 km of roads, seven thousand water bodies and one lakh houses are destroyed leaving several people in the relief camp. So, materials and medicines should be distributed equally,” further mentioned the West Bengal Chief Minister.
Notably, the TMC Supremo is scheduled to visit other places of the affected areas on May 29.
Countering the claims of Mamata, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said that if the West Bengal government distributes the relief properly then it is good for the state and also alleged that in West Bengal relief is also given based on their political affinity.
“Every time she claims several things but appeasement to the closed ones and unscrupulous means is common in TMC,” said Dilip.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi after meeting Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik, visited West Bengal and announced financial assistance of rupees 1000 crore for immediate relief activities for West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, of which rupees 500 crore would be given as immediate assistance to Odisha.
Earlier this day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting with Odisha’s chief minister Naveen Pattnaik, the Odisha government has sought no immediate financial assistance from the Centre for the damage caused by very severe cyclonic storm Yaas.
“As the country is at the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, we have not sought any immediate financial assistance to burden the central government and would like to manage it through our own resources to tide over the crisis,” said Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also adding that Odisha has sought assistance for long-term measures to make Odisha disaster management tough.
