Kolkata| The West Bengal government said on Tuesday that efforts are being made to reduce the devastation caused by the severe cyclone ‘Yas’. More than 9 lakh people have been evacuated from the coastal areas in the last 24 hours and sent to various cyclone camps, vacant schools, colleges and other government places. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the state government has prepared a master plan for the three lakh people directly involved in relief and rescue operations during and after the storm.
Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat ‘Naban’, he said, “We have developed 4,000 flood centers. More than 9 lakh people have been evacuated especially from Digha, Sundarban, Kakdwip, Sagar Island and other low-lying areas And those people have been sent to flood centers and various schools. The process of sending people to safer places is still going on. Last year we evacuated one million people from the coastal areas. ”
Mamta has decided to stay in the state secretariat on Tuesday night to keep a close watch on the events across the state. “We have opened war rooms in every block and they are asked to keep the district administration up to date. A force of 3 lakh people has been deployed to deal with the severe cyclone,” he said.
The Chief Minister said, “The force consists of 74,000 government officials, staff and 2 lakh police personnel. Besides, teams of NDRF, SDRF, electricity and telecom staff have been kept ready for any kind of emergency.”
The army has also been kept ready for emergency use.
Seeking help from all clubs, worship committees, NGOs and other social organizations, the Chief Minister said that all the ferry services have been canceled and many trains have also been canceled.
He said, “Tourism activity has been completely canceled and a complete ban on sea fishing has been banned for the next few days. We have supplied all relief material at the block and panchayat level and we are taking over from the state secretariat. Will supervise everything. ”
State government officials hope to restore power and telecom connectivity as soon as possible after the storm. There are 1,000 power restoration and 450 telecom restoration teams that will start functioning immediately after the storm is over and 51 disaster management teams have also been arranged.
Yas is currently 270 km from Paradip in Odisha. It is likely to make landfall somewhere between Paradip and Sagar Island on Wednesday morning and move towards Jharkhand. Though the storm will not have a direct impact on the entire West Bengal, it will be affected in two districts of East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas.
