CM Mamata forms 'Amphan' task force, evacuates 3L people from coastal areas

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level administrative meeting to review the arrangements in various South Bengal districts in view of Cyclone 'Amphan' that is expected to make landfall in the coastal districts of the state on Wednesday.

To review all the arrangements, Banerjee has formed a task force, spearheaded by Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, which would review the situation and carry out rescue operations across the state.

Already more than three lakh people have been evacuated from vulnerable districts including South and North 24-Parganas and East and West Midnapore to flood shelters.

"According to the Meteorological department, the cyclone would hit Sagar Island in South 24-Parganas district at 2 pm on Wednesday and will continue till midnight before it turns towards Bangladesh on Thursday morning. It will leave a deep impact in Kolkata and other surrounding districts including Howrah and Hooghly," she said.

In the same breath, she requested people, including residents of Kolkata, not to move out of their houses after 11 am on Wednesday till the administration declares the situation to be safe on Thursday morning.

'Amphan' will hit the eastern coast of Bay of Bengal with a wind speed of around 165 to 175 km per hour. The Meteorological department has also not ruled out the possibility of the wind speed to go up to 185 km per hour during the landfall.

In a bid to ensure that no loss of lives takes place, the Chief Minister informed that the cyclone has three phases namely head, eye and tail. "One must not consider that the risk is over and come out of their houses after the first two phases. The third phase is the most dangerous. In Odisha, several lives were lost as people had moved out before the 'tail' of 'Fani' was actually over," she said adding that the Centre and Railways have been urged not to send Shramik Special trains with migrant workers in between Wednesday and Thursday evening.

The Chief Minister also announced helpline numbers 1070, 03322141995 and 03322143526. The control room at Nabanna will operate round-the-clock. She will be at the state Secretariat on Tuesday night and supervise the operations.

Banerjee said areas including Sagar Island, Mousuni Island, Fraserganj, Gosaba, Namkhana, Ghoramara, Basanti and Canning would get more affected in South 24-Parganas from where two lakh people have been evacuated so far while another 50,000 have been evacuated from areas including Hasnabad, Basirhat, Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas. Around 50,000 people were evacuated at Ramnagar, Khejuri, Sutahata in East Midnapore and Datan in West Midnapore.

Evacuees at the flood centres were provided with masks and asked to maintain physical distancing to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Union Home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday spoke to the Chief Minister and assured her of all possible help from the Centre.

Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), 15 teams of State Disaster Response Force, Disaster Management Group, Civil Defence and Navy have been deployed at all the vulnerable areas.

All the concerned state government departments have taken all steps to extend support to people during the cyclone and even after it is over if their houses and crops get damaged due to the same.

While holding a video conference with the District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police, Banerjee gave directions to take steps, ensuring that the areas under 'Affected' zones turn to 'Clean' zones at the earliest.

The Chief Minister also directed district authorities to ensure sufficient stock of food and baby food at the night shelters.

Banerjee is also scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with leaders of the Opposition including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Sitaram Yechuri, Hemant Soren on the situation faced by states during COVID-19 on Friday.