Mamata to herself monitor situation from Nabanna control room

Kolkata: Instead of giving mere directions, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself will monitor the situation and supervise the fight against cyclone Yaas from the control room at the state Secretariat on May 25 and 26.

Banerjee, who was also present at the central control room at Nabanna during Super Cyclone Amphan last year, held a meeting with senior officers along with District Magistrates (DMs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) on Saturday and directed all the concerned agencies to spring into action to minimise the damage to life and property when the cyclone hits the Bengal-Odisha coast.

She already held a series of meetings in the past few days in regard to the advancing cyclone. In the meeting on Saturday, she directed to ensure early evacuation of people and cattle from coastal and riverine areas to flood shelters.

She tweeted: "I have extensively reviewed the Disaster Management preparedness with regards to the impending Yaas cyclone today afternoon with all senior officers of relevant Central & State agencies along with DMs & SPs. All officials have been advised integrated command, advance planning & early evacuation from coastal and riverine areas to rescue shelters including cyclone and flood shelters, and to conduct relief and rehabilitation operations at the earliest."

She further stated: "Fishermen have been alerted to immediately return. 24x7 control rooms have been set up (Ph No - 1070 & 033-22143526). All agencies have been asked to spring into action. Relief materials have been dispatched and Quick Response Teams are mobilised. I request all to stay alert."

Control rooms have already been opened in district headquarters with round-the-clock monitoring from the central control room of the Disaster Management department on the third floor of Nabanna. Two more control rooms are being set up at the Upanna, the administrative building adjacent to Nabanna, where Banerjee would be present on May 25 and 26.

The state has undertaken all preparations and leaves of employees of all concerned departments have been cancelled.

The Bengal government has already ensured adequate stocks of foodgrains, drinking water and other essential supplies in vulnerable areas. During Amphan, eight districts, including South and North 24-Parganas, East Midnapore, Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and Birbhum were badly affected. All arrangements have been made to maintain the supply of essential services, such as restoration of power and telecommunication services, in the post-cyclonic situation in these districts.

Chairman, Board of Administrators of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Firhad Hakim held back-to-back virtual meetings from his Chetla residence on Saturday taking stock of the preparedness. KMC's control room as well as all borough offices of the civic body will remain operational round-the-clock from Sunday till May 28 and Members of Board of Administrators will be in charge of each borough with Atin Ghosh, Tarak Singh and Debabrata Majumder in charge of two boroughs each.

There will also be arrangements of generators so that water supply to households in the city does not get affected even if there is a power cut. The main water supply stations and the booster pumping stations will be equipped with generators to ensure an uninterrupted water supply. Steps have also been taken to avoid interruption in other basic civic amenities as well.

Inspection of embankments has been carried out and teams headed by engineers of the state Irrigation and Waterways department have been pressed at vulnerable points.

The state government has taken all measures in ensuring the safety of Covid patients and to avoid any disruption in Covid hospitals. Arrangements have also been made at cyclone shelters following Covid norms.

Stating that cyclone Yaas could be worse than Amphan, the state Food and Supplies department issued a guideline particularly for North and South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapur, Jhargram, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, Nadia and Murshidabad directing to ensure sufficient stock of foodgrains and kerosene oil.

State Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay also attended a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) led by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba in view of the cyclone.

Director-General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed all present in the meeting that the cyclone is expected to reach Bengal and adjoining northern Odisha coasts by the evening of May 26, with wind speeds ranging from 155 to 165 kmph, accompanied by heavy rainfall and storm surges in the coastal districts of both Bengal and Odisha.

Sources said that Bandyopadhyay informed about Bengal's preparedness. Chief Secretaries of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar and Puducherry were also present.

Besides the SDRF and Civil Defence, NDRF has deployed 65 teams and around 20 units have been put on stand-by. Rescue and relief teams of the Army, Navy and Coast Guard along with ships and aircraft have also been deployed.

South-Eastern Railway has cancelled 78 long-distance special trains on different dates in the wake of the cyclone. 02874 Yesvantpur Howrah Express will remain cancelled on May 24, 25, and 26. 02074 Bhubaneswar Howrah Express, 02073 Howrah Bhubaneswar Express, 02088 Puri Howrah and 02087 Howrah Puri Express will remain cancelled on May 25, 26 and 27. 02666 Kanniyakumari Howrah will remain cancelled on May 29.

02660 Shalimar Nagercoil will not run on May 26. 02665 Howrah Kanniyakumari will remain cancelled on May 24.

Eastern has not cancelled any long-distance trains in the wake of the cyclone yet.

Due to severe thundershowers on Saturday, two persons died in Ranaghat after they were struck by lightning.".