Mamata to take aerial survey of flood-affected areas in S Bengal

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be taking an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in South Bengal districts on Saturday.

If everything goes as planned, Banerjee would leave Kolkata at around 12.15 pm for the aerial visit. She is scheduled to hold a review meeting at Arambagh in Hooghly. The venue of the meeting will be somewhere near the Gourhati area in Arambagh. However, the exact location could not be finalised till reports last came in as major parts of the area have gone under water.

Banerjee would take an aerial survey of the areas, including Amta and Udaynarayanpur in Howrah and Khanakul in Hooghly, before reaching Arambagh to hold the review meeting. After that, she will leave in her chopper to take the aerial survey of the areas, including Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia, and is likely to return to Kolkata in the evening.

"I will personally survey these areas on Saturday. People are in deep trouble and I would like to assure them that our government will extend all possible support," Banerjee said.

She has also stated that senior ministers will also be visiting the affected districts to ensure proper relief, rescue and restoration work.

State Panchayats and Rural Development minister Subrata Mukherjee will be in Bankura from Monday to Wednesday. State Transport minister Firhad Hakim, MP Kalyan Banerjee and state Labour minister Becharam Manna will be in Hooghly. State PWD minister Moloy Ghatak has been given charge of West Burdwan and Purulia. State Disaster Management minister Javed Khan will also be in West Burdwan. Water Resources Investigation and Development minister Manas Bhuniya will be stationed in West Midnapore. Power minister Aroop Biswas and state Irrigation minister Saumen Mahapatra have been asked to take care of East Burdwan and East Midnapore districts respectively. Though Jhargram is not that affected, state Industry minister Partha Chatterjee will be taking stock of the situation from Kolkata through video conference.

A team of senior IAS officers have also been set up to work along with the ministers in respective districts. Principal Secretary of MSME department Rajesh Pandey will look after West Burdwan, Commissioner of Burdwan Division Vijay Bharti has been given the charge of Birbhum, Secretary of PHE department Abhinav Chandra and Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of Fire department Manoj Agarwal have been given the charge of Bankura and Hooghly districts respectively. Principal Secretary of School Education department Manish Jain and ACS of Panchayats department MV Rao will look after Howrah and West Midnapore respectively.