Jalpaiguri: Relief work underway on war footing in tornado-hit areas

Jalpaiguri: As the district administration has started taking stock of the situation, figures of the damages caused by the killer Tornado have started trickling in.

About 165 hectares of agricultural crops have been destroyed in Barnis, Madhavdanga1 and Dharmapur Gram Panchayat areas, amounting to a financial loss of Rs 292 lakh.

Not only that, more than 2,000 houses have been damaged in the Sadar and Maynaguri Blocks. The district administration continued relief and restoration efforts on a war footing. Many voluntary organisations have extended their helping hands also. The Health department is also sending teams door-to-door in the affected areas for health checkups.

The Electricity department has been working round-the-clock in the Barnis Gram Panchayat, Kalibari, Kayetpara areas. In the three Gram Panchayat areas, electricity poles have been uprooted and trees have fallen on the electricity cables resulting in the disruption of power supply in the area. “Work is going on to restore electricity in the entire area. So far more than 350 electricity poles have been installed. 95 per cent work is complete. We expect to complete the restoration work by Wednesday” stated Samrat Adhikary of the electricity department. However, it will not be possible to provide electricity in all the houses immediately owing to damages to electricity meters. However, street lights will be on. Cooked food is being distributed by the administration and voluntary organisations in several areas, including Kayet Para, East and South Puntimari. Pouch packs of drinking water are being distributed by the Public Health Engineering department.

According to the Maynaguri Block Administration, this special measure has been taken due to the possibility of stomach disease in this situation. However, no diarrhoea outbreak or other water-borne diseases have been reported so far.

Maynaguri BDO Prasanjit Kundu said: “As most of the houses have been damaged in the tornado, provisions for community toilets have been made. “At least 100 community toilets are being arranged in the affected areas. Work will commence from Wednesday for the community toilets. Work on the distribution of disaster management kits will commence on Wednesday morning. The kit will contain utensils also along with other essentials.”