‘Mamata to return to North Bengal on Monday to oversee relief work’
Darjeeling: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will return to North Bengal on Monday. Though the Chief Minister’s itinerary has not been made public yet, reports are that she will be staying in Darjeeling, making the hill town her base for overseeing relief and rehabilitation work.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in North Bengal on October 6 to assess the situation on ground zero. She visited Dudhia in Mirik and Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri.
Along with overseeing relief work, the CM met victims, distributed ex-gratia cheques and issued instructions for the restoration of road connectivity by repairing roads and reconstructing bridges that have been damaged. On October 8, she returned to Kolkata but said that she would return next week.
In Darjeeling, the Chief Minister will be staying at Richmond Hill Government Guest House. She will also hold an administrative meeting in the seminar hall at Richmond Hill with the district administration, police and GTA to review relief and rehabilitation. The Chief Minister will be visiting landslide-affected areas in the Darjeeling Hills, including Mirik, with relief material.
Meanwhile, relief work continued in disaster-ravaged North Bengal. As per the state government, over Rs 3 crore have been distributed as relief contingency and Rs 1.6 crore sanctioned as ex-gratia to families of the deceased. 3 lakh tarpaulins, 4.5 lakh garment sets and 15,000 disaster management kits have been allotted to affected districts. More than 10,000 displaced people are being sheltered in 35 relief camps, with 45 gruel kitchens providing cooked food. Control rooms are operational round-the-clock at state, district, sub-division and block levels to monitor the situation.
Crop damage assessments are ongoing and affected farmers are being assisted under Bangla Shasya Bima Yojana and Amar Para Amar Samadhan camps. 29 additional Sufal Bangla outlets have been opened to ensure steady supply of essentials at fair prices.
Pradip Mazumdar, minister in-charge, P&RD department, visited Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, distributing high-yield seeds, fertilisers and micronutrients to affected farmers. Special camps are reissuing lost documents, while students have received books and study materials. Restoration of damaged roads and bridges is progressing rapidly. A temporary bamboo bridge has been set up at Kullapara, Dhupguri, while reconstruction of the Dudhia Bridge is underway.
The NDRF are continuing search operations for Himadri Purkait (25 years) from South Kamarpole, South 24-Parganas who has gone missing since the night of the deluge while camping on the river banks at Bagar Homestay at Malat near Sonada. Drones are being pressed into service but Purkait still remains untraceable.
Special outreach camps were organised in Mirik and Chandramandhura in Jorebungalow-Sukhia block to
collect applications for issuance of documents lost in the floods and landslides.
