Mocha: Tourists prevented from going to beaches

kolkata: Disaster Management Force personnel are keeping a watch on the sea resort towns of Bengal while preventing tourists from going to the beach on Sunday, as cyclone Mocha made landfall along the coasts of Bangladesh and Myanmar, an official said.

Disaster Management Force personnel were on high alert along the coastal areas of Digha and Mandarmani in Purba Medinipur district and Bakkhali and Sundarbans in South 24-Parganas districts.Seven groups of NDRF personnel including divers were deployed in Digha-Mandarmani coastal areas as the sea turned choppy, the official said.

Over 100 state disaster management group personnel have also been engaged in Bakkhali sea beach in South 24-Parganas district to keep an eye on the movement of tourists. “We are not allowing tourists to move closer to the sea which has turned choppy. We are regulating movements on the sea beach. We have been asked to be on guard for the next few hours,” Bikash Sadhu, one NDRF team member said.

Bappaditya Mukherjee, a tourist from Kolkata holidaying in Bakkhali, said: “We did not go to the sea beach today. It was quite hot. We plan to go near the sea when we are allowed.”

Arrangements have also been made to evacuate residents of coastal areas in both districts in case of emergency.

The breaches in embankments in Sunderbans in particular are being plugged on a war footing while police and administration have put in use loud speakers to warn people from getting near the sea in the afternoon.“Though the weather office has predicted that Cyclone Mocha will dodge past West Bengal, we have taken all precautionary measures in case there is any change. We have shifted people living in the low lying coastal areas of Purba Medinipur, South 24 Parganas to our safe shelters and adequate relief materials have been sent to these areas,” another official said.

“The weather office had predicted that Cyclone Mocha will skip West Bengal. However, we have taken all precautionary measures in case there is any change in its route.“We have shifted people living in the low-lying coastal areas of Purba Medinipur and South 24-Parganas districts to safe shelters. Adequate relief materials have also been sent to these areas,” an official added.

Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea for three days beginning on Friday. Cyclone Mocha made landfall along the Myanmar-Bangladesh coasts on Sunday after intensifying into the equivalent of a category-five storm. It made landfall shortly after midday on the

Teknaf shorelines.