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| Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay |
A team from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday was scheduled to visit the Yaas-affected areas of West Bengal to assess the situation. The three-member team, led by joint secretary SK Shashi, will also hold meetings with disaster management officials and finance departments in Nabanna, the provincial secretary on June 9.
The team will hold meetings with officials from the Department of Disaster Management and Finance in Nabanna, West Bengal's provincial secretary's office. The team will also visit the Yaas Hurricane affected areas in South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore
A visit by MHA officials to the province to assess the damage comes just days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and then-secretary general Alapan Bandopadhyay skipped a hurricane review meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sparking the controversy furthermore. The situation has escalated after the center called on the former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) chief to return to Delhi. Instead, Alapan Bandopadhyay chose to retire on May 31, even though after a three-month extension he was approved by the government and central governments.
Bandopadhyay, who was later appointed by Banerjee as his senior adviser, was also slapped by the MHA notice on May 31 under strict provisions of the Disaster Risk Act involving imprisonment for up to two years.
The CM Mamata Banerjee called for a package of ₹20,000 crore on the basis of an initial assessment of property and agricultural damage.
Thus, as many as 18 lakh people were affected by the cyclone and 2.21 hectares of crops and 71,560 hectares of arable land were damaged, Banerjee stated. Several state provinces, including Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, South 24 Pargana and Jhargram, were affected by Hurricane Yaas, which reached Odisha on May 26. Digha and Sundarbans were among the worst hit areas in the province.
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