Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will spend the night at Nabanna, monitoring the effects of Cyclone Dana as it makes landfall in Odisha.
“I will be staying the night at Nabanna. If required, I may visit disaster management officials who will monitor the situation throughout the night. The chief secretary and home secretary, too, will keep a watch. While I will be here at night...the chief secretary will come to Nabanna in the morning,” said Banerjee at Nabanna on Thursday evening, urging everyone to be alert, to pay heed to govt directives but at the same time, not to panic or spread misinformation. “We are keeping an eye on every block. Officials from disaster management and other departments, along with the seven principal secretaries, are observing the seven most important districts... There will be a lot of work. If required there will be restoration and relief work, and compensation will be given to farmers.” The control rooms at Nabanna and in the districts were abuzz with activities. The CM stated that the control room number was (033) 22143526. In addition, 20 special lines will be operational for 1070 helpline.
The CM said the state had identified 3,56,841 people who needed to be evacuated. “So far (4 pm on Thursday), 1,59,837 people agreed to be shifted to govt-run centres. The state has set up 851 relief camps, where 83,537 people have been lodged,” she said.
The CM pleaded with people, especially in coastal areas and districts, to heed to state and police announcements and vacate their homes following such directives. She cautioned that ignoring alerts, presuming the cyclone would mainly impact Odisha, could be counterproductive. “We do not know the exact time of the landfall. We must take precautions. The objective is to save valuable lives, this is no child’s play,” Banerjee said. “We have asked fishermen not to venture into the waters or tourists to go near the sea.”
The CM claimed DVC again released 24,000 cusecs of water from Jharkhand on Wednesday. “They are using Bengal to dump water,” she said, adding Kolkata now saw less flooding due to proper dredging.