Center reviews relief and restoration work in West Bengal in view of cyclone Amphan

Centre on Monday reviewed the progress of relief and restoration work in the areas of West Bengal affected by cyclone Amphan.

The National Crisis Management Committee, NCMC under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba met again for the fourth time. Gauba advised that complete power connectivity, telecom service and drinking water supplies need to be restored on priority basis.

He said, Central agencies are ready to provide any further assistance that may be required by the state. Adequate stocks of food grains have also been kept ready for supply based on the demand from the state.

As announced by Prime Minister after his aerial survey and review of relief efforts with the West Bengal Government, a sum of one thousand crore rupees has already been released to the State Government. The Cabinet Secretary said, Ministry of Home Affairs will be sending a Central team soon to assess the damages.

Meanwhile, Army has been deployed in Kolkata, to help in carry out road clearances alongwith teams of NDRF and SDRF.

Chief Secretary of West Bengal thanked the Centre for the support provided for relief and restoration. Restoration of Power and Telecommunication infrastructure was stated to be a priority in the Cyclone affected areas of the state.

While Telecom connectivity has been restored in most areas, damages to the local Power distribution network has affected the restoration of complete supply in some areas. Union Minister of Power R. K. Singh, reviewed the progress of restoration of power systems post-Amphan cyclone in West Bengal and Odisha via video-conferencing today.

Speaking on the occasion, Singh said that the disruption caused by the Cyclone to the power systems was extensive, but the restoration work has been carried out swiftly. He said that the Inter-State Transmission System was restored within few hours and Central Power PSUs also provided human resources to carry out power restoration of local power supply in the cyclone affected areas.

Singh expressed confidence that the restoration will be completed in Odisha by Monday evening itself. He said, the restoration work is in progress in parts of Kolkata and some other districts of West Bengal.

The Power Minister directed his Ministry’s officials that apart from the manpower and assistance already made available, they should mobilize additional manpower through NTPC and POWERGRID and make them available to Power Department of West Bengal to assist them in restoration work. They will remain in touch with West Bengal Government to provide required help.

Secretary, Ministry of Power, Additional Chief Secretary, Power of West Bengal, Principal Secretary, Power of Odisha along with Chairman-cum-Managing Directors of various Power Distribution Companies among those took part in the review meeting.