Buddhadeb demands more funds for cyclone relief

June 13th, 2009 HINGALGANJ - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday traveled in an auto-rickshaw (was it Katatel powered?) to meet Cyclone Aila victims in remote areas of this North 24 Parganas block. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had been heckled and jeered by the disgruntled cyclone survivors owing allegiance to the Trinamool Congress during his June 2 visit to the block, was well received by people who showered petals and raised slogans praising the state's Left Front government.

June 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - The 11-member central team, which visited West Bengal to take stock of the post Cyclone Aila situation, will submit a detailed report to the central government Wednesday. The team during its three-day visit surveyed a large part of cyclone-ravaged South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts in southern West Bengal and Darjeeling hills.

June 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) Tuesday said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should declare cyclone Aila, that hit parts of West Bengal coasts May 25, as a national disaster, considering the gravity of the damage it caused in Sundarban Islands. "We're demanding that the Aila damages be declared as a national disaster and seek the centre's help to carry out rescue operations in the cyclone-hit Sundarbans area," state LF chairman Biman Bose told a press conference here.

June 3rd, 2009 KOLKATA - A seven-member team of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading a movement for a separate Gorkhaland, Wednesday met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and demanded Rs.10 billion for relief and restoration work in areas of Darjeeling hills devastated by landslides triggered by Cyclone Aila. The team of senior GJM leaders, led by party president Bimal Gurung, met Bhattacharjee at the state secretariat and also put forth their demand for holding three-tier Panchayat polls in Darjeeling hills.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Centre would soon send a team to assess the damage caused by recent cyclone "Aila" in West Bengal, state, it has been assured to the State Government, said West Bengal Finance Minister Ashim Das Gupta on Tuesday. Ashim, after meeting the Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram on Tuesday in the national capital, said that Chidambaram has also promised that he would sympathetically consider all the demands for rehabilitation of the cyclone-affected people.

June 2nd, 2009 AGARTALA - Tripura Tuesday decided to give Rs.5 million to cyclone-hit West Bengal to help in the relief relief efforts. "The people of Tripura are confident that with the resilience of the people and the adequate support of the central government, the West Bengal government would come out of this situation," Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said in a letter to his West Bengal counterpart Bhudhadeb Bhattacharjee.

June 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was heckled and jeered by the disgruntled survivors of Cyclone Aila Tuesday when he visited a relief camp in Sunderbans, while a ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator was smeared with mud. Venting their anger after the devastating cyclone caused death and destruction last month, villagers at a relief camp asked the chief minister why the state government had failed to build concrete embankments in Sundarbans despite being in power for more than past three decades.

June 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - West Bengal's Finance Minister, Dr. Ashim Dasgupta, will meet Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today and submit a report on the recent devastation caused by cyclone Aila in the state.

June 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Paying a visit to the cyclone-ravaged areas of coastal West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Tuesday proposed that residents of various islands in the Sundarbans help rebuild the embankments damaged by Cyclone Aila. They would be paid for the work they do, he said.

May 31st, 2009 BASANTI - Visiting the cyclone-affected South 24 Parganas district Sunday, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had to face protests from angry villagers who alleged that relief remained inadequate even a week after the disaster. The villagers asked the chief minister why he had come to this block so late.

May 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - China has donated $30,000 (Rs.1.41 million) to the Indian Red Cross Society for cyclone relief work in West Bengal. China's ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, Thursday handed over a cheque to S.P.

May 28th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government has demanded that the centre declare the havoc caused by Cyclone Aila in the state as a national calamity and has sought an assistance of Rs.10 billion for carrying out restoration work. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said his government would incur expenses of over Rs.15 billon in executing the repair work in areas ravaged by the cyclone.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - Soldiers of the Indian Army and other relief workers Tuesday managed to reach the worst-hit areas of West Bengal's Sundarbans delta where more than 400,000 people were marooned due to cyclone Aila Monday. The death toll in the cyclone has reached 27, police said.

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday asked the central government to urgently provide all necessary assistance to the West Bengal government to carry out relief and rehabilitation operations in the state hit by Cyclone Aila. The cyclone battered coastal West Bengal and hit Kolkata Monday as it uprooted trees, electricity poles and thatched homes, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, killing 27 people and affecting 110,000 others.

May 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - Three people were killed here Monday as cyclone Aila crossed the coast into West Bengal. There was no information from the coastal districts, where extensive damage was feared.