Royal Bengal tiger driven out of forest by cyclone

October 11th, 2009 BHOPAL - Lonely times are over for the two tigresses of Panna Tiger Reserve. A suitable match has been found and the male tiger will be shifted to the reserve anytime within a fortnight, forest officials said.

October 7th, 2009 YANGON - Myanmar's 22,000 sq km vast Hukuang Tiger Reserve situated in the northern province of Kachin has now less than 100 tigers, a report said Wednesday. The fall in the tiger population was attributed to the killing of their preys for human consumption and trading as well as to the use of tiger bones and its other body parts for producing traditional medicines, a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) report said.

June 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - An eleven-member Central team will arrive here today to assess the damage caused by recent cyclone Aila in West Bengal. During their visit, the officials will visit the areas hit by the cyclone in West Bengal's South and North 24 Parganas districts and the Darjeeling hills.

June 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - An eleven-member Central team led by Ashok Lavasa, arrived here on Saturday to assess the damage caused by recent cyclone Aila in West Bengal. During their visit, the officials visited the areas hit by the cyclone in West Bengal's South and North 24 Parganas districts and the Darjeeling hills.

June 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Trinamool Congress will not attend an all-party meeting on Sunday to exchange views and seek suggestions for expediting relief in the cyclone-affected areas. Sudip Bandopadhyay, TMC aspirant in Kolkata (North), said, "It is a desperate attempt to put a government seal on the efforts to get Central funds for the cyclone victims when the state has miserably failed to arrange relief and rehabilitation." The meeting has been called by State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

June 5th, 2009 KOLKATA - An eleven-member Central team will arrive here on Saturday to assess the damage caused by recent cyclone Aila in West Bengal. During their visit, the officials will visit the areas hit by the cyclone in West Bengal's South and North 24 Parganas districts and the Darjeeling hills.

June 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday visited cyclone relief camps at Sarberia in North 24 Parganas district. Assuring that the government will provide money to rebuild their houses, he said, "The government will provide the money to rebuild your houses." Bhattacharjee, who talked to people who have taken shelter in the relief camp, demanded that they be provided permanent shelter so that they do not become refugees after every flood.

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.

May 27th, 2009 DHAKA - The death toll from Cyclone Aila rose to 121 in Bangladesh as thousands of people in coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal in both Bangladesh and India were marooned. The storm that ripped through the south-western coast Monday has left at least 32 people dead in Satkhira, 25 in Noakhali, 20 in Khulna, 13 in Bhola, nine in Barisal, seven in Patuakhali, six in Laxmipur, two each in Bagerhat and Cox's Bazar, and one in Magura, according to reports from the affected areas.

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.

April 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - Six districts in West Bengal were put on alert Thursday in view of cyclone 'Bijli' which lay centred 680 km to the south and South West of Kolkata. 'The cyclone is likely to move in a north-westerly direction,' a regional meteorological department official said.

March 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal forest officials Wednesday said they have arrested two people for allegedly smuggling a tiger skin from the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve (STR). 'We arrested two persons from Sundarbans late Tuesday night who were smuggling out a skin of a full-grown tiger from the forest territory,' South 24-Parganas Divisional Forest Officer S.

December 30th, 2008 KOLKATA - The West Bengal forest department Wednesday took an injured Royal Bengal tiger to Kolkata zoo after the big cat strayed into a village in Sundarbans Tuesday morning. 'The tiger was taken to Kolkata zoo today (Wednesday) and is now under medical observation of our expert team.

December 27th, 2008 KOLKATA - Three people, including a girl and a forest official, were injured when a tiger sneaked into a West Bengal village near Sundarbans Sunday morning. The man-eater was later caged by the forest department officials.