Special solar lanterns for Aila-hit Sundarbans villagers

July 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - The allocation of Rs.1,000 crore in the union budget Monday for rebuilding the infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Aila in West Bengal was welcomed by the state government and NGOs working there, but they said the money was insufficient. Kanti Ganguly, the minister in charge of the Sundarbans region, said: "We welcome this announcement as the first phase of disbursement.

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 7th, 2009 GOSABA - The aftermath of devastating cyclone Aila that ravaged large parts of the West Bengal delta May 25 could cause lasting ecological damage to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, experts fear. Environment experts and wildlife conservationists say the huge displacement caused by the cyclone may force many of the estimated 400,000 people who live among the mangrove forests, the narrow creeks and the wide rivers to enter protected forests, thereby seriously threatening one of the richest but most fragile ecosystems on earth.

June 7th, 2009 KOLKATA - Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Trinamool Congress leader C.M Jatua Sunday alleged that West Bengal's ruling Left Front government has taken no initiative to maintain the natural embankments in the Sundarbans region. "The situation in Sundarban Islands is dangerous, especially after the cyclone Aila.

June 6th, 2009 GOSABA - A day before the full moon high tide coming close on the heels of the devastation caused by Cyclone Aila, the West Bengal government has admitted that it would be unable to repair a large part of the 400 km of damaged embankments in the mangrove-forested delta of the Sundarbans. The full moon high tide scheduled Sunday, considerably stronger than a normal high tide, has given rise to fears of fresh inundation and consequent massive devastation in an area where around 400,000 people live.

June 5th, 2009 KOLKATA - Cyclone Aila that devastated parts of West Bengal last month damaged solar power panels worth Rs.50 crore (Rs.500 million) in the Sundarbans, an official said here Friday. "We've estimated that a huge bulk of solar panel devices worth Rs.50 crore was completely damaged due to cyclone Aila last week in Sundarbans," the managing director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd, S.P Gon Chowdhury told reporters on the sidelines of a enviromental conference.

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 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 KOLKATA - Demanding immediate and proper relief for the people affected by cyclone Aila, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) staged a protest march here on Saturday. The members and supporters of the SUCI took to streets demanding food, drinking water and medical teams for the cyclone-hit people in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas.

May 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government will rebuild 400 kms of embankments destroyed by Cyclone Aila in the mangrove forests of Sundarbans in an effort to save the region from any more floods in the coming monsoon. "We'll start constructing 400 kms of embankments in Sundarbans and will try to finish the work within the next one week," state Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar told reporters after surveying the cyclone-hit villages in the Sundarbans Saturday.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - A day after Cyclone Aila battered coastal West Bengal, especially 24 Parganas, uprooting trees, snapping power cables and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, rescue operations were on in full swing Tuesday with the army also moving in to help, as the death toll mounted to 82. The cyclone that also affected more than 400,000 people has begun to weaken and move off.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - A day after Cyclone Aila battered coastal West Bengal, especially 24 Parganas district, uprooting trees, snapping power cables and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, rescue operations were on in full swing Tuesday with the army also moving in to help. The cyclone, that has left 27 people dead and affected more than 400,000 others, has begun to weaken and move off.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - Cyclone Aila, that hit the east coast of India Monday devastating over 100,000 people in the Sundarbans delta region of crops and lifestock, was a grim consequence of climate change, say experts. NGOs who work in the area said the main dykes in major islands such as Sagar, Patharpratima, Sandeshkhali I and II, Hingalganj, Kultoli, Mousuni and many small islands in the Gosaba area had been breached, and brackish water had entered farmlands and freshwater ponds during the cyclone Monday, ruining the crops and killing the fish.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - Cyclone Aila that hit the eastern Indian coast scared a Royal Bengal tiger out of the Sundarbans national park and into an inhabited area in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, according to information reaching here Tuesday. The tiger moved near Jamespur village in Satjelia island where it terrorised villagers for a whole day before returning to the protected forest area, said A.

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.