Three killed as cyclone Aila hits West Bengal

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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

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 28th, 2009 BARRCKPORE AIR BASE - Helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out relief operation sorties in the cyclone hit areas of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts in West Bengal. The IAF helicopters dropped relief materials in the areas like Hingalganj, Sandeshkhali of North 24 Parganas district and in Basanti, Gosaba of South 24 Parganas district which is quite close to the India-Bangladesh border.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday visited cyclone relief camps in Nimpith in South 24 Parganas, the area worst hit by 'Cyclone Alia'. Bhattacharjee talked to people who have taken shelter in the relief camp.

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 - At least eleven people have been killed across West Bengal by "Cyclone Aila". High speed winds of 90 kmph lashed Kolkata and surrounding areas on Monday, uprooting over 80 trees across the city.

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.