West Bengal govt shares Amphan damage details of over Rs 1 lakh crore with Centre
Sreyashi Dey | Senior Correspondent
The West Bengal government has claimed a total loss of over Rs 1 lakh crore caused due to the extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan, listing out the losses sector wise with visiting central team.
Cyclone damage report shared by West Bengal government | Photo Credit: IANS
Key Highlights
- Central team surveys districts worst-affected due to Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal, meets chief secretary
- West Bengal estimates total loss caused due to Cyclone Amphan at Rs 1,02,442 crores
- Central team to submit report in New Delhi following which Centre likely to declare monetary assistance for West Bengal
Kolkata: The West Bengal government has pegged the total loss caused due to extremely severe cyclone Amphan at more than Rs 1 lakh crore before the central team touring the worst-affected districts. In a meeting between the Inter-Ministerial Central Team and West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, the state submitted an estimated damage report caused due to Cyclone Amphan that hit the coast of West Bengal on May 20.
The damage report extract pins the total loss at Rs 1, 02,442 incurred by the state government. A total of 28.56 houses have been damaged in the cyclonic storm causing a loss of Rs 28,560 crore. While 17 lakh hectare of agricultural land has been damaged adding another Rs 15,860 crore to the loss. The cyclone left a trail of destruction in South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogly, East Medinipur and West Medinipur districts of the state. The report states, 244.73 km of the embankment has been damaged and 21.22 lakh animals have been lost due to the cyclone causing Rs 3,396 crore losses.
The cyclone damaged 14,640 schools, 3012 colleges and 12,678 Anganwadis in West Bengal which has incurred a loss of Rs 1,135 crore. Industrial warehouses, raw material, industrial infrastructure under the MSME sector faced a loss of Rs 26,790 crores. The Mamata Banerjee government claimed that this has been the worst cyclone that the state has faced in the recent past.
The seven-member IMCT team led by Anuj Sharma, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs was accompanied by the members from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Power, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Road Transport and Department of Expenditure. The team, during its two-day survey, toured parts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts before meeting the state officials. They will be submitting their final report to the centre following which the central government could give further monetary assistance to the West Bengal government. On May 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an initial package of Rs 1,000 crore for Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal after conducting an aerial survey with the Chief Minister.