Aila toll hits 94

Altogether 46 lakh people were affected and six lakh houses were partially or fully damaged,Finance minister Asim Dasgupta told mediapersons after a high-level meeting,which was presided over by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

On asked to quantify the extent of damages,Dasgupta said it was yet to be computed,but the damage to agriculture was estimated at Rs 100 crore.

He said the immediate priority of the state government was to provide relief to the affected persons. The minister added that the government has released an additional 100 tonnes of rice in addition to an equal amount released on Tuesday. While 3.5 lakh water pouches have been distributed,the quantity would be doubled in the next four days,he said,adding that 2.30 lakh pieces of tarpaulin have been distributed. Altogether 131 medical teams were working in Howrah,North and South 24 Parganas districts,he said.

Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar said that breaches have taken place along 400 km of embankments in the Sunderbans in South 24 Parganas district and also in East Midnapore and Howrah districts.

Primary repairs of the embankments would be completed within one week from now at a cost of 113 crore and the panchayats have been asked to begin the work immediately,Naskar said. “A special fund has been released to the district administration and two teams of BSF’s National Disaster Management force rushed to Darjeeling today,” Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

Inmates donate wages for victims
Prisoners of three jails on Wednesday donated wages for 30,000 food packets for the cyclone-hit people in North and South 24 Parganas districts. The food packets from the donations given by the prisoners of Presidency jail,Alipore Central and Dum Dum Central Jails were handed over to Additional Director General (Jail) B D Sharma.

Ghoramara yet to get relief
Relief material is yet to reach 5,000 residents of Ghoramara Island. A portion of the island was submerged on Wednesday morning by the high tides,said Sujata Das,panchayat pradhan of Ghoramara. Das,who is stranded at Kachuberia jetty,said she will not be able to reach Ghoramara before Thursday morning. On Wednesday,relief material,including tarpauline sheets,clothes,dry food and medicine,were distributed to the affected people in Sagar. PTI/ENS