Army leaves cyclone-torn areas

Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Aila wreaked havoc in Bengal,the Army on Friday declared that it was withdrawing its troops from the affected areas as the situation had improved considerably.

Brigadier AK Sanyal,Deputy GOC,Headquarter Bengal Area,said: The Army sent two columns of troops after the state government informed us of the situation. We undertook relief and rescue operations to help people. We are pulling out as the ground situation has improved.

The Army also sent 16 medical teams on June 3 to conduct health camps in various villages across South Bengal.

So far,the Army has treated nearly 13,000 people suffering from various ailments,including 9,949 in South 24-Parganas and 3,030 in North 24-Parganas.

Of the 78 villages that we covered in the last eight days,around 30 per cent of the people were suffering from dysentery and diarrhoea,24 per cent from respiratory problems and four per cent from minor infections and fever, said Brigadier Sanyal,who headed the medical team and the Aila relief operations.

The Army denied the spread of any epidemic in the area,claiming that the number of patients visiting their medical camps had gone down over the days. Our teams moved from village to village. In the first camp we treated around 1,800 patients and on the last day nearly 700 patients,which showed people were getting better, said the Brigadier.

Besides medical assistance,the Army also distributed nearly 400 kg of cooked food,7,000 packets of emergency rations of rice,lentils and spices and water purifying tablets.

Lost in cyclone,RARE vulture found in Bongaon

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* A two-month-old rare species of vulture was found on the terrace of a house in Bongaon in North 24-Parganas on Thursday. The bird is suspected to have lost its way in the Aila. The baby vulture was found on the terrace of Sukumar Chatterjees house. After being informed,members of Green Waves,an NGO,arrived to take it into their custody. When Chatterjee refused to hand over the bird,they left and arrived on Friday with forest officials and took charge of the bird. This bird is of a rare species. We suspect that it must have lost track because of Aila, said district forest officer Rana Datta.

State asks Centre to release Rs 500 crore as advance

KOLKATA: State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta on Friday said that the state government has requested the Centre to release Rs 500 crore as advance payment from the Rs 1,000 crore it has asked for cyclone relief. The state government has sanctioned Rs 137 crore for relief and rehabilitation so far,Dasgupta said. The minister will visit Darjeeling on Saturday to assess the damage caused by heavy downpour that accompanied Cyclone Aila. ENS

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