West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has called an all-party meeting in Kolkata on Sunday to exchange views and seek suggestions for expediting relief and restoration work in the cyclone-affected areas. This was stated by state's finance minister Asim Dasgupta on Friday,after a review meeting on relief and restoration work in the aftermath of Cyclone Aila. He said that the ferocity of the low pressure that had been building up for some days over the Bay of Bengal had diminished considerably,but the coastal belts would be lashed by a wind whose speed could range from 40-45 kmph from Saturday. However,the state of alertness,already sounded in the areas,would continue till June 10 as already announced. According to him,70 per cent of the breached embankments in the two 24-Parganas districts had been repaired by the irrigation department engineers who worked round-the-clock keeping in mind the possibility of full moon high tide and rains due to low pressure from June 6-8. Dasgupta said that additional relief centres would be opened in some strategic points as some people might have to be shifted to safer places from near the seashore. "Accordingly,relief materials and 147 mechanised boats will be kept ready to meet any eventuality during June 6-8." Dasgupta said that the central study team would arrive in Kolkata on Saturday to visit cyclone-ravaged North and South 24-parganas districts. Some of the team members would leave for Dajeeling via Bagdogra tomorrow itself. A hovercraft would be used in the Sunderbans for carrying relief materials or shifting people to safer places. He said that army help in repairing embankments was not as expected despite request by the state government. However,their speedboats were used. The state government has requested banks to convert farmers' loans into long-term loans in the areas hit by the natural calamity and to see that they were not made to repay loans immediately as per the RBI guidelines. The finance minister said that the state government had received about Rs 99 crore as central assistance for relief and restoration work. The state government today raised the sanctioned sum for relief and restoration by Rs two crore totalling Rs 112 crore,he added. State's PWD minister Kshiti Goswami,finance minister Asim Dasgupta,irrigation minister Subhas Naskar and jail minister Biswanath Chowdhury held a meeting with the chief minister to review the situation and discuss plans to expedite relief and rehabilitation measures.
