Army, Air Force say WB Govt not using them for relief

Stating that the Army began relief and rescue operations in West and East Midnapore district and the Air Force from June 18, the sources said that till date, the Army had rescued 785 people and the Air Force more than 300 from the two districts with speed boats.

The Air Force has dropped about 60 tonnes of food and other relief material, besides rescuing more than 300 people with the help of speed boats in the two districts, they said.

In Orissa, the Army began relief and rescue operations from the evening of June 17, while the Air Force was called out in the state from June 19.

“Till date, more than 110 tonnes of material were airdropped in Orissa. There, everytime a helicopter landed after a sortie, rows of vehicles would be waiting to replenish relief material. In West Bengal, it is the opposite,” the sources said.

Stating that the flood situation in West Bengal was worse than in Orissa as indicated by aerial survey, the sources said though the Orissa government kept demanding Air Force efforts in relief and rescue, its counterpart in West Bengal had not done so.

“We had brought four helicopters to West Bengal initially and then sent two of them to Orissa. The load required to be airlifted did not justify keeping two helicopters in West Bengal,” the sources said.

Hardly any relief material was provided by the district adminstrations on the first day of Air Force deployment, they said.

The government had said on Saturday that airdropping of food had been stopped as boats could reach the affected areas.

Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, however, said on Wednesday that the Air Force has been kept on standby with an improvement in the flood situation, while two columns of the Army were engaged in rescue operations in East Midnapore, which was the worst-affected among the two districts.