Santanu Chowdhury

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her anxiety over the influx of migrant workers during a press briefing on Thursday. She also upbraided the Railways for sending a large number of Shramik Special trains without consulting the state.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Railways on its own was sending 36 Shramik trains from Maharashtra, and her government had not been informed about it.

First, it was the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, then the cyclone hurtled down six days ago, leaving hundreds of bookshops in the area battered.

According to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), as Cyclone Amphan hit the city with wind speeds of 130 kmph and more, over 5,000 trees were uprooted. While several fell on houses, the others lay across roads, blocking traffic and snapping electricity, telephone and broadband cables.

Roads and electricity remained cut off in large parts of West Bengal, including Kolkata on Thursday. According to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, about 5,000 trees have fallen across the city while hundreds of electricity poles have been damaged.

At Tajpur, the uprooted trees blocked several roads. With relief not in sight, local residents got to work with axes and daggers.

In Kolkata, wind speeds quickly went from 69 kmph to about 105 kmph a little before 6 pm, and kept increasing in intensity thereafter.

At least 230 people moved to this shelter as Amphan headed to coastal West Bengal. And most had similar fears and prayers — their houses should remain intact. It has been a double whammy for all of them — the pandemic and the cyclone.

The extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan crossed West Bengal-Bangladesh coast between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) across Sunderbans (West Bengal).

In a bid to accommodate more people without violating social-distancing rules, a large number of schools have been turned into relief shelters. About 90 relief shelters had been filled with evacuees till Tuesday evening.

Indian meteorological officials said Cyclone Amphan, which has now weakened from Super Cyclone to an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm, will have a wind speed ranging between 155–165 km/hr when it makes landfall on Wednesday.

Pramod Rai, Kamlesh Sahu, Ravi Maurya, Dinesh Kharadi, Ajay Manjhi, Gajraj Yadav, and Abdul Azim are the “luckier” ones, having made their way back to their villages after long journeys. As they rework their budgets and life, what keeps them going is the whiff of their dreams

Asif’s colleagues and family members said he was disturbed as he wasn’t able to return home.

CM Mamata Banerjee Sunday had announced that a special train from Ajmer was arranged to bring back migrant labourers from Rajasthan. Another train, which will bring back migrant workers from Kerala, is scheduled to reach Berhampore in Murshidabad district on Wednesday.

Magicians were now struggling to keep themselves afloat and believed that it would take over a year to get bookings for regular shows.

Extending a helping hand to people from West Bengal stuck in other states due to the lockdown, the chief minister on Monday assured them of help.

Mamata Banerjee had earlier reminded Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar of his “nominated” post and accused him of "consistent interference" in the administration.

Earlier in the day, Dhakhar tweeted that the government should cooperated with the two central teams, sent to review the state’s preparedness in tackling coronavirus.

“Canards are being spread that Bengal is not conducting enough tests,” the chief minister said. However, against the 14,000 test kits sought by the state, the Centre had sent only 2,500, Mamata Banerjee said.