West Bengal Chief Minister cancels rallies for 48 hours
Highlights
- Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is personally monitoring cyclone situation
- "Be alert, take care and stay safe for the next 2 days:" Mamata Banerjee
- Cyclone Fani to cross Gangetic West Bengal early tomorrow morning
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled her campaign rallies "for the next 48 hours" as Cyclone Fani is expected to impact West Bengal today. The Chief Minister will be in the coastal belt of Kharagpur and personally monitor the situation. The Chief Minister was scheduled to address rally in Medinipur today. Mamata Banerjee, in a tweet, appealed to people to stay safe and not panic.
The cyclonic storm is likely to continue to move northeast wards and weaken gradually over the Gangetic West Bengal. It will cross the state tomorrow as a "severe cyclonic storm", said the Indian Meteorological Department.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rallies in Tamluk and Jhargram have been pushed back by a day, while Yogi Adityanath's rally in Jamshedpur, which was scheduled today, has been cancelled. While campaigning at Karauli in Rajasthan, today, PM Modi said, "We have gathered here today. At the same time people living in coastal areas in eastern and southern India are facing an extremely severe cyclone. The Centre is in continuous contact with the governments of Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry."
"The NDRF, Indian Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force are working with the states. I assure the affected people that nation and the Centre are with them," the PM said.
BJP President Amit Shah too cancelled all three rallies in Jharkhand today, due to worsening weather conditions.
No flights will take off or land at Kolkata airport from 3 pm today to 8 am tomorrow. NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) teams have been deployed at Digha in coastal Bengal and over a hundred people, including 52 children, have been evacuated. The Railways have also cancelled 233 trains from Howrah Station.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy will undertake an aerial survey today to assess the extent of devastation along the coastal belt of Odisha and Bengal.
The cyclone has moved away from Andhra Pradesh and the weather office has lifted alerts in three districts. The Election Commission has however approved the proposal for relaxing provisions of the Model Code of Conduct in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagram and Srikakulam for relief work. Heavy rain battered the four districts early today as Cyclone Fani crossed the Odisha coast, north of the state.
Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 175 km/hr, Cyclone Fani slammed the Odisha coast this morning, uprooting trees and sweeping away thatched huts.