West Bengal: Oppn parties demand Centre to declare Cyclone Amphan as national disaster

Opposition parties in West Bengal, including Congress and CPI (M), have demanded the Centre to declare last month's super Cyclone Amphan as a national disaster. The parties on Saturday demanded the central team who visited the state to examine the extent of damage caused by the cyclone to declare it a national calamity. 

The West Bengal government on Saturday submitted details of damages worth Rs 1.02 lakh crore caused by super cyclone Amphan to the central team.

"We have some specific demands from the central team — Cyclone Amphan must be treated as a national disaster. Two, on the basis of the on-ground assessment, the fund must be released adequately at the earliest. Three, a mechanism must be evolved to ensure that the support is reached to the victims. It must not be diverted," CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty told ANI.

READ | West Bengal Govt Pegs Losses Due To Cyclone Amphan At Rs 1.02 Lakh Cr; Details Here

Congress' demand

On the other hand, Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya demanded the central team to utilise the relief fund judiciously. He asserted that the magnitude of devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan proves that it should be declared a national crisis.

"We are happy that the central team has arrived here. They have visited different places and have observed the damage caused due to the cyclone. They saw that people did not even have water for drinking, no food and no shelter. We have requested them to properly utilise the money. It should not go to any party fund. The money should directly go to the people who have been affected," said Bhattacharya.

READ | Mangrove Withstood Cyclone Amphan, Saved Bhitarkanika National Park

BJP's big allegation

Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that the state government is distributing relief funds to people associated with TMC and not to the victims of the cyclone. 

"The state has faced a huge loss and relief measures have still not reached the people. The central government had given Rs 1,000 crore relief fund and they are saying that they have provided this fund to at least 5 lakh people. Here, funds are being distributed to the people associated with the TMC. So we discussed this issue with the central team," state unit chief Dilip Ghosh said.

(With ANI inputs) (PTI Photo)

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