The cyclone left 98 people dead and caused destruction in several districts of Bengal.(FILE)
Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Saturday gave an estimate of more than Rs one lakh crore for damages caused by Cyclone Amphan to the visiting inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) after its two-day survey of the devastation, officials said.
As per the list submitted to the IMCT by the state, the total estimated damage in the May 20 cyclone is Rs 1,02,442 crore with the maximum of Rs 28.56 crore being quoted for destruction caused to dwelling houses.
The second maximum loss of Rs 26,790 crore was in the industries sector, including the MSME, while the assessment for the agriculture sector was Rs 15,860 crore, a government release said.
The loss in the fisheries sector was Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 6,581 crore in the horticulture sector, it said.
For the animal resources development department the loss was assessed to be Rs 452 crore, while in the urban infrastructure department the figure was of Rs 6,750 crore, the release said.
“A list of our assessment of losses was given to the team. We have shared our views and told it of the areas where immediate help is required. The team has taken a note of it,” a senior government official told PTI.
The list of damages was given to the seven-member central team during its hour-long meeting with state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha and other senior officers of departments like home, finance, agriculture, power, PWD, irrigation, forest, industry, horticulture and food processing.
“Views were exchanged between the government and because they (the team) could not visit all the areas, they were also shown photographs of other areas devastated by the extremely severe storm. We have shown them photographs of areas which are still inundated,” the official said.
Assessment of losses in health, education, anganwadi, forest, roads including rural roads and bridges were also shared by the state government.
The IMCT, headed by Anuj Sharma, the joint secretary (cyber and information security) in the ministry of home affairs has visited the two mostly affected districts of North and South 24 Parganas to assess the damage caused by the cyclone.
The central team arrived in the city on Thursday evening and visited the cyclone-hit areas of North 24 Parganas on Friday and those of South 24 Parganas on Saturday. The team would submit its assessment to the central ministry following which it may release funds to assist the state government.
The Centre has provided an advance financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to the state for relief and restoration work following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement after he conducted an aerial survey of some cyclone-hit areas on May 22.
On the day of PM Modi’s visit, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said the state suffered losses of more than Rs one lakh crore due to the cyclone and she briefed the prime minister in detail about the post-cyclone situation.
The cyclone left 98 people dead and caused large- scale destruction to property in several districts of south Bengal.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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