Bengal hands over reports on 'Bulbul' impact to central team

The West Bengal government on Saturday handed over reports on the impact of cyclone 'Bulbul' to a central team that had surveyed the affected areas in the state, a senior official said.

Representatives of the team met chief secretary Rajiva Sinha and other senior officials at the state secretariat, the official said.

"Reports on losses incurred in North and South 24 Parganas and East Medinipur districts due to the storm and requirement in those areas were handed over to the team. We would submit a separate report to the Centre," he said.

Representatives of the central team had made ground visits and conducted aerial surveys of the areas, besides meeting district officials.

"We have gathered details of the devastation caused by the cyclone and got more inputs from the state government today (Saturday). The overall assessment of the damage cannot be discussed now. We will submit our report to the Centre soon," a central team member said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier welcomed the visit of the team to the cyclone-hit areas.

After conducting an aerial survey of the affected areas, she had pegged the losses at around Rs 50,000 crore.

Families of the nine persons killed in the cyclone were given cheques of Rs 2.4 lakh each.

Banerjee had said that the storm destroyed over 15 lakh hectares of agricultural land and affected nearly six lakh people in the state.