Don't indulge in politics, have patience: Mamata after protests in several areas in WB

After protests in several cyclone-affected areas of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged people to have patience as the administration was working tirelessly to restore water and power supply.

She also denounced the "negative campaigning" against her government, saying "this is not the time to do politics".

The chief minister conducted an aerial survey of the worst affected regions of South 24 Parganas district for the second consecutive day, after accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday.

"We are facing four challenges at a time, COVID-19, lockdown, issues related to migrant labourers and now the cyclonic disaster," she said.

After holding a review meeting at Kakdwip in the district, the chief minister said that devastation caused by cyclone Amphan is "more than a national disaster".

Banerjee said that the people should understand the "ground reality" and cooperate.

At the meeting, she directed the district administration to utilise local people in order to restore normalcy in the region.

"Take the help of the local people. They may not be able to help you technically but at least they will be able to help you remove the posts or do some basic work... include them in the 100 days' scheme and also utilise people of self-help groups," Banerjee said in the presence of senior district officials, including District Magistrate Dr P Ulaganathan