Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will monitor government activities geared around Cyclone Dana throughout the night from Nabanna on Thursday in an apparent bid to send the message that she continues to lead the state machinery from the front during any natural disaster like in the past.

"I will stay at Nabanna all night to monitor the situation. The disaster management team will also be stationed here.... I have asked the officials to stay in Nabanna till the landfall is over," Mamata said at Nabanna on Thursday.

Senior government officials said Mamata's decision to stay at Nabanna throughout the night on Thursday was important as her presence would keep the entire administration on its toes.

"The landfall of the cyclone is expected post-midnight... It is important that the entire administration remains alert late at night to ensure that people get support in case of trouble. The presence of the chief minister at Nabanna would ensure that," said a senior bureaucrat.

Many in the administration also saw it as a smart political move by the chief minister ahead of the bypoll to six Assembly seats next month at a time when the state government and the ruling party have been facing massive people's protests ever since the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar on August 9.

"The ruling party has been facing questions over the past two-and-a-half months over the RG Kar incident. Now, the chief minister wants to send a message that she has not changed and would leave no stone unturned to stand by the people when they are in trouble," said a source.

A TMC insider said the chief minister wanted to remind people that she was the only one who would stand by the people of Bengal in case of emergencies. He said the chief minister spent the night at Nabanna to monitor government's operations when Amphan hit Sagar Island on May 20, 2020. She also went to Kharagpur in May 2019 to monitor operations during cyclone Fani. She went to Jalpaiguri immediately after a tornado had hit a few villages ahead of the Lok Sabha polls this year.

"This is her USP.... She is doing the same thing ahead of the bypolls to six Assembly segments when the ruling party is facing an awkward situation after the RG Kar incident," said a Trinamool Congress leader.

Announcing the spate of measures that the Bengal government has taken to deal with Cyclone Dana, which is expected to make a landfall near Dhamra in Odisha between Thursday midnight and the small hours of Friday, Mamata said that more than 1.5 lakh people had been evacuated and 851 relief camps were functional.

"Till now, 1,59,837 people have been evacuated and taken to safer places till this afternoon from low-lying areas of the coastal districts and its surrounding areas where the cyclone is likely to leave an impact. We have identified that 3,59,941 people need to evacuated but so far 1,59,837 people have come to the relief camps of the cyclone shelters," Mamata said at Nabanna on Thursday afternoon.

Sources in the disaster management department said that they focused on evacuating people from vulnerable areas to ensure that no lives were lost during the cyclone.

"We have learnt from Cyclone Amphan in May 2020 that if the evacuation process is done successfully, lives are saved. This is the reason why no death was reported during Cyclone Yaas in June 2021. But this time, we are facing trouble evacuating people from vulnerable areas as many are reluctant to leave home," said a senior official.

Officials are also worried about the possible damage to Kharif crops since heavy rainfall was predicted in many south Bengal districts, including Hooghly and East Burdwan, which are major rice-producing hubs. "More than 80 per cent of the Kharif crop is standing in the fields," said an official.