The irrigation department has stacked up construction material required for repairing embankments at 112 places spread across 10 districts to ensure that restoration of damaged riverbank barriers can be initiated in case of any breach during Cyclone Yaas.
“We have kept ready different types of construction material in 112 vulnerable areas of 75 blocks in 10 districts where Cyclone Yaas could leave an impact. This is being done to ensure that repairing of embankments can be started at the earliest. We have also engaged agencies that will carry out repairs in case any embankment is damaged or breached,” said an irrigation department official.
The initiative, sources said, has been taken after the department learnt a lesson after Cyclone Amphan last year.
“More than 150km of river embankments, mainly in South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas, were breached during Amphan but their restoration was delayed as we could not take construction material to the affected areas because of inundation following the breach in the levees,” said another official.
As the repairs were delayed at many places like Namkhana, Kakdwip, Sagar, Patharpratima in South 24 Parganas and Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj in North 24-Parganas, hundreds of villages were submerged for several weeks.
Villagers had repaired some of the breached embankments on their own but that was not good enough to prevent inundation caused by high tides even after the cyclone.
“People in these areas were angry with the government and they had reasons to be
frustrated with the administration. This time, the government wants to avoid such a situation and that’s why steps have been initiated much before the damage is done,” said a source.
The irrigation department has already repaired 107km of river embankments in districts like South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Jhargram, Hooghly, Howrah, East Burdwan and West Burdwan where the cyclone is likely to leave an impact.
“We have tried to repair all damaged embankments in these districts to prevent river water gushing in... But we admit that if the cyclone creates disaster, many of the earthen embankments would not be able to guard the villages for a long time,” said an engineer.
The irrigation department has also deployed 36 heavy duty pumps at seven places in Calcutta, North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas to ensure that the areas don’t get waterlogged.
“This time, heavy rainfall is predicted and we have to make it sure that large stretches don’t get waterlogged for a long period,” said an official.
Officials in the irrigation department apprehended that East Midnapore could face the maximum brunt of the cyclone this time.
“As the IMD images show that the cyclone is moving in the north-west direction, in all likelihood, the cyclone could make a landfall between Paradwip in Odisha and Digha in East Midnapore. If that happens, it could create a disaster as river embankments in East Midnapore were overlooked after Amphan as it had no impact in the district. In brief, South 24-Parganas is a much prepared district now compared to East Midnapore,” said another official.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked all ministers to be in their respective districts to monitor preparatory and restoration works ahead of and after the cyclone during a cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Monday.
Mamata made it clear that her government would keep monitoring the situation 24x7 from Nabanna and the administration was working to evacuate 15 lakh people.