Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefly at Kalaikunda Air Base in West Midnapore on Thursday to hand over a preliminary report of the damages caused by Cyclone Yaas and sought a package of Rs 20,000 crore for the redevelopment of worst-affected areas.
She, however, chose to skip a review meeting convened by the Prime Minister and scheduled after his aerial survey of the coastal districts of the state.
Later, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Modi announced financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief activities."Rupees 500 crore would be immediately given to Odisha. Another Rs 500 crore has been announced for West Bengal and Jharkhand, which will be released on the basis of the damage. The Union Government will deploy an inter-ministerial team to visit the states to assess the extent of damage, based on which further assistance will be given," it said.
The PM has also declared an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured in the cyclone, the press release said.
The Modi-Mamata meeting at Kalaikunda lasted 15 minutes. It was their first meeting since the April-May Assembly election that Mamata's Trinamul swept despite the Opposition mounting a crass campaign fueled, in part, by the resignation of a large number of MPs, MLAs and ministers from the ruling party, several of whom joined the BJP.
“After having review meetings in Hingalganj (North 24-Parganas) and Sagar (South 24-Parganas), I met PM in Kalaikunda and apprised him regarding the post-cyclone situation in West Bengal. The disaster report has been handed over for his perusal. I’ve proceeded now to review the relief and restoration work at Digha,” tweeted Mamata.
Later, Mamata clarified that she had also conveyed to the Prime Minister why she could not stay on for the review meeting at Kalaikunda.
Modi had held a similar meeting with the Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik earlier in the day.
Sources in the state administration said Mamata had raised objections to the presence of BJP leader of the Oppositon Suvendu Adhikary at the review meeting with Modi. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and junior minister Debasree Chowdhury also attended the meet.
Once Mamata’s trusted lieutenant in making a Congress-mukt Bengal, the two have fallen out since Adhikary switched to the saffron camp and later defeated her in the Assembley elections from the Nandigram seat.
Senior lawyer and former MLA Arunabha Ghosh did not find it amiss that Adhikary was at the meeting, but questoned whether the Speaker had recognised him as the leader of the Opposition. “Since this was a meeting to discuss relief and aid, the leader of the Opposition can be invited. But the question is, has he been officially recognised as the leader of the Opposition by the Speaker?” asked Ghosh.
Governor Dhankhar criticised the chief minister for skipping the review meeting. “It would have served interests of state and its people for CM and officials to attend review meet by PM. Confrontational stance ill serves interests of state or democracy. Non-participation by CM and officials not in sync with constitutionalism of rule of law,” Dhankhar tweeted.
After reaching Digha, Mamata explained the reasons behind her demanded for Rs 20,000 crore. "We have sought a package of Rs 10,000 crore each for the redevelopment of Digha and the Sunderbans... It could well be that we might not get anything," she said following an administrative meeting held at the tourist town.
Earlier in the day, she conducted an aerial survey of the cyclone-affected areas. “I saw most that most areas are still inundated. Houses and agriculture land are under water,” she said.
Cyclone Yaas rampaged through parts of India's eastern coast on Wednesday, killing at least four people and forcing more than 21 lakh people to be evacuated to safe shelters in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. Heavy rainfall was reported at several places under the impact of the cyclone in all the three states on Thursday.
