Amit Shah Calls Up Mamata Banerjee Over Cyclone Amphan

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah called up West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday over the situation arising out of super cyclone Amphan which is likely to make a landfall in the Sundarbans region on Wednesday. The Union Home Minister assured the West Bengal chief minister of all assistance on behalf of the Central government.

Meanwhile, people from the low-lying areas of Odisha and West Bengal along the coastline have been evacuated. About 37 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed to engage in rescue and relief operations in the states likely to be impacted by the super cyclone Amphan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed the situation arising out of cyclone in the states of West Bengal and Odisha along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other top government officials.

The super cyclonic storm Amphan, is likely to move across north-west Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, close to Sundarbans, sometime later in the day on Tuesday.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast extensive damage in the regions of Hooghly, Kolkata, Howrah, South and North 24 Paraganas and East Midnapore districts of West Bengal.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already directed officials to be prepared to evacuate lakhs of people in coastal villages of the state. Officials and NDRF teams are engaged in this task. Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore are likely to be impacted and also experience heavy rainfall along with high velocity winds on Tuesday and Wednesday.