Cyclone Amphan: PM Modi To Undertake Aerial Survey Of West Bengal, Odisha Today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to travel to West Bengal and Odisha on Friday to undertake an aerial survey and review the damage caused by cyclone Amphan in the two eastern states. The cyclone has claimed 72 lives and left thousands homeless in both the states.

Prime Minister Modi has not travelled outside Delhi after the nationwide lockdown was imposed on the midnight of March 24 following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Modi will meet officials in Kolkata in the morning and later travel to Bhubaneswar in Odisha in the afternoon. PM Modi is scheduled to conduct an aerial survey along with the West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

PM Modi and West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are scheduled to travel in a chopper over the affected areas in the districts of North and South 24 Paraganas and the capital city of Kolkata.

Cyclone Amphan is the most powerful storm to have struck West Bengal in more than 100 years wreaking havoc as high velocity winds disrupted power supply, uprooted telephone, electricity poles and trees everywhere. The cyclone caused widespread damage to homes and crops along the coastal belt.

Kolkata which has a population of more than 14 million and its suburbs have also been badly impacted, with inundated roads and uprooted trees. The districts of North and South 24 Paraganas have been severely devastated after the cyclone with thousands of people homeless and stranded. Several low-lying areas in both the districts have been heavily inundated.