Central aid: Rs 1K cr for WB, Rs 500 cr for Odisha

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, May 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced an advance assistance of Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 500 crore for relief and reconstruction work in the Amphan-battered West Bengal and Odisha, respectively.

Modi made the announcement for West Bengal after conducting an aerial survey of the worst-hit areas in the North and South 24 Parganas districts. The PM was accompanied by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in the helicopter. “The state and the Centre tried their best to take measures to mitigate the effects of the cyclone. Yet, we failed to save the lives of around 80 people. In this hour of grief, we are with those families who lost their near and dear ones.

To ensure that the state government does not face any problem in giving relief to people, an advance assistance of Rs 1,000 crore will be arranged”, Modi said at Basirhat (North 24 Parganas district) after the aerial tour. Assuring that the Centre would work side by side with the Bengal government for the “speedy recovery” of the state, Modi said the CM had already given him a preliminary estimate of the losses. A Central team would visit the state soon and make a detailed survey of the devastation, the PM said.