Mamata invites PM to witness Amphan’s dance of destruction, demands aid

Super Cyclone Amphan devastated at least four West Bengal district killing 72 people, 15 in State Capital Kolkata,  some crushed under the uprooted trees, others getting electrocuted and yet others coming under collapsed parts of buildings. The fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years also wreaked havoc in Odisha.

Residents recalled “living through hell” for six hours as the winds howled incessantly. Windows buckled from the pressure of the storm, cars floated on water logged roads, bumping against each other. Parts of air conditioners were flying around like missiles. Buses and taxis crashed against each other, small fishing boats  turned turtle and grounded planes shook at the inundated Kolkata airport.

Last time Bengal witnessed a natural calamity as dreadfully ruinous as Amphan was two years before Nadir Shah attacked Delhi and 20 years before Robert Clive humbled Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud Daulah at Plassey in 1757.

Reacting to the magnitude of the devastation, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I have never witnessed such a fierce cyclone and destruction in my life. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Amphan-affected areas. There is nothing left. No infrastructure, no power, no telephone connection. I will visit the affected areas very soon. A large part of North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata are facing massive power cut since last evening. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the Central government to extend all help to the State.”