Two days after a devastating cyclonic storm struck Sandeshkhali, Patharghata village continued to reel from its impact even as the administration struggled to restore normalcy.
The sudden storm, which lasted less than a minute on Thursday evening, swept across parts of the Sundarbans delta in North 24-Parganas, damaging nearly 100 houses and leaving hundreds homeless. Coming in the wake of a depression that had already brought heavy rain and dampened the Durga Puja festivities, the storm left behind widespread destruction.
In addition to collapsed houses and roofs blown away, nearly two dozen electricity poles and tall trees were uprooted, while at least 50 people sustained injuries. The worst-affected zone was Patharghata village under Agarhati gram panchayat in Sandeshkhali-I block.
On Saturday, a team from the district administration visited the affected areas to assess the damage. Local Trinamool Congress MLA Sukumar Mahata also toured several houses and distributed relief materials. He said the party had arranged immediate repair works, including restoring rooftops with corrugated sheets and asbestos. But for the residents, the greatest need remains rebuilding or repairing their homes.
“I visited the area again today and found the people suffered great loss because of the cyclone. The district administration is assessing the situation to compensate for the damage. However, for now, we have arranged immediate repair for some houses so that people can at least take shelter under such poor weather,” Mahata said.
He added: “According to the direction of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress’s all India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, we have also constructed some houses temporarily so that people who are left under the open sky get at least a shed over their head in this hour of crisis. On Saturday, work on four such houses began.”
Trinamool’s rival, the CPM organised a medical camp on Saturday for cyclone victims at Patharghata and Dighirpar on the Sarberia-Agarhati gram panchayat, with the support of the People’s Relief Committee.
A team of six doctors led by Fuad Halim attended to victims of the storm and other patients for about five hours from 11.30am. They addressed the medical requirement of 150 people and provided them with free medicines.
Pradipta Sarkar, a member of the CPM’s Sandeshkhali II area committee, said: “We have been in touch with the cyclone-affected people for the last two days and provided all possible support in their time of distress. While providing relief materials, we also, with the support of the People’s Relief Committee, arranged medical treatment since medical facilities in this isolated area are still not available quite easily.”
“At the same time, we have urged the local administration and the MLA to ensure that no genuine victim was deprived of government aid,” Sarkar added.