Present and former students and teachers of a state-aided school on the northern fringe of Calcutta have raised funds to provide relief to people affected by Cyclone Amphan in the Sunderbans.

Two teams of students, former students and teachers of Udaypur Haradayal Nag Adarsha Vidyalaya, in Nimta, distributed food items, medicines and new clothes to 400 families of various villages of Patharpratima and Basanti, in the Sunderbans, on June 10 and 13.

“Our students and teachers went to some remote villages in Patharpratima and Basanti…. They were shocked to see the condition of the people. We distributed rice, daal, potatoes, onions, salt, mineral water, puffed rice, flattened rice, biscuits, milk powder, medicines, mosquito nets, mosquito repellent, lungis for men, clothes for women and bleaching powder…. We tried to help the people in whatever way we could,” said assistant headmaster Partha Basu, who headed the team.

Another team will visit the villages again on Tuesday.

This is the first time the school — set up 61 years ago and with around 1,550 students on its rolls — has taken such an initiative.

Headmaster Soumen Pal said some students had approached him a week after Amphan had struck on May 20 and expressed concern about the condition of the thousands of people who were left homeless.

“The students told me they wanted to arrange some relief for the people of the Sunderbans, the worst-hit place, and wanted to know whether the school could take an initiative,” Pal said. He contacted some former students. Initially, a fund of Rs 2 lakh was raised with donations from former students, teachers and some current students.